Transference/Counter-transference (Extra Post for SONA points)

Being a case manager a recovery house, my case load consists of guys with varying personalities. During interactions with these residents, sometimes emotions take hold of the conversation and things become difficult to accomplish. Subconsciously, one of us experiences transference and/or counter-transference. Transference is when my words or actions are causing the resident I'm working with to react emotionally based on past experiences. Counter-transference is when the residents are bringing up emotions in me based on past experiences. How I perceive guys on my caseload can affect how I view their recovery. While each guys is at a different stage of change at any given point, I have been working hard in supervision to identify these feelings and take a normal neutral work at the logistics of their program. We're humans and emotions are natural. For me, being able to identify how I am perceiving someone and the reasons behind it help me to change my perception. I'm still in the first year of working here and I know my awareness will increase. It is very interesting to me to see how peoples perception of their recovery changes, just as mine had a couple years ago.