Practicing Empathy with Difficult Clients

As helping professionals, regardless of our field of practice, empathy and use-of-self are our primary tools. Our success depends on our ability to develop meaningful and deep connections with our clients. In this workshop, we will discuss some of the major barriers to practicing empathy - especially with clients who use disconnection as a primary strategy for self-protection. We will also talk about the critical role that empathy plays in shame resilience and what specific strategies can be used to address disconnection and increase empathy and connection.