Training for Connection: Students' Perceptions of the Effects of the Person‐of‐the‐Therapist Training on Their Therapeutic Relationships

Abstract

The Person-of-the-Therapist Training (POTT) is a program designed to facilitate clinicians' ability to consciously and purposefully use their selves to effectively connect, assess, and intervene with clients. This study explored CFT students' perceptions of the effects of POTT on their ability to create positive therapeutic relationships. Course papers and final reflections were collected from 70 CFT students. Directed content analysis looking for evidence-supported elements of positive therapeutic relationships revealed 5 elements: empathy, management of countertransference, balancing multiple alliances, positive regard, and bond. Findings support the idea that a structured program focused on the training of the personal aspects of the therapists, like POTT, can promote the evidence-supported elements that make a therapeutic relationship effective.