If you have ever felt anxious about how to interpret your clients’ dreams or felt pressure to ‘come up with the goods’ then this workshop is for you. If you have never spent time working with your own dreams but feel a curiosity to do so, then here is your chance to make that start.

This workshop looks at many aspects of dream life including nightmares, repetitive dreams, dream language and links to our unconscious life.

The first half of this video looks at some theoretical models, including Freud, Jung, Perls (Gestalt), cognitive theory, objectivist/constructivist approach, and the Humanistic approaches to working with and understanding dreams. The second half of the video will look at the nuts and bolts of dream interpretation.

Testimonials:

The post Dreams – In conversation with our unconscious self first appeared on Therapy Education Online.

In this video, the hidden dynamics often at play within the complex relationship people have with money are explored.  Case studies and reflective exercises help you to gain insights to understand the unconscious meanings, emotions and beliefs that influence our attitude to money and drive behaviour.

This training gives a deeper understanding of different money perspectives and patterns within your work with clients, while also encouraging an awareness of your own narrative and beliefs around money and how they may influence your therapeutic practice or conflict with your pricing strategies.

The video includes tools and strategies to improve your therapeutic work in supporting clients navigating money issues and explores ways to help transform your own relationship with money.

Testimonials:

“Excellent training workshop on a theme rarely covered in such helpful detail; together with practical ways to approach the topic with clients.”

“A really interesting event on a subject that is rarely discussed in terms of therapy.  I found the exercises particularly helpful and surprising in what they brought up.  Very good indeed.”

“The event was more emotionally powerful than I was expecting. As a result, I think I will be more comfortable with exploring clients’ own relationship with money, when necessary.”

Please note  that any mention in the videos about “handouts” or “printouts” by trainers, are in reference to printouts of the PowerPoint slides, which were made available to delegates who attended the LIVE workshop. These slides are included within the videos and are the property of the trainers. They are not available for download or redistribution with any video rental purchase.

The post Understanding our relationship with money first appeared on Therapy Education Online.

This video is the ideal introduction to understanding what menopause is, when it happens, why it happens and what those who will experience menopause directly can do to help manage the transition and how you, as a therapist, can support those you are working with, and how you can consider your own self care if it will happen to you too.

This training is suitable for therapists of any gender who might be working with individuals or couples, and who are curious about how best to support their clients during this important life transition.

Testimonials:

The post Working with the Menopause in Therapy first appeared on Therapy Education Online.

While some patients welcome time out, perhaps introducing extra breaks by missing sessions, others protest or collapse in the absence of the therapist.

Unexpected breaks due to therapists’ life events are particularly challenging and sometimes catastrophic. But, while the regularity and rhythms of therapy help to create a secure base, the spaces between appointments are essential, holding different meanings at different stages of the work.

Drawing on both Attachment Theory and the work of Winnicott, this presentation also considers the aim of psychotherapy and how breaks, including the therapist’s holidays and sabbaticals, provide essential developmental opportunities.

Testimonials:

“I think Linda was excellent, deep thinking, challenging and helpful.”

“Really welcomed Linda’s case study material and loved the ‘Begonia’ example! Really lovely interaction between her and her client!”

Please note  that any mention in the videos about “handouts” or “printouts” by trainers, are in reference to printouts of the PowerPoint slides, which were made available to delegates who attended the LIVE workshop. These slides are included within the videos and are the property of the trainers. They are not available for download or redistribution with any video rental purchase.

The post Breaks in Therapy: From Separation Anxiety to Security first appeared on Therapy Education Online.

In the training, Dr. Reenee Singh introduces key systemic theoretical ideas. She outlines the rich and robust evidence base of family and systemic psychotherapy for a range of presenting problems, across the family life cycle.

Dr Singh also addresses some of the issues facing contemporary couples and families, within 21st century contexts. Through the use of clips from popular films, case vignettes and case consultations, viewers will be provided with opportunities to make the links between the theoretical and research ideas, their own cultural backgrounds and their clinical case material.

Testimonials:

“Dr Singh was an excellent tutor, clear, knowledgeable and informative with a warm and positive attitude. She struck me as very approachable and she made the session really interesting and helpful.”

“Dr Singh really helped me to think more widely in my curiosity about clients, bringing in so many other threads and avenues to explore (family, wider relationships and culture). I enjoyed her use of language and her knowledge of the history and development of family systems therapy was interesting.”

Please note any mention in the video about “handouts” or “printouts” by trainers, are in reference to printouts of the PowerPoint slides, which were made available to delegates who attended the LIVE workshop. These slides are included within the videos and are the property of the trainers. They are not available for download or redistribution with any video rental purchase.

The post The Family Dance: An Introduction to Systemic Practice first appeared on Therapy Education Online.

In the best version of this approach the therapist will make gentle suggestions that can offer a new angle on the issue at hand that somehow feels right-enough or certainly-possible to their client, and in this way the therapist can assist their client to increase their level of self-insight and knowledge. Less helpful versions of this mode of intervention certainly exist, and can be experienced as clumsy, uncaring, and critical by clients.

In this video three leading thinkers in the field of psychoanalytic thought, question the nature and value of ‘the interpretation’. The training questions the psychoanalytic focus on ‘the interpretation’ and asks what other interventions might be equally valid. We also look at the meaning of interpretation within the context of the therapeutic relationship, and ask questions such as ‘Who benefits?’.

Dr Maggie Turp: The chilli in the curry? Finding a balance between transference interpretation and narrative repair in psychodynamic psychotherapy. 

In some schools of psychoanalytic thought – most notably but by no means exclusively the Kleinian school – the transference interpretation is regarded as the single mutative factor in the therapeutic encounter. Following on from this, interventions revolve exclusively around the transference/countertransference dynamic. Other potentially therapeutic interventions are dismissed as irrelevant, since they are not considered capable of bringing about deep and lasting psychological change.

At the same time research using the Adult Attachment Interview has repeatedly shown that a coherent and emotionally informed self-narrative, or set of self-narratives, is at the very heart of mental wellbeing. Such findings suggest that ‘narrative repair’ (Turp 2012), whereby the patient is encouraged to elaborate his or her self-stories, both with regard to the level of detail and the extent to which they are emotionally informed, is likely to be at least as important a part of the work as interpretation.

Maggie describes in her presentation how she attempts to blend these two vital elements in her practice. Drawing on clinical examples, she outlines the factors that influence her choice of intervention with a particular patient at a particular moment in time.

Dr Aaron Balick: Using the Relationship in Therapy: What makes a relationship with “me” so special?

We’ve all heard that it’s the quality of the relationship that is the most important thing in therapy – but what does that really mean? After all, every single one of us will have a different character style, and this style is based on our own personal attachment patterns, our unique psychodynamics, and our individual personalities. So if all our therapist-client relationships are different, what can we say about “the relationship” that makes any sense? Furthermore, the origin of any intervention, be it an interpretation or something different, will also emerge out of the unique relational matrix between therapist and patient.

In this presentation, Dr. Balick seeks to understand the very nature of an interpretation as something unique to any given therapeutic dyad at any given time. For example, the way Aaron is in any particular therapeutic relationship will create an entirely different therapy than if it were carried out by anybody else. So what can we say about the relationship that makes any sense to help us learn what makes an intervention create positive movement, fall flat, or even cause potential harm?

Drawing on clinical experience and relational theory, Dr. Balick engages with this question by frankly describing how encountering his own fallibility in relation to his clinical work enabled a moment of meeting that sheds light on the broader question, “What makes a relationship with me so special?”

 Patrick Casement: Why do we interpret?

Patrick Casement is a retired analytic psychotherapist, psychoanalyst and training analyst with the British Psychoanalytical Society. He is the author of a number of seminal texts that have become required reading on many counselling and psychotherapy training courses. His first book On Learning from the Patient (1985) was an international best seller and introduced the concept of the ‘internal supervisor’.

In his presentation Patrick tries to answer a number of questions about the craft of interpretation, such as: Who benefits? Whose mind is being expressed? Are we making connections or finding connections? How much is useful to say in an interpretation? What follows from an interpretation? And what is a patient responding to?

Testimonials:

“All three speakers ‘spoke’ to me, challenged my thinking and the humility with which each person spoke of their personal experiences moved, inspired and will remain with me.”

“Engaging – reassuring – educational and exciting. Very moving account from Patrick and enlightening presentation by Aaron and Maggie.”

“So much personal insight. One of the best training days I have been to.”

Please note any mention in the video about “handouts” or “printouts” by trainers, are in reference to printouts of the PowerPoint slides, which were made available to delegates who attended the LIVE workshop. These slides are included within the videos and are the property of the trainers. They are not available for download or redistribution with any video rental purchase.

The post Perspectives on Interpretation first appeared on Therapy Education Online.

The philosopher Martin Buber continually spoke about valuing the other through an “I-thou” relationship; Freud referred to psychoanalysis as “a cure through Love”; and Carl Rogers unreservedly stated that the kind of relationship that he hypothesized and experienced as healing was one in which the client is offered “unconditional love”.

Our three expert speakers are Victoria Settle (CEO, The Bowlby Centre), Robin Shohet (Centre for Supervision & Team Development), and Professor Divine Charura (York St. John University), share their thoughts on aspects such as the very foundations of love in infancy and the importance of early attachment, the problems we encounter when love goes wrong and the ways in which we block and shield ourselves from loving and being loved, and therapeutic theories of love and how therapy can, through love, provide transformation and change in the human condition.

Professor Divine Charura: Love, interconnectedness, trauma and therapy

In this presentation Divine draws on some of the themes from his own practice as a psychotherapist, and his co-edited book (with Stephen Paul) Love and Therapy.

He outlines the different contemporary theories of love and how human psychological and relational development as well as trauma can be understood. He explores questions including:

• What do we mean by love?
• What emerges and what is the impact when love is not available?
• What is the research that illuminates the impact of love as well as the impact of a lack of love?

Divine also focuses on Love in therapeutic settings and the psychotherapeutic frame. Many influential figures of religious faith, philosophers, psychologists and psychotherapists are known to have pointed to the importance of love and the traumatic impact of its absence on the human psyche.

However the issue of Love in relation to working therapeutically with clients often raises cautionary conversations, despite so many key figures in the field of therapy referring to a relational approach being a curative dimension of the therapeutic encounter.

Thus, Love in the psychotherapeutic context is not referring to unethical practice but rather to experiencing a process in which the client moves from a position of seeing her or himself as unworthy and unlovable, to realizing that s/he is deeply accepted, respected, deeply understood, in contact and connection, an authentic-encounter.

Questions that are considered include:

• In what ways do we love our clients?
• How does our love for our clients manifest in the therapeutic relationship?
• Can we hope/believe that love is all you need?
• How are the risks of love managed within and beyond therapy?
• What ethical and professional boundaries govern this ‘Love’ to ensure it remains healing and therapeutic?

Victoria Settle: A Theory of Love

Love lies at the heart of John Bowlby’s theory of Attachment and starts with the love between an infant and their primary caregiver.

From the cradle to the grave, secure attachments with family, friends and partners remain key to our sense of safety and contentment. An attuned parental response to their baby’s cues begins to lay down the foundations for the adult’s attachment security. One of the most powerful factors in the development of insecure attachment patterns lies in the failure of the parent to read their infant’s states of mind.

In this presentation, Tori focuses on the attachment perspective on love and explores the care exchange between care giver and care seeker which can either build security, if it goes well, or undermine and compromise security if it goes badly.

Drawing on both Attachment theory and research and over two decades of clinical experience as an attachment-based psychoanalyst Tori delves into what is effectively a “Theory of Love” and uses clinical vignettes to illustrate the complexities of the care exchange and the impact of our fear systems on that exchange when working with traumatised client groups.

Questions considered include:

• How do our attachment patterns impact on our capacity to work effectively as professional care givers?
• How can we use attachment theory to better understand the complex and often contradictory patterns of seeking care that our clients adopt?
• How do the therapist’s and client’s fear systems interact and derail the care exchange?

Robin Shohet: Love Never Fails

“Love is patient. Love is kind. Love… rejoices with the truth… Love never fails”. (Corinthians 13)

 What’s Love Got to Do with It?  (Tina Turner)

Six year old, Albert, is learning to read and reads out the title of the book on his mother’s desk. ‘In Love with Supervision’ he reads.

“Do you know what supervision means,” she asks.

“Oh yes”, he says “Super – Vision.  It’s when you can see through things and you can see what’s really there.”

She didn’t ask him what he thought was really there, but he might well have replied, “Love.” It is the basis of A Course in Miracles, where a miracle is described as seeing another through new eyes.  It’s what supervision offers to help the practitioner do, which is why I see supervision as spiritual practice.

And here is the paradox.

Much of Robin’s presentation looks at how and why we block this love from our awareness in our daily lives and in our work. And because we block it, we don’t trust ourselves and each other and we create rules to take the place of connection.

Having ‘othered’ each other, these rules are held in place by a fear of being shamed and blamed. The fantasy that without them we would all be having sex with clients, breaking boundaries, abusing power. If we knew ourselves as love, then none of these dysfunctional behaviours would attract us because they come from a place of lack.

Testimonials:

“Glorious, stimulating and profound presentations.”

“It felt like an incredibly important topic in the light of current world events. It helped ‘reset’ my values and commitments as a therapist!”

“What a wonderfully comprehensive take on love. The three speakers complemented each other brilliantly.”

Please note  that any mention in the videos about “handouts” or “printouts” by trainers, are in reference to printouts of the PowerPoint slides, which were made available to delegates who attended the LIVE workshop. These slides are included within the videos and are the property of the trainers. They are not available for download or redistribution with any video rental purchase.

The post Love in Psychotherapy first appeared on Therapy Education Online.

Patrick Casement is a retired analytic psychotherapist, psychoanalyst and training analyst with the British Psychoanalytical Society. He is the author of a number of seminal texts that have become required reading on many counselling and psychotherapy training courses. His first book On Learning from the Patient (1985) was an international best seller and introduced the concept of the ‘internal supervisor.

In his presentation Patrick will try to answer a number of questions about the craft of interpretation, such as: Who benefits? Whose mind is being expressed? Are we making connections or finding connections? How much is useful to say in an interpretation? What follows from an interpretation? and What is a patient responding to?

The post Why Do We Interpret? first appeared on Therapy Education Online.

Trauma impacts us all at some point in our lives. From the ‘everyday’ life trauma of loss and bereavement, to the tragic consequences of childhood sexual abuse, sudden adult trauma, and the effects of immediate, emotional and/or physical traumatic experiences. It is rare for the impacts of trauma to not be felt within the consulting room.

In this presentation we look at trauma from a relational field perspective. The message is about the necessity for therapist self-care – it is not a luxury but an integral part of the work. The presentation focuses on the resources available to the therapist and how we can increase our resilience to more comfortably bear witness without either dissociating or being pulled into trauma contagion.

Two simple concepts drawn from neuroscience research will be reconceptualised to help us consider the relationship in trauma therapy. Reference is made to the therapist’s own relationship to trauma, and Miriam also thinks about the ways in which we as individuals get pulled into helping.

Because trauma is fundamentally experienced in the body, of particular importance for both therapist and client are body-based resources related to safety, grounding and resilience, and attention is given to how we can use these. Participants are encouraged to reflect on their range of resources and how they might develop them further, and on the gains of the work which might include mutual healing.

Trainer Feedback

“Excellent. Very informative. I expected the best and the[training] has been more than this. Miriam is so knowledgeable and shares this in a very accessible way”

“It’s rare to find trauma training of this calibre within the profession.”

“Full, informative, guiding and clarifying with some good ideas for supporting traumatised clients that I can use in my practice. I felt the trainer’s ability to focus on all the parts of the dissociating client were extremely grounding and demonstrated safety in practice.”

“Very useful and well delivered. It met my expectations, I really enjoyed it. Miriam Taylor was very experienced, calm, and knowledgeable.”

“Miriam communicated clearly with obvious depth of experience and helpful examples and role play. A good solid training.”

“Thought provoking, expressive, interesting.”

Please note  that any mention in the videos about “handouts” or “printouts” by trainers, are in reference to printouts of the PowerPoint slides, which were made available to delegates who attended the LIVE workshop. These slides are included within the videos and are the property of the trainers. They are not available for download or redistribution with any video rental purchase.

The post The Well-Resourced Therapist first appeared on Therapy Education Online.

There is a tendency to be suspicious of Muslims or of people perceived to be Muslims. Islamophobia in the external world impacts on our psyche. Unconscious and institutionalized Islamophobia has implications for both Islamophobes and Muslims. If not addressed, it can deviate both the therapist and the client away from the therapeutic task.

The talk will facilitate thinking on Islamophobia and how this is experienced in a clinical setting, helping address some of the underlying issues around it. It will cover the findings of a research study on the topic to shed light on therapists’ experiences of working with it and how it can affect their clients. It may, in turn, facilitate awareness of these issues, helping to identify new ways of working with it.

This course will unravel the subtleties and nuances of the experiences of Islamophobia in the consulting room. The personal, social, and political issues impact the psyche and the psychotherapy, which emphasizes the need for engagement with Islamophobia. The thinking can then also be applied in broader contexts to address Islamophobia thoughtfully in therapy and society.

Learning Outcomes:

• Reflecting on the experience of Islamophobia for psychotherapists watching for Muslims v. watching for Islamophobia in practice
• Moving from focus on the experience of psychotherapists to think about the reciprocal effects of it on clients feeling watched v. watching for themselves
• Teasing out unconscious meanings and associations of practices and policies to curb terrorism and its implications on psychotherapy
• Discovering a fresh perspective on unintended consequences of unconscious and institutionalized Islamophobia for psychotherapists becoming terrorist watchers
• Thinking about the effects on clients facing fear of Islamophobia v. internalized Islamophobia
• Moving from political correctness to attain greater integrity in clinical practice
• Implementing creative ways to restore ‘loss of authenticity’ in psychotherapy
• Working towards the integration of the external and the internal to effectively work with Islamophobia in the consulting room.

Please note  that any mention in the videos about “handouts” or “printouts” by trainers, are in reference to printouts of the PowerPoint slides, which were made available to delegates who attended the LIVE workshop. These slides are included within the videos and are the property of the trainers. They are not available for download or redistribution with any video rental purchase.

The post Islamophobia in the consulting room first appeared on Therapy Education Online.