Developing and Maintaining Therapeutic Relationships Online with Alla Rowe and Julia Ovchinnikova

During the workshop, we will explore the essentials of a genuine psychotherapeutic process while working by Skype. Starting with a brief history of an online work that began with chat rooms and later moved on to Skype work, participants will be invited to look at the therapeutic presence and imaginative function as one of the key concepts. The need for and the lack of physical proximity will be explored. Case presentations will illustrate the situations when the physical distance becomes a serious obstacle in the therapy, when it could be overcome and rare cases where it facilitates the therapeutic process. How do our own sensory function and body attunement impact on the work? Do they facilitate therapy via Skype?  There will be space to explore your own individual emotional experience of online communication, personal associations with the use of devices and “screen” and how those influence their attitudes towards online therapy work.

During the afternoon we will look at the peculiarities of transference and countertransference with special attention to embodied countertransference. Managing the emotional container when the physical container is “contaminated” or absent will be presented as a case study. Seductions and distractions in online therapy, shame related issues will be explored and followed by clinical vignettes.

Finally, we will think about the concept of technology as the “third”, new therapeutic landscape and how it can be acknowledged, embraced and worked with in therapy is discussed. The critical issues for the profession then become the professional development for practitioners in the use of Skype and suggestions are listed.