NASW-CA EmpowerEd Program

Course Description

This course is designed for all behavioral health professionals (beginning to advanced) who are practicing and/or supervising psychotherapy. The course content is relevant to improving the effectiveness of services provided to clients by identifying and managing racism and other countertransferences that might otherwise distort the therapist's perceptions of the client and impair the quality of the therapeutic relationship. Countertransference refers to any subjective perceptions of a client that deviate from the client's actual nature, especially when those subjective perceptions lead to therapist actions that are contrary to established principles of effective psychotherapy practice.

Target Audience

This course is designed for all behavioral health professionals (beginning to advanced) who are practicing and/or supervising psychotherapy.

Learning Objectives

After completing this course, readers will be able to do the following:

• Identify how countertransference affects psychotherapy outcomes.
• Identify the relationship between racism and countertransference.
• Identify at least five indicators of one's own countertransferences (self-evaluation).
• Describe a four-step process for managing countertransference.
• Identify related web-based resources, including publications and websites relevant to both countertransference and its effects on psychotherapy process.