Learning about empathy with unconscious states of mind 1

2008 Ellen Noonan Annual Counselling Lecture, Birkbeck College, University of London

It was a very special privilege to give this lecture in honour of my dear colleague and friend Ellen Noonan. The lecture is based on one of the new chapters of my book about therapy with older people. Ellen was a most helpful mentor to me when I was preparing the first edition of this book and I have dedicated the new edition to her memory. The lecture is essentially about learning to use one's feelings in therapeutic work and to illustrate this theme I shall be drawing on experiences of supervising clinical psychology trainees on placement with me in my NHS work. The theme of this lecture applies as much to counselling as to psychotherapy and I use therapy to refer to counselling and psychotherapy.