Systemic Therapy Re-Imagined: A series of CPD workshops for health and social care professionals (CPD73)

Trust Certificate

May - November 2015

Course Type On site

Course Length 3 sessions

Study Attendance Part - time

Fee Half Day: £95 Full day: £175 All 3 workshops booked together: £325

Course Overview The Systemic Psychotherapy Discipline at The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust is pleased to announce the first three workshops in a new series of CPD events for professionals working in health, social services and the voluntary sector. The focus of the workshop series is on new and innovative applications of systemic ideas. The presenters are all experienced systemic trainers from both within and outside the trust who are known for their unique contributions to the development of systemic thinking and practice and its application to new audiences and areas.

These workshops will be of interest both to systemic psychotherapists, for whom attendance will count towards their AFT requirement for CPD, and also to other professionals who might be interested in a "taster" of systemic thinking and practice or a "top up" of their existing skills.

Workshop One: Introduction to MentalizationIntroduction to Mentalization - Based Family TherapyFacilitator: Maggie Usher

Thursday 21 May 2015, 9am - 1pm

Fee: £95

The ability to mentalize is seen as a consequence of our experiences of attachment. It refers to the attitudes and skills involved in understanding mental states in ourselves and in others and their connection with feelings and behaviour.

We do not just mentalize at a conscious or verbal level but at a procedural level which involves unconscious and non verbal affective, motor and perceptual strategies to grasp and convey mental states. Mentalizing is central to understanding, regulating and

communicating emotions.

Difficulties in mentalizing are related to poor emotional control and subsequent difficulties in relationships. It is not a new therapy and many of the techniques have their base in well known systemic practices. Whereas it could be said that all psychological therapies probably aim to increase mentalizing indirectly, the one specific aspect of MBFT is that it makes the enhancement of mentalizing itself the focus of treatment.

Our workshop aims to:

introduce the theoretical base of attachment and reflective functioning from which the concept of mentalization developed.identify the components of successful mentalizing and those that demonstrate an impairment. iintroduce some therapeutic core skills to promote mentalization capacity and familiarise attendees with some easy family - focused techniques and activities which can then be taken into their work setting

Maggie will show a DVD of her work using mentalization based techniques.

Maggie Usher has training in mindfulness based family therapy and is a highly experienced senior family therapist. She has used these ideas in her extensive experience of working with adolescents with eating disorders and in parenting assessments for families where children are on the edge of care. She currently uses it in her clinical work at the Tavistock where she also teaches on the systemic psychotherapy training.

 

Workshop Two: Care or Control?Care or Control? The challenges and opportunities of working systemically in a

context that invites “certainty”Facilitator: Esther Usiskin Cohen

Monday 6 July 2015, 9.30am - 1pm

Fee: £95

Who are we and which bits of our identity do we draw on in our professional roles?

How can we take care of our personal and professional “selves” to keep hope “alive” in practice and maintain integrity?

How can we hold onto the beauty and therapeutic use of uncertainty in a world that demands certainty?

This workshop is aimed at social workers undertaking risk assessments, those who do psychology assessments and educational psychology assessments, psychiatrists and all those caring professionals who are invited into providing a “certain” and “definite” view to the “system of concern” in complex cases. The workshop will provide an opportunity to

explore and clarify our varied personal and professional identities so that integrity and effectiveness can be maintained. Esther has been inspired by Grayson Perry’s current exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery and recent TV series “Who are You?” to think about howto effectively manage the increasing complexity of our work.

Esther Usiskin Cohen (BA Hons, Manchester, MA, CQSW (1989), Sussex, and MSc (2008), London) is registered with the HCPC (social work) and the UKCP as a Family, Couple, Systemic Psychotherapist. She is also an AFT-registered systemic supervisor and provides systemic supervision to qualified and trainee therapists, in the NHS and privately. In Esther’s clinical NHS practice, she undertakes family therapy and systemic assessments in South Camden Community CAMHS (Open Minded) and as a fully qualified EMDR practitioner, she is interested in working with symptoms of anxiety and PTSD.

Workshop Three: Dancing Between DiscoursesDancing Between Discourses: Taking positions in therapy, supervision and

consultationFacilitator: Karen Partridge

Thursday 5 November 2015, 10am - 4.30pm

Fee: £175

This workshop is an opportunity to apply systemic ideas in your work settings. We will explore positioning in complex systems using the metaphor of dance as a way to think about the coordination between the different and sometimes disparate discourses we need to negotiate in our places of work. We will explore the coherence between therapy, supervision and consultation and the way in which ideas from positioning theory and the Fifth Province approach can be applied creatively to think about work dilemmas. There will be a chance to work together on some of your work issues and to create a “positioning compass” to aid agility and reflexivity in the dance.

At the end of the workshop you should be able to:

understand the basics of positioning theoryapply this understanding to work dilemmas in your work contextapply the pneumonic POSITION as a way to elaboratequestioning in consultationsconstruct a Positioning Compass as a trigger for curiosity and reflexivitylink this with ideas from the Fifth province approach to describe dilemmas in systemsfind a “systemic pause” for reflexivity in the midst of work dilemmas

Karen Partridge is a consultant clinical psychologist and systemic psychotherapist currently working as Head of Systemic psychotherapy at The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust and in private practice. Karen trains and supervises health and social care professionals across a wide range of settings and client groups. She works with children, families, couples, individuals and staff groups in hospitals and in the community. Karen’s interests include

discourses in training and supervision, reflexivity and positioning, narrative and liberation psychology, art, music, Buddhism, mindfulness and the application of systemicideas in organisational contexts.

Fees£95 per half day

£175 per full day

£325 for all 3 sessions booked together

Course Admin

Max FendrichConference and events organiser

For more information on this course please visit http://www.tavistockandportman.nhs.uk/training/courses/systemic-therapy-re-imagined-series-cpd-workshops-health-and-social-care