This weekend is for anyone who wants to strengthen and develop their ability to work in a relational and body-focused way with clients. It should be suitable both for people who have trained in body psychotherapy, and for those from other modalities who simply have an interest in and attraction to this style.

Although there will be some theoretical discussion, and some teaching of skills, the central aim is to help you develop your practical understanding of how you can take a relational and embodied stance that best suits you. If we work in a way that is comfortable for us, this will also be the most productive for our clients.

The workshop will therefore be experiential and practical in its focus, offering opportunities to work in observed dyads and to reflect on what happens there, and also time for group supervision and probably for demonstrations. It is open to any interested practitioners.

Nick Totton I am a body psychotherapist, trainer and supervisor with 35 years experience. I founded the post graduate training in Embodied-Relational Therapy (www.erthworks.co.uk), and also the one year Wild Therapy training (www.wildtherapy.org.uk). I have written a number of books, including Psychotherapy and Politics (Sage), Body Psychotherapy: An Introduction (Open University Press), and Embodied Relating: The Ground of Psychotherapy (Karnac). I have a grown up daughter. I live in Cornwall with my partner and grow vegetables.

To book a place on this workshop please contact Clare Brook at clare_brook@yahoo.co.uk. Cost of the workshop is £220.

Morit has been teaching Integrative Body Psychotherapy and trauma work for the past 20 years.

She brings 30 years of experience of clinical practise to her teaching and draws upon approaches including Somatic Trauma Therapy, EMDR, Biodynamic Massage, Sensorimotor Therapy and a Systemic approach to Family Constellations and Transgenerational Trauma.

Her integrative approach combines knowledge and experience gained at the Chiron Centre for Body Psychotherapy, Metanoia Integrative Psychotherapy MSc, the Maudsley Hospital and the Oxford Stress & Trauma Centre as well as Far Eastern Complementary medicine.

We are pleased to be able to offer this second CPD event to counsellors and therapists seeking to take the next step beyond basic trauma therapy by integrating diverse approaches, and bringing an embodied and relational perspective to trauma work.

The environment at The Wheelhouse offers a welcoming space for those seeking to increase their knowledge and expand their confidence and we do this through creating a stimulating and accepting environment.

Please contact Clare Brook at clare_brook@yahoo.co.uk to make a booking. Cost of the workshop is £200.

The presenting past

The majority of humanistic and integrative approaches these days relies on developmental theory in the way that psychoanalytic traditions have always done. We see the client's current problems in their adult life as intricately linked to life-long habitual patterns that originated in childhood. We see the client's capacity for engaging in life as an adult as a function of their developmental wounding and importantly as a function of their defences against it, which were established early on and continue to influence or dominate their present reality; in the words of a famous psychodynamic textbook, we could summarise this widely established focus on developmental injury across the various therapeutic approaches as the 'presenting past'.

Differences & contradictions between the models

However, there are significant philosophical and theoretical differences between the various traditional models which we use as therapists to name, describe and conceptualise the client's early developmental blueprint for the relational patterns we co-create with them in the intersubjective field of the therapeutic relationship.

The diverse traditions (psychoanalytic developmental theory, attachment theory, character structure theory, TA, intersubjectivity, relationality) each have their assumptions, conceptual frame, jargon terms, and their particular gifts and shadow aspects in disclosing or occluding certain areas of the field of relating between client and therapist. How the myriad complex aspects of the field do or do not enter the therapist's stream of consciousness depends to some extent on the theoretical lenses we use.

To widen our awareness and make it as unbiased and inclusive as possible, we can ground our observations of the relational dynamic in the detail of bodymind process, much of it non-verbal, some of it subliminal.

Grounding different therapeutic approaches to habitual patterns of relating in bodymind process

This weekend is dedicated to clarifying both theoretically and practically the differences, contradictions and overlaps between the various traditional languages and models, by attending to their fundamental ideas (e.g. attachment styles, working models, co-creation, character styles, self-states and mutual recognition, habitual patterns, etc) as bodymind processes.

This may allow us to build an integration that creates a productive synergy between these different traditions and diverse theoretical frames. Although theoretical principles will be involved, we will stick to the basic ideas rather than go into abstract or historical detail - the overall aim of the weekend is to keep it practical and applicable.

Learning Objectives

This could include a process of comparing & contrasting:

• attachment theory (Bowlby, Ainsworth, Holmes)
• character structure theory (Reich, Lowen, Kurtz & Johnson)
• Transactional Analysis developmental theory (ego-states and scripts)
• psychoanalytic developmental theory (including Kleinian and object relations)
• intersubjectivity (Atwood & Stolorow, Orange)

We will attempt to ground the key notions of these theories in embodied, experience-near terms. And we will explore how these different ideas both help and hinder us in apprehending the fullness and systemic wholeness of the relational dynamic between client and therapist.

The weekend is a unique introduction to the overlaps and differences (and possible synergies) between the different models which therapists commonly use to make sense of their experience in the therapeutic relationship. This inclused especially attachment theory, character structure theory, TA and relational modalities. All these theories aim to help us in making sense of the client's relational pattern and behaviour in the therapeutic relationship. All of them have two-person psychology elements and can be used in that way; but all can also be used in a more one-person psychology diagnostic fashion, by focusing mainly on the client's pattern of attachment and relating.

In this CPD weekend we will enhance the usefulness of all these models by thinking of about the inherent bodymind processes which we have observed as therapists before we can even apply any of the models - we will try to ground our use of the models in our phenomenological bodymind observations, of the client and of ourselves (and as these are traditional models, that includes the fact that they were used in connection with observations of transference and countertransference).

We will explore how these models complement each other and become more powerful in combination. And we will also look at the limitations and shadow aspects of each, and how as therapists we might end up using them in a way that blinds us to enactments, complications in the working alliance and impasses in the therapeutic process.

For booking information please contact Clare Brook at: clare_brook@yahoo.co.uk.

A training and in-depth supervision weekend with Morit Heitzler

This next event in our series with Morit is CPD that includes both training and in-depth supervision. The depth of this weekend training is a key benefit as is the opportunity to be part of an ongoing group making connections and offering continuity from one workshop to the next. You can receive trauma-related teaching and supervision input whilst also learning from other participants' experience relevant to the themes and issues emerging during the two days. Each day will be a mixture of CPD somatic trauma training, clinical supervision of actual cases presented by participants, as well as some role play of case vignettes.

Please see the event flyer here.

A three weekend course with Michael Soth
The notion of 'relational modalities' originated in the early 1990’s with Petruska Clarkson, and was one of the most coherent manifestations of the paradigm shift towards two-person psychology. However, whilst it usefully shifts the ‘talking cure’ towards the ‘relating cure’ (thus organising the therapeutic profession around the principle that “it is the relationship that matters”), what is lacking in this formulation of relationality is the bodymind connection.
That particular lack of embodiment then tends towards lending all the diverse kinds of therapeutic relating - and the search for meaning through them - a decidedly mental-reflective bias across the talking therapies. Without embodied presence, we can reflect on relational dynamics until we are blue in the face, it’s unlikely to engender sustained bodymind process and development, let alone holistic transformation. Embodied trauma and character defences are unlikely to yield towards recovery or wholeness through the dominance of insight. Circular, disconnected thinking, intellectualising, rationalising and plain dissociation are then given too much weight in the therapeutic process, depriving it of spontaneity, authenticity and emergent process, as well as the felt sense of depth and coherence.

Relational modalities complementing learning on character: embodied and relational
These 3 weekends are going to be alternating with Nick Totton’s parallel course on ‘Character’, complementing the learning there and following it through into the vicissitudes (as they call them in psychoanalysis) of the therapeutic relationship. When we extend that notion of ‘character’ to ourselves as therapists when at work in the therapeutic position, we recognise it as our 'habitual position' – those habitual ways of being and relating, thinking, feeling and behaving as therapists which limit our flexibility between the various relational modalities. Both courses together will capture and circumscribe some of the fundamental principles of embodied-relational psychotherapy.

Please see the flyer for more detail.

This weekend is the first in a series which aims to work towards a comprehensive understanding and practice of breathwork, drawing from the diverse traditions and trying to integrate them on the basis of a holistic bodymind psychological understanding. Specifically, it will include to some extent mindfulness, meditative and yoga breathing, but focus on the lesser known approaches like Grof's holotropic breathing, rebirthing, vegeto therapy, and an integrative relational form of breathwork developed at the Chiron Centre focussing on bodymind and relational ‘charge’. We will work with and without touch, with and without focus on the breath, experimenting with various styles and stances from allowing (biodynamic ‘impinging from within’) to challenge (bioenergetic or vegetotherapy).

Format of the weekend:
As all of these techniques depend upon the moment-to-moment engagement with the body’s spontaneous and involuntary processes and subliminal communications, role-play and simulations (which are usually a regular feature of experiential CPD learning) are of limited usefulness in this context. Therefore, an important part of the learning will be live sessions which participants will have with each other, in pairs or triads, or in the middle of the group. For the duration of the course, we will together build the safety and relational container necessary for such work to become possible in an authentic way.

There will be several assistants to support the group:
As traditional breathwork tends to ignore and neglect the intersubjective aspects and unconscious processes occurring between client and therapist, in order to maximise relational awareness, we will invite a significant number of assistants to support the group and learning process at every level. We are expecting a group of about 20 to 25 participants and between 5 and 10 assistants.

Please read the flyer for more information.

This next event in our series with Morit is CPD that includes both training and in-depth supervision. The depth of this weekend training is a key benefit as is the opportunity to be part of an ongoing group making connections and offering continuity from one workshop to the next. You can receive trauma-related teaching and supervision input whilst also learning from other participants' experience relevant to the themes and issues emerging during the two days. Each day will be a mixture of CPD somatic trauma training, clinical supervision of actual cases presented by participants, as well as some role play of case vignettes.
Please see the flyer for more information or contact: clare_brook@yahoo.co.uk for bookings.

The second part in this three weekend series with Michael Soth
The notion of 'relational modalities' originated in the early 1990’s with Petruska Clarkson, and was one of the most coherent manifestations of the paradigm shift towards two-person psychology. However, whilst it usefully shifts the ‘talking cure’ towards the ‘relating cure’ (thus organising the therapeutic profession around the principle that “it is the relationship that matters”), what is lacking in this formulation of relationality is the bodymind connection.
That particular lack of embodiment then tends towards lending all the diverse kinds of therapeutic relating - and the search for meaning through them - a decidedly mental-reflective bias across the talking therapies. Without embodied presence, we can reflect on relational dynamics until we are blue in the face, it’s unlikely to engender sustained bodymind process and development, let alone holistic transformation. Embodied trauma and character defences are unlikely to yield towards recovery or wholeness through the dominance of insight. Circular, disconnected thinking, intellectualising, rationalising and plain dissociation are then given too much weight in the therapeutic process, depriving it of spontaneity, authenticity and emergent process, as well as the felt sense of depth and coherence.

Please see the flyer for more detail.

The third weekend course in the series with Michael Soth
The notion of 'relational modalities' originated in the early 1990’s with Petruska Clarkson, and was one of the most coherent manifestations of the paradigm shift towards two-person psychology. However, whilst it usefully shifts the ‘talking cure’ towards the ‘relating cure’ (thus organising the therapeutic profession around the principle that “it is the relationship that matters”), what is lacking in this formulation of relationality is the bodymind connection.
That particular lack of embodiment then tends towards lending all the diverse kinds of therapeutic relating - and the search for meaning through them - a decidedly mental-reflective bias across the talking therapies. Without embodied presence, we can reflect on relational dynamics until we are blue in the face, it’s unlikely to engender sustained bodymind process and development, let alone holistic transformation. Embodied trauma and character defences are unlikely to yield towards recovery or wholeness through the dominance of insight. Circular, disconnected thinking, intellectualising, rationalising and plain dissociation are then given too much weight in the therapeutic process, depriving it of spontaneity, authenticity and emergent process, as well as the felt sense of depth and coherence.

Please see the flyer for more details.

There are a multitude of techniques instructing us how to breathe correctly, derived from a multitude of traditions, Eastern and Western. Many of these diverse systems and instructions contradict each other, being either oriented towards calming us down and helping us centre (generally Eastern), or targeting emotional blocks by provoking primal regressive and cathartic experience (generally Western).
These experiential weekends are based on the assumption that ALL types of breath work technique have some validity with some of the people some of the time, and can be helpful and powerful when skilfully integrated into the psychotherapeutic process. But ALL of them can also easily become counter-productive and can be used - by client and/or therapist - in counter-therapeutic ways. So whilst in principle we want to be familiar with ALL kinds of techniques and competent in using them, the most important question is HOW TO SELECT from within the contradictory multitude of approaches a way of working that fits a particular client’s process at a particular point in time. What criteria can help us with that selection process?

That selection process cannot just be based on simplistic one-person psychology treatment considerations of theory and technique: they cannot just be based upon a diagnosis of the client’s breathing pattern, or even just an holistic assessment of the client’s bodymind pattern. A fundamental assumption of these weekends is that such considerations of theory and technique - and the selection of the ‘correct’ technique - are always embedded in relational dynamics and should be guided by an understanding of these dynamics (including transference-countertransference enactments). Rather than using breath work as an instructional technique, in psychotherapy we want to be able to use attention to the breath as an aspect of embodied two-person relating between client and therapist - an aspect which is always already spontaneously present, whether we are aware of it or not.

An important part of the learning will be live sessions which participants will have with each other, in pairs or triads, or in the middle of the group. We will together build the safety and relational container necessary for such work to become possible in an authentic way. We have invited a significant number of assistants to support the group and the learning process at every level. We are expecting a group of about 20 to 25 participants and between 5 and 10 assistants.

Both weekends will take place in East Devon, specifically at The Blackdown Healthy Living & Activity Centre, Riverside, Hemyock, Cullompton, Devon EX15 3SH and the training will run from 10am until 5pm each day.

The cost of each weekend will be £230. Please direct further any course content enquiries that you might have to Judy Shaw at judyshawuk@icloud.com or for booking and accommodation information please contact Clare Brook at clare_brook@yahoo.co.uk.