Empowering through connection A case for helping clients heal through the therapeutic relationship

Title : Empowering through connection A case for helping clients heal through the therapeutic relationship

Abstract:

The therapeutic relationship can be a powerful catalyst to engage clients in building healthy relationships with others and healing from the trauma in their past. While most practitioners can agree that the therapeutic alliance is important, there has been a change of focus that has some questioning if ‘person-centered care’ is more than just a turn of phrase. In this oral presentation, the case is made for a return to one of the “basics” of counseling and psychotherapy—the raw power of the therapeutic relationship and how the utilization of the relationship can help our clients move beyond their past, embrace the present and engage in their future.

Topics discussed during the talk: ethical concerns, amount of clinical interactions potentially needed to offset the effects of trauma, and the importance of individualized ‘person-centered’ care for every client.

Biography:

Amy Turnbull-Drilingas studied Mental Health Counseling at Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau, Missouri and graduated as MA in 2017. She was the 2016-2017 president of the Sigma Epsilon Sigma chapter of Chi Sigma Iota, the international honor society for counseling students. She has worked in substance use treatment facilities, mental health treatment centers and with children who have experienced severe trauma. Mrs. Turnbull-Drilingas graduated as Ed. S. in Counseling from Southeast Missouri State University in 2019. She specializes in treating substance use, women and children, and trauma.