Workshops and Training:

When we don’t understand what’s going on for our client, when our theories, tools and experience don’t seem to be helping, we have ourselves. 

This experiential workshop aims to build confidence in learning to trust ourselves to truly be with our clients by consciously using our personality, insights and presence to facilitate growth and make space for those healing human to human moments in sessions.

Session 1 – 10.00 -11.30

Housekeeping and expectations of the day

Introductions

Exploring what makes us, us as therapists?

“As a therapist, you can only meet your clients as deeply as you’ve met yourself.” — Deran Young, LCSW

• What the research tells us.
• Group exercises/discussion identifying the personal and professional parts of ourselves.
• Identify one tool that you have bought to therapy work which is not theoretical and how this has been of benefit to your client
• Discussion overlap and difficulty of navigating personal and professional in the room with clients
• Group activity – Where are you on the Comfortable / Uncomfortable spectrum

Break – 11.30 – 11.45

Session 2 – 11.30 – 12.15 

What is therapeutic Use of Self and why it is important?

The therapeutic use of self which can be defined as: “the self-aware intertwining of both our professional self (the one that uses knowledge, skills and techniques) and our personal self (which arises from our history, beliefs/values, personality and embodied lived experience). It involves our therapeutic practices that we’ve learned and our particular way of maintaining a caring, attuned, holding presence. In other words, therapeutic use of self involves the totality of our being and doing; it is present in our every intervention. Dr Linda Finlay

Self Mapping

Therapist critical voice what’s the conversation in your head when sessions become difficult?

Rupture

How do you use transference and countertransference?

How do you bring empathy, compassion and authenticity to repair in the moment?

Mindfulness and Self Care.

As therapists, we spend our lives holding the space for others, tracking nervous systems, regulating intense feelings and staying present to complex stories.

We ask who holds space for you?

Duane and Terry aim to provide a containing and supportive group experience so that you don’t have to manage alone.

What does useful self-care looks like:

• In session
• Post session
• Long term

Lunch Session 3 – 12:15 – 1.00

Supervision Conversations

How you might use therapeutic use of self to support your work by exploring current or past clients that made you feel stuck, deskilled, shamed or Self blaming.

2:45 – 3.00 Ending

Feedback and networking