Workshop 1

The Challenge of Caring: Counselling for grief, loss and life threatening illness
Presented by: Professor Dale Larson
Sunday, 24 February 2013
9am – 5pm

Working with people facing grief, loss, trauma, and life-threatening illness poses critical challenges for counselors and other health providers: How can we put our empathy and compassion to work without burning out? What are the keys to effective intervention? How can recent developments in research and theory on grief and grief counseling, evidence-based approaches to bereavement care, burnout and compassion fatigue, and resilience guide our clinical practice? This workshop brings together cutting-edge innovations in theory and practice to address these challenges. We will explore ideas and models from diverse areas—from work on telomeres and mirror neurons to the study of trauma, shame, disclosure, and healing--and translate these ideas into specific counseling and self-care skills that can provide the foundation for successful and rewarding clinical work. The theoretical and practical sides of these topics will be explored through lectures, discussion, and experiential exercises.

Workshop 2

Working at relational depth in Counselling psychology
Presented by: Professor Mick Cooper
Sunday, 24 February 2013
9am – 5pm

What does it mean to engage with clients at a level of emotional depth? How can therapists facilitate their ability to encounter clients in this way? This workshop will give participants an opportunity to explore their experiences of relational depth, and how it feels to meet others at this level of intensity and intimacy in both their therapeutic practice and everyday life. Through small group exercises, pairs-work, discussion and theory input, the workshop will help participants develop a deeper understanding of such encounters, and how they come to deepen their levels of relating in their therapeutic work.