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When You Don’t Like Your Client: Ethical & Clinical Management (3 CEU's)
HIGH-RISK & CLINICAL EDGE CASES
When You Don’t Like Your Client: Ethical & Clinical Management – 3 CEUs
Overview:
Therapists are often expected to communicate unconditional positive regard, empathy, and nonjudgment; however, clinicians are also human and may occasionally experience strong negative reactions toward clients. Feelings of irritation, dread, frustration, resentment, boredom, discomfort, or even dislike can emerge in treatment for a wide variety of reasons. Certain client behaviors, relational patterns, communication styles, value differences, boundary challenges, or reminders of personal experiences may evoke powerful emotional responses that therapists feel ashamed or reluctant to discuss. Because these reactions can conflict with professional identity and expectations, clinicians may avoid acknowledging them, increasing the risk of blind spots, enactments, burnout, or compromised clinical judgment.
In this presentation, Dr. Zairys Feliz, Ph.D., LCSW, participants will examine practical and ethically grounded approaches for understanding and managing difficult therapist reactions when strong negative feelings emerge toward clients. Attendees will explore how countertransference, personal history, unresolved experiences, cultural differences, therapist expectations, attachment dynamics, and clinical context may contribute to these reactions. The course will address common therapist responses including avoidance, overcompensation, emotional withdrawal, excessive rigidity, rescuing behaviors, and unconscious enactments that can interfere with treatment. Participants will learn practical strategies for increasing self-awareness, utilizing consultation and supervision effectively, reducing shame, maintaining ethical care, and determining when treatment continuation, referral, or additional support may be clinically appropriate. Through case examples and applied discussion, attendees will gain practical tools for navigating one of psychotherapy’s most uncomfortable yet common professional realities.
Objectives:
Identify factors that contribute to strong negative emotional reactions and therapist dislike within clinical work.
Recognize countertransference patterns and therapist responses that may interfere with treatment effectiveness.
Apply ethical and clinically informed strategies for self-reflection, consultation, and management of difficult therapist reactions.
Scope and Limitations Disclosure
This course provides licensed and pre-licensed mental health professionals with an overview of ethical and clinical approaches for managing therapist reactions and countertransference concerns. Participants will learn practical assessment and intervention strategies relevant to outpatient clinical practice. This training does not provide comprehensive psychodynamic training or certification in specialized countertransference treatment models. Participants are expected to apply course material within their professional scope of practice, ethical standards, and ongoing consultation when appropriate.
Financial and Commercial Disclosure
The presenter has no relevant financial relationships or conflicts of interest to disclose. Any references to therapeutic frameworks, ethical concepts, interventions, or resources are included solely for educational purposes. Participants are not required to purchase any additional materials to complete this course.
Refund Policy – Live CE Trainings (Virtual & In-Person)
All registrations for live CE trainings are subject to this refund policy. By enrolling, participants agree to these terms. Cancellations made 7 days or more prior to the scheduled training date are eligible for a full refund minus a $25 administrative fee, or participants may elect to receive a full credit toward a future training. Cancellations made less than 7 days before the scheduled training are non-refundable; however, registrations may be transferred to another eligible training or another attendee with prior written approval. Participants who fail to attend a scheduled live training, do not complete attendance requirements, or fail to satisfy course participation requirements are not eligible for refunds or CEUs. If a training is canceled or rescheduled by the provider, registrants will be offered either a full refund or the opportunity to transfer to another training. Refunds will not be issued if participants are unable to earn CEUs due to incomplete attendance, failure to complete required evaluations, or licensing board eligibility restrictions.
HIGH-RISK & CLINICAL EDGE CASES
When You Don’t Like Your Client: Ethical & Clinical Management – 3 CEUs
Overview:
Therapists are often expected to communicate unconditional positive regard, empathy, and nonjudgment; however, clinicians are also human and may occasionally experience strong negative reactions toward clients. Feelings of irritation, dread, frustration, resentment, boredom, discomfort, or even dislike can emerge in treatment for a wide variety of reasons. Certain client behaviors, relational patterns, communication styles, value differences, boundary challenges, or reminders of personal experiences may evoke powerful emotional responses that therapists feel ashamed or reluctant to discuss. Because these reactions can conflict with professional identity and expectations, clinicians may avoid acknowledging them, increasing the risk of blind spots, enactments, burnout, or compromised clinical judgment.
In this presentation, Dr. Zairys Feliz, Ph.D., LCSW, participants will examine practical and ethically grounded approaches for understanding and managing difficult therapist reactions when strong negative feelings emerge toward clients. Attendees will explore how countertransference, personal history, unresolved experiences, cultural differences, therapist expectations, attachment dynamics, and clinical context may contribute to these reactions. The course will address common therapist responses including avoidance, overcompensation, emotional withdrawal, excessive rigidity, rescuing behaviors, and unconscious enactments that can interfere with treatment. Participants will learn practical strategies for increasing self-awareness, utilizing consultation and supervision effectively, reducing shame, maintaining ethical care, and determining when treatment continuation, referral, or additional support may be clinically appropriate. Through case examples and applied discussion, attendees will gain practical tools for navigating one of psychotherapy’s most uncomfortable yet common professional realities.
Objectives:
Identify factors that contribute to strong negative emotional reactions and therapist dislike within clinical work.
Recognize countertransference patterns and therapist responses that may interfere with treatment effectiveness.
Apply ethical and clinically informed strategies for self-reflection, consultation, and management of difficult therapist reactions.
Scope and Limitations Disclosure
This course provides licensed and pre-licensed mental health professionals with an overview of ethical and clinical approaches for managing therapist reactions and countertransference concerns. Participants will learn practical assessment and intervention strategies relevant to outpatient clinical practice. This training does not provide comprehensive psychodynamic training or certification in specialized countertransference treatment models. Participants are expected to apply course material within their professional scope of practice, ethical standards, and ongoing consultation when appropriate.
Financial and Commercial Disclosure
The presenter has no relevant financial relationships or conflicts of interest to disclose. Any references to therapeutic frameworks, ethical concepts, interventions, or resources are included solely for educational purposes. Participants are not required to purchase any additional materials to complete this course.
Refund Policy – Live CE Trainings (Virtual & In-Person)
All registrations for live CE trainings are subject to this refund policy. By enrolling, participants agree to these terms. Cancellations made 7 days or more prior to the scheduled training date are eligible for a full refund minus a $25 administrative fee, or participants may elect to receive a full credit toward a future training. Cancellations made less than 7 days before the scheduled training are non-refundable; however, registrations may be transferred to another eligible training or another attendee with prior written approval. Participants who fail to attend a scheduled live training, do not complete attendance requirements, or fail to satisfy course participation requirements are not eligible for refunds or CEUs. If a training is canceled or rescheduled by the provider, registrants will be offered either a full refund or the opportunity to transfer to another training. Refunds will not be issued if participants are unable to earn CEUs due to incomplete attendance, failure to complete required evaluations, or licensing board eligibility restrictions.