IJSP Number 4, 2022

26 Creating the Psychotherapist ’s Identity in the Training and Supervision Program VÎŞCU Loredana -Ileana 1 1 European Association of Integrative Psychotherapy (EAIP); The Institute of Psychotherapy, Psychological Counselling and Clinical Supervision (IPCS); “Tibiscus” University of Timisoara, Romania; C hartered member with AFBPsS The British Psychological Society (BPS) Emails: loredana.viscu@gmail.com Abstract Psychotherapists are humans, and humans have different personalities and identities. So not all psychotherapists are the same, they develop differently; they have different perspectives in life and go through different training programs. Psychotherapists discover during training what motivates them in their practice, what they need to accomplish, how they need to behave with clients, with colleagues, with supervisors. Identity is also shaped in training being challenged by development both in theory and in practice, but also in supervision being challenged by the supervisory alliance and by the therapeutic relationship with the client. Key words: Supervision, the psycho therapist’s identity, training programs, the supervisor’s identity . 1. Introduction. The psycho therapist’s identity in training programs It is helpful for psychotherapists to understand how their perceptions, their beliefs, their worldviews inform their practice with clients. As a result of their training, their supervision and their practical experience, they may develop automatisms in perceiving clients in therapy; they may add changes to their personalities and their professional identities. As they develop, gain experience, begin to feel more competent in their work, psychotherapists are also more confident about the techniques, the approaches, the interventions they use, the ways they deliver psychotherapy and can identify a clear pattern in their practice. The concept referring to the psycho therapist’s identity is increasingly used in psychotherapy training programs. Other professions also use the term “identity", but why the need to emphasize it in the context of psychotherapy? One reason could be to draw attention to the responsibility and modesty of the psychotherapist profession. When a future psychotherapy specialist starts training, when one enters the profession and practices psychotherapy, this person also starts “working” with oneself, starts a redefinition of what was known and will end up practicing in totally different ways than supposed at first. The individual ’s identity cannot be taken out of the social, cultural, and historical contexts in which this is created. [1, 2] Psychotherapist trainees nowadays