In psychotherapy, negative emotions are essential parts of a client's stuck places. This workshop focus on how to identify, welcome, and transform such difficult emotions, such that they become integral elements of a solution.
In this workshop I will show how to use a process-based therapy approach to guide intervention, based on a new form of process-based functional analysis. Using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and an extended form of its psychological flexibility model I will show how idiographic analysis can be used to fit treatment kernels to client needs, rather than using protocols that target syndromes.
Couples often come to therapy in the aftermath of infidelity. Their marriage is in crisis, their emotions are intense, and you are required to quickly organize a lot of complex information into a coherent treatment plan. How do you do this with confidence?
Discover what to look for, how to delineate core treatment issues in the initial, middle and termination stages of therapy. Next, use 10 parameters to assess the meaning of the infidelity and then uncover the major types of lies and deception to give you a solid way to determine what to address and when.
Motivational factors may be central in the life of a couple. The panel will describe conflicts due to motivational factors and provide therapeutic options.
In this golden age for models of couples therapy, therapists may wonder if they should be practicing the “one best model.” The research is clear that couples therapy models that have been tested are about equally effective, and that there are a number of key ingredients in any effective way to practice couples therapy. The presenter will describe these key ingredients that cut across models and some skills necessary to practice any model. He will argue that since this therapy is about improving relationships, the relationships we establish with our couple clients—balanced, caring, and sometimes challenging—are the heart of what we have to do well.
Extrinsic forces, centered in racism, classism, sexism, heteronormativity, ageism, ableism, and other intersecting identities impact relationships. However, they factors are not extrinsic, as we are all steeped in and operate from or are operated on, but these factors making them all too present and, unfortunately, made invisible to us as clinicians and the relational systems that we work with. The panel will define these factors, explore the power of their invisibility and impacts on relationships at the micro, mezzo and macros levels of experience and discuss their clinical implications on relational and systemic therapies.
The process of working with erotic transference and countertransference is often avoided in clinical practice and in the training of psychotherapists. As therapists we must recognize and address that erotic transference and countertransference are significant pathways, albeit uncomfortable topics steeped in fear and defensiveness, toward greater vulnerability, healing, and the potential for growth within the clients we treat and the clinicians we long to be. This keynote discussion will begin a conversation on the process of removing fear from topics traditionally avoided within the realm of normative psychotherapy practice and parameters for their exploration within a boundaried and ethical framework will be provided.
When it comes to sex issues, therapists are understandably concerned about crossing a boundary, making their clients uncomfortable, or getting outside of their scope of practice. However, when therapists shy away from bringing up sexuality, they may be missing serious (even life-threatening) issues. In this skill-building presentation, Martha will share her unique approach to bringing up sex, including how to follow up ethically and thoroughly once the topic is open. When should you refer or consult? Where is the line regarding scope of practice? What language will help both you and your clients feel comfortable? How much do you need to know about sex? How do you tell whether you’re dealing with relational issue or a sex issue? What should you focus on first? Discover the answers to these questions and more, and walk away with a set of tools you can apply in your very next session.