I don't really like that phrase "winning trust." It sounds like it is a game. If my T is authentic, then I may come to trust him, if being trustworthy is part of who he is. But if he is deliberately trying to "win my trust" rather than just be himself, then I would feel he was not being genuine. I wouldn't like it. It would seem fakey and like he had an ulterior motive. I would also hate it if my T tried to "soothe" me. Yuck. I might run for the hills. My T and I do hug, and I like it. However, we didn't do it until after we trusted each other. Self disclosure he did from the start, because he is authentic. I expect we all feel differently about what makes a trustworthy T and also what interventions we find therapeutic.

I think if a T doesn't think something is therapeutic for a particular client, then they shouldn't do it, even if they think it might help the client trust them more. To me it's debatable whether an action that is not therapeutic can even help engender trust. (I do not consider touch, soothing, or self-disclosing to be necessarily non-therapeutic. Perhaps for some clients, but not absolutely.)