ABSTRACT
Amidst waves of joy and inevitable human suffering, therapists are entrusted with the task of masterfully holding both themselves and others with tenderness and wholehearted compassion. Their embodiment of therapeutic presence and compassion in sessions is essential in helping clients to feel safe and genuinely understood. Therapeutic presence is fundamental to deepening therapeutic relationships, enhancing client safety, strengthening therapeutic outcomes, and prioritizing clinician self-care. It provides the clinician with the ability to prepare, engage, and be fully available to those within their care. This chapter will focus on the importance of therapeutic presence, and specifically its value in cultivating a compassion-based stance in the face of grief and loss. There will be a discussion of the foundational research and neurophysiological underpinnings of presence, followed by an exploration of acceptance and presence with grief and loss. Finally, the chapter will conclude with an elaboration on the reciprocal influence of presence and compassion, outlining specific aspects which can be developed through concrete clinical skills, practices, and suggestions for training.
