Countertransference: Friend or Foe?

This workshop explores countertransference as an inevitable and clinically useful aspect of counselling work. 

We’ll examine classic and contemporary understandings of countertransference and how it shows somatically, emotionally, relationally, and behaviorally in both individual and group contexts. 

Attention will be given to how countertransference can emerge differently across roles, relational positions, and group dynamics, and how it can be used as a source of clinical information rather than something to be avoided or shut down. 

Why it’s important

Countertransference is one of the primary instruments of clinical work — yet it’s often under-discussed, pathologized, or addressed only when something has gone wrong. Developing awareness of countertransference supports ethical practice, strengthens therapeutic alliances, and helps counsellors work more effectively with complexity, intensity, and rupture. 

Who it’s suited for 

This workshop is well-suited for counsellors, clinical supervisors, and advanced trainees across modalities, given the pervasive role of countertransference in therapeutic relationships. 

What you’ll walk away with:

• Greater ease and confidence in talking about countertransference in clinical supervision A
• A clearer, normalized understanding of countertransference 
• Increased awareness of their own countertransference signals 
• Practical ways to work with countertransference rather than against it