Navigating Existential Countertransference
Ethical Considerations in Psychotherapy
- Speaker:
- Kirsten Lind Seal, PhD, LMFT
- Duration:
- 3.5 Hours
- Product Code:
- LWC151103
- Brochure Code:
- PWZ96932
- Media Type:
- Live Webinar - Also available: Digital Seminar
Description
- Catch countertransference before it happens with a dying, suicidal, or grieving client
- See exactly how your own fears are shaping the care you give
- Leave with an actual burnout plan, not just the warning signs
Sometimes a client’s crisis brushes up against your own.
And when you’re working with clients on the largest questions a person can face – death, meaning, isolation, freedom – your own struggles and fears inevitably come up …
… and shape how present and how helpful you’re able to be.
This training helps you hold space with more steadiness, grounded in the philosophy behind existential psychotherapy and the ethical principles for staying present when this work reaches you too.
Join ethics expert Kirsten Lind Seal, PhD, LMFT, who will explore how existential countertransference emerges across diverse clinical settings, including identity transitions, grief, life-stage changes, illness, end-of-life care, and other situations that prompt clients and therapists alike to confront fundamental questions of existence.
You’ll learn how to:
- Apply existential frameworks to meaning, isolation, freedom, and death anxiety
- Recognize countertransference with elderly, ill, suicidal, and end-of-life clients
- Navigate self-disclosure and boundaries in existential work
- Apply ethical codes to existential clinical challenges
- Build self-care practices that prevent burnout
This work doesn’t leave us untouched, and that reality carries real ethical weight.
Register today!
Credit
Speaker
Kirsten Lind Seal, PhD, LMFT Related seminars and products
Kirsten Lind Seal, PhD, LMFT, holds an MA in counseling psychology and a PhD in couple and family therapy from the University of Minnesota. Dr. Lind Seal teaches ethics at two universities and regularly conducts trainings on ethics and cross-cultural issues at the local, regional and national level. She is currently adjunct associate professor at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota and core ethics faculty (adjunct) at Chaminade University of Honolulu. She has extensive training in teaching and learning: at Saint Mary’s she was a Teaching Fellow (2013-2014), and she completed the Preparing Future Faculty Certificate Program at the University of Minnesota in 2014.
Dr. Lind Seal’s research has been published in Psychology Today, Journal of Marital and Family Therapy and Family Process. She has published several case studies and an ethics focused “In Consultation” piece in the Psychotherapy Networker and has reviewed for The Journal of Critical Psychology, Counselling and Psychotherapy (UK). She is currently conducting a scholarship of teaching and learning research project examining the impact of her cultural context ethical decision-making model on graduate students’ cultural growth and ethical decision-making at Chaminade University of Honolulu.
Dr. Lind Seal’s professional memberships are with the Minnesota Association for Marriage and Family Therapy and the New England Association for Family and Systemic Therapy, for which organizations she has created, presented and recorded numerous trainings and webinars on a variety of ethical issues. She has been participating in ongoing monthly anti-racism groups through NEAFAST for the last three years.
She has a completely virtual private practice where she works with individuals, couples and family, and offers ethics consultations to colleagues. She has been interviewed as a content expert by MPR, CNN.com, and the Minneapolis Star Tribune and has for the last 9 years has been a regular on-air contributor on Relationship Reboot, a weekly segment on relationships on WCCO TV’s Channel 4 (CBS Twin Cities).
Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Kirsten Lind Seal maintains a private practice and has employment relationships with Chaminade University of Honolulu and Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota. She receives a speaking honorarium from Psychotherapy Networker and PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Kirsten Lind Seal is a member of the Minnesota Association of Marriage and Family Therapy, a contributor/creator of segments on Mid-morning WCCO TV and a member of The New England Association For Family And Systemic Therapy.
Additional Info
Access Period for Live WebcastYou will have access for 90 days after the program for review. For live CE credit, you must watch the live webcast in its entirety at its scheduled time and complete the CE quiz and evaluation within one week. Please note that this requirement may vary by credit type. Please see detailed credit information for specific requirements for each credit type.
Webcast Schedule
Please note: There will be a 15-minute break mid-day. Actual break start time is at the discretion of the speaker. A more detailed schedule is available upon request.
Questions?
Visit our FAQ page at www.pesi.com/faq or contact us at www.pesi.com/info
Objectives
- List 3 ways to manage existential countertransference with clients who are near the end of life.
- Examine personal beliefs relevant to working with existential issues in psychotherapy.
- Examine awareness around therapist self-disclosure of existential alignment or non-alignment with clients.
- Identify the ethical principles most relevant to working with existential issues in psychotherapy.
Outline
The Weight and Wonder of Existential Philosophy
- Existential philosophy in practice: Not abstract theory, but a lens for confronting what it means to be human
- Foundational voices: Frankl, Kierkegaard
- A working philosophy model
Existential Psychotherapy: Sitting in the Dark with Someone
- Scholars/clinicians of existential psychotherapy/practitioners: May, Yalom
- Existential dread and distress: Naming what most therapies dance around
- Anxiety as a signal, not just symptoms
- The four inescapable themes
- Meaning vs. meaninglessness
- Isolation
- Freedom
- Death anxiety
- Facing the darkness with our clients
Elements of Existential Psychotherapy: What is it that we do?
- Still the foundation: Safe space, empathy, acceptance, positive regard
- Boundaries and framing: More therapist self-disclosure than classic psychoanalysis
- An insight-oriented approach:
- A shared human experience, not a clinical distance
- No topic is too taboo to name
- Existential themes as a path to a fully authentic life
- Bridging the isolation that separates clients from others
The Ethical Tightrope of Existential Work
- Core ethical principles
- Autonomy
- Justice
- Non-maleficence
- Beneficence
- Why boundaries, self-disclosure, and multiple relationships carry extra weight here
- Overview of relevant codes (AAMFT, NASW, APA, ACA)
Countertransference: When the Work Hits Close to Home
- Existential countertransference in high-stakes situations
- Working with elderly clients
- Working with illness
- Working with suicidal clients
- Working with end-of-life issues
- Medical aid in dying
- Working with eco-distress
Models and Interventions for the Hardest Conversations
- Palliative care
- Advanced illness
- Spiritual and religious dimensions
- The new existential frontier: AI in psychotherapy
- Managing countertransference: Creating a plan, not just awareness
Self-Care: An Ethical Obligation, Not a Luxury
- Anxiety, burnout, and impairment
- Ambiguous loss
- Adaptive practices
- Building genuine resiliency
Target Audience
- Counselors
- Psychologists
- Case Managers
- Therapists
- Marriage & Family Therapists
- Social Workers
- Other Mental Health Professionals
Reviews
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