Workshop Description

Regardless of the model adopted or the approach employed, current research indicates that the one consistently reliable variable impacting upon the beneficial outcome of therapeutic interventions is the relationship itself.  This 1-day workshop will equip participants with an applied theoretical understanding of the major inter-relational qualities and skills derived from existential psychotherapy. This unique focus upon the interpersonal qualities will be of value to all practitioners, regardless of their specialist model or approach and will serve to deepen participants’ professional understanding and awareness of key factors arising in any therapeutic relationship.

The workshop provides participants with the unique opportunity to develop their understanding of, and ability to practise, existential therapy through the particular emphasis of the therapeutic relationship itself. The workshop is derived from Ernesto's textbook Practising Existential Psychotherapy: The Relational World 2nd edition (Sage, 2015).

Format

The workshop is made up of a combination of lecture, discussion, experiential exercises, and exploration of case material that participants are welcome bring to the seminars.

Location - Hebden Bridge

OVERVIEW OF SEMINAR

Morning 1 - An overview of existential therapy - theory and practice

This part of the seminar will introduce the key ideas of relatedness, uncertainty and anxiety and consider them within the context of an existential approach to therapy.

Morning 2 - The Existential Therapist as Idiot - Working with the client's worldview

Existential therapy places a great deal of emphasis on the exploration and clarification of the client's worldview. This part of the Workshop will explore the possibilities of working from a standpoint of un-knowing - a descriptively-attuned focus of investigation, clarification and challenge.

Afternoon 1 - The Existential Therapist as Fool - Working in 'the between'

Existential therapy emphasises the immediacy of the interactions and relations between therapist and client. In doing so, it urges the therapist to be willing to embrace the many uncertain possibilities and challenges that will arise within any therapeutic encounter. This part of the workshop will explore the notions of sedimentation and dissociation from lived, embodied experience

Afternoon 2 - The Therapist as Executioner - Endings: possibilities and disappointments

This final part of the workshop will focus on the impact on the client of attempting to bring insights and decisions arrived at during therapy into the wider world of the client's lived experience.

Professor Ernesto Spinelli was Chair of the Society for Existential Analysis between 1993 and 1999 and is a Life Member of the Society. His writings, lectures and seminars focus on the application of existential-phenomenology to the arenas of therapy, psychology, and executive coaching. He is a UKCP registered existential psychotherapist, a Fellow of the British Psychological Society (BPS) as well as an APECS accredited executive coach and coaching supervisor. In 1999, Ernesto was awarded a Personal Chair as Professor of Psychotherapy, Counselling and Counselling Psychology. And in 2000, he was the recipient of the BPS Division of Counselling Psychology Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Profession.  Ernesto is Director of ES Associates, an organisation dedicated to the advancement of psychotherapy, coaching, and supervision through specialist seminars and training programmes. His most recent book, Practising Existential Psychotherapy: The Relational World 2nd ed (Sage, 2015) has been widely praised as a major contribution to the advancement of existential theory and practice. His previous books include: The Interpreted World: an introduction to phenomenological psychology, 2nd ed (Sage, 2005); Demystifying Therapy (PCCS, 2006); Tales of Un-knowing (PCCS, 2006); and The Mirror and The Hammer: challenging therapeutic orthodoxies (Sage, 2001).