Clinical social work is seen as requiring a theoretical understanding of professional empathy as involving, not just intrapsychic or interpersonal concepts, but ones which involve both the person and the environment. This article draws upon concepts from traditional social work practice and current concepts of Stern, Sanville, Loewald, Vygotsky and Winnicott in defining empathy as “playing in transcontextual space,” a formulation that is proposed as capturing clinical processes while making clear the worker's need for cultural information.