Workshop Description:
As therapists our most essential instrument to engage our clients is our selves--no matter what theories or techniques guide our work. But very little is written or taught about how we can prepare and use our instrument in session, moment-to-moment, with each client--particularly in terms of our implicit/ non-verbal communication as it transmits through our eyes, faces, bodies, and voices. The more aware we are of our unique instrument and how we use it, the more ethical our clinical practice will be with each unique person who seeks our help.
Utilizing his experience as both an actor and a therapist, Mark O'Connell will offer you ways to prepare and to use your instrument with awareness, responsiveness, authenticity, intentionality, versatility, responsibility, and self-care. Participants will discuss ethical dilemmas in clinical practice with individuals, couples, and families, including questions around self-disclosure, countertransference, and confidentiality. And we will study, from an ethical perspective, how we can most effectively use ourselves authentically, even in the most challenging clinical scenarios. Mark will also guide you through theatrical concepts of "objectives," and “roles” within relationships to gain perspectives on effective communication--beyond the words we speak--and to develop and trust your own sense of ethical and clinical best practices.