Shari M. Geller

• PhD
• York University

Working effectively in psychotherapy is only possible when clients feel safe and secure. To promote safety and optimal therapy, therapists need to focus more on how they are with clients than what techniques they do in the therapy session. Decades of research demonstrate that the therapeutic relationship is the most consistent predictor of change....

With the recent global pandemic, therapists have had to shift their psychotherapy practice online, as they have been unable to maintain a face to face relationship due to physical distancing measures. This has created an immediate need to understand how to build and maintain strong therapeutic relationships while navigating this new online therapeu...

Therapeutic presence involves being in the moment, receptive, and attuned with clients on multiple levels. research demonstrates that therapeutic presence is necessary to facilitating positive therapeutic relationships and effective therapy. This chapter explains why this happens through the lens of Polyvagal Theory. There is a neurophysiological a...

Therapeutic presence involves therapists using their whole self to be both fully engaged and receptively attuned in the moment, with and for the client, to promote effective therapy. In this paper, we present a biobehavioral explanation of how therapeutic presence can facilitate a sense of safety in both therapist and client, to deepen the therapeu...

This chapter discusses: • A definition and description of what therapeutic presence is… and what it is not • Therapeutic presence as a foundation to Rogers’ core conditions • Research on therapeutic presence in relation to process and outcome • Practical exercises to enhance the cultivation of therapeutic presence

The authors developed two versions of a therapeutic presence measure, based on an earlier model of presence (Geller & Greenberg, 2002)-Therapeutic Presence Inventory-therapist (TPI-T) and client (TPI-C) versions-to measure in-session therapeutic presence. They explored their reliability and validity in two studies. In the first, items generated fro...

Therapeutic presence is a powerful and essential stance for therapists to take with clients. Being fully in the moment, open and receptive to the depth of clients’ experiencing, can help therapists to be more empathic, attuned and genuine, as well as in contact with their own internal experience of being with the client. Therapeutic presence can al...

Vertaling: Niels van Doesum Samenvatting Therapeutische presentie is een krachtige en zelfs essentiële houding om als therapeut tegenover de cliënt in te nemen. Het zich volledig op het moment richten en het zich ontvankelijk openstellen voor de diepgang van de ervaring van de cliënt, kan de therapeut helpen om meer empathisch, ver-bonden en oprech...

This study investigated the relation among clients' ratings of the relationship conditions ( Relationship Inventory), outcome, and working alliance ( Working Alliance Inventory) in both cognitive - behavioral and process - experiential psychotherapy. It was hypothesized that the working alliance mediates the relation between the relationship condit...

In this paper I compare, contrast and discuss ways in which experiential psychotherapy and mindfulness meditation can complement one another. An exploration and comparison of the two perspectives is offered, including their views of human nature, the self, and emotions. It is proposed in this paper that Mindfulness meditation can be used as an adju...

A qualitative study was conducted with expert therapists who are proponents or have written about presence and its importance in psychotherapy. Based on a qualitative analysis of therapists' reports, a working model of therapeutic presence was developed. This included three emergent domains. One domain entails preparing the ground for presence, ref...

Typescript. Thesis (Ph. D.)--York University, 2001. Graduate Programme in Psychology. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 220-228). System requirements for Internet version: Adobe Acrobat reader. Microfiche.