Edith Stein: Philosophy and Therapeutic Practice

• Online
• 16th Oct '26 6.00 pm – 8.00 pm

Edith Stein's phenomenological account of empathy offers therapists a rigorous framework for understanding what it means to make genuine contact with another person's experience. This workshop explores her core concept of Einfühlung — empathy as a structured act of knowing, distinct from sympathy, projection, or emotional contagion — and its implications for the therapeutic relationship. We will examine vicarious trauma through a Steinian lens, understanding it not as a failure of boundaries but as a consequence of genuine empathic contact without adequate structures for return. We will also explore its under-theorised counterpart: vicarious growth — the transformation available to therapists who remain open to the client's movement toward meaning.

Simon is a BPS Chartered Counselling Psychologist, UKCP registered Existential Psychotherapist, supervisor and trainer. With a varied career in management and clinical roles in NHS community mental health services. Currently working for New Zealand Health: Te Whatu Ora, Auckland. Having worked for the New School of Psychotherapy and Counselling, continuing to provide clinical and research supervision. Interests: trauma, post traumatic growth, cross-cultural therapy, decision-making and resilience