As a therapist, at times, I feel caught before I realize anything has happened. My human nature takes over faster than my words can form. I long to assist my client, and yet, as we say in Brainspotting, I come out of the tail of the comet. In other words, I lose attunement. In these moments, I am blindsided and develop tunnel vision, figuratively and literally. Physiologically, we all have a “blind spot” and need to reorient ourselves to see what is inside the “blind spot.” We lose perspective of the larger picture.
One way to shift out of this state is to reorient ourselves by shifting our bodies, eyes, and thoughts. After sitting with client after client, without even realizing it, we may accumulate reactions deep in the cells of our bodies and can’t shift as quickly as we wish. The Clearing Limbic Countertransference Training helps us get in touch with the sensations and
experiences that have accumulated over time. It provides space and opportunity for us to reconnect to our own self-healing source. We will be exploring empathy and compassion during the training. To reach the best attuned empathetic level within the client-therapist field, we try to cultivate skills that help us move from empathy to compassion which provides us with resiliency against burnout.
As Brainspotting practitioners, we try our best to be our present attuned self in relationship with our client, which will support the client to go as deeply as they need to go. However, if we are blocked, this impacts the space we are holding for the client to do their deeper work.
Brainspotting also provides us with a potential self-care practice that can assist us in discharging our own traumatic saturation from the client’s content or discharge our own unfinished business from our life experiences. Compassion urges warm feelings of kindness toward others and incorporates merely the acceptance of the suffering. We don’t take it on but only send thoughtful feelings toward the bearer. It is recommended to practice self-compassion techniques as a therapist, such as self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness, so we can pair compassion with empathy where required. Instead of holding the moment of suffering, we are being mindful and holding them in a loving space. We consciously call up compassion for the client rather than being emotionally traumatized. This is a healthier way to work, and it will decrease our risk for burnout.
To learn more about your limbic countertransference, how to shift, and how to enter an expanded state as an attuned Brainspotting therapist, we want to invite you to the Advanced Clinical Training on Clearing Limbic Countertransference: Enhancing Attunement presented by Cynthia Schwartzberg, LCSW and Cherie Lindberg, LPC on January 14-16, 2022 from 12:00 pm to 8:30 pm UK Time each day.
Cynthia and Cherie developed this training after years of listening to consultees who have suffered from the content they hear in sessions. They want to separate from it but can’t. Some consultees feel stuck with clients because their 
issues hit “too close to home.” As Senior Trainers in the US, Cynthia and Cherie have walked their own Brainspotting healing paths for many years. They believe we learn Brainspotting from the inside out and the outside in.
This training takes us on a journey from exploring our limbic countertransference reactions to exploring our patterns and “blind spots” with certain clients. We also explore our bodies’ reactions. As we dive deeper into the process, we shift into the more vulnerable, often preverbal parts of ourselves to uncover the origin of our reactions. This results in a turning point on your journey as a Brainspotting therapist into a state of expansion and possibility. Click here for a short video we made about this training. Join us and get rejuvenated.
