Meeting Client Defenses Differently

A mindbody practice to help therapists feel more effective when faced with defenses and protection.

To get the full benefit of this practice, listen to the full video - the end is where it gets really good.

If you’re a therapist, you’ve faced many protective strategies that your clients bring to their work with you.

And, if you’re a therapist, you have pocketfuls of your own defenses.

We’re human. It’s deeply built into our systems to protect ourselves, and over time our defensive strategies build up, operating on autopilot, and often without us even being aware of them.

As therapists, a considerable part of our job is to help our clients notice when they feel vulnerable, protective, or defensive. We can support clients as they become more aware of how these responses do or do not serve them in their current situations. We can work with them to soften or re-shape them, and develop new options.

We can do this for ourselves too. I’d say this is a pretty important part of our own growth, both personal and professional.

But working with defenses and protective strategies can be intimidating, uncomfortable, or confusing. And trying to do it using body-centered approaches, even more so.

We don’t want to ignore our clients defenses, and we don’t want to push them too far. So, how do we find the middle ground, and how do we gently nudge without “poking” too hard?

I think you have some wisdom about this already! I developed this practice in one of my therapist consultation groups and decided to share it more widely.

In this short guided video, I offer a simple somatic reflection to help you notice your own experience of defensiveness and get curious about what is and is not helpful for you. Then, I encourage you to use this information to consider how you can respond to your clients.

Schedule 5-10 minutes or more to listen to watch the video or listen to the audio and then as much time as you’d like to explore what comes up for you. Then please share about your experience, your reflections and your questions!

Content on this channel is owned by Annabelle Coote. All rights reserved.

Learn more about working with me at: https://annabellecoote.com To stay in touch with me and receive more videos like this one, sign up for my email list on my website.