ABSTRACT
Sue Kegerreis sets the scene for the book by providing an overview of the importance of the relationship – always a unique dyadic one – in therapeutic engagement and outcome. Themes which Kegerreis explore include the ‘classical’ countertransference and how our own stories come into play in the work both as a potential obstacle and as a possible asset; the move within the profession to take much more seriously the relational and the therapist’s own subjectivity, thereby re-casting thinking about the ‘modern’ counter-transference as a more nuanced interrelationship; and the particular pressures of adolescence and the way in which that phase of our own lives is still well within our own awareness and memory. She goes on to describe how work with adolescents so often feels urgent and fraught with the anxiety of the stakes being so high in terms of the young person’s trajectory, so pulls more on the therapist’s own subjective experiences of navigating this than is the case when working with younger children. This chapter makes evident that, when combined with psychological understanding, clinical experience and theoretical perspectives, therapists’ own stories bring alive themes which are relevant to adolescent development and can provide fresh insights or new perspectives.
