Module 7: Countertransference and Therapist Challenges Working with Lawyers
This module addresses the often complex countertransference reactions that clinicians may experience when working with attorneys, a population that can evoke feelings of intimidation, inadequacy, frustration, or defensiveness due to their intellectual rigor, adversarial communication style, or emotional guardedness. Attorneys may unconsciously recreate courtroom dynamics in the therapy room—testing, debating, or resisting vulnerability—which can challenge even seasoned therapists’ sense of competence and authority. Clinicians will be guided in developing self-awareness and reflective capacity to identify and work through their own emotional responses without disrupting the therapeutic alliance. The training will introduce supervision-informed strategies, use-of-self techniques, and psychodynamic concepts to help clinicians stay grounded, avoid enactments, and remain attuned to the client’s deeper emotional needs. This module also explores how therapists can use their own reactions as diagnostic tools while maintaining a nonjudgmental, empathic stance that invites openness and trust from lawyer clients.