ADVANCED TRAINING and PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT 2007/08This page informs you about Chiron's advanced training and professional development courses for practising counsellors and psychotherapists during the academic year 2007/2008. You can download the programme booklet in printable pdf-format by clicking here | |
| Introduction | Quick Links: |
| How has Body Psychotherapy developed and what does it offer now ? | Calendar of Events |
| The new view of the body-mind relationship | Somatic Trauma Therapy |
| Current Body Psychotherapy and how it differs from traditional Body Psychotherapy | Embodied transference and countertransference |
| Body Psychotherapy's shadow aspects and inherited wounds | Working with Illness |
| Chiron Body Psychotherapy: a relational model of the body/mind both intra-psychically and intersubjectively | Exploring the Mind in the Body |
In this programme we are offering practitioners from other therapeutic schools and orientations the opportunity to acquire - in condensed and concentrated form - the most promising and essential concepts, skills, qualities and techniques which comprise Chiron work.
All of the courses in this programme are based on the assumption that your practice will be deepened, enriched, and intensified through an attention to yours and your client's whole body/mind. And we would expect this to apply across various client populations, not just those with immediate psychosomatic complaints or physical presenting problems.
This assumption is rooted in a relational framework which attends to the parallel processes occurring across the body/mind spectrum in client, practitioner, and in the therapeutic relationship.
Rather than merely complementing your current style and approach, or seeking to replace it with another set of concepts and tools, it is our aim to enhance your work by extending it into a body/mind framework.
Rather than simply help you glimpse the insights and paradigm shifts of modern neuroscience, many of our courses are designed to be specifically translated into your psychotherapeutic paradigm, and thus applied to your everyday practice.
In recent years, approaches such as traumawork, EMDR and cognitive-behavioural therapy have increasingly taken on board body-oriented techniques. However, the application of these techniques requires embodied timing and attunement - so, in addition to these techniques, we teach the corresponding body-based skills of perception, a holistic framework and, most importantly, awareness of the therapist's own body.
We are offering this advanced programme in our belief that :
Some specific learning objectives for counsellors and psychotherapists are:
We have designed this programme of Advanced Training and Continuing Professional Development events and courses in recognition of three changes in the field over recent years:
1. Modern neuroscience has de-constructed the still prevalent 19th century mind-over-body bias inherent in most counselling and psychotherapy: our profession is based on assumptions regarding the mind, the body and their relationship which are recognised as out-dated, misleading and insufficient. We will detail some of the key points below.
2. Like the rest of the field, the Body Psychotherapy tradition has 'grown up' from its heydays in the 1970's and 80's. However, a widespread confusion between bodywork and Body Psychotherapy has left many assumptions and prejudices, which are also out-dated and no longer apply to current Body Psychotherapy theory and practice.
Chiron has been at the forefront of these changes within the Body Psychotherapy tradition, bringing a more integrative and relational perspective. In comparison to other therapeutic approaches these developments are much less widely known, as they have not been written up and documented. We will summarise some of the key developments below.
3. We are receiving an increasing number of requests from practitioners trained in other approaches for input regarding the body, its relational and unconscious significance, subliminal and non-verbal communication, and the psychosomatic connection. These requests are not usually for a whole second training, but for body-oriented input relevant to their main approach which enhances and deepens the work within their own modality by expanding awareness - in regard to both client and therapist - of the full body/mind spectrum.
Recent developments in neuroscience, psychoanalysis, consciousness studies, genetics, traumawork and other interdisciplinary sciences (e.g. complexity theory), have led to a paradigm shift regarding our understanding of the body-mind relationship. Psychotherapy of the 21st century, in whatever shape or form, cannot afford to ignore the emerging paradigm which has transformed our hierarchical conception of mind-over-body into a more mutual and co-created notion of the relationship between mind and body. The brain as the central computer, managing the organism in top-down fashion, has been deconstructed as a hopelessly inadequate and misleading metaphor. Yet most psychotherapy theory, practice and meta-psychology is still pervaded by it. The field of counselling and psychotherapy needs to take on board these challenges to its underlying paradigm.
Insight, understanding, reflection, words and language (the left-brain) can no longer be seen as the only or even the dominant factors for change in the therapeutic relationship. We now recognise that the previously taken-for-granted bias towards the mind has pervaded our perception of reality and led to misapprehensions in every field and respect, including counselling and psychotherapy.
As elsewhere, we are only now beginning to work towards a more balanced view of cognition and affect, the brain's cortex and the limbic system, the central nervous system and the autonomous nervous system, the electrical brain and the biochemical brain (which is not at all restricted to the head only, but operates throughout the body). In the past only the first item of each of these pairs has been valued, recognised, researched, thus restricting our appreciation of holistic functioning and self-organisation of the body/mind as a system.
Parallels between the client-therapist relationship and the infant-mother dyad are being recognised, in that emotionally-attuned interaction affects physiology and anatomy and vice versa. Our embeddedness in a social, relational context does not mainly rely on speech and cognition, but is rooted all the way down in biology. The human body/mind is a complex, multi-dimensional system of reciprocal feedback loops and parallel processes, which we can never do justice to with a simple, linear, mind-over-body meta-psychology.
With practitioners having taken an increasing interest in neuroscience and attachment theory, one question has remained largely unaddressed: how to apply this knowledge to counselling and psychotherapy - on our own terms? Or more specifically: how to translate these insights into practice, without submitting to the un-psychological scientific tendencies they come packaged with ? How to include these insights without losing our therapeutic and relational 'homeground' ?
There is one therapeutic approach where the otherwise neglected and repressed body has been championed: the Body Psychotherapy tradition. Since the 1930's, Wilhelm Reich and his followers have developed a set of perceptive, theoretical and practical tools which attend to the body, emphasise its role in therapy and work with it. A sophisticated developmental theory and typology has been complemented by powerful techniques, based on radical assumptions about the body/mind, many of which are now being confirmed by neuroscience. However, the Body Psychotherapy tradition has paid a high price for developing its specialist expertise - like every other approach it has its wounds and gifts. There are shadow aspects, areas of undifferentiated perception and one-sided and biased habits and assumptions. These shadow aspects have not passed unnoticed, and have led to criticisms and also prejudices against Body Psychotherapy. But in the same way in which other approaches have moved on since the 60's (e.g. Gestalt, TA, psychoanalysis), Body Psychotherapy has done so, too.
At Chiron we have struggled with these inherited wounds for the last 20 years. We have listened and learnt from other theories and approaches, and tried to integrate these into a more comprehensive, relational and integrative formulation of Body Psychotherapy. We would like to make available to you the 'best' that Body Psychotherapy now has to offer, with a minimum of its traditional baggage.
Here we give a brief summary of the main themes and issues we have struggled with (for a more detailed discussion, please visit our website: www.chiron.org).
Out of an underlying idealisation of the body, which tries to reverse the cultural dominance of the mind over body, Body Psychotherapists have tended to use the body in an un-relational, un-psychological way. Body Psychotherapy, for all its championing of the body, has had an inherent tendency to objectify the body, to break through the armour, to undercut the defences or to access primary impulses. This has generated both an emphasis on catharsis on the one hand, and an emphasis on gratification on the other, leading to a lack of containment and boundaries, and dangers of regression and re-traumatisation.
The more Body Psychotherapy was confused with and reduced to pure bodywork, the more it was seen to be treating the body rather than also relating to, and from, within it. As a consequence not much attention has been given to the transference, let alone the countertransference, prompting the prejudice that Body Psychotherapy boils down to a set of body-oriented, often provocative techniques. The relational dimension had got increasingly lost, or reduced to a caring, reparative therapeutic position, without much understanding that client and therapist co-construct the therapeutic space. Body Psychotherapy was pervaded by a simplistic identification of the unconscious with the body, and did not actually do justice to the whole body/mind although that was its professed aim.
In the past, Body Psychotherapist were in the habit of seeing the mind as 'the problem' and the body as 'the solution'. At Chiron we recognise this as one possibility, but rather than simply reversing the cultural dominance of the mind over the body (as Body Psychotherapy has tended to attempt historically) we now do see body and mind as mutually and reciprocally related.
In relation to all of these themes and issues we have tried, both personally and as an organisation, to embrace our own motives for being attracted to Body Psychotherapy, and to work these through emotionally as well as theoretically.
Originally, Body Psychotherapy had to take a polarised position in the field, reversing the dominant mind-over-body paradigm and postulating a body-over-mind priority, illustrated by Fritz Perls' statement: "lose your head and come to your senses". But rather than simply counteracting or complementing the inherited bias within our tradition, for example by balancing catharsis with containment, we have tried to address the polarities underlying our inherited bias. This, we feel, allows us now to do justice to the physical-energetic, the emotional and imaginal-symbolic as well as the relational aspects, each equally on their own terms and together as facets of the whole that is the therapeutic relationship.
In terms of the body-mind polarity (and other polarities inherent in the therapeutic endeavour), we are moving towards a paradoxical position which can embrace both ends of the spectrum. We thus hold onto the original impulses of Body Psychotherapy, but without the biased and polarising dogma which necessarily characterises the origins of any approach.
Chiron, since its beginning in the early 1980's, has always been inspired by the image of the 'wounded healer', but now - with the notion of 'embodied countertransference' - this has become a central pillar of the work moment-to-moment. Although we are drawing eclectically from a wide variety of humanistic and psychoanalytic theories and techniques beyond traditional Body Psychotherapy, we think of our work now as integrative, in the sense that we are not just integrating contradictory theories, but working with the forces of integration and dis-integration in the therapeutic relationship, as paralleled on all levels of the body/mind in client and therapist.
In recognising the subjective reality of an 'inner world', including conscious and unconscious processes, we share a modern psychoanalytic perspective of the self, as - for example - expressed by Mitchell ("Can Love Last", p. 44): "Psychologists and philosophers have traditionally portrayed the self as a very knowable indeed: the self is built of stable and predictable structures; carries a continuous core self; at the heart of the self is a singular kernel that, if safety is presumed, seeks validation. But there are newer theoretical currents that portray the self as much more inaccessible, decentered, fluid, and discontinuous."
Our body/mind perspective confirms and enhances Mitchell's view of the contextual, shifting, open-ended process qualities of the self. In recognising how this subjectivity interweaves and communicates with others, we work relationally, intersubjectively. But in addition, we pay attention to how both intrapsychic and interpersonal realities organise themselves across the whole body/mind spectrum as a particular and individual matrix between the poles of wholeness and fragmentation, and all the dynamic shades in between. What we call 'potential wholeness' may be elusive, but it is not merely wishful thinking or an ideological programme - it is an experiential reality. Winnicott referred to the possibility of the "psyche indwelling in the soma" and its vulnerability to being aborted through developmental injury. We want to be equally sensitive and available to the inexorable potential wholeness as well as the existing pain, damage, injury and fragmentation.
A holistic perspectives does not see body and mind as two separate and opposed entities, but as interdependent and 'one'. However, this precious theoretical perspective often blinds holistic theorists and practitioners: in idealising unity of body and mind and working against what they correctly call a 'body/mind split', they can neglect or override the actual 'felt sense' of an 'inner war' between 'mind' and 'body'. At Chiron we are interested both in the split or the disconnection between mind and body and their potential integration and wholeness. We are not habitually biased for or against duality or unity of body and mind, but work with the tension between the two, attending first and foremost to 'what is'.
Common sense awareness can readily identify an inner duality between physical and mental processes, and this is inextricably linked to the psychological suffering which people bring to therapy. Clients report body/mind fragments which constitute their 'inner' experience: wounds and disturbances of the self, buried trauma, defences and internal objects enter the room as sensations, movements, symptoms, feelings, images and thoughts and transmit their subjective reality to the therapist via these communicative channels.
Whether satisfying or frustrating, creative or dysfunctional, the client's characteristic patterns of relating, both to themselves and to others, are tied into body/mind patterns of sensing, feeling, acting and thinking. The multitude of processes across the spectrum from physiological to emotional to imaginal to mental constitutes the client's sense of self - as conflicted and pressurised or fragmented and broken or as robust and whole. A significant feature of that potential wholeness is the way the reflective, symbolising mind relates to spontaneous events throughout the body/mind and vice versa.
Rather than idealising the body and 'treating' it as if it had 'the answer', we now ask: how does the mind relate to the body ? how does the body relate to the mind ? what is the existing relationship between body and mind which constitutes the systemic-holistic context for the psychological problem? And what other (past and current) relationships does this resemble, repeat or re-enact?
This emphasis on the relational aspects of therapy has been a growing trend in the field. For us this means paying attention to the vicissitudes of transference, countertransference as both subtle and intense body/mind processes (including biopsychological interactions such as internalisation, merging, evacuation and projective identification).
Grasping the biological as emotional, psychological and mental has long been a feature of Body Psychotherapy, but we have now refined this into a model which is both learnable, applicable and accessible whilst doing justice to the inherent body/mind complexity of the therapeutic relationship. Our model builds on the essentially relational nature of psychotherapy, but goes beyond rather vague notions (like the 'quality of relationship') and formulates a holistic phenomenology of relating which puts the idea of parallel process and re-enactment at the heart of a holistic-relational perspective.
We see these ideas as having a bearing on all the psychological problems that clients commonly bring to psychotherapy and as forming a significant and easily-accessible feature of the pain and suffering we are called to be involved with. Most of these ideas can be applied and integrated across the range of therapeutic approaches, maybe in modified form. We are confident they will have an enriching and clarifying effect on your therapeutic thinking and will help to deepen and intensify your practice.
We are obviously continuing to develop and learn and whilst we are excited about sharing this 'work-in-progress' with you through the courses offered in this programme, we also invite you to participate in this collective process and contribute to it.
Tel.: 0208 997 5219
E-mail: chiron@chiron.org
Besides advanced training courses in Body Psychotherapy, Chiron offers an Open Programme with experiential courses. We also run a clinic and have a referral service offering one to one psychotherapy, Biodynamic Massage, Psychotherapy groups and supervision. Please ask for details.
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RELATIONAL BODY PSYCHOTHERAPY IN PRACTICEwith Shoshi AsheriThe fee for this course is £450. Please register in writing, enclosing a non-refundable deposit of £150 by 12/9/2007. The remaining fee of £300 can be paid in three instalments of £100 each due in the beginning of October, November and December 2007 respectively.Dates: 4, 11, 18 Oct., 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 Nov., 6, 13 Dec. '07Times: 6.30pm - 9.30pmVenue: Harvist RoadFee: £ 450
A common claim by psychotherapists trained to include the body in their work is that, as they become more aware of the complexity and subtlety of the relational dynamic, they find themselves using less and less 'physical body interventions'. Is this an appropriate development of the more experienced body therapist or is it a question of developing interventions which will take into account and correspond to the complexity and the subtlety of the relational dynamic? Our theoretical understanding of body psychotherapy has been expanded and refined significantly in recent years. We are now challenged to update and refine our clinical interventions in the light of our more integrated understanding. o What does it mean to work relationally as a body psychotherapist? o How do we use our skills as body psychotherapists to hold the paradoxical tension between intrapsychic reality and intersubjective engagement? o How can the fact that we are trained as body psychotherapists help promote the 'felt experience' of a meeting between two subjects? This term of advanced training is aimed at trained body psychotherapists who are interested in engaging with relational dilemmas through the practice of body psychotherapy. |
THE USE OF BIODYNAMIC MASSAGE IN THE PSYCHOTHERAPEUTIC PROCESS
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EMBODIED TRANSFERENCE AND COUNTERTRANSFERENCEA series of workshops with Michael Soth
This series of events (three days and one weekend) is designed to make the bodymind complexities of the therapeutic relationship more accessible to you. Whether you are familiar with psychoanalytic theory or not, attention to the client's and your own bodymind processes will help you deepen your understanding of the relational dynamic between the two of you. This will enhance your work, whatever your therapeutic approach or orientation. 'Bodymind' refers to the whole spectrum from the physiological, hormonal, neurological through the kinaesthetic, gestural and postural to emotional, imaginal and mental processes which constitute our being-in-the-world and our sense of self. Sharpening our perception of the myriad of subtle cues and non-verbal messages which are part of every interaction helps us get into closer contact with the client's inner world and their emotional process moment-to-moment. This perspective incorporates the insights of modern neuroscience, but only in terms of their relevance and practical application to our work. Throughout the series, we will slowly build the perceptive and reflective tools to access the insights of the 'countertransference revolution', i.e. the idea that the therapist's subjective experience contains elements which give us information about the client's inner world. We will use a simple and practical distinction - between habitual and situational countertransference - to unpack the complex intermingling of the client's and the therapist's wounds and realities. Participants will be invited to use examples from their own practice in roleplays which will give us live material for attending to relational dynamics. Your own therapeutic modality sensitises you to particular aspects of these dynamics and will help you observe and bring out some of the patterns and significant features of the interaction. Practitioners from other approaches may be able to highlight other aspects, helping us to build up an integrative-relational model. There will be space to apply the learning to your own practice. For a more detailed outline of some learning objectives for the course and the topics we will attempt to cover, visit www.soth.co.uk. Although the three days can be attended separately, it is advisable to take them in sequence, if you have not attended any of them before. The concluding weekend 'Embodied Countertransference' will take place during the academic year 2008/09.
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A body/mind perspective on transference
The territory of transference in the therapeutic relationship can be approached through questions such as: - what is your experience of the working alliance with the client ? - in what situations does the working alliance seem superficial, ambiguous or threatened ? - how can we understand the dynamic between client and therapist in these moments ? - how, for example, do you understand and respond to the client's accusations that therapy is not working, or makes things worse ? - how does the client's 'wound' enter the room ? - is there any way in which the client seems to be resisting or avoiding the therapeutic process (in your perception)? - what past experiences, attitudes and assumptions is the client transferring to you or to therapy generally ? - in what way may the client's expectations from you and their assumptions about therapy be part of their problem ? Using roleplay, we will start by attending to each participant's own perception of the patterns, pathologies and dysfunctions of a particular client. In exploring the bodymind detail of the client's reality, their wound and its history, we will also attend to its here-and-now manifestation in relation to the practitioner. Together we will try to establish a developmental holistic-relational of the client's wound. The day will enable you to translate a working understanding of transference as bodymind process to other clients. This workshop will be offered twice during the year - either day can be attended. A body/mind perspective on transferenceDate: Sat. 27 October 2007Times: 10am - 5pmVenue: Harvist RoadFee: £ 90The fee for this course is £ 90. Please register in writing, enclosing a non-refundable deposit of £30 by 5/10/2007. The remaining fee of £ 60 is payable by 19/10/2007.
A body/mind perspective on transferenceDate: Sat. 23 February 2008Times: 10am - 5pmVenue: Eaton RiseFee: £ 90The fee for this course is £ 90. Please register in writing, enclosing a non-refundable deposit of £30 by 1/2/2008. The remaining fee of £ 60 is payable by 15/2/2008. | |
A body/mind perspective on 'habitual countertransference'This day is concerned with our own assumptions regarding the therapist's role, task and responsibilities and the nature of therapeutic change. However, we will not attempt to discuss the philosophical or theoretical 'truth' of these beliefs and assumptions. Rather, our task for the day will be to pay attention to each practitioner's construction of their therapeutic stance and then explore the actual bodymind experience of being in that stance. The assumption is that this is likely to contain aspects of a 'habitual position' for each of us which we take regardless of the client in front of us, hence 'habitual countertransference'. I am assuming that this 'habitual position' is partly inherited from our personal and partly from our therapeutic ancestors, and that its implicit stance is more influential on our work than our beliefs about therapy. There will be no intention at all to change that position - only an invitation to deepen our awareness of its bodymind reality and its impact on others. What can often be found within our habitual position is our own wound as well as the wisdom and the healing potential of that wound. This will involve asking questions, such as: - how do I habitually protect myself as a therapist ? - how does that affect the therapeutic space I offer ? - what models and therapeutic beliefs constitute my identity ? - what realities do they sensitise me to ? - what difficulties do they help me avoid ? - what other models do I polarise against or miss out on ? - how do I cope with the pressures of the therapeutic position? - how do I process the effects which the client's transference is having on me ? This exploration may shed some light on repetitive issues in your practice, like therapeutic impasses with certain client groups, clients leaving after a certain time, money and payment etc. This day also prepares the ground for the following workshops, in terms of clarifying the particular lens and stance through which you process the client's conflicts and how they impinge on you. This workshop will be offered twice during the year - either day can be attended. A body/mind perspective on 'habitual countertransference'Date: Sun. 28 October 2007Times: 10am - 5pmVenue: Harvist RoadFee: £ 90The fee for this course is £ 90. Please register in writing, enclosing a non-refundable deposit of £30 by 6/10/2007. The remaining fee of £ 60 is payable by 20/10/2007.
A body/mind perspective on 'habitual countertransference'Date: Sun. 24 February 2008Times: 10am - 5pmVenue: Eaton RiseFee: £ 90
The fee for this course is £ 90. Please register in writing, enclosing a non-refundable deposit of £30 by 2/2/2008. The remaining fee of £ 60 is payable by 16/2/2008.
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A body/mind perspective on 'situational countertransference'Date: Sat. 14 June 2008Times: 10am - 5pmVenue: Eaton RiseFee: £ 90
In our cultural context, the propositions of the 'countertransference revolution' are still largely unknown and radical: the client's inner world can manifest in the therapist's countertransference experience. One person's unconscious can communicate itself to another and appear in their subjective stream-of-consciousness reality. This day will allow you to establish your own experiential bodymind foundation for this proposition. Traditionally, countertransference has been approached in terms of either the client's or the therapist's 'stuff', and how they may trigger each other's wounds. The notion of 'enactment' can take us beyond this idea of a meeting between two 'one-person-psychologies', especially if we attend to it as a bodymind process. - what is your experience of the ebbs and tides of the working alliance ? - how do you deal with difficult countertransference responses (dislike, impatience, attraction, helplessness, etc) ? - what can these tell you about the client and their wound and their experience of the therapeutic relationship ? - how may your perceptions of the client be coloured by enactment ? - how may your reflections on the client be part and parcel of the dynamic ? - how may your interventions exacerbate (or be experienced as exacerbating) the client's wound ? This day will introduce an extended notion of 'parallel process' (see Soth, M. (2005) 'Embodied Countertransference' in: Totton, N. ìNew Dimensions in Body Psychotherapyî: OUP), both theoretically and experientially. Applying this integrative concept to the rest of your practice will enable you to investigate situational countertransference in your work.
The fee for this course is £ 90. Please register in writing, enclosing a non-refundable deposit of £30 by 23/5/2008. The remaining fee of £ 60 is payable by 6/6/2008. | |
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EXPLORING THE MIND IN THE BODYwith Roz Carroll
We are living in exciting times. Radical breakthroughs in grasping the complex physiological basis of mind are emerging. For this seminar, Roz has drawn on body psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, holistic theories and recent neuroscientific research. You will explore both 'hard' facts and 'soft' processes to deepen our understanding of the body. Each evening will focus on the psychological function of a different body system through experiential exercises, theoretical input and discussion generated by the different perspectives of the participants.There will be a syllabus, reading list and handouts given to those who enrol.
Seminar 1: DevelopmentDate: Fri. 2 November 2007Times: 6.30pm - 9.30pmVenue: Eaton RiseFee: £ 45
Neuroscience, psychoanalysis and body psychotherapy all agree that patterns laid down in utero, infancy and childhood carry on into adulthood in the form of personality and its embodiment in physiological structure. This seminar provides an overview and introduction to the major themes of the course.
The fee for this course is £ 45. Please register in writing, enclosing a non-refundable deposit of £15 by 11/10/2007. The remaining fee of £ 30 is payable by 25/10/2007.
Seminar 2: BonesDate: Fri. 7 December 2007Times: 6.30pm - 9.30pmVenue: Eaton RiseFee: £ 45
The skeleton is our framework. It mediates our relationship to gravity, a constant force affecting our lives. It effects and is a reflection of our capacity to co-ordinate, balance, and articulate in spatial, perceptual and conceptual fields. It contributes to the organisation of our thinking.
The fee for this course is £ 45. Please register in writing, enclosing a non-refundable deposit of £15 by 15/11/2007. The remaining fee of £ 30 is payable by 29/11/2007.Seminar 3: MuscleDate: Fri. 18 January 2008Times: 6.30pm - 9.30pmVenue: Eaton RiseFee: £ 45
Muscle enables us to act and react, to reveal or inhibit. Muscle is the convergence zone for habits, skills, and emotional learning, in other words, conscious and unconscious intention. Patterns and textures in muscle tone embody conflicts and resources which tell the unique story of an individual.
The fee for this course is £ 45. Please register in writing, enclosing a non-refundable deposit of £15 by 27/12/2007. The remaining fee of £ 30 is payable by 10/1/2008.Seminar 4: FluidsDate: Fri. 15 February 2008Times: 6.30pm - 9.30pmVenue: Eaton RiseFee: £ 45
Blood, lymph, and cellular fluid are the stream which carries our feelings through the body. The quality and intensity of our feelings depends both on the biochemical content of fluids (hormones, peptides, antibodies) and how connective tissue encysts, contains or disperses the fluids.
The fee for this course is £ 45. Please register in writing, enclosing a non-refundable deposit of £15 by 24/1/2008. The remaining fee of £ 30 is payable by 7/2/2008.Seminar 5: The Senses and the SkinDate: Fri. 14 March 2008Times: 6.30pm - 9.30pmVenue: Eaton RiseFee: £ 45
Via the senses and the skin we have contact with the world around us. How we transform, are nourished by, block or distort the world is intimately related to how we use our senses and our skin. The senses are dynamic and the interplay between them can create or reduce our sense of 'depth of field' in life.
The fee for this course is £ 45. Please register in writing, enclosing a non-refundable deposit of £15 by 21/2/2008. The remaining fee of £ 30 is payable by 6/3/2008.Seminar 6: The Nervous SystemDate: Fri. 18 April 2008Times: 6.30pm - 9.30pmVenue: Eaton RiseFee: £ 45
The autonomic nervous system, a key link between the internal organs and the brain, determines changes in arousal/relaxation and where energy is directed in the body. It articulates patterns relating to survival in both the short-term (flight, denial, aggression etc) and the long-term (processing, absorption, releasing).
The fee for this course is £ 45. Please register in writing, enclosing a non-refundable deposit of £15 by 27/3/2008. The remaining fee of £ 30 is payable by 10/4/2008. |
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THE DEVELOPMENT OF BODY PSYCHOTHERAPYAn Introductory Seminar with Bernd EidenDate: Fri. 16 November 2007Times: 6.30pm - 9.30pmVenue: Eaton RiseFee: £ 45
We will look at the principles of body psychotherapy and its application by different theorists and clinicians. Despite that from the beginning, due to the controversies between Freud and Reich/Ferenczi, the work with the body was marginalised, different schools developed and differentiated the understanding of body psychotherapy. We will look briefly at the work of A. Lowen, J. Pierrakos, D. Boadella and G. Boyesen, who became the cornerstones of body psychotherapy today. On this basis, and by integrating ideas from Object Relations and Attachment theorists, Chiron developed its integrative relational approach to body psychotherapy. This seminar could be especially interesting for counsellors and psychotherapists from other approaches as well as practitioners from other helping professions who want to become more familiar with concepts of body psychotherapy.
The fee for this course is £ 45. Please register in writing, enclosing a non-refundable deposit of £15 by 25/10/2007. The remaining fee of £ 30 is payable by 8/11/2007.
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RESEARCH AND PSYCHOTHERAPYBridging the Gap with Ken EvansDates: 16 (eve), 17 & 18 November 2007Times: 10am - 5.30pmVenue: Eaton RiseFee: £ 225
Over the past 20 years a huge gap has opened up between research, which is usually conducted in remote academic institutions, and the practice of psychotherapy.For most psychotherapists research is viewed as highly technical, complex, bewildering and largely irrelevant to clinical practice.This two and a half-day workshop will seek to inspire, motivate and empower clinicians, who may have little or no research background, to devise and embark on a research project that has meaning in the context of their professional practice. The workshop will be a mix of experiential engagement and a taught component. Participants will be invited to engage in a hands-on research project during the workshop to support the integration of theory and practice.Recommended text: chapter 3 on Research in 'An Introduction to Integrative Psychotherapy' by K. Evans and M. Gilbert, Palgrave-Macmillan, New York 2005, p. 35.
The fee for this course is £ 225. Please register in writing, enclosing a non-refundable deposit of £75 by 25/10/2007. The remaining fee of £ 150 is payable by 8/11/2007. |
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WAYS OF WORKING WITH THE BODYAn opportunity to integrate Body Psychotherapy with other approaches with Bernd EidenDates: 17/18 November 2007Times: 10am - 5.30pmVenue: Eaton RiseFee: £ 180
We will learn to use some techniques of 'vegetotherapy' to access spontaneous, unconscious material held in the body. It is a fundamental principle in Body Psychotherapy that neurotic symptoms and defences have a psycho-physical correlation. Involuntary movements from within the body and emotional and vegetative discharge are considered vital for the completion and healing of a suppressed psychic complex. The basic concept of 'vegetotherapy', as developed by W. Reich and refined by other schools, will be introduced to you. By exploring sensations and feelings in different parts of the body - using the understanding of segmental theory - it will be illustrated how unconscious material can be evoked when focusing on a particular body gesture, a special breathing pattern or through a suggested physical exercise. This weekend course is designed to help you acquaint yourself with these ideas in an experiential way. We expect you to be willing to work as client as well as therapist. The workshop 'The Application of Body Psychotherapy in the Therapeutic Relationship' on 9 December could be seen as a follow-up and the focus will be more on the presentation of clinical material.
The fee for this course is £ 180. Please register in writing, enclosing a non-refundable deposit of £60 by 26/10/2007. The remaining fee of £ 120 is payable by 9/11/2007. |
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HOW CAN I TOLERATE BEING THE WOUNDING HEALER?with Doron LeveneDate: Sun. 25 November 2007Times: 10am - 5.30pmVenue: Eaton RiseFee: £ 90
Doron writes: 'Being brought up in the tradition of the wounded healer I found myself limited in truly embodying and giving space to the fact that more often than I would care to admit I am actually a wounding healer (a term articulated by Ferenczi). I found that my fear of harming my clients limited the scope and range of my ability to truly engage with the process of rupture and repair and therefore allowing my clients and myself to enter an important transition in the way we know each other and the world we live in. I feel comfortable enough to know that I am wounded and my work is to help my client to come to terms with his or her own wounds however I am more reluctant to feel the shame and tolerate the blame and feelings of badness associated with actively harming my client. When touch is involved the stakes can feel even higher as I am at risk of embodying being the perpetrator of abuse towards the very person I am trying to help.' The aim of this workshop is to explore together how we as practitioners can find appropriate ways to respond to our difficulties in tolerating our reactions to our clients and find more freedom from our fears of doing harm in the service of creating a space where our clients can survive our destructiveness, failures, disassociations and vulnerabilities. In short how can we be good and destructive enough in our work, or as Jessica Benjamin puts it ìthat we may harm to healî? The workshop will include some case material to help promote a discussion and a space where we can explore together: o What do we find difficult in our reactions to our clients and how this may be connected to our theories and beliefs about healing? o What does it mean that we may harm to heal and what are the ethical implications? o How we as practitioners can find appropriate ways to respond to our difficulties in tolerating our reactions to our clients.
The fee for this course is £ 90. Please register in writing, enclosing a non-refundable deposit of £30 by 3/11/2007. The remaining fee of £ 60 is payable by 17/11/2007. |
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INTRODUCTION TO TIME-LIMITED WORKwith Michaela BoeningDate: Sun. 2 December 2007Times: 10am - 5.30pmVenue: Eaton RiseFee: £ 90
There has been a growing demand for time-limited work in recent years. Many voluntary organisations are offering placements to starting counsellors and psychotherapists but also to a practitioner in private practice clients are sometimes referred for time-limited work. Time-limited work requires the use of specific skills, such as an emphasis on contracting and focus; and an interactive and flexible style of the practitioner. This one day workshop will give you the opportunity to explore the difference between time-limited work and open-ended work, your feelings, fears and anxieties, about time-limited work; and how to adapt to a time-limited frame. We will look at various issues such as contract, skills, tasks, focus, ambivalence, expectations, ending. Although the training in long-term psychotherapy will have addressed those skills, their application in a time-limited context often needs a conscious change of attitude in the psychotherapist.
The fee for this course is £ 90. Please register in writing, enclosing a non-refundable deposit of £30 by 10/11/2007. The remaining fee of £ 60 is payable by 24/11/2007. |
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HEAD AND BELLYwith Jochen LudeDate: Sat. 8 December 2007Times: 10am - 5.30pmVenue: Eaton RiseFee: £ 90
In our culture, including the culture of counselling and psychotherapy, we are accustomed to use our heads to learn, our minds to understand. We tend to think that we know if we can 'get our head around it'. But such left-brain knowledge, acquired through the mind only, is one-dimensional and therefore only partially true knowledge. We are not encouraged to use our knowing from within, our gut feeling, instinct, intuition, our belly sense. We need to re-educate ourselves to trust this other dimension of knowing as well and to connect the mind (head) with the gut (belly) to gain a kind of two-dimensional knowledge. How do we use our head, how do we use our belly when we are with our clients? Do we feel the gap or can we sense the connection? Does our head rule the belly or the belly the head? We will discuss and explore these questions, hopefully with both our heads and bellies. This workshop is suitable for therapists who are not used to working directly with their client's body and who are open to experiential learning.
The fee for this course is £ 90. Please register in writing, enclosing a non-refundable deposit of £30 by 16/11/2007. The remaining fee of £ 60 is payable by 30/11/2007. |
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THE APPLICATION OF BODY PSYCHOTHERAPY IN THE THERAPEUTIC RELATIONSHIPwith Bernd EidenDate: Sun. 9 December 2007Times: 10am - 5.30pmVenue: Eaton RiseFee: £ 90
This workshop will aim to illustrate how bodily techniques and interventions can be integrated in an ongoing, relational therapeutic process and how working directly with the body can deepen the process and move it on when stuck. It has been a shadow aspect of Body Psychotherapy to use bodywork in an invasive and cathartic way and not pay enough attention to the relational dimension. Chiron Body Psychotherapy attempts to include the client's and the therapist's body in our reflection on the unconscious processes of transference and countertransference. The neo-Reichian Character Structure model can provide a useful frame for understanding and also enables us to develop a working strategy. We will look at existential issues, such as safety, need, assertion, independence, sexual desire and how to use particular bodily interventions to access these deeper dynamics in an integrated way. There will be presentation of cases for illustration and participants are encouraged to bring their own clinical material. We will explore theoretically and through case material the place of the body in the therapeutic encounter, using our understanding of the transferential dynamic as a guide and a monitor for this exploration. For this seminar some experience in Body Psychotherapy is recommended. Attending the workshop 'Working with the Body in the Therapeutic Encounter' could be a good foundation.
The fee for this course is £ 90. Please register in writing, enclosing a non-refundable deposit of £30 by 17/11/2007. The remaining fee of £ 60 is payable by 1/12/2007. |
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AN EXPLORATION OF USING TOUCH IN PSYCHOTHERAPYwith Bernd EidenDate: Sat. 5 January 2008Times: 10am - 5.30pmVenue: Eaton RiseFee: £ 90
We live in a culture in which touch is easily sexualised and has sexual connotations and is therefore avoided. Do we, as therapists, contribute and collude with the clients' apprehension about touch? Do we fear that touch invites sexual contact? Do we refrain from it out of fear, and not because we believe that it is bad for the client?- It does not make sense to withhold touch when it is agreed that physical contact is essential for forming an attachment and for the formation of a self, and that it provides nurture and stimulates the ability to bond and to relate to another.- When is it therapeutically valuable to gratify the desire for touch and when to challenge this and facilitate a process of a necessary disappointment?- What are the dilemmas we may go through when considering the possibility of touch or the appropriateness of 'no touch'?We will explore the pros and cons for using touch in psychotherapy by looking at the analytical and body psychotherapy positions and both their methodological applications. There'll be a theoretical outline with case material presented, followed by discussion. Participants are invited to contribute with their own clinical examples and to be willing to engage in some experiential work.This workshop is aimed at psychotherapists from different approaches who are interested in exploring the place of touch in their work. The question 'to touch or not to touch' and possibly 'how to touch' is a very complex issue in the therapeutic encounter.
The fee for this course is £ 90. Please register in writing, enclosing a non-refundable deposit of £30 by 14/12/2007. The remaining fee of £ 60 is payable by 28/12/2007. |
WORKING WITH BREATHINGwith Jochen LudeDate: Sun. 6 January 2008Times: 10am - 5.30pmVenue: Eaton RiseFee: £ 90
Breathing plays a fundamental part in Body Psychotherapy and is seen as the bridge between the voluntary and involuntary system of the organism. Sometimes we are mindful of our breathing and we can influence it voluntarily: we can stop breathing for a while and we can make ourselves in- and exhale at a given pace. But most of the time we are not aware of our breathing and it 'just happens' involuntarily; we also breathe involuntarily when we are asleep or after running a certain distance when we can't help breathing very fast. Paying attention to a person's breathing and having a sense of its quality and rhythm, it minute changes and nuances can lead us into their subjective world of feeling. It can help us in attending to subtle messages from the unconscious. The breathing rhythm resembles the rhythm of the sea. Inspiration is the building up of the wave and expiration is the falling of the wave. Inspiration is expansion, expiration is contraction and this rhythm is movement, is pulsation. Every living organism pulsates. Generally speaking, the more freely it can pulsate, the higher the living quality. In this workshop you have to opportunity to become familiar with a range of exercises and intervention skills for working with breathing patterns which we have developed. This workshop is suitable for therapists who are not used to working directly with their client's body and who are open to experiential learning.
The fee for this course is £ 90. Please register in writing, enclosing a non-refundable deposit of £30 by 15/12/2007. The remaining fee of £ 60 is payable by 29/12/2007. | |
ADDICTION IN THE THERAPEUTIC RELATIONSHIPwith Francie van HoutDate: Sat. 12 January 2008Times: 10am - 5.30pmVenue: Eaton RiseFee: £ 90
This workshop provides a space to develop your understanding of addiction and its influence on therapeutic relational dynamics through creative exploration and discussion. Themes include: § What is an addiction? - theoretical perspectives § Identifying cultural beliefs and assumptions § Manifestations of addiction § The creative and destructive nature of addiction § How do we bring our therapeutic values and approach into creative relationship, with the client's subjective experience of addiction? § What are the counter-transference dynamics often provoked in working with addiction; for example, desire to rescue, feeling controlled, collusion with denial, pessimism, impotence and omnipotence? § What are the emotional and interpersonal struggles that are commonly experienced by people with addiction issues; for example, denial, shame, relapse, change / loss of social relationships through the recovery process?
The fee for this course is £ 90. Please register in writing, enclosing a non-refundable deposit of £30 by 21/12/2007. The remaining fee of £ 60 is payable by 4/1/2008. | |
WORKING WITH BORDERLINE AND NARCISSISTIC TENDENCIESwith Alun ReynoldsDates: 13 January 2008 and 3 February 2008Times: 10am - 5.30pmVenue: Eaton RiseFee: £ 180
Therapeutic relationships expose borderline and narcissistic tendencies both in our clients and in ourselves. This may confront us with our biggest headaches, heartaches and bellyaches from which we may learn and grow if we are willing.This workshop will focus on:1. getting a clear roadmap of the psychodynamics of both the borderline and narcissistic structures, based on the work of James Masterston and Donald Fairbairn.2. integrating this with body psychotherapy perspectives such as the character structures of Alexander Lowen.3. demonstrating how to work with borderline and narcissistic tendencies including embodied approaches, and identifying the main principles and pitfalls in effective treatment.4. discussing cases and examples.5. practising skills.The workshop will consist of two days. The second day will be several weeks after the first day to allow time to try things out and come back to reflect on what happened.
The fee for this course is £ 180. Please register in writing, enclosing a non-refundable deposit of £60 by 22/12/2007. The remaining fee of £ 120 is payable by 5/1/2008. | |
INTAKE ASSESSMENTA two-day course with Kristiane Preisinger and Bernd EidenDates: 2 Feb. 2008 (Kristiane) and 10 Feb. 2008 (Bernd)Times: 10am - 5.30pmVenue: Eaton RiseFee: £ 180
The course is designed to help you with the intake assessment of potential clients within private practice. We will look at how to make psychotherapeutic formulations as a diagnostic attempt, how to understand these formulations and what they can offer in terms of guidance/indication regarding psychotherapeutic work.During the first day with Kristiane we will look at general issues, how to assess and what to assess using theoretical teaching as well as case examples.The second day with Bernd will focus on specific diagnostic categories (e.g. borderline) and the assessment within a body psychotherapeutic frame.Therapists from other approaches are welcome to enrol for the first day of the course (for which they'll only pay £90), while the second day is more suitable for body psychotherapists.This two-day course is compulsory for Chiron therapists in their post-certificate phase. It is highly recommended to be taken in the first year after the certificate.
The fee for this course is £ 180. Please register in writing, enclosing a non-refundable deposit of £60 by 11/1/2008. The remaining fee of £ 120 is payable by 25/1/2008. | |
WORKING WITH ILLNESS IN COUNSELLING AND PSYCHOTHERAPYwith Michael SothThe introductory evening and more so the two workshops are designed to provide you with theoretical and practical tools which you can integrate into your work, whatever your experience or orientation. The workshops will include a mixture of activities, including experiential work, roleplays and skills practice, building on participants' learning needs and resources.The theoretical input will be supported by handouts, papers and references. Who lives in the symptom? Who wants to get rid of it?Date: Fri. 7 March 2008Times: 6.30pm - 9.30pmVenue: Eaton RiseFee: £ 45
This evening is designed as a brief, but fairly comprehensive overview of the many ways in which we can approach physical and psychosomatic symptoms psychologically, as they present themselves in counselling and psychotherapy practice. As officially they do not fall within our 'job description', the client's physical problems and illnesses pose some tricky questions for us: - is there 'meaning' in illness ? - does the client want to know about it ? - and if so, how can we find out about it ? - and if we do, will it make a difference to the symptoms ? The field - including the complementary therapies - consists of a plethora of approaches and paradigms in pursuit of 'health', and all deserve to have some input into our therapeutic response to somatised and somatic symptoms. Based on the notion that ìnobody can be wrong all the timeî (Ken Wilber), we will find that they potentially complement each other and there is some purpose and meaning in each of them. As an introduction to approaching the symptom relationally and holistically, I will suggest a simple categorisation of the many relevant approaches, in an attempt to expand Freud's 'talking cure' into a 21st century body/mind 'relating cure'. I will distinguish eight ways of relating to the symptom, drawing on a wide variety of often contradictory therapeutic concepts and techniques. This evening will help you orient yourself in how to bring a bodymind perspective to your clients' symptoms without stretching beyond the psychological foundation of your therapeutic approach and work.
The fee for this course is £ 45. Please register in writing, enclosing a non-refundable deposit of £15 by 14/2/2008. The remaining fee of £ 30 is payable by 28/2/2008.
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Workshop 1: Bringing holistic-relational understanding to psychosomatic symptomsDate: Sat. 8 March 2008Times: 10am - 5pmVenue: Eaton RiseFee: £ 90
Clients bring psycho-physical states (addictions, intense feelings, panic attacks, tensions etc) as well as their psychosomatic symptoms and illnesses to us, in the hope that counselling and psychotherapy can somehow deal with them, alleviate them, respond to them. How can we do this within the framework of what for most practitioners is largely a verbal interaction ? We need some kind of model that helps us bridge body and mind and gives us an avenue into the links between them. This workshop is designed to lay the perceptive and theoretical foundations for working with the client's whole body/mind in engaging with somatised and somatic symptoms. Using roleplay with one particular client, we will explore step-by-step to identify some ways in which you can build up some working hypotheses about the emotional function and 'meaning' of your client's symptom or illness. The aim is to develop some principles which you then can apply to other situations arising in your practice. For a more detailed outline of some learning objectives for the day and the topics we will attempt to cover, visit www.soth.co.uk Unless you are familiar with the material, it is advisable to attend the seminar ìWho lives in the symptom ? Who wants to get rid of it ?î, taking place the previous Friday evening. This will prepare the day and help you get the most out of the workshop.
The fee for this course is £ 90. Please register in writing, enclosing a non-refundable deposit of £30 by 15/2/2008. The remaining fee of £ 60 is payable by 29/2/2008.
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Workshop 2: Working with the transformative potential of the symptomDate: Sun. 9 March 2008Times: 10am - 5pmVenue: Eaton RiseFee: £ 90
This workshop builds on the models introduced on the previous day, and extends and translates them into techniques and interventions. Without acquiring skills in a whole other field (like bodywork, massage or some other complementary therapy), what avenues can counsellors and psychotherapists pursue to access and work with the roots of somatic and psychosomatic symptoms ? Through our sensitivity to the quality of relationship and our experience in working with it, we can bring attention to the relational dynamics inherent within the symptom. This is a neglected aspect of health care which can have profound and unexpected impact. Body awareness and attention to spontaneous processes arising in relation to the symptom allow us to formulate psychotherapeutic interventions that are consistent with your established way of working. Whatever your approach, the workshop is designed to help you develop your own creativity and spontaneity as a practitioner as well as accessing the client's. For a more detailed outline of some learning objectives for the day and the topics we will attempt to cover, visit www.soth.co.uk Unless you are familiar with the material, it is advisable to attend both previous events.
The fee for this course is £ 90. Please register in writing, enclosing a non-refundable deposit of £30 by 16/2/2008. The remaining fee of £ 60 is payable by 1/3/2008. | |
WORDLESSNESS AND MEANING: THE BEGINNINGS OF ATTACHMENTwith Sue LawDate: Sat. 15 March 2008Times: 10am - 5.30pmVenue: Eaton RiseFee: £ 90
In our (especially middle-class) society, inchoate sound is pervasively stifled, be it the wordless expressions of surprise, sorrow, lust or joy. We learn soon not to be too noisy about our pleasures and pains and despite digital technology, we are less and less conversant with the refinements of our own noise-making potential and its rare ability to touch and express, even without words. In this workshop, we will focus upon vocalisation, considering its place in the formation of attachment and in our general psychological development and thus reflecting upon its possible significance within the therapeutic process. We'll consider the implications for psychotherapy of Colin Trewarthen's wonderful research on proto conversation in new-borns, looking at the primacy of dialogue as a basis for attachment in human-beings. We will remind ourselves, experientially and theoretically, of how noise-making is inextricably connected to breath-taking and thus how it relates to the formation of defences. We will also consider how sounding can ground us, welling up and rooting us in the earth of our own truth. And I will use clinical material to demonstrate how sounding can be facilitated or encouraged during a body psychotherapeutic process. This workshop arises in part from my own experience of needing to allow sound to emerge wordlessly to begin the journey to re-connect to some of the deepest meanings in my life story. I continue to use it consciously as a vehicle of self-connection and expression as well as paying attention to it in my work as a body-psychotherapist, trainer and supervisor.
The fee for this course is £ 90. Please register in writing, enclosing a non-refundable deposit of £30 by 22/2/2008. The remaining fee of £ 60 is payable by 7/3/2008. | |
EROTIC DESIRE IN THE THERAPY ROOM - DARE WE EMBODY IT? CAN WE AFFORD NOT TO?with Shoshi AsheriDates: 25 April (eve) and 26/27 April 2008Times: Fri. 6.30-9.30pm; Weekend 10am - 5.30pmVenue: Eaton RiseFee: £ 225
Working with erotic and sexual desire in the therapy room can feel dangerous and provokes much anxiety for both client and therapist. As therapists, we have many ways, some can even appear professionally plausible, to bypass the erotic charge altogether or dilute it in order to feel safe again in our position. In this workshop we will aim to explore ways of working with erotic and sexual desire in the therapy room by walking the risky line between being resolutely safe and ethical yet not limited by safety and ethics. By using clips from films, role play and live sessions, participants will be invited to engage theoretically and experientially with the following questions: o What therapeutic opportunities can open up if we dare to embody the erotic desire in the therapy room? o How do we understand the erotic dynamic developmentally (for example: differentiate between pre-oedipal, oedipal or post-oedipal desire)? o How do we engage clinically with this dynamic (for example: move flexibly from holding one therapeutic position to another, hold more then one reality at the same time)? o How can we create a place in the therapy room for adult sexuality (for example: find a therapeutically considered way to respond as one sexual adult to another sexual adult rather then hide behind the safety of a parental position)?
The fee for this course is £ 225. Please register in writing, enclosing a non-refundable deposit of £75 by 3/4/2008. The remaining fee of £ 150 is payable by 17/4/2008. | |
SOMATIC DIALOGUE IN THE THERAPEUTIC RELATIONSHIPwith Tom WarneckeDates: 3/4 May 2008 Times: 10am - 5.30pmVenue: Eaton Rise Fee: £ 180In Body Psychotherapy, touch is employed to invite movement, to deepen or relax breathing, to soften or strengthen boundaries, and to release or help contain emotions. But touch is also an essential form of communication - we can speak and listen through our hands. Muscles are sense organs and the sensory-motor integration of involuntary muscle gives rise to intentions, facilitates the capacity to communicate and organises expressions of resistance and assertion. As such, subliminal muscular self experience plays a central role in the intrapsychic dynamics of self-organisation and is therefore crucial to the degree of self-cohesiveness and the stability of a 'sense of self' we experience. The concerted efforts of voluntary and involuntary motor systems embody and express both intrapersonal and interpersonal conflicts. And they harbour precisely the inhibited relational intentions and primary impulses which we would like to explore and engage with in the therapeutic relationship. Therapists utilise their own subliminal sensory-motor processes and sensations as openings for therapeutic dialogue or as cues to invite, mirror or co-regulate relational tensions.Any application of touch should be considered a relational event which will naturally involve some degree of mutuality. Both therapist and client experience themselves and each other through the use of all senses and sensations of their bodies in relationship with the body of the other. This relational dimension of touch is largely facilitated by the subtle sensitivities and responsiveness of our involuntary muscular nervous system. Relational sensory-motor activity manifests as non-verbal somatic dialogue, a direct and integral communication that occurs in consonance with visceral sensation such as pleasure, anxiety or pain.This experiential workshop offers an opportunity to explore and deepen our appreciation of muscular systems:o How do we recognise such involuntary muscular intentions and how do we engage with them?o And how can we utilize and integrate the mutuality and self disclosure inherent to therapeutic touch? The workshop is also suitable for therapists who are not used to working directly with their client's body and who are open to experiential learning. The experiential work is inspired by David Boadella's understanding and approach of working with involuntary muscle. The fee for this course is £ 180. Please register in writing (using the booking form in this brochure), enclosing a non-refundable deposit of £60 by 11/4/2008. The remaining fee of £ 120 is payable by 25/4/2008. | |
INTRINSIC POTENTIALSA Friday evening lecture and a weekend with Roz Carroll"...the basic unit of analysis is not changes in behaviour, cognition or even affect, but rather [...] the development of more and more complex psychobiological states that underlie these functions" (Schore, 1997: 595) A principle inherent in body psychotherapy is the idea of an emotional cycle which may get blocked or interrupted, but which operates on many levels. Body psychotherapy has identified the body systems (muscle system, autonomic nervous system, fluid system, digestive system etc) involved, as well as recognising that these body states reflect internal objects and current relational motivations. In his landmark work, Affective Neuroscience, Panksepp maps out seven specific neural circuits and integrated cognition/affect /behaviour patterns which he calls 'emotional operating systems'. He regards these not as drives per se but as regulatory mechanisms emerging from the intrinsic potentials of the nervous system. He names them as fear, seeking, rage, lust, care, panic and play and charts their emergence from mammalian evolution.Parts 1 & 2 of'Intrinsic Potentials' can be booked separately, but it is highly recommended to enrol for them together. Intrinsic Potentials: Neuroscience and Body PsychotherapyDate: Fri. 9 May 2008 Times: 6.30pm - 9.30pmVenue: Eaton Rise Fee: £ 45A Friday evening lecture looking at how contemporary developments in body psychotherapy meet the challenges and insights thrown up by the neuroscience revolution. I will talk about the work of neuroscientist Schore, Trevarthen, and Porges, as well as Panksepp, and outline the critical contributions of body psychotherapy in fleshing out these models and offering specific body-centred therapeutic tools. The fee for this course is £ 45. Please register in writing (using the booking form in this brochure), enclosing a non-refundable deposit of £15 by 17/4/2008. The remaining fee of £ 30 is payable by 1/5/2008.Intrinsic Potentials: Neuroscience and Body PsychotherapyDates: 10/11 May 2008 Times: 10am - 5.30pmVenue: Eaton Rise Fee: £ 180A weekend workshop exploring emotion in terms of systems, cycles and relational contexts. We will consider how the difficult task of therapy is captured in the idea that an emotional operating system has to be activated - it has to be 'live' and 'real' - in order to be explored on a variety of interrelated levels. We will look at how these emotional operating systems manifest in the body, and how to track them through observation of breathing and movement patterns, as well as by paying attention to our own body states within the therapeutic relationship. We will consider how to start unravelling complex conflicting emotional cycles, and what new interventions can be brought to old and entrenched patterns. The fee for this course is £ 180. Please register in writing (using the booking form in this brochure), enclosing a non-refundable deposit of £60 by 18/4/2008. The remaining fee of £ 120 is payable by 2/5/2008. | |
MY DESIRE - MY SHAMEwith Jochen LudeDate: Sat. 7 June 2008 Times: 10am - 5.30pmVenue: Eaton Rise Fee: £ 90My desire is to live a fulfilled life. I want to still my hunger and thirst. I want to reach out for contact and gratify my curiosity. I yearn to love and be loved. I want to embrace the world with all of who I am. I want to satisfy my sexual desire.My desire originates from within the deepest layer of my Self. Thus the phenomenon of desire has an innate organic movement towards its object.What happened originally to me and my desire when we were met in relationship with others?From the very beginning of my existence I am exposed and confronted by a world I so much want to be part of. It has its own agenda and guides and judges me accordingly. It has taught me the standards of what is right and wrong. By using guilt and shame, it helped me to behave and act 'appropriately', according to its moral code. Thus I developed my conscience (positive) and my judge (negative). Unfortunately, this process suppressed my spontaneity, aliveness and instinctual power in order to make me socialised and acceptable.My shame originates from my judge and I want to withdraw, hide, cover my face and avoid contact.All this is in stark contrast to my desire to live a fulfilled life.In this workshop I want to explore experientially in more depth the correlation between desire and shame .I will use body awareness and guided imagery. In addition to the experiential work with yourself, there will be also space for clinical discussion, to which you are invited to contribute. The fee for this course is £ 90. Please register in writing (using the booking form in this brochure), enclosing a non-refundable deposit of £30 by 16/5/2008. The remaining fee of £ 60 is payable by 30/5/2008. | |
BODY PSYCHOTHERAPY AND THE BORDERLINE DYNAMICwith Tom WarneckeDate: Sun. 15 June 2008 Times: 10am - 5.30pmVenue: Eaton Rise Fee: £ 90Borderline personality disorder is an elusive and puzzling phenomenon. The 'personality disorder' construct suggests a pathological condition located solely in the client. At the same time, the borderline dynamic is most famously associated with difficult or unstable relationships. Borderline patterns of organisation are active across the continuum of intrapsychic and interpersonal fields and appear equally challenging for clients and therapists alike. Both may feel attacked, invaded, helpless, misunderstood or unappreciated by the other. But BPD is also particularly apparent as a bodily experience. The borderline dynamic can make others feel tense and self-conscious or may be experienced as electrifying the air. Hyper arousal and catastrophic anxieties, both cardinal features of BPD, suggest disturbances of very basic functions and indicate that the organism is in a state of somatic disorganisation. The disturbed attachment patterns, lack of boundaries and the complex disruptions of affect regulation in BPD suggest a lack of psycho affective maturation and failures to develop a differentiated psyche-soma relationship. In the therapeutic relationship, body and psyche of the therapist are impacted by and respond to such disorganized or dissociated psyche and body states. This seminar explores clinical perspectives to psychological and somatic phenomena such as surface boundaries, cephalic bracing, and working with proximity and space. Participants are invited to contribute clinical case material for exploration. The fee for this course is £ 90. Please register in writing (using the booking form in this brochure), enclosing a non-refundable deposit of £30 by 24/5/2008. The remaining fee of £ 60 is payable by 7/6/2008. | |
AnnouncementChiron will be offering again the two-day training with Babette Rothschild 'Making Trauma Therapy Safer: The Psychophysiology of Trauma & PTSD' on Friday, 31 October/ Saturday, 1 November 2008 which aims to give an overview of Babette's concepts. The last 12-day in-depth training with Babette will take place during 2009/2010:Somatic Trauma Therapy with Post-Traumatic StressA 12-day indepth course with Babette RothschildWorkshop 1: Thurs./Sun. 28/31 May 2009 Workshop 2: Thurs./Sun. 29 Oct./ 1 Nov. 2009 Workshop 3: Thurs./Sun. 27 - 30 May 2010Venue: Eaton RiseThe three four-day workshops are presented as a series. Participants must commit to attend all workshops and fees need to be paid in full even if unforeseen circumstances prevent you from attending. Tuition fee for the series is £1,200. To enrol, a deposit of £150 is required. The remaining £1,050 could be paid in two ways: either in three payments of £350 each due a month before commencement of each workshop. Or, by setting up a standing order for the period April '07 - March '08, during which you will pay 12 monthly instalments of £87.50 each. Standing order forms can be obtained from the office. The course will be held at Chiron, 26 Eaton Rise, London W5.Post-Traumatic Stress (PTS) can develop after exposure to traumatic experience(s) and results from imbalance between the parasympathetic and sympathetic branches of the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS). The ANS prepares to meet a threat, but after the threat is passed or survived, the ANS never returns to its normal, balanced state. Extreme disturbance may lead to symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (see: DSM IV '94). Effective somatic trauma therapy with PTS involves both cognitive and body work. It helps the client not only to remember and psychologically resolve the traumatic situation, but also to restore lost physical reflexes and balance to the ANS. This is done by first, reviewing the events surrounding the trauma (both before and after its occurrence) - never "re-living" it - and through work with the body that focuses on (re)-developing body awareness, body acceptance and body integrity. Central to somatic trauma therapy are the psychological and physical resources that are developed, as well as the importance of the therapeutic relationship. Eventually the traumatic event itself can be confronted, after most of its effect has been dissipated and balance in the ANS has been restored. Duration of a somatic trauma therapy can range from a few sessions to several years, depending on: the nature of the trauma(s); the age of the client at the time of the trauma(s); if the trauma(s) is isolated, intertwined with other trauma(s) or continuous; and the client's current resources and strengths. Workshop 1Dates: Thurs./Sun. 28/31 May 2009 Times: 9.30am - 6pmThis four day workshop is open to all medical and helping professionals and students and is conducted through lecture, discussion, exercises and demonstrations. There will be review of both traditional and alternative theories of PTSD including (but not limited to) those developed by: Bessel van der Kolk, Judith Herman, M.D. at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA; the Bodynamic Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark; and Peter Levine, Ph.D., Ergos Institute, Boulder, Colorado, USA. Theory topics include: causes of trauma, psychology of stress and trauma - including the role of dissociation, physiology of stress and trauma - including the role of the ANS, identification and diagnosis (including acute, delayed onset, simple and complex forms of PTS and PTSD), preparing clients for therapy - including building safety in the therapeutic space. Exercises will teach development of building body awareness, signs of ANS reactions in the body, how to build the sense of boundary and bodily integrity and the establishment of safety in the client's life and in the therapeutic space. There will be an emphasis throughout this workshop on making trauma therapy - no matter which technique(s) is being used - safer by learning to slow down and reduce hyperarousal in the ANS. This workshop is a compatible and useful adjunct to all existing theories and techniques of trauma therapy. Workshop 2Dates: Thurs./Sun. 29 Oct./ 1 Nov. 2009 Times: 9.30am - 6pmTheory and technique of therapeutic treatment will be the focus of this workshop. Issues, including transference and countertransference, will be explored. Participants will begin practising Peter Irvine's system of tracking and association (SIBAM) with each other, and will also begin to apply theory to the development of their own techniques. There will be continued practice with body awareness, boundary, and safety skills. Workshop 3Dates: Thurs./Sun. 27 - 30 May 2010 Times: 9.30am - 6pmThe BODYnamic 'running technique' and the appropriate use of the 'safe place' and 'helpers' will be introduced and practised. Participants will be supervised in choosing techniques, both with fellow participants, and with their own clients. Ample time will be allotted to the practising, deepening, integrating and clarifying of skills and theoretical knowledge gained throughout the series. There will also be discussion of how to know a traumatic event is worked through, how to end a somatic trauma therapy, and how to integrate work with trauma into a long-term course of therapy. |
About the TutorsShoshi Asheri, MA, UKCP Training director and supervisor at the Chiron Centre for Body Psychotherapy. Her background includes training in existential psychotherapy, body psychotherapy, Gestalt therapy, sex counselling and psychology of education. She has been working with individuals, couples and groups in her private practice in London for the last 20 years. Influenced by concepts, values and therapeutic ways of working from both psychoanalytic and humanistic traditions, she has a particular interest in the perception of the therapeutic relationship as body/mind processes co-created by client and therapist as an intersubjective interaction. She defines her therapeutic approach as 'relational body psychotherapy'. Michaela Boening, UKCP reg. Psychotherapist (H.I.P. Section, CCBP) is an experienced counsellor, psychotherapist, supervisor and trainer. Shecame to London in 1983 (after completing her studies of history of art, sociology and pedagogy in Germany) to continue her studies in psychotherapy at the Chiron Centre for Body Psychotherapy (CCBP). She works in private practice since 1985 and has 20 years experience of long-term and time-limited work. At CCBP she works as a trainer since 1988, is a training director since 1994 and has provided both clinical and training supervision since 1992. She has extensive experience as a supervisor of time-limited work. For over ten years she has been, and still is supervising volunteer-, placement- and staff counsellors at the Terrence Higgins Trust. To facilitate and create a safe setting for the diverse theoretical backgrounds of her supervisees and their different stages of development within a group supervision setting is a particular interest of hers. Currently she works in private practice as well as a trainer at CCBP and supervisor at THT and WLCC. Roz Carroll is a UKCP registered body psychotherapist, supervisor and trainer at the Chiron Centre and the Minster Centre and a popular speaker for Confer.She has specialised in exploring the relevance of neuroscience to contemporary psychotherapy practice and has given talks, workshops and seminars exploring this theme in a wide range of contexts including hospitals, counselling, psychotherapy, and psychoanalytic training groups. She has published chapters in Body Psychotherapy (ed Staunton, 2002), Revolutionary Connections (ed Corrigall, 2003) How Does Psychotherapy Work? (ed Ryan, 2005), New Horizons in Body Psychotherapy (ed Totton, 2005) and About a Body (ed Corrigall, 2006). Articles, lectures and details of other workshops are available on her website www.thinkbody.co.uk Bernd Eiden, MA, UKCP registered Integrative Body Psychotherapist, has a long standing background in the field of humanistic and transpersonal psychotherapy and 25 years of clinical experience. He has trained with several principals of different body psychotherapy schools. In 1983 he co-founded the Chiron Centre for Body Psychotherapy and since then has been working there as a trainer, supervisor and manager. In his work he is firmly rooted in the Body Psychotherapy approach and is engaged in developing the kind of integrative practice which puts more emphasis on using the theory and technique of body psychotherapy in the context of the therapeutic relationship. Ken Evans is Director of Training at the Scarborough Psychotherapy Training Institute and a visiting trainer on several training courses across Europe. He is a former Training Standards officer for UKCP and current President of the European Association for Gestalt Therapy and Registrar of the European Association for Integrative Psychotherapy. He is a senior Editor of a new online research journal in psychotherapy - www.europeanresearchjournal.com Jochen Lude originally came from Germany to study, work and practise Body Psychotherapy in England, where he has maintained a private practice for over 20 years. He also trained in Transpersonal Psychology and the spiritual dimension is essential in his work. He is a co-founder of Chiron and continues to work there as trainer and supervisor, as well as teaching body psychotherapy in other training settings. In his work he is especially interested in how therapists can use their own bodies as a sounding board and be guided by them in the interaction with their clients. He is one of the most experienced body psychotherapists in this country. Kristiane Preisinger is a psychotherapist in private practice sine 1983 as well as a trainer and supervisor. She started her career as a body-orientated psychotherapist and is now registered as an Integrative Psychotherapist (AHPP) and Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist (FiP) within UKCP. Her main focus of work at present is within the field of supervision and training in supervision. She divides her time between private practice as supervisor and psychotherapist, trainer at various psychotherapy training institutions and as Supervision Co-ordinator for a large inner city counselling centre. Alun Reynolds is an experienced UKCP Psychotherapist, trainer and workshop leader. He has taught the second year Gestalt Body Psychotherapy course at Chiron for many years, as well as being a Chiron supervisor. He has developed a particular interest in work with borderline and narcissistic structures, as well as in the family constellation work of Bert Hellinger. He runs a private practice in Cambridge and regularly runs Family Constellation workshops in London and Edinburgh. His website address is www.constellationsolutions.co.uk Babette Rothschild is the author of three books, all published by WW Norton: "The Body Remembers: The Psychophysiology of Trauma and Trauma Treatment" (2000); "The Body Remembers CASEBOOK: Unifying Methods and Models in the Treatment of Trauma and PTSD" (2003); "Help for the Helper: The Psychophysiology of Compassion Fatigue and Vicarious Trauma" (2005). After living for nine years in Copenhagen, Denmark she returned to her hometown, Los Angeles. From there she juggles the demands of a busy international training/lecture schedule while continuing to write, see clients, provide in-person and phone supervisions. Michael Soth is an Integrative Body Psychotherapist, trainer and supervisor (UKCP reg.), living in Oxford, UK. He is Training Director at the Chiron Centre and over the last 20 years has been teaching on a variety of counselling and therapy training courses, includingLondon City University and Oxford University. He has recently helped found the Centre for Integral-Relational Learning which will offer Body Psychotherapy and Group Facilitation training. In his work and teaching, he brings together a variety of analytic and humanistic approaches. Apart from a variety of papers and articles (available at www.soth.co.uk), he has written a chapter on 'Embodied Countertransference' (Totton, N. (2005) "New Dimensions in Body Psychotherapy", Maidenhead: OUP), and his presentation to the 2004 UKCP conference 'What therapeutic hope for a subjective mind in an objectified body?' will be published in 2006 ("About a Body", ed Corrigall). Tom Warnecke (EABP) trained in Gestalt therapy and subsequently with David Boadella at the International Institute for Biosynthesis in Switzerland. He is a Biosynthesis training therapist and supervisor and utilises both humanistic and psychoanalytic concepts in his a private body psychotherapy practice in London. Tom has studied various forms of yoga, meditation, body awareness and movement work whilst living in India for many years and worked there as a therapist, group facilitator and trainer. He has also worked in community mental health services and developed a particular interest in the borderline dynamic. |
Originally created as advanced training programme for Chiron qualified Body Psychotherapists, we hae over recent years attempted to make these courses more accessible to psychotherapists and counsellors from other approaches who want to gain a deeper understanding of Body Psychotherapy. The intention is to create a space, support and cross-fertilisation amongst therapists from different schools. The courses are designed to help acquaint yourself with some fundamental ides of body psychotherapy in an experiential way, e.g. the recognition that early developmental wounds manifest in certain physical (physiological, muscular, respiratory), emotional and mental patterns ('character armour'). The significance of non-verbal communication, the issue of touch in the therapeutic relationship, energetic resonance and interaction feature strongly in the practice of body psychotherapy. The therapist's self awareness as a complex body-mind organism is crucial to the quality of the therapeutic relationship.
We attempt to include the client's and the therapist's body in our reflection on the unconscious processes of transference and countertransference.
Each individual course description aims to clarify for whom this course is suitable. If in doubt, please consult Bernd Eiden, one of our training directors. A certificate of attendance will be issued on request and can count for Continues Professional Development (CPD). Courses are listed in date order, giving the title and a brief description of the content and structure of each course, along with details about dates, times, fees and venue. To book a place on a course, you will generally need to send in a third of the total fee at least three weeks before the course is due to take place. As there are some exceptions to this guideline, the booking arrangements are mentioned at the end of each course description. Please use one of the booking forms to reserve your place. If you are a non-Chiron therapist, please give details of your qualification(s) and describe briefly your level of experience. To book a place, you could also send an informal letter or e-mail to: The Chiron Centre, 26 Eaton Rise, LONDON W5 2ER