Becoming Human Again: Self-disclosure and humour in clinical practice

Presenter and slide deck 

Peter Snow - Clinical Therapist, Youth Wellness Centre, St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton

Slides

Key Learnings

  • Research suggests that self disclosure is a useful method for improving therapeutic relationships and outcomes, and can lead to a better understanding of the self. Self disclosure aims to demonstrate similarity, build rapport, elicit emotion, and open dialogue between therapist and client.
  • There are two types of self disclosure: 1) immediate self disclosure is about expressing the therapist’s feelings towards the therapeutic relationship, and 2) non-immediate self disclosure is about expressing personal information regarding the therapist’s life outside of treatment. 
  • Mindful application of self disclosure and humour in clinical practice is essential. It is important to always consider the best interest of the individual you are working with, to pay attention to their responses, and to be prepared for unexpected results. 

Identified Gaps in Research, Practice, and/or Policy

Therapists need to be critically conscious of their social identity and social location when engaging in any type of therapy technique, including the use of self-disclosure and humour.

Quotes

"Why think about self disclosure? Because you're already doing it!" - Peter Snow

Contact Email of Presenter

Peter Snow – psnow@stjoes.ca 

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