Experiential therapy focuses on here-and-now, present moment experiencing. The term “Empathic Attunement” refers to the process by which the therapist homes in on client experiencing.
Though the content of our clients’ attention & awareness may or may not be concerned with the present moment — we spend a lot of time remembering the past and anticipating the future — experiencing is always in the present: We remember a past moment now; we anticipate some future moment now.
Of central concern for the experiential therapist is what is happening for a person as they attend to their experiencing.
“What is happening” refers to the thoughts, feelings, action tendencies, bodily felt sense, sensory impressions, narratives, needs, etc. the client undergoes during their moment-by-moment shifts in attention and awareness. All of this together is what we call experiencing.
While attuning to the whole of the client’s experience, the therapist endeavors to feel their way into the client’s experiencing, attempting to focus on and grasp the essence of the client’s present-moment feelings, meanings, and sense of themselves. By sifting and catching what is most alive and poignant for the client, we find ourselves at the most exciting and therapeutically productive starting point.
Experiential interventions, then, are focused first of all on accessing and understanding the client’s present-moment experiencing. Any and all interventions beyond this endeavor must themselves be based on such attunement.
In other words, empathic attunement is the experiential therapist’s primary and continuing job: It’s our first responsibility, and it’s the prerequisite for any further work. And this job is truly never done, because “experiencing” is a moving target.
Growing as an experiential therapist means learning to attune more smoothly, more accurately, and with more compassion. It also means learning to check our understandings with our clients in a way that facilitates and furthers, rather than interrupts or derails, a therapeutically productive flow of experience.
Though some clinicians may think of all of this is obvious and easy, skillful empathic attainment requires a lifetime of practice.
GETME’s Empathic Attunement Workshop is a chance to come together with other therapists to learn about, discuss, practice — and check our progress with — these processes.
What: A training workshop for therapists on Empathic Attunement, including lecture, discussion, and experiential practice.
Who: Therapists who want to deepen their experiential practice.
When: Saturday, June 24th, 8:45am to 1pm
Instructor: Tom Kubasik, LCPC, NCC
Where:
GETME
615 Congress Street
Suite 423
Portland, ME, 04101
A certificate of 4 CE Contact Hours will be awarded for completing this program.
Participant Feedback (“What did you enjoy most about the program?):
“I like the mix of getting to know the group, discussion, demonstration, practice and feedback. The topic feels like such an affirming, important and foundational thing to remember and engage with.”
“The chance to break down the concept of empathy.”
“I always learn [at GETME trainings] something new about myself and how to integrate the learning.”
“Best instructor. Experiential pieces most valuable.”
“I enjoyed the combination of interacting, reading, practicing and sharing.”
Register for This Training: