Regardless of one’s theoretical orientation, there are a handful of common therapeutic elements that underscore any successful treatment. In this video, Drs. Molyn Leszcz, Clare Pain, and Jon Hunter demonstrate psychotherapy’s most essential theories, tools, and strategies that form the core of the therapeutic alliance.
Covering the basic ingredients for psychotherapy, these three Toronto-based clinicians focus on the core concepts and techniques that should live in your tool box. Highlighting the therapeutic alliance and various ways to understand a client’s relational world, they employ both live clinical vignettes as well as rich didactic lessons to explain the structure of a healing context. You’ll learn about therapist qualities that can promote the alliance; how to develop an understanding with your clients about relationships that shaped their internal working models, patterns of attachment, and interpersonal pulls; and how to recognize the potential impact of unresolved trauma and learn how and when to ask about it.
Moreover, they cover the risks and challenges that can lead to negative outcomes, including transference-countertransference dynamics, and illustrate how to both recognize and use these strains as therapeutic opportunities. Finally, they demonstrate how to use mentalizing and metacommunication to help resolve conflicts and expand reflective capacity—both your clients’ and your own.
If you’re looking for a basic psychotherapy primer or a refresher on effective strategies that work across models, this video is a must-watch. Be sure to add this incredible resource to your library.
By watching this video, you will:
- Learn how to establish and maintain a therapeutic working alliance with clients.
- Understand the clinical risks and challenges that can lead to negative outcomes.
- Discover ways to incorporate attachment theory, transference and countertransference, and trauma support into your work.
Length of video: 1:33:13
English subtitles available
Group ISBN-13 #: 978-1-60124-515-1
Molyn Leszcz, MD, FRCPC, DFAGPA, is Professor and Chair (Interim) at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto and the Psychiatrist-in-Chief at Mount Sinai Hospital. His academic and clinical work has focused on broadening the application of psychotherapy within psychiatry. Dr. Leszcz is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Group Psychotherapy Association and co-chaired their Science to Services Task Force leading to publication of Clinical Practice Guidelines for Group Psychotherapy. With Irvin Yalom, he co-authored the fifth edition of Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy (2005). His research has focused on group psychotherapy.
Clare Pain, MD, MSc, FRCPC, DSc (Hons), is Associate Professor at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Director of the Psychological Trauma Program at Mount Sinai Hospital, Consultant at the Canadian Center for Victims of Torture, Co-project director of the Toronto-Addis Ababa Collaboration Program. Her clinical focus is on the assessment and treatment of patients, including refugees, who continue to suffer from the effects of psychological trauma.
Jonathan Hunter, MD, FRCPC, is Associate Professor at the University of Toronto, where he heads the Division of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry. He is Head of Psychosocial Services in the Marvelle Koffler Breast Centre at Mount Sinai Hospital and a founding member of the Collaborative Mental Healthcare Network of the Ontario College of Family Physicians. His clinical and research interests include the psychiatric and psychotherapeutic care of cancer patients, the role of early life experience and attachment in adaptation to disease, and the importance of mentalizing in treatment.
CE credits: 1.5
Learning Objectives:
- Explain how to establish and maintain an effective therapeutic alliance
- Predict clinical risks and negative therapeutic outcomes
- Apply principles of attachment theory to your trauma work
Bibliography available upon request
This course is offered for ASWB ACE credit for social workers. See complete list of CE approvals here
© 2014
Course Reviewed January 2023