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For the client to feel protected and safe, Donald Winnicott (1896–1971), a leading member of the British Independent Group of the British Psychoanalytic Society, viewed a holding, womb-like therapeutic environment, as key for the creation of a positive transference. When a client felt held in a nurturing, motherly way, they could freely express their impulses and emotions without parental intrusion. In Winnicottian terms, the room of the therapist became a symbol of the warmth and the womb of a mother.