Understanding and managing Counter Transference

A ONE DAY WORKSHOP – PRESENTED BY DR. RUTH BIRKEBAEK

In this workshop we will discuss depression as a symptom of a much larger mental health problem. A symptom that results from early significant relationship disruptions. What happens to young children when parents/caretakers are consistently mis-attuned to their relational and developmental needs? We will explore clients’ different forms of transference enacted in the therapeutic relationship, and therapists’ counter-transference when working with depressed clients, such as helplessness and hopelessness.

What happens when therapists ask clients to change their depressive behaviours and attitudes? We will discuss the paradoxical theory of change and the psychological function of clients’ depressive behaviours.

Participants will learn to:

• understand the phenomenological experience of this client group, including their attachment patterns, script beliefs and unconscious relational patterns, and how these manifest in the counter-transference;
• formulate a therapeutic perspective that will include the significance of attunement to client’s affect and rhythm while resonating with the client’s level of emotional development;
• understand and manage the various aspects of transference and counter-transference.

Through a mix of didactic teaching and case discussions this workshop will help clinicians to apply theory in clinical practice and to enhance their effectiveness through identifying relational aspects of depression and to work with the transference and counter-transference.

Trainer: Ruth Birkebaek is a UKCP registered Psychotherapist, a Certified Integrative Psychotherapy Trainer & Supervisor (CIIPTS-IIPA) and a Certified Transactional Analyst – Provisional Trainer & Supervisor (PTSTA). Additionally, Ruth has trained in Psychosomatic Medicine and Jung Therapy. She started her career in Brazil in 1989 as a Plastic Surgeon. After graduating from medical school, she became interested in the impact of the mind on the development of physical illness. Ruth now works full-time as a Psychotherapist and Supervisor in private practice in London and delivers trainings in Relational Integrative Psychotherapy & Transactional Analysis. She is a Primary Course Tutor at the Manchester Institute for Psychotherapy.

Date: Monday, 29th September 2025
Time: 9.30 am to 4.30 pm
Venue: Manchester Institute for Psychotherapy
Cost: £175 – deposit £75 (non refundable)

This workshop carries Continuing Professional Development credits