Empathic Engagement in Clinical Practice

This essential guide for helping professionals offers an insightful, conversational approach to mastering empathic communication with clients. Douglas Flemons invites readers to join him in a dialogue that incorporates voices from multiple disciplines, including clinical research and practice, philosophy (both Eastern and Western), neuroscience, and the arts. He explains what empathy is and offers guidelines for how to make sense of the clients thoughts, feelings, and choices from inside their worldview. He also shows how the clinician, with compassion, curiosity, and an empathic imagination, can create a heartfelt connection that allows the client to feel respected and understood and that opens the way for collaboration and therapeutic change. Innovative strategies for therapist self-care are also thoroughly explored. Practitioners learn how to effectively engage in and safely disengage from close empathic relationships, even with clients who are deeply suffering or who present complex emotional challenges.