Therapeutic Presence A Mindful Approach to Effective Therapeutic Relationships

This new edition offers practical exercises and a training program for cultivating presence in students and trainees.

Therapeutic presence—one’s ability to exist fully in the moment with a client—is crucial to effective psychotherapy practice. Since the first edition of Therapeutic Presence was published nearly a decade ago, further research has emphasized the role and deepened our understanding of this essential building block of effective therapeutic relationships.
 
This book is a detailed guide on cultivating therapeutic presence for new and seasoned therapists alike. The authors’ model is based on the results of their extensive study, and revolves around three key aspects of therapeutic presence:

• Using mindfulness and experiential exercises to create the conditions for presence, both prior to and in sessions;
• Generating attunement to self and others, as a precursor that facilitates therapeutic presence; and
• Recognizing the felt experience of in-session presence.

With practical, research-based scenarios and exercises, as well as a full training program for cultivating presence in students and trainees, this text will help train the next generation of therapists in the nuts-and-bolts of empathic attunement and a strong therapeutic alliance to create effective therapy.

Shari M. Geller, PhD, is an author, clinical psychologist, and creator of the Therapeutic Rhythm and Mindfulness Program (TRM). With over twenty years of experience weaving psychology and mindfulness, Dr. Geller coauthored the first edition of Therapeutic Presence: A Mindful Approach to Effective Therapy. She also authored A Practical Guide For Cultivating Therapeutic Presence, which offers practical guidance for cultivating and strengthening therapeutic presence as a foundational approach. Dr. Geller has a long-term personal mindfulness meditation and drumming practice. Her training with teachers and neuroscientists, along with her personal practice, inspired her to integrate the benefits of mindfulness, group drumming, and emotion-focused awareness into one comprehensive program (TRM). Dr. Geller serves on the teaching faculty in Health Psychology at York University and for the Applied Mindfulness Meditation program at the University of Toronto; and is Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto, in association with the Music and Health Research Collaboratory (MaHRC). Dr. Geller is also the president and cofounder of the innovative Centre for MindBody Health.

Leslie S. Greenberg, PhD, is Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus of Psychology at York University in Toronto, Canada and the primary developer of emotion-focused therapy. He authored the original books on Emotion in Psychotherapy (1986) and Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples (1988). More recent books include Emotion-Focused Couples Therapy: The Dynamics of Emotion, Love and Power (2008), Therapeutic Presence (2012), Emotion-Focused Therapy: Theory and Practice (2015), Case Formulation in Emotion-Focused Therapy (2015), Emotion-Focused Therapy of Generalized Anxiety (2017), Emotion-Focused Therapy of Forgiveness (2019), and Changing Emotion with Emotion (2021). He has received the Distinguished Research Career Award of the International Society for Psychotherapy Research as well as the Distinguished Professional Contribution to Applied Research from the American Psychology Association. He also has received the Canadian Psychological Association Professional Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology as a Profession. He is a past president of the Society for Psychotherapy Research. He currently trains people internationally in emotion-focused approaches.

Introduction to Therapeutic Presence: A Foundation for Effective Therapeutic Relationships
 
Part I. Theoretical and Empirical Basis of Therapeutic Presence
Chapter 1. Therapeutic Presence: A Theory of Relationship
Chapter 2. History of Presence Across Theoretical Approaches
Chapter 3. Research on Therapeutic Presence
 
Part II. The Model of Therapeutic Presence
Chapter 4. Preparing the Ground for Therapeutic Presence
Chapter 5. The Process of Therapeutic Presence
Chapter 6. The Embodied Experience of Therapeutic Presence
 
Part III. Additional Perspectives on Therapeutic Presence
Chapter 7. Levels of Therapeutic Presence
Chapter 8. Challenges to Therapeutic Presence
Chapter 9. Presence Related to Therapists’ and Clients’ Emotional Experience
Chapter 10. Neurobiology of Therapeutic Presence
 
Part IV. Approaches to Cultivating Therapeutic Presence
Chapter 11. Mindfulness and Self-Compassion: Ways to Enhance Therapeutic Presence
Chapter 12. Experiential Approaches to Presence
 
Part V. Training in Therapeutic Presence
Chapter 13. Psychotherapy Training: Cultivating Therapeutic Presence
Chapter 14. Therapeutic Presence Exercises and Practices
Chapter 15. Cultivating Online Therapeutic Presence
 
Epilogue
References
About the Authors