Co-Transference in Therapy

by Student 4
(Mercer University)

This co-transference in therapy sand tray I dedicated to when a client's guardian had a phone conversation with me and was very displeased with her situation. I intended to see the children she had custody over that day, I called her the day before for confirmation and did not get an answer. I called twice and left a message and never received a call back. She text me thirty minutes before her appointment to confirm. Policy stated that we had to have 24 hour notice and she had tried this before. The woman was very controlling and attempted to take over every session with the children. I told her I was unable to make it but we could reschedule.

She then called me a little while later and berated for nearly 20 minutes claiming that I was liar and that I did not even want to see the children. I chose her to be the person I experienced transference with and to make a tray out of it.

I put the phone in the middle to represent the fact that we were on the phone. I then chose and image of someone yelling because the woman did not lower her voice the entire time she was on the phone.

I then chose a picture of a witch looking very maniacal, the woman came across to me as a very mean person so I viewed as a manipulative witch. The witch also has her hands up in an almost victorious way, I chose this to represent the woman's need for control. I put a clear rock in front of the little Cinderella figure (that represents me) to represent calmness, which was a mask. Behind the little me is a large wall and my dragon is behind the wall.

This is representative of how angry I actually felt during the phone conversation and how I was masking it to maintain a professional demeanor. I really wanted to say something very rude back to a woman who accused me of being a liar and not caring for clients who meant very much to me, but I kept cool and calm like the clear rock and gained control over my anger dragon.

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