The Way We Show Up

Course Description

Therapy is one big improvisation — so why don't we train for it? In this interactive workshop, Mariia and Casey bring improv straight into the clinical room, using games and live exercises to build the instincts that actually shape a session. Expect to laugh, participate (as much or as little as you like), and leave with a different relationship to your own presence as a therapist. No performance experience necessary — just a willingness to be a little silly for 90 minutes. Through improvisation, clinicians practice presence, attunement and repair so they can bring them into the therapeutic relationship with clients.

Instructor Information

Educational Goals

1. Develop greater therapeutic presence and responsiveness by applying principles of improvisation to moment-to-moment interactions with clients.
2. Increase flexibility in responding to clients by holding therapeutic agendas, expectations, and planned interventions more loosely and adapting to information that emerges in session.
3. Develop greater comfort with uncertainty, spontaneity, therapeutic missteps, and appropriately used humor as components of authentic and collaborative therapeutic relationships.
4. Strengthen awareness of how the therapist’s own emotional state, performance pressure, and assumptions can influence the therapeutic interaction.

Measurable Learning Objectives

1. Participants will be able to identify five principles of improvisation that can be applied to therapeutic practice: following the client, appropriate use of humor, letting go of perfectionism, openness to spontaneity, and listening/presence.
2. Participants will be able to describe at least two ways that therapist responsiveness, presence, or flexibility can influence the therapeutic interaction and therapeutic alliance.
3. Participants will be able to apply at least one improvisational principle to a clinical scenario involving uncertainty, a therapeutic misstep, a shift in client direction, or difficulty remaining present.

Outline with Main Points for Each Topic (including times)

1. 2:30–2:40 PM · Introduction: Improvisation and Therapeutic Presence — Obj 1 — 10 minutes

   • Introductions and presenter backgrounds
   • Introduction to improvisation as an experiential framework for practicing therapeutic presence, responsiveness, and flexibility
   • Overview of five principles: following the client, humor, letting go of perfectionism, spontaneity, and listening/presence
   • Participation guidelines and experiential orientation

2. 2:40–2:55 PM · Following the Client: “Yes, And” — Obj 1, 2 — 15 minutes

   • “Yes, and” as a practice of accepting and building upon an interpersonal offer
   • Distinguishing following a client from simply agreeing with a client
   • Exploring how rigidly following a predetermined therapeutic agenda can interfere with responsiveness
   • Experiential exercise: Unfrozen / Yes-and
   • Reflection and clinical application

3. 2:55–3:05 PM · Humor Is Okay — Obj 1, 2 — 10 minutes

   • Humor as a potential source of connection, warmth, and authenticity in therapy
   • Considering context, client preference, power dynamics, and potential risks when using humor
   • Distinguishing connecting humor from humor that dismisses, minimizes, or deflects
   • Experiential exercise: Fortunately/Unfortunately
   • Reflection and clinical application

4. 3:05–3:20 PM · Letting Go of the Need to Be the Perfect Therapist — Obj 1, 3 — 15 minutes

   • Therapist performance pressure and the fear of clinical mistakes
   • Viewing therapeutic missteps as opportunities to practice responsiveness and repair
   • Introduction to rupture and repair in the therapeutic relationship
   • Experiential exercise: Expert Panel
   • Reflection and clinical application

5. 3:20–3:30 PM · Being Open to Spontaneity — Obj 1, 3 — 10 minutes

   • Balancing preparation and structure with flexibility in the therapeutic process
   • Identifying how therapist agendas and expectations can affect responsiveness
   • Practicing adaptation to unexpected information or changes in direction
   • Experiential exercise: Ad-Lib Story
   • Reflection and clinical application

6. 3:30–3:50 PM · Listening and Being Present — Obj 1, 2, 3 — 20 minutes

   • Therapeutic presence as moment-to-moment attention and attunement
   • Identifying the tendency to formulate responses while clients are speaking
   • Exploring how the therapist’s emotional state can influence what is communicated to the client
   • Experiential exercise: Rewind–Replay
   • Reflection and clinical application

7. 3:50–4:00 PM · Integration and Closing — Obj 1, 3 — 10 minutes

   • Integrating the five improvisational principles with therapeutic presence and responsiveness
   • Identifying potential applications to participants’ clinical practice
   • Questions and discussion

Total instructional time: 10 + 15 + 10 + 15 + 10 + 20 + 10 = 90 minutes / 60 = 1.5 CE hours

Signing in and out

• Sign in at the door between 2:15 PM and 2:30 PM.
• Sign out and complete this session’s evaluation at the door when it ends at 4:00 PM.
• Sign-in, sign-out and the evaluation are not part of the 1.5 CE hours.

References

• Geller, S. M., & Greenberg, L. S. (2023). Therapeutic presence: A mindful approach to effective therapeutic relationships (2nd ed.). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000315-000
• Sarink, F. S. M., & García-Montes, J. M. (2023). Humor interventions in psychotherapy and their effect on levels of depression and anxiety in adult clients, a systematic review. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 13, Article 1049476. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1049476
• Stein, M., Dshemuchadse, M., Scherbaum, S., & Schnell, K. (2024). Angewandte Improvisation in der Psychotherapie: Erfahrungs- und körperzentrierter Ansatz zur Flexibilisierung der Beziehungsgestaltung [Applied improvisation in psychotherapy: Experience- and body-centered approach to flexible relationship design]. Die Psychotherapie, 69(2), 137–148. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00278-024-00712-x