Workshops

Pre-Conference workshops
Thursday 26 February 2015, 2pm – 5.30pm

Post-Conference workshop
Sunday 01 March 2015

Pre-Conference workshops

Thursday 26 February 2015, 2pm – 5.30pm

Workshop 1

Secrets, lies, hypocrisy and betrayals: Another day at the office of the couple therapist.
Presented by Elisabeth Shaw

Couple therapists constantly work with the fallout from relationship betrayals. Often lies and secrecy are said to be used as a form of “protection” for the partner, who is still loved and wanted despite the transgression. Minimisation can often feel justified when the secrets involve “emotional affairs”, on-line dealings or an activity that felt well intentioned and “for the good of the family” (e.g. gambling). Somehow, along the path of the relationship, individual desire trumped responsibility to the partner, individual decision making made more sense than collective decision making, and this needs to be understood both individually and within a relational frame.  How this is achieved without triggering premature apologies or individual shame can be difficult. Within one session, the therapist must hold one person who may be devastated and another torn between accountability and justification, their reliable relationship seemingly in tatters. This workshop is for trained couple therapists who would like to reflect on and discuss issues both perennial and emerging in their practice in relation to betrayal. It will offer:

  1. A review of current literature on working with betrayal
  2. Consideration of differences and similarities of working with “open” relationships and traditional relationships.
  3. Consideration of real and “virtual” betrayals  
  4. An approach to accountability and repair.
  5. Critique of the place for forgiveness in the context of betrayal

Workshop 2

Counselling Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender persons.
Presented by Y. Barry Chung

During the past few decades in the counseling psychology discipline, there have been significant advancements in theory and practice for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons.  This workshop will focus on knowledge and skill building for working with LGBT clients.  Topics covered will include (a) conceptualization of sexual orientation and gender identity, (b) effects of external and internalized heterosexism and gender-identity bias, (c) LGBT career development issues, (d) factors related to counseling professionals’ biases against LGBT persons, and (e) effective strategies and interventions for LGBT clients.  The workshop will include interactive dialogues as well as case studies and group practices for skill building.

Workshop 3

Practical ways of working with trauma using Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT)
Presented by Melissa Harte

A significant number of adults report being exposed to one or more traumatic event in their lifetimes and child abuse disturbingly common. Working with single event trauma or developmental trauma requires careful consideration around avoiding re-traumatisation and recognising dissociation. Knowing the signs of dissociation and how to deal with it is vital in trauma work. This half-day experiential EFT workshop will provide participants with introductory knowledge and theoretical understanding of the EFT model and practice some of the models therapeutic interventions applicable to trauma work. Practical skills include grounding, developing dual awareness as proposed by Barbette Rothschild, developing a safe place to promote self-soothing and simple but effective methods to assist with hyperarousal.  In addition to the basic principles of working with trauma, a model of trauma processing will be presented.  This model proposes that if a traumatic memory is accessed via bodily felt-sense in conjunction with emotional arousal and activation of other schematic elements, it is possible to reprocess the event in such a way that the person is no longer plagued by the painful aspects of it and not re-traumatised by the re-remembering that occurs when asked to retell their story. If the person is able to express the appropriate primary emotion and articulate their needs within the remembered experience, the associated painful emotional charge is lessened. The event is remembered as having occurred but the emotional intensity is greatly reduced. This reprocessing of the traumatic event is more than a desensitising of that traumatic experience. Participants will be able to apply knowledge gained from this workshop and integrate into their work with their trauma and non-trauma clients immediately as no prior knowledge of EFT is required.

Post-Conference workshop

Sunday 01 March 2015, 9am – 4pm

Workshop 4: morning half day workshop (9am – 12.30pm)

Brief psychodynamic therapy
Presented by Jeremy Holmes

Many psychotherapists today work within a brief psychotherapy model, either through preference or because of financial or geographical constraints. In the first half of the workshop Prof Holmes will present an integrative survey of the main brief dynamic models, ranging from Balint, Malan, Mann, Ryle, Hobson & Meares to current models, especially Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy with its emphasis on mentalising. The emphasis throughout will be on practical implications, and on difficulties and how to work with them. In the live supervision section participants will get a chance to talk about their work in in a non-threatening, collaborative, master-class format.

Workshop 5: afternoon half day workshop (1.30pm – 5pm)

Transference: a practical/theoretical model
Presented by Jeremy Holmes

Working with transference is usually held to be the key distinguishing feature of psychoanalytic therapies.  But what exactly is transference, how does 'working in the transference' help patient recover (if indeed it does), and can it be seen as an example of a more general phenomenon?  In this workshop I shall explore some theoretical and research ideas in the clinical context of the therapeutic relationship, couple relationships, and the uses of metaphor in literature.  The workshop falls into two halves; in the second, participants will be encouraged to bring cases to be discussed a non-threatening, collaborative, master-class format.