The Emotional Therapist with Dr Paolo Bertrando

The presence of the therapist, and how the therapist truly forges a connection with the client in therapy, can be a crucial factor affecting the client’s healing process. An engaged, committed, caring therapist who is mindful of his or her own self―and how that self relates to the client―is a key determinant of how well that client will respond to therapy.

The Emotional Therapist is a deep exploration of what it means to be emotional and how to cultivate emotion in the therapeutic relationship. Building on modern systemic family therapy, Dr Paolo Bertrando introduces participants to working with emotions in therapy using a relationally-focused lens.

The integration of a systemic-relational methodology with a knowledge and appreciation of the different emotions involved in people’s lives is useful for practitioners working in any kind of situation, especially – but not exclusively – when couples, families, or children are involved. The relational focus on emotions helps the practitioner to focus on the clients’ own needs and experiences. The workshop will be interactive and experiential, as the presenter helps participants to develop skills in working with emotions by the use of a practice-centred teaching method, making the concepts easy to grasp and to put to immediate application.

Participants will learn:

• How emotions have been dealt with in different therapeutic models
• How to conceptualise emotions as part of a relational communication process between people including therapist and client, rather than intrapsychic phenomena only
• The difference between this approach and other emotion-centred therapeutic models (such as Emotionally Focused Therapy or attachment-based therapy)
• How to work with these ideas in the therapy session (no matter what the participant’s framework is)
• How to identify prominent emotions and hidden emotions in the course of a session
• How to put emotions in context and understand their relevance in the real life experience of clients
• Guidelines for shifting from facts to feelings in the course of a session, especially when the session is “stuck”
• A set of questions and other interventions aimed at bringing emotions to the fore

The Emotional Therapist helps practitioners, both new and experienced in family therapy, to develop a set of guidelines to building emotion-centred sessions using an emotional lens in practical exercises, case work, role plays that links theory to practice.

Dr Paolo Bertrando is a psychiatrist and systemic therapist, trained in the Milan Approach (by Boscolo & Cecchin). He has been a trainer at the Milan Centre for Family Therapy and the director of the Episteme Systemic Training Centre. Currently he is the director of the Systemic-Dialogical School in Bergamo. He has published several books including the Emotions and the Therapist. Dr. Bertrando has held workshops and seminars related to systemic therapy in Italy, Spain, Norway, Denmark, Greece, United Kingdom, Ireland, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia.