Last day to book: 1st of May 2025
Join Jeremy Kelsall for a 2-day workshop developing our awareness and understanding of the experience of erotic countertransference, or attraction towards clients.
Workshop purpose
In this two-day workshop we aim to develop our awareness and understanding of the experience of erotic countertransference, or attraction towards clients. This can be a powerful, intoxicating and unnerving experience when it appears. This workshop aims to help us move beyond the taboo that can often surround this area and that may lead us to suppress our feelings and thus limit the scope of the work.
The presence of the erotic on the part of the therapist need not be a cause for alarm or shame. Rather, the arrival of this powerful energy in the therapy room can signal the emergence of something valuable within the relationship. Conscious acknowledgement of these feelings can allow us to deepen the work as well as better safeguard both our clients and ourselves.
Who is it for?
Psychotherapists and counsellors, and trainee psychotherapists and counsellors.
Learning Outcomes
- To develop a conceptual framework for understanding erotic countertransference and its meaning in the therapeutic setting.
- To have begun to develop an understanding of our own erotic subjectivity in relation to our client work.
- To have a clearer sense of what ensures the safety of the therapeutic relationship.
- To be able to make use of erotic countertransference in service of the work.
What to expect
- There will be a mixture of theory as well as opportunities to pool our shared thinking on our understanding of the meaning of the erotic generally and as it appears in therapy.
- We will explore our own personal relationships with the erotic to help us better understand the ways we might be triggered in our client work.
- We will explore some of the signs to look out for that suggest attraction may be present and consider the ways we can support ourselves in navigating its challenge.
- We will think about how allowing our attraction to be present can be used to deepen our understanding of our own erotic needs and their origins and meaning, at the same time as helping to illuminate those of our client.
Our Approach
We will be looking at the mythical origins of Eros as well as psychoanalytic and transpersonal perspectives, as all of these have something valuable to offer to our understanding. The workshop will involve a balance of the theoretical and experiential, in a spirit of supportive and collaborative enquiry.
Ticket price
At the Trust we appreciate that each person has their own unique situation, so we invite you to select the price point that feels like it represents a fair contribution for attending this event.
There are three options to choose from when purchasing tickets: £195, £230, £250.
If you are a current Psychosynthesis Trust student and finances are a barrier to attending this workshop, please contact Kajal at events@ptrust.org.uk.
Refunds are available up to 7 days before the event. Eventbrite fee is non-refundable.
About Jeremy Kelsall
Jeremy is a a psychosynthesis psychotherapist and has been working in private practice as a psychosynthesis counsellor since 2015. He qualified as a psychosynthesis psychotherapist in 2023 and as part of his training, undertook research into the area of erotic countertransference. This workshop draws on that research and subsequent ongoing enquiry.
