Helping the Helper: Emotional Regulation Skills for the Therapist
(Habilidades de Regulación Emocional del Terapeuta: Ayudando al Profesional)

Monday, 9 June 2008 - 8:30 am - 4:30 pm
presented by Beatriz Rodriguez Vega, Carmen Bayon Perez, Angela Palao Tarrero and Blanca Amador Sastre

Presented in English with Spanish translation / En Inglés con traducción al Español


Target Audience:

Clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, other doctors and nurses in close contact with patients and their families.


Workshop Objectives:

Help the helper to:

  • Be aware of the risks and opportunities of our work
  • Be able to feel empathic but not vulnerable
  • Provide the therapist with some emotional regulation skills


Workshop Description:

As psychotherapists we are trained to feel and take charge of patient´s emotions, what is called empathy. The idea of a containing vessel is a good image of what we do as therapists. However, psychotherapeutic work has a clear impact on the bodies and minds of psychotherapists and sometimes a negative effect on social lives or in our health. Generally, issues such as health risk and self-care are not addressed in the training of therapists though they are topics that should always be taken into consideration. We can better take care of the other after we take care of ourselves. Empathy is the connective tissue of good therapy, and we should learn how to maximize the benefits while minimizing the risks of these connections.

Theory and somatosensorial exercises centered in self-care and emotional regulation will be shown and trained to better manage our empathy, for the benefit of both ourselves and our patients.