Issue 5, The Associate

The Associate

The newsletter for graduates and students of Bath Centre for Psychotherapy and Counselling

You could say ‘back by popular demand’. Though I’m not entirely sure it’s an accurate statement. In our survey there was a narrow majority in favour of the online version. But anecdotally and through various mails to the publishing team, it felt clear that a paper version would be more widely read and might therefore encourage members to become more involved.

Of course a paper version costs money - a proportion of your membership fee. So we really don’t want to be doing it unless it really is something of value to everyone.

So here it is - Issue 5 back in hard copy. Please indicate your support for the newsletter in the most practical way - by submitting your articles, poems, thoughts, views and art to share with your fellow BCPC readers. Or perhaps you would prefer it if the funds were spent elsewhere. Similarly, please let us know.

Hope you enjoy it.

Historically, graduate psychotherapists paid £180 per year and counsellors £100. The proposal by the BCPCA committee was that all graduate fees should be reduced to £100. However there was some confusion as to why the differential between the two disciplines had been removed and as a result the proposal was referred back to committee for another look.

At that time a new committee began its work and various discussions ensued with BCPC in an attempt to understand the relative finances of both organisations and how the final membership fee is arrived at.

It’s fair to say that both organisations had some learning to do. However, one of the key realisations to emerge from the discussions was that, according to the BCPCA Constitution, only BCPC are empowered to set and agree membership fees and the proposal to reduce fees could only come from them rather than from the Association.

Following lengthy discussions however, BCPC have decided that they are in a position to reduce fees for psychotherapist graduates to £100 and following recommendation to and approval by the Trustees, have informed everyone concerned accordingly and in advance of the new academic year in September.

watching the graceful movement of these birds flying across the landscape. How did they manage to avoid colliding with each other or the ground as they flew at speed on the air currents? Such speed - but such skilful agility.

Abruptly the peaceful scene was disturbed by a group of pigeons bursting upwards in explosive flight from their hiding place in the long grass. What had propelled them into such rapid flight? I gazed upwards from beneath the boughs of the beech tree and saw the graceful, circling flight of a buzzard, riding the thermals as it dropped slowly earthwards towards the tree-tops. As the bird got closer to the ground, I heard – but could not see – a group of crows begin to mob the buzzard. Crows often work together like this, hassling a buzzard fiercely like schoolyard bullies, determined to prevent it from getting too close to their nests and the eggs they contain. The crows’ discordant and raucous cackles rent the air until the buzzard was forced to change direction and fly away.

I watched the buzzard glide effortlessly away towards woodland at the far end of the parkland – it didn’t seem to have taken fright – instead it appeared unhurried and unperturbed by its recent aggressive encounter. The bird flew leisurely and gracefully into the distance until it disappeared amongst the trees in the distance and I could no longer see it.

We had been asked to notice what it was like when our interaction with something in the natural world ended. To During our BCPCA Graduate Day, we were invited to experience an activity called ‘Ways of Relating’. Our instructions were to go outside, walk around and let something of the natural world catch our attention – then to focus on it, be with it and imagine what it would be like to be that thing.

I chose to begin walking in the direction of some open fields. I noticed some butterflies darting around in the hedgerow but their erratic flight made it feel difficult for me to focus on them with comfort. I walked on, crossed a style and found myself in a parkland landscape. My attention was immediately drawn to a large and majestic beech tree standing at the edge of the field. I walked around the massive girth of this tree, trailing my hand across its smooth bark. It felt comforting. I discovered a place where the roots of the tree created a natural seat for me to sit down on. I leaned back against the tree trunk, my body comfortably supported and felt at peace. I have felt a strong affinity towards beech trees for many years and this tree was no exception. In tree symbolism the beech tree represents the characteristics of strength and stability (Bouchardon, 1998). My thoughts turned to other ‘meetings’ I’ve experienced with beech trees in the past and the ‘letting go’ and ‘calming of my mind’ I have come to associate with the energy of this tree.

Was it awareness of my mind’s ‘flight’ into the past that prompted me to notice the low swooping flight of several swallows in this parkland? My mind became engaged in

be aware of the thoughts and feelings that emerged. I felt a huge sense of the loss when this buzzard disappeared from view. I didn’t want it to fly away – I wanted to continue watching the power and grace of this bird in flight. I stood up hoping to see where it had gone, but with no success. I felt bereft. I also noticed an insistent pull to follow the route this bird had flown. I began walking….

My route took me down a field, wading at times through thick mud and soggy long grass, I felt unexpectedly excited by the sound of water mysteriously dropping down into field drains somewhere beneath my feet. I discovered a large man-made pool hidden secretively amongst some trees - the water looked still and serene, surrounded by flag iris – like a place fashioned by Naiads in Greek Mythology. What a bizarre but beautiful place to find in the middle of nowhere.

I began to feel tired and found myself at the bottom of a steep path disappearing upwards through woodland. Did I have the energy to continue my journey? The sun came out - I became captivated by the different shapes of leaves and trees I could see….. I began climbing the path. I noticed sunlight sparkling on the wet leaves, the sound of water dripping, the pungent smell of wild garlic. Looking upwards I saw the ever-changing patterns made by leaves and branches swaying in the breeze. I passed a den someone had constructed from fallen branches – a place to play – I didn’t stop. My thoughts returned briefly to my sadness in losing sight of the buzzard – a bird that played with air thermals, confident, powerful and dignified in flight. I gently chided myself to stay present and bring my attention back to the ‘here and now’ and my woodland walk.

I emerged at the top of the path and to my delight discovered another magnificent beech tree and nearby - a wooden bench. I sat down and gazed out towards the distant horizon – what a glorious view! All the separate places I had experienced on my walk were laid out beneath me: the beech tree I had first sat under, the parkland, the pool I had looked at, the house from where I had started my journey. I felt as if everything I had encountered connected up into a meaningful whole – my journey mapped out along with the powerful feelings this had evoked.

Suddenly out of the corner of my eye I noticed a blur of movement. I looked around in time to see a buzzard drop to the ground about five feet from where I was sitting. As I watched, it turned its head as if to look directly at me – and I looked back. Time stood still. After hours (or was it only seconds) the bird turned it’s head, raised its body upwards and gracefully took off into the wind. I watched it gradually gaining height until I could no longer see it. I sat spellbound with exhilaration. The buzzard had gone – but this time, I didn’t feel a loss. It was if the space where the bird had been remained – a buzzard like space that hung in the air and stayed with me. I felt energized and replete the gestalt of this particular journey fulfilled. I began my walk back feeling deeply at peace from my profound experience of ‘being in Nature’ and connection to the natural world.

Bouchardon, P (1998) London & Stroud, Gaia Books community to be

By Tricia Scott When Tree stood for Chair in May 2010 she was relatively new to the College. She was elected in a face to face contest by a two-thirds majority. I believe that it was the quality of her presence, her straight-forward style and her ability to contact people in dialogue that won the day. Her integrity shone through.

She has been Chair in the most troubled period in the history of our College. Her Chair-ship was challenged as unconstitutional from her first meeting because it was on the basis of the existing constitution. It was argued we needed a new constitution for the College which gave all individual members the vote. This was untrue. It was a political manoeuvre that played on the fact that there was a new constitution in UKCP that she and the delegates were unclear about. But it served to undermine her authority. She agreed on this basis to manage the transition to a new constitution for the College and hold another election within a two year period. That short tenure, half the usual time, is now over.

She achieved the election but it turns out that a new constitution is not actually what is required in the Colleges - we come under the UKCP's constitution. The Colleges were only charged with organising themselves procedurally to include representation for the newly created category of direct registrant (DRs) - members of the College who choose to leave their OMs and register directly with UKCP. There was never any imperative in the new UKCP constitution to hold one man one vote elections within Colleges.

Tree has managed these difficult conflicts and held clarity during this process. Her focus has been to ensure all voices are heard while not allowing one voice to dominate. She has consistently brought the College back to reflection on the process, rather than identifying with a particular view.

Tree felt that the spirit of the College was for universal franchise and through Chair's action she ensured that this happened. Her proviso was that there should be direct communication between the College and the electorate via the HIPC website in formulating the details of this enfranchisement. This she also achieved.

The website is an essential part of ensuring that democracy is a live debate in our College.

Many of the delegates have borne witness to the attacks she experienced in the meetings. These were much worse behind the scenes. She managed to protect the members and the reputation of the College in this period and to handle the politics with grace, humility and wisdom. I want you all to be aware that she has fielded these attacks on our behalf and kept us intact as a College. It is the integrity of our College that has been under attack.

HIPC holds a unique position in the field of psychotherapy and in UKCP. We have managed to create a College where the diversity of humanistic psychotherapies is encompassed and where dialogue, collaboration and consensus have been the underpinnings of the development of our ethical principles and standards. I am proud of what we have achieved and even more proud that Tree has managed to preserve our ethics and our way of operating in these extreme times. I am grateful to her for bearing this for all of us and only wish that her time as Chair had been more pleasurable for her. I hope that in clarifying the process healing can and will take place, but this can only happen if we face up to how the conflict was created and the purpose behind it.

Honeyed stone, warm with sunlight, and the city hum drifting on the breeze make this space, a secret place, where journeys can begin.

Winding stairs lead to this eyrie commanding hills and gardens; here wounds are uncovered and tender places touched with infinite love.

This space enables strangers to become friends, pain to become release and hidden places to become visible.

Silence is at once a safe haven and a challenge; Heads are places for debate and conflict while hearts can sit in silence, disconnected.

Adventurous conversation can lead to awkwardness or trust.

Together, we as islands become an archipelago, a chain of daisies spread on a sea of green.

The journey seems timeless, a bubble in time and space set apart from everyday rhythms seemingly infinite.

But as the islands begin to drift and currents take them on into new seas, ordinary time intrudes.

As the chain is broken, each isle is once more alone yet links remain within, and secrets safe in each life are carried in the hearts of those who found love in such a secret place.

Memories linger and warmth remains when journeys take us on into our future.

Bay and I met for the very first time in August 2011, our paths never having crossed previously, with Bay being a Psychotherapy student and me being a counselling student both in our final year. We felt creatively attuned after our first cup of tea together, both being artists, we were also the only two people to have volunteered to organize the conference and fortunately whilst exploring our thoughts and ideas we realised we shared a common vision of the flavour we wanted to bring to the conference.

We wanted to create a nurturing, ‘good feed’ type of conference which was satisfying every level – spiritual, intellectual, emotional and physical. Our initial tasks were to secure premises, keynote speakers a plenary and of course the all important catering! These all fell into place quite easily and we met up only four times in all, obviously keeping in touch via email and phone too. We found that the organizing came in bursts, with there being a week of high activity followed by a lull. Luckily we found it easy to split the load evenly between us, which was just as well as I was writing my dissertation and was often slow to respond to Bay’s emails!

There were times when the process might have got tricky but we had warned each other during our first meeting of what the other might come up against. Bay’s tendency to adopt her rather assertive stage-managing role worked a treat and she and I placed our trust in each other and the process and were greatly enriched by it.

Our most difficult task was moving the conference to New Oriel Hall, which was a very different space in which to accommodate over 100 guests and we are aware that there were a few hiccoughs on the day, which hopefully will have been ironed out by next year.

We hope they didn’t mar the day as a whole.

Unfortunately our original choice of plenary speaker became unwell and we had 48 hours in which to find a replacement, which was a bit scary, but we were fantastically lucky to secure the wonderful singer Sue Hart, who anchored us into our theme ‘Out of the darkness into the light’ by teaching us songs which African tribeswomen sing and chant in times of trauma.This was a truly joyful start to the day.

However, for us the conference really started the day before when we went to Frome Market and chose armfuls of fresh flowers, which we spent the afternoon lovingly sorting and arranging into 15 bouquets for the graduates. This was a very special and memorable bonding experience for us both, also giving us the opportunity to talk through and iron out any anxieties we were feeling. We discussed how best we could support each other on the day, if anything wobbled us! This cemented our partnership and enabled us to really enjoy the day.

Our keynote speakers Yig Labworth and Will Wilson gave an interesting and thoughtful presentation, with a balanced blend of clinical research and case material. Will also coped with admirable

humour and grace in having to point with a very long paintbrush, to his slides which were projected too high on the wall, due to a technical hitch with the screen! This was followed by a wonderful themed ‘dark and light’ coloured lunch; David Frost excelled himself yet again with his culinary genius.

During the breaks many people contributed to a wonderful on-going artwork using black and white paints led by the artist Barry Cooper, slides of which will be on line soon. There were a variety of workshops which significantly added to the nourishing and enriching feel of the day. Auctioning the finished art work and the sale of second hand books helped to raise over £300 for Trauma Foundation South West.

Last but not least were the graduation ceremonies, which were exceptionally moving, with a record number of graduates receiving their diplomas this year. Well done to all of them. Our heartfelt thanks go out to all the people who kindly contributed to the day in so many ways, we hope everyone enjoyed the conference as much as we did.

Class of 2012

…and Kelvin Hall looking slightly perplexed to be on the receiving end of a certificate rather than presenting one!

As my counselling training came to an end our tutors talked about how they came to be counsellors and how their careers had developed. My first year or so in this new career has been interesting. I have put effort into finding work but the work has seemed to come towards me in its own time and with its own process. I am pleased with how it has unfolded.

I have heard people say it is hard to make a living from counselling, “There are so many counsellors out there”. Yet this was a training I had gone into with the intention of changing career and earning a living. I have also been told that I should do well as “there are so few male counsellors”. I have found myself treating both statements with some suspicion.

As my training came towards the end, we were expected to set up in private practice. I was lucky and found an inexpensive room within walking distance of home. I printed off some simple postcards and flyers and posted them on local notice boards. I had my photo on the flyers; my wife said they looked more like a “wanted” poster than anything.

I also paid for an advert in a local magazine offering “low cost counselling”. A potential client rang the day my advert was first printed. I managed to keep calm as I took the call but inside I was so excited. The caller wanted help for his depressed father. I talked to the father and he came for the first free session but never returned.

In the meantime my placement manager approached me and asked if I had considered working with young people. There was a vacancy for a school’s counsellor one morning a week. The head of the young person’s team was willing to run an

introductory course for me and by the autumn I was nervously working with thirteen to eighteen year olds in a secondary school. It was a steep learning curve but a great contrast to my adult work and I found myself very supported by the school’s pastoral care team.

At my placement my work with Eric was coming to an end. I had been seeing him for a year, the maximum time possible. It was clear that he wanted to continue into long term work and so in agreement with my supervisor and my manager he became my second private client.

By now the taught part of my course was over and I had spent a busy summer preparing my submission documents. I still needed that elusive private client for eight sessions. I was beginning to get quite frustrated and worried about it but soon after Christmas the phone rang. An acquaintance had seen a flyer and asked if I would be willing to see their cousin. I was cautious and explained that the cousin would need to call me herself, she would be the client and my work with her would be confidential. The cousin did ring; I talked it over with my supervisor and took her on as a client. We had eight sessions, which fulfilled my submission criteria, and she remains a client still.

By March this year I had qualified from my course. I wrote to local agencies and sent them my CV. I had a few polite replies but no luck. Then one day I had an e-mail from the rehab where I had applied to for the manager’s job. Would I be interested in doing a few hours counselling work each week? It was an interesting offer as the ethos of the setting is Anthroposophical. I currently see three clients and it seems likely this will increase in time. My experience of working in a school was really helpful for working in this setting and dealing with boundary issues with other members of staff.

So now I had one mornings work in a school and one private client. It was a start but it wasn’t going to feed the family. I was receiving some benefits and had a small part time shop job but I needed to earn more money. When I saw an advert for a manager at a local drug and alcohol rehab I applied.

They wanted someone with managerial experience and an understanding of counselling. I got through to a second interview and was tempted by the post but decided to drop my application. I had worked too long and sacrificed too much to compromise. If I took the job I would not have time to practice as a counsellor and would have to drop the school work which I was beginning to really enjoy.

Now I was qualified I got on with setting up a web page through BACP. I chose the cheaper DIY method which has worked well even if it took me a while to get to grips with how it worked. The advantage of setting it up myself is that I can take my time to decide what I want to say on my site and can update it easily without relying on anyone else.

I also decided to sign up with Counselling Directory as I had seen their on-line adverts and heard about positive results from a friend. The day after I signed up I had a call from a client who had seen me on their site.

As I write I have five private clients (two referred by my supervisor), work one afternoon at the rehab unit and from September two mornings a week in the school. I enjoy the different settings I work in and hope to continue to build up a portfolio

of work. It has been a steady process getting work and I have allowed it to unfold at it’s own pace. I have been able to get my counselling hours up to the level needed to apply for accreditation. I plan to apply for this in September. I see this as another step towards getting work as being accredited is often a prerequisite on job applications.

I love this work and for me being a counsellor is a dream come true. I love being my own boss. I find that my client work is taking on a life of its own which informs what I read and research. I am developing a greater trust in myself while, it seems, managing to walk that edge of uncertainty that at times leaves me wondering what I am doing.

In my previous career I was well paid but unfulfilled. Now things are financially tight but my life is rich.

What is it that is going on my love?

Is this the breaking of our souls connection, Or the natural breath of the soul of life?

In our love I cannot help but seek for wholeness For completeness Are you my greatest teacher An invisible sage who shows me what cannot be?

Or are you an unwilling participant in life’s journey?

A half hearted, battered, antagonist Singing to a sour note Taught to you by parents poisoned lyre strings.

In love my completeness is but short lived Always waning as the full moon yields to it’s crescent.

What is it that makes me die in those moments And believe the full moon will never shine again.

Why do I die with each waning of the moon Instead of seeing it as love taking in it’s breath?

And what is happening now my love?

This time it is not the tide going out, Only to return again the following morning.

This time as it pulls back I cannot see the foamy edge of the waters any more And for me the sea will never be back again.

We kept seeking separation or wholeness And did not see how to dance the breath of life.

The soft sand of our beach was not firm enough For footprints to stay leaving a track and say ‘this is the way’.

And I a child lost on that beach, wondering Would I be found before the tide swept me away.

What is it that feels broken in me In this silence of our dance?

A light that turns to shadow as if The sun will never warm it again.

So what is going on my love?

Is this the pull back of the tsunami wave Leaving land upon land open and vulnerable Exposing the underbelly of our separation Only, at some later time, to pour forth Drenching and flooding what before laid barren?

Or the soft tick tock of the end of our souls time?

I read this out on the last day of formal instruction at BCPC, having taken 8 years so far, with two years in which I can write my dissertation. So the farewell is only half a goodbye, and I’m told that you actually never leave BCPC anyway.

I noticed once I’d written it that it goes to the rhythm of the conga, that chaotic procession of unstable people who clutch each other and lurch around at the end of a party, oscillating from side to side, stopping every so often to stamp on the floor, and never coming to the end. Hmm...

Farewell to BCPC! It’s not been easy-peasy, That pole we climb is greasy!

(These lines can go in threes, see?)

Not talking to the trees-y Like Francis of Assisi, Not huggy-cosy-squeezy But working without cease, see?

Like sailing seven seas, see?

No longer bright and breezy, No Mr Teasy-Weasy, I’m less fit than a flea, see?

My voice is getting wheezy (I’ve donned my Polar Fleecey) I’m feeling rather queasy And very slightly diz-zy My cords are limp and creasey, I feel it in my knees, see?

(This rhyme scheme’s getting cheesey, And let’s not go near sleazy…)

I only want to please, see?

I’ll sign a brand new lease, see?

I’m really far too bu-sy To write my

David Frost (Aka Colonel Mustard after the yellow corduroys)

itself will fall or be unconsciously shaped into a powerful symbol which has great impact because it has not been formed by the conscious mind but is the expression, it seems, of something deeper. Clients are invited to use any of the many hundreds of pieces to create a sandplay image. They usually work in silence, perhaps giving me as witness some indication of what their associations are with the pieces, perhaps not. There comes a moment when the process seems complete. Clients often say ‘That’s it!’ in a way which conveys the sense that this image, with pieces placed in this particular arrangement, this is it,.. this expresses my inner reality.

I have a great love for this methodology, which is particularly effective for people who tend to over intellectualise, or those with language difficulties for whom an exclusively verbal method can be limited. I find it deeply enriching studying symbols in greater depth through their use in myths, fairytales and art. I have recently had a paper accepted for inclusion in the Journal of Sandplay Therapy on the symbol of the gateway, entitled ‘ The Gateway; boundary, entrance and threshold’. As I write this we are at that threshold point of the academic year, between one stage and another.

Digesting the fruits of the year’s work, and perhaps recuperating from a tough and demanding journey. Not yet ready to step through the threshold into the new year, but in that liminal place between things where we can more readily hear the voice of our soul.

Some of you will know that I have been studying Jungian Sandplay over the last few years and bringing this approach increasingly into my therapy practise. I thought I would give a brief overview of this approach, which is designed for both adults and children. Coming into my practise room the sandtrays and shelves of pieces are immediately obvious and I introduce new clients to the option of working with sandplay as part of their work with me. As with dreams, the first sandplay made can often hold the essence of the therapeutic tasks ahead.

Because sandplay work is seen as an organic process with it’s own momentum, interpretations of the tray by the therapist or client are discouraged until towards the end of the work. Then a review of all the recorded images can take place as part of digesting and beginning to integrate the work together.

Before words there is the experience. Our work as therapists, is often about enabling the other to contact their experiencing self and begin to find ways of naming or expressing their process. Unconscious issues that are pressing to become conscious may be held in the body, be projected onto people and situations in our lives, manifest in our dreams or be enabled through therapy or other creative processes to come into our awareness.

Creating a sandplay is like that. The client doesn’t need a plan for what they want to represent but is encouraged at first simply to move the sand with their hands. I love this quote from Jung; ‘Often the hands will solve a mystery with which the intellect has struggled in vain’.C.G. Jung (Vol 8., para. 180). Sometimes the sand

Rebecca Miles rebecca@milesandmiles.myzen.co.uk

David Frost onders anfully on what constitutes a roper eal for a sychotherapeutic ale.

with capers, hard boiled eggs or tomatoes and a garlic dressing including tarragon vinegar. ashed eas with int and garlic are delicious on bruschetta, or erhaps, aybe, Dr ollon, . would like elanzane armigiana – aubergine slices layered with tomato sauce, ozzarella and armesan. We could have a ilaff of ushrooms.

There’s a lethora of ’e to choose from, leurotis, aris, uffball and arasol, and when I say ieds de outons, you know I mean the wild fungus of that name, not sheep’s trotters. izza argherita is veggie of course, involving nothing meatier than tomato, fresh basil and cheese.

Talking of cheese I’ve always wanted to serve ata de ulo (mule’s leg), which disappointingly is just another name for Villalon, a soft ewe’s milk cheese presented in cylinder form (hence the name), in Spain second only to the opular anchego. But you knew that. There’s also that delicious cow’s milk cheese from Normandy, avé de oyeaux.

What to drink with all that?

I’ve been considering ideas for the hil ollon lunch in October. What would he like? He’s well known for his sychoanalytic ethods, but he still might be a down-toearth eat and otatoes ie and ash type, though if he’s not we could always call the spuds ommes ousselines. They’d be aris iper of course. And we’d have erfectly ade owdered ustard.

Yes, he deals with the uzzled ind, even ersecution ania, but delegates ight ossibly draw the line at asteciki z ozgu – Polish calf’s brain patties in small shell-like pastry cases. And I can’t help feeling that astel de urcia (some relation surely...) might not ass uster either. It’s a Spanish light puff pastry tart filled with chopped veal, chorizo, hard boiled eggs, and ulverised eat, covered with a puff pastry lid. Oh, and chopped brains.

I was ersistently ulling over the question at breakfast ( ain de ie with each armalade), when it hit me (I must adjust the spring on that toaster): we could have heasant ousse, or âté aison encased in âte oulée (a hot water crust). (I always use oivre ignonette in the preparation of such dishes – a otent ixture of cayenne pepper, ounded ace, coriander, ginger, cloves, and cinnamon in a muslin bag.)

I wonder if Dr. Phil likes fish? Will he be in a iscatorial ood? I would need my estle and ortar to make escado á la alaguena – a watery soup/stew of mixed fish, tomatoes, onions, green peppers, garlic, parsley and bay. How about a simple eppered ackerel?

What if he’s vegetarian? There are always haseolus ungo (Mung beans), and of course the delicious anzanella alla arinna - Tuscan bread and basil salad,

ort and

adeira, naturally.

I always like a ultiplicity of uddings. urée de arrons (Creamed Chestnuts) is a vital ingredient in that classic , involving grated chocolate and whipped cream over a ositive ountain of the aforesaid. And there’s the avlova agnifique, as well as my current favourite example of atisserie allorquaine, , a Crème Brulée encased in a flat circular brioche dough. each elba is a natural, depending on the deep freeze facilities, and surely of fruit (“ canteloupes containing a retty ”) would be acceptable.

In the afternoon ( ost eridian) we must have some istachio acarons, those recent French imports, as well as ink eringues. And speaking of French imports, how about some of roust’s adeleines? Perhaps with some ecan uffins, and olish akagigi – Almond and Honey Biscuits. (This may be one occasion when we actually welcome Tea…) We might need some epper ints after all that food…

David will be catering at the Autumn Conference Saturday October 20, 2012 when Dr will speak on “The Emerging Field of 'Energy Psychology' - Integration with Psychotherapy".

10.30am – 4.00pm (arrival from 10.00am for tea/coffee) St. Luke's Centre, St. Luke’s Church, Hatfield Road, Bath BA2 2BD Cost: £65.00 (lunch included).

Apply for tickets urgently to: ‘Phil Mollon Booking’ BCPC, 1 Walcot Terrace, London Road, Bath BA1 6AB (

will definitely be on the lanned enu.)

, a Jungian Analyst based in Bath, will facilitate this, the first in a series of experiential dream workshops to be hosted by Open Space Workshops.

Matthew has many years of experience of working with dreams as an analyst, supervisor & teacher. Under his guidance, participants will learn, practise & improve the essential skills of understanding dreams, mainly by working on dreams submitted by members of the group. All participants will be invited to bring one of their own dreams to reflect on privately during the course of the workshop. In addition, at least 3 participants – selected by ballot – will have the chance to work on their own dreams in detail within the group.

The week-end is suitable for psychotherapists, counsellors & trainees irrespective of orientation – together with anyone else interested in dreams. Beginners & those who are more advanced are equally welcome.

Using CG Jung wrote: the ‘Dreamworkers Toolkit’ (to be supplied) as a starting-point, Matthew will help the group to explore a number to open up and reveal its of different ways, both experiential & interpretative, of teasing the secrets.

The weekend will accommodate a maximum of ten people at a four star venue in a friendly village seven miles from the centre of Bath. There will be time to stroll by the stream, float in the heated pool or be massaged by jet streams in the hot tub. In the grounds of Purbeck House there are two, two bedroomed cosy log cabins and two equally cosy first floor studio apartments which overlook the countryside. The bedrooms consist of four twins and two singles. All meals will be provided for you apart from Saturday lunch which will be a shared bonding meal. Pauline Morgan and Bay Deane will be on hand to help make the weekend ' Some suggestions of what you might need to bring with you will be sent out nearer to the time and CPD certificates will be available on request during the weekend.

Arrive: Friday 16th November 2012 at around 5pm Depart: Sunday 18th November 2012 at around 2pm Cost: £275 Venue: Purbeck House, Bridge Place Road BA2 0PD MATTHEW HARWOOD is a Jungian Analyst in private practice in the Bath & Bristol area. He is a senior training analyst with the Independent Group of Analytical Psychologists (IGAP) and the Guild of Analytical Psychology & Spirituality (GAPS). He trained at the CG Jung Institute in Zurich. He has lectured widely, both in England and overseas. For further information please see: www.matthewharwood.co.uk.

PAULINE MORGAN is a Humanistic Integrative Psychotherapist who trained at the Bath Centre for Psychotherapists and Counsellors (bcpc). She also has experience of training in Systemic Family Therapy at Bristol University and the University of the West of England (UWE). She is very interested in the world of dreams and has been in various different dream groups facilitated by Matthew Harwood for over 10 years and this is reflected in her work with clients.

BAY DEANE is in the final stage of training as a Humanistic Integrative Psychotherapist at the Bath Centre for Psychotherapists and Counsellors (bcpc). As an experienced healer in the Shamanic ways she works with the imagination and its symbolism using visualisation. Bay's interest in dreams covers many disciplines. She runs various workshops in a Scandinavian Style lodge at her home in Frome. For further information please see: www.baydeane.com For booking details please contact Pauline at pauline_morgan_1525@hotmail.com

“The Little Hidden Door�

In support of our wish to publish examples of student writing, has kindly allowed us to reproduce part of her dissertation:

Strangers in a Strange Land Making Sense of Feeling Different Michelle Oakman

There are many people in the world who feel ‘on the edge’ of society, sanity and respectability. Wherever the sense of difference lies there can be loneliness, and an urgency to find meaning when feeling different feels like alienation rather than celebration. In my life I have found myself drawn to situations where other alienated people are to be found. This has correlated to my emotional state at the time; as a teenager diving into the drug scene; in my forties sharing my life story with other trainee psychotherapists. Inbetween struggling to gain respectability and find meaning through work and activities with others. As a social worker I had put myself into another alienated position. A profession loathed and ridiculed by many in society. I always chose the most deprived areas with highly disaffected clients. Like many people labelled as mentally ill or deviant, they found ways to cope, which alienated them further from a society where they found making sense of their lives impossible. There are many questions I have around the area of feeling different. This resulting from my own experience, and the way I felt drawn to others whom I perceived as suffering because of their difference. I hope my work can offer to existing literature the opportunity for the reader to join me in the unravelling of my story as I explore the journey that led to my commitment to become a psychotherapist. My goal is to make sense of this voyage using theory, and myth, alongside my contact and experience with clients from diverse backgrounds who have informed and enriched my practice. My starting point is from my wound, which I have been able to experience as a gift that continually pushed me to find meaning in my life.

My initial engagement with my chosen subject was to look at websites referring to difference. Involve (7.10.2009) listed what they considered as vulnerable or marginalised, a named difference. They included people with mental and physical health problems.

Refugees, prisoners, addicts, and ethnic minorities.

Those suffering poverty and homelessness. I am white heterosexual with no significant mental health problems or learning disabilities. I have been able to stay living in my country of birth and haven’t been persecuted because of my religion or beliefs. I have suffered an intangible difference, and like the more subtle forms of abuse I struggle to find its form.

Because of the lack of shape I have been unable to attach myself to a group, for example, that campaigns for the rights of that marginalized majority. Had I done so I may have bypassed my search to make sense of my feelings and in this find meaning for myself.

I want to explore the diverse coping strategies used by individuals to manage a world where they feel no sense of belonging. In some the shame of feeling different because one is unable to ‘get’ what’s going on leads to development of a ‘false self’ (Winnicott 1960). Winnicott, an object relations theorist, studied early interaction with mothers and babies as a paediatrician. He proposed that the beginning of the false self emerges from the mother/carers’ inability to perceive the needs of the child. He believed as the false self developed through the acceptance of continual compliance, it could hide a psychotic core (Ibid 1960). He argued that this lack of cohesion in very early development would impede a sense of self and separateness, an alive authentic self not being formed.

R.D. Laing trained as a psychiatrist and worked in the 1960s with individuals diagnosed as suffering severe mental illness, often schizophrenia. During this time he carried out research of communication between a group of patients and their families (Laing and Esterson 1964). He put forward that ‘madness’ emerging from the psychotic core may be the only option for others who cannot maintain the compliance of the false self (Laing 1960). Laing and Winnicott both emphasised the need to be recognised and accepted as an authentic individual.

Laing’s ideas around ‘ontological security’ (Laing 1960) acknowledge that:

(Ibid: 1960:42).

This suggests that Laing considered significant early environmental influences as playing their part in this lack of a coherent self. Laing’s interest in existential philosophy was influential in his consideration of the conditions of existence, thus focusing more on the development over time in regard to the individual’s relationship with others; particularly the family which he believed was used as a vehicle to promote compliance with a society that perpetuates feelings of alienation. He believed one may be confirmed as a version of their carers’ construction rather than the individual’s real self. He argued that in this false position of existing to comply with parents who are themselves trying to meet the demands of their external world, the child loses contact with the qualities of their true self which is subsequently

‘locked away’ in an attempt to maintain its integrity.

The effects of this, he concluded, being a sense of feeling unreal with impaired reality perception. Laing viewed individual development in a more political light which highlighted the demands of a society that does not see individuals acting from their true natures as in its interests. Winnicott, having an emphasis on an intrapsychic approach, expressed the impact on the infant of the mother/carers’ wound. This in turn, affecting their child’s ability to develop their full potential and successfully nurture their children.

I find both approaches relevant in my practice. In working with refugees, many of whom have not suffered early wounding from unsupportive parenting, but later on have had their lives shattered by external conflict that has made their existence untenable. Giddens, a sociologist who has examined the impact of post feudal culture on social and personal life refers to ontological security as a sense of order and continuity in regard to an individual’s experiences (Giddens 1991). He argues that this is reliant on the ability to give meaning to their lives. I will discuss this again with the case of ‘Sadat’ in section 5. I will use ‘Susannah’ in section 3 to illustrate how lack of early attunement can obstruct the healthy development of emotional life in an apparently privileged external environment.

Winnicott’s research into the initial interaction between infant and primary carer provides in exquisite detail, a narrative of the pre-verbal phase we cannot consciously remember, yet holds the fabric of our foundations. Winnicott (1975) proposed that if a resilient self is not formed through the successful building of a relationship with mother/carer, then the individual can become dominated by their unconscious. His persuasive conviction recognised that the early expressions of life, if rejected in the form of inappropriate responses from the carer, could lead to adaptive behaviour in order to maintain vital links with carers. ‘

(Winnicott 1971:112).

Winnicott believed when the compliant self is routinely accepted as the real self, the underlying primitive state of fragmentation is not acknowledged (Ibid 1960). Bruno Bettleheim, a child psychologist who worked extensively with autistic children

stressed the importance of allowing a degree of unconscious material into consciousness.

(Bettleheim 1976:7).

Bettleheim believed the use of fantasy and imagination could help give shape to unconscious content by transferring it into conscious fantasies which can be explored (Ibid 1976). I have found this invaluable in my own therapy and in working with my clients. A fundamental psychotherapeutic tool is the allowing of oneself to stand back, be interested in our internal responses. On giving time to this, the psyche will produce images and impulses previously restricted by the ego and social conditioning. I encourage clients to use metaphors to describe feelings which may have lain dormant, like sleeping beauty for many years. To give fury or grief a colour, to liken them to a hurricane or an attacking tiger can help make coherent sense of unfamiliar and previously censored affect. Sharing the metaphors that become immediate translations in the sessions for certain feeling states can increase intimacy and trust. Thus the material, once so feared becomes more manageable. Holmes, a psychotherapist and psychiatrist believes that making the unconscious conscious could be described as starting to understand and accept one’s own story (Holmes 1993).

Thomas Moore, a former Catholic monk expressed that he often saw his role as a psychotherapist as educating the imagination rather than offering options. In this way he believed solutions could start to reveal themselves (Moore 2004:308-309). Jung felt that the unconscious would strive for balance through the manifestation of psychic conflict, which he believed was an autonomous process that could occur when emotions are generated (Jung 1966).

Thus in the security of the therapy session, arising sensations, visual, sensual or steadily emerging thoughts and ideas can be explored in the light of consciousness. Jung stated that the intellect would be baffled by:

(Ibid 1966:263).

Jung developed his ideas about the ‘collective unconscious’ (Jung 1916b) (1966) whilst working at the Burgholzi clinic in Zurich. The content of hallucinations expressed by psychotic patients, Jung found had parallels with religious and mythological material. Jung’s knowledge in this area helped him recognise common themes. He called these ‘archetypes’ (Jung 1916a) (2009), the patterns of behaviour and themes that repeat throughout time in the lives of us all.

Clarissa Pinkola, a Jungian analyst and poet advocates recovery of the natural instinctive psyche through inward exploration. She believes this has been lost through society’s unrealistic expectations of women who feel compelled to be multi –tasking superwomen (Estes 1992). I see my past compliance with the world as a block to making sense of my feelings of disconnection with the external world. I did not value myself enough to listen to my inner voice. Carl Rogers called the individual’s own natural resource of self understanding and knowledge as the ‘organismic self’ (Rogers 1951). From a humanistic point of view he considered some individuals as not having been given the opportunity by significant others in their lives to feel and explore their own worth through, at least some degree of unconditional love and acceptance.

Rogers proposed that those deprived of this sense of their own value will start to act in a way that elicits approval from others. When pleasing others becomes crucial to feeling adequate, then a person’s natural instinctive feelings have to be ignored, thus creating a feeling of doubt about their own thoughts and feelings (Ibid 1951). This has resonance with Winnicott and Laing’s ideas about the false self.

However Rogers saw the shutting down of this inner self as a loss of one’s full potential rather than a process that could lead to being overwhelmed by unconscious matter with the possible consequence of psychosis. In section 3 I look at Laing and Jung’s ideas in regard to psychosis as a possible part of the individuation process.

In the appendix I use ‘The Hero’s Journey’ as described by Joseph Campbell, a mythologist and writer, to look at the process of individuation.

According to Campbell a hero is any male or female who sets off from all that is familiar in life to embark on a voyage to an extraordinary world where they can overpower challenges and fears in order to secure a reward of special knowledge which is then shared with other members of the community (Campbell 1993). Moore (2004) talks about profound pain and loss as being ‘The dark night of

the soul’ where one questions their purpose of being.

.

(Ibid 2004:13).

This is a time when alienation and distressing feelings of difference can be a gift that can be transformed into a deep understanding of our true nature.

I found as a child I could manage difficult feelings to an extent by making up stories. Some of these were in written form, but at other times I acted them out. I had a long walk to school on my own and remember this stirring up feelings of abandonment, and difference. I did not feel significant in my mother’s life like the other children who were waved goodbye at the school gate by their mothers. The externalising of my emotions would be me speaking out the different roles of my own personal tale. I remember the sense of a pressure alleviated, like removing a shoe to scratch an itchy foot. This, of course would be seen as a social faux pas, just as my narrative was in the street. On one occasion when I was about eight, a man fixing his car stood up, and shouted at me. I was slapped out of my internal dialogue, and realised I had to be careful in the future to hide this form of self soothing. I experienced my difference in that situation as being so off beam, it had actually made a complete stranger angry. After this, at times of feeling lost, I would rush back to my inner world. It was like the space under a stone, teeming with life. A secret place where I could be myself. Jung described his childhood in a very conservative religious family where it was impossible to discuss his feelings. To attempt this with his rigid father and depressed, unresponsive mother made him feel worse. The originality of his writing at school led him to be branded a ‘fraud’. Plagued by nightmares that left him feeling ‘unendurably lonely’ he talked about escaping to his own inner world;

(Jung 1963:62).

When I couldn’t seem to fit in anywhere, I would disappear into this space rather than deal with the difficulty I had left behind. I continued to spend hours making up stories in my head. I acted some of these out with my cats, the most responsive members of my family. I also relayed them to one of my teachers.

She knew I had no friends and asked me to help her write the school play in break time. Alice Miller, a therapist from a Jungian background believed if that one adult in a child’s life helped them, with their empathy, to understand that their suffering was unjust; then it could remain external. The child being saved from taking it in as an internal model that could be acted out on others. (Miller 2005: Ch.2).

When my mother showed interest in me it felt out of tune with my needs. The more I retreated, the more she criticised this way of coping. The more I felt I had to justify myself for my oddity, the more I cycled madly to conform or at least look as though I was. I became acutely sensitive to my mother’s behaviour.

Her outbursts at feeling slighted in any way. The tendency to talk endlessly about herself even when others had reported a significant loss or joy in their life. This meant all my experiences were marginalized, and I was unable to make sense of my life events. I became the audience for my mother’s one-woman show. Her inability to empathise with others and acknowledge their needs created vigilance. Like a hawk surveying its prey, I had to monitor her every word. If I could eliminate her presence from a situation I would, rather than have to bear the shame of her blind disregard. Sue Gerhardt, a psychoanalytic therapist (2004:Ch.3) writes about the brain’s chemical reactions to hypervigilance.

Large amounts of cortisol are released when a child needs to be constantly watchful of carers with whom they feel unsafe. High levels of cortisol are connected to the right frontal brain which generates fear and withdrawal, and are connected with difficulties such as addiction and depression. Gerhardt outlines the calm presence the mother needs to provide in the infant’s early life to help the child manage their anxiety, the phase Winnicott described as ‘primary maternal preoccupation’ (Winnicott 1956 . He believed in this stage the father’s role is to support the mother in providing ‘good enough mothering’ (Ibid 1956). Yet this assumes fathers have the necessary time and experience to achieve this. Estes (1992) argues that in contempory, industrialised societies mothers are often left without guidance to deal with pregnancy, childbirth and childcare. She believes because of unreasonable expectations in regard to women, less supportive communities and extended family, new mothers are often deprived of the mothering they need from more experienced mothers in order to nurture their own children.

(Emde 1988 cited in Gerhardt, 2004:21)

This reflects Winnicott’s view of the infant’s needs in early life. Gerhardt adds that mother/carer’s sensitive responses are essential in regulating his feeling state.

My maternal grandparents emigrated to Canada looking for work. Their only son died shortly after their arrival when my grandmother discovered she was pregnant with my mother. Without extended family, material resources and desperate to belong, I imagine they would have struggled to provide this type of ‘facilitating environment’ (Winnicott 1965).

My mother always struggled to manage her own emotional state. After having travelled to a battered post war London to marry my dad, she found herself having her babies in an alien country with no extended family. It is as though I recognise that state of exile. My parents believed I could belong, assuming I was not affected by their early experiences as outsiders. I wonder if in my role of holding what is not spoken about in my family, I was not able to let go of the theme of alienation. The psychotherapist, Burt Hellinger believes that unconscious and unexpressed feelings are often mirrored back in forms of dysfunction affecting later generations.

(Hellinger 1998:94).

Hellinger has radically built on traditional Family systems therapy by developing Family Constellation Work. This facilitates the highlighting of damaging family patterns When successfully worked through their effects can be released. Constellation work provides a vehicle for exploring the roles of family members from past generations. What was highlighted for me in my first constellation was the lack of connection I had with family on my mother’s side. I was seeing my maternal relatives for the first time in a way that helped me make sense of the way I had felt within my family, and then in the world. The unravelling of unconscious processes into the light of awareness expanded my understanding of deeply held beliefs about myself in the world and how I have tried to manage them.

My relationship with the world thus had this broken thread, a disorientation that others noticed and left me trying to explain myself. Heuristic Research (Moustakas 1990) appeared to be the most helpful method of exploration to try and untangle the feelings that had kept me in exile. The word heuristic comes from the Greek ‘heuriskein’ meaning to discover or find. It refers to a process of internal search and investigation, whereby one can discover the nature

and significance of experience. The heuristic steps develop procedures for further investigation and analysis by encouraging the growth and fruition of the seed of an idea. My ‘seed’, the moment of deciding I wanted to explore the sense of feeling different arrived paradoxically when I started to think about where I feel at home. (Moustakas 1990:24-25) describes ‘indwelling’ as engaging with the phenomenon under research. The process of indwelling requires that one returns to the experience under research repeatedly until it can be portrayed in some form. As I find stories, either well known or personal, helpful in highlighting personal and collective themes, I was struck by myself as the ‘ugly duckling’ who did find home eventually, but had to achieve numerous milestones before my ‘flock of swans’ was discovered. The events, on reflection that crystallised as significant in indicating a journey towards an identifiable goal, were those where I see myself as experiencing my difference by having to act in a way that caused discomfort or even alienation, but felt compulsive. The most effective way I can describe this is to give a narrative of the events that provided beacons of light in my life. Part of my research is based on two of my presentations from the final stage of my training. The first in section 3, the second in section 4. I also use as research, ‘Sadat’ and ‘Susannah’ as previously described in section 2 who both struggled with difference in very different ways. I have changed names, and certain details about external circumstances to protect their identity. In section 5 I outline in verbatim, part of one of my therapy sessions which highlights my battle to find balance in my difference.

As the hours tick by to the beat of my heart, longing to hear your key in the door.

I am the little Match girl pressing my frozen face against the window of a room filled with laughter and light.

But I cannot enter because you do not see me.

I am full only with hunger and pain, and as I grow weaker, I slip over the edge.

Falling forever in a world where I am a vampire, feeding on scraps in the night and daylight never comes.

(Oakman 2006).

The Little Match Girl (Anderson 1845) (1985) story has captured my imagination for many years. I carried out an exercise as part of a presentation with my final stage group (2008-2009). Using the group as a research resource in regard to exploring others’ feelings of difference. I asked the group members

where they would put themselves in the story. Some, like me were outside freezing in the night. However one person, L.B said there was a time when she would have described herself as being at the centre of the party. She emphasised she had only put herself in that place because she believed that is how others perceived her. Her subjective experience was that she too was out in the cold. An added wound to her existing sense of deprivation had been that no one else had understood these feelings. On reflection of this research I was reminded of a client, Susannah. In our initial meeting I experienced a sense of material wealth. Susannah told me Ben, her partner of three years had built their ‘dream house’ whilst they lived separately. On its’ completion Susannah and her two teenage daughters moved in with him. Life had become a nightmare as he battled with the girls. Ben protested that they made enough mess without their friends coming round.

M: “ S: “

M:

“

S: Tears flowing now. “

M: “ S: “

M: “ M: “ As I looked at Susannah, I found it very difficult to imagine her as one.

S: “ S: “

M: “

S: “

eyes glinting with tears).

M

S: “

Susannah told me she had never felt at home in the world or her body. She had experienced a sense of home with her daughters, and felt she had been able to allow them to be themselves. However when a partner came along offering her an invitation to the ‘party’ she found herself turning to what had felt so constricting in her childhood in the hope that this time it would work. Susannah had never resolved the conflict created by feeling different in her family. Her siblings had all achieved high powered careers, and expressed feeling grateful to their parents for being ‘encouraged’ by them.

S: “

M: “ M: “ Her face contorted, eyes squeezed together as if to banish any possibility of tears.

Susannah looked triumphant, followed rapidly by a grim expression as she understood her insight.

S: “ S: “Y

.

(Ben) (Laing 1960:143).

Although struggling Susannah acknowledged she was not real in her life. She experienced a powerful sense of being a detached observer of something she did not feel part of. There was the fear of losing herself altogether. Laing (1960) wrote that the false self is developed to protect the true self from a threatening and perilous world. However whilst trying to maintain its’ autonomy it is separated from contact with others. L.B perceived her ‘Little Match Girl’ as her true self, having become encapsulated in a frozen world. ‘ (Ibid 1960:162).

L.B was able to look back at this feeling state, having moved to a position of understanding. Susannah, at this point in her sessions seemed to be battling to feel real in the world. Gradually she stopped fighting her feeling of difference and started exploring it.

Susannah had moved to a point away from her siblings whereby she recognised her life had mostly been one of accepting the role others had allocated her.

Discovering that as a mother she had been able to offer her daughters a way of growing up that had not been available to her. At least, a partial expression of their authentic selves. In witnessing their ability to be spontaneous, to explore their own potential because she was allowing it, resulted in Susannah seeing the life experience she had missed out on. Her family history then started to repeat in her partner imposing restrictions on her girls expressions of life. This had created internal conflict, leading to her desire to seek help through therapy.

There are those, like Susannah who retain enough strength to eventually return to themselves, to their own vital energy and connection through a real relationship with the external world. For Susannah, trying to express herself had been experienced as dangerous. However genuine affectionate ties with her daughters had been maintained, and this seemed the way towards achieving a more honest and satisfying way of being. Laing (1960:Ch.9) describes the struggle an individual may have in order to hold onto their true sense of self when they have withdrawn so completely in the attempt to survive an unaccepting environment. The real self may be too lifeless in its hiding place to emerge into the light of day.

For them, trying to restore the self may be an element that brings the state of psychosis closer.

Where a person’s false self is experienced as alien because of its’ slavish compliance with the world, unbearable conflict may arise in trying to relate to it in a meaningful way. Jung, in his early career, worked, like Laing with patients diagnosed as mentally ill.

They both came to see the state of insanity as perceived by society as a possible catalyst to attaining a higher self, the butterfly emerging from a chrysalis with the gift of flight. Laing (1967:115) expressed that the loss of ego through unfavourable environmental conditions could lead to exposure to other worlds.

When the journey is not allowed; for example when treatment is intrusive rather than supportive, psychic healing cannot take place. Psychiatric input may control symptoms rather than acknowledging them as part of a process of breaking down with the potential of breaking through. Jung believed when the conscious ego is in dominance, and communication with one’s deeper, guiding self is lost, troubled mental health can ensue, and a sense of alienation takes hold.

The compensatory forces of the unconscious may flood the individual’s consciousness in an attempt to restore balance. This disrupts mental stability and effects adaption to the external world.

(Jung 1973: xliii).

Jung perceived that even though in schizophrenia the material is magnified and distorted by the mental imbalance, the imagery of mythology is present. Dr Joseph Berke co-founded The Arbours Association in London in 1970. It provides residential safety, support and guidance for people undergoing a breakdown in their mental health without intrusive psychiatric intervention. Berke (1979) describes this process as one from which healing and development can emerge from psychic disintegration. The path of individuation has specific milestones. However our experiences even within archetypal patterns are unique. The road to fulfilment is a subjective one with the key in our own individual story. In the next section I look at the intersubjective approach as proposed by Stolorow and Atwood (1992) in relation to painful feelings of difference that arose for me in one of my research exercises.

Advanced Integrative Therapy Working with Trauma using Energy Psychotherapy: An AIT Basics Seminar 23,24th 25th November 2012

BRISTOL Ruthie Smith and Heather Redington · · · · ·

AIT is a complete psychodynamic body-centred transpersonal and energy psychotherapy.

AIT clears blockages in the body’s energy system which arise from unresolved physical, emotional psychological and Spiritual traumas, thereby dramatically accelerating and deepening personal growth.

AIT identifies and clears transgenerational trauma.

AIT Basics Seminar gives you the tools you need to immediately apply AIT in your practice.

AIT offers an excellent training programme, including follow up days and further advanced seminars for mental health practitioners.

VENUE: Kelvin Studios,Bishopston,Bristol, BS7 8NY COST: £375 or £325 if full payment made before 26th Oct. For further details and to book a place contact hc.redington@googlemail.com

with

(BACP Accred.) on

from

Qualified and trainee counsellors and psychotherapists. CPD certificates available.

Parking outside. The group is invited to bring lunch to share. Breakfast/drinks provided.

Early bird rate

:

. Up to November 1st, latest

Talking About Sex In The Consulting Room 1 day CPD workshop with David Slattery ‘Many of the men and women who consulted me over the years came with sexual concerns, which eventually were revealed as containers of the central mysteries of the person’s life.’

Thomas Moore (The Soul of Sex) This workshop is for counsellors and therapists working with individuals and/or couples who want to develop their ability to ‘be’ with clients when talking about their sexual lives. Through experiential exercises, biographical work, case examples and demonstration we will consider together: What sex is, what function/meaning it can have, dynamics of power (control and surrender), sexual fantasies and most importantly how to talk about all this!

Venue: The West Wing, Nr Stroud.

Date: 26th October 2012 Time: 10am to 4pm Cost: £75/£50 students (lunch and refreshments provided by David Frost)

Booking:

www.relational-psychotherapy.co.uk

AT THE PRACTICE ROOMS CENTRAL BATH THE 2ND TUESDAY OF EACH MONTH BEGINNING: 16TH OCTOBER 2012 (5.15 pm to 6.45 pm) £25 per person per month FACILITATED by JUDY SCOTT Experienced Integrative Psychotherapist and Supervisor Contact Tel: 1458 830118 , Mob: 07969398583; E mail judy.scott79@gmail.com www.mendip-psychotherapy.co.uk Diploma and Advanced Diploma Gestalt Therapy 1987-88 Diploma and Msc Integrative Psychotherapy ( Metanoia Institute ) 1997

Websites Everything you need for £149 Includes design, hosting, maintenance, webmail and search engine submission See recent therapist examples at call me on: 01225 338401 / 07788 969294

Erika Wiesenmueller-Potter MA, Dip HIC, MBACP(Accred.)

I am a BCPC counselling graduate and listed on the BCPC list of approved counsellors for BCPCstudents on the counselling diploma course.

My practice rooms are located in Bath City Centre and in Batheaston.

I offer a free initial consultation to BCPC students.

Contact me by phone or text to 07900 178581 or Email ekwpotter@yahoo.co.uk

or