Transference, Countertransference, & other
Entanglements in the Therapeutic Relationship PART I
For therapists, healers, coaches, and teachers
A 90-minute Seminar with David Bedrick
“If you work with people in any capacity, you need to watch this.” - class participant
Clients come to us are looking for healing, education, insight.
They also come with their projections.
They may project a parental figure on to us - one that they wish they had or one that they actually had. It is not unusual for a client to see us as a parent that they were not able to confront.
They may project someone wiser and see our actual wisdom but become blind to their own. They may see our clarity or ability to make boundaries, which we may actually have, but ignores their capacity, their freedom to do so.
These projections aren’t all bad; in fact, they’re natural. Some of those projections create a warm relationship that can be foster healing.
But when that relationship is not clear in the healer’s mind, we can get entangled. We engage in a counter-projection, a countertransference.
For example, I could rely on the good feelings my clients give me as opposed to feeling good about myself.
Or I could get upset when they are critical of me and not like me.
I could fall in love with them in response to their love of me.
In these cases, and so many more, the healers unworked issues entangle with the client’s.
When this happens unconsciously, healing doesn’t happen and injury might.
Indications that you are engaged on a countertransference:
You want to convince them to stop or start doing something
You want to push them further
You feel critical
You feel hurt
You feel irritated
You feel bored
You want to ‘rescue’ them
You believe they are resistant
In this hour and a half session, I will introduce the idea of transference and countertransference in these relationships.
I will talk about some approaches to those and answer your questions. You can bring cases examples and difficulties you’ve had and we can discuss them together.
I will even role-play how I, as a therapist, would deal with the difficulties that you’re up against.
This is essential learning, especially for those of us who are working independently without training in this area.
This is a skill issue, where we need to learn HOW to deal with these projections.
This is an awareness issue, where we need to learn to “see” when this is happening.
This is an ethical issue, where our entanglements can weave into a client’s abuse and trauma issues and cause injury.
It’s an issue all of us need to learn and keep learning about.
Some folks say “I don’t do therapy. I do coaching, not psychoanalysis.” They believe that they’re outside of this problem. That is simply not true.
These entanglements happen in every relationship, whether we are astrologers, tarot card readers, psychics, coaches, or any other kind of facilitator.
Let’s not turn a blind eye to these issues.
Let’s look together, let’s get smart together.
This is a low cost opportunity to get deep and clear insight into this entanglement, I promise you this will open your eyes and make you a better healer.
GET ACCESS TO THE CLASS:
The live class is now complete and the recording is available for purchase on its own or as a bundle with Transference & Countertransference PART II: Our Mistakes and Your Cases
Here’s what class participants have said:
“David, this seminar was incredibly impactful! You put words to entanglements I have been experiencing with 1:1 clients and was unsure how to navigate.”
“I ate up every word, felt incredibly seen (as usual - with your work) and it helped me realise why working with clients sometimes felt heavy and draining. Now I feel a renewed lightness and personal responsibility - I can actually work with my inner world to help with these experiences!”
“If you work with people in any capacity, you need to watch this.”
“Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom and personal stories, it’s a pleasure to learn from you.”
“This was such a powerful training, I can’t thank you enough for holding it, and at such an accessible cost!”
“Thank you for your transference/countertransference workshop. I just wrapped up my first day with clients since watching it and I mean it when I say it changed everything about my sessions today (in the best way). I’ve recommended it to many people. I’m excited to watch pt. 2.” - Jessa
MEET YOUR FACILITATOR:
David Bedrick, JD, Dipl. PW, is a teacher, counselor, and attorney. He was on the faculty for the University of Phoenix and the Process Work Institute in the U.S. and Poland and is the founder of the Santa Fe Institute for Shame-based Studies where he offers facilitation training to deepen the skills and awareness of healers as well as workshops for individuals to further their own personal development. David’s embodied way of teaching is far more than informational, students are often brought to tears and face to face with their beauty, power, life path and soul.
David’s passion for studying shame arose from his childhood, growing up with a father who used fists and belts to express his rage and a mother who coped by denying and gaslighting his experience. Over thirty years of research, teaching, and working with individuals awakened his heart and mind to how the dominant healing paradigm pathologizes people—seeing our sufferings and ills as something to fix and cure instead of messages to be understood and invitations to deepen our relationships with ourselves and the world around us. In this way, David understands our difficulties as “dreams”—invitations to insight, soul, and the divine unfolding of our lives.
David writes for Psychology Today and is the author of three books: Talking Back to Dr. Phil: Alternatives to Mainstream Psychology and Revisioning Activism: Bringing Depth, Dialogue, and Diversity to Individual and Social Change. His new book is You Can’t Judge a Body by Its Cover: 17 Women’s Stories of Hunger, Body Shame and Redemption.
His fourth book, The Unshaming Way, was published by North Atlantic Books in November 2024.