11.4.2. Exercise: Practicing Empty Chair Work [Chapter 12]
In general, Empty Chair Work is the most emotionally intense PE task. For that reason, we typically save it for late in the training process, after the training group has established trust in one another and members have developed procedures for handling potentially painful material in workshops. In workshop, trainees can begin practicing by working on unfinished business involving a less significant other such as a roommate, or former employer or teacher. Because of the intensity of empty chair work, one’s own personal therapy is probably the best and safest context for learning this task from the “inside” or client perspective. Alternatively, it is possible to practice Empty Chair Work on your own, without a therapist present. And of course supervised practice is key to learning this complex task.
Materials designed to
accompany the book Learning Emotion-Focused Therapy: The
Process-Experiential Approach to Change from APA Books.
©2003 Robert Elliott, Jeanne Watson, Rhonda Goldman, and Leslie Greenberg
http://www.process-experiential.org/learning