Pre-Conference - Case Consultation
“The Journey of the Therapist” is a full day conference, with a special pre-conference offering, to explore the ways we are impacted by our clients across the course of our careers. Using case examples, stories, lectures, and interactive exercises, participants will have the opportunity to examine some of the constructive and challenging ways we are transformed by our work with our clients.
Pre-conference capacity is a maximum of 50 participants, as this will be a more intimate learning experience, based heavily on clinical consultation to foster learning.
About the Workshop:
There is considerable research about the ways that therapists are impacted negatively by their work, including studies about compassion fatigue, burnout, and counter-transference, all of which warn us to be on guard against the toxic side effects that can result. Yet we rarely talk about the positive and constructive transformations that take place for the therapist as a result of these encounters. Research conducted with 100 of the most prominent theoreticians in the field inform participants about the personal and professional transformations that take place as a result of being a therapist.
Based on several of Kottler’s books, including On Being a Therapist, The Client Who Changed Me, Bad Therapy, Changing People’s Lives While Transforming Your Own, this workshop will encourage participants to explore instances when they have been changed, for better or worse, as a result of their relationships with clients. Themes will be identified that will enable practitioners to be more intentional in their efforts to foster their own growth and development as therapists and human beings over the course of a clinical career. Clinical applications will be highlighted for improving the quality of therapeutic work, as well as examining the ways these changes influence our development as clinicians over the course of our careers.
Learning Objectives:
The attendee will:
• Understand the developmental phases of our career span as clinicians and how our clients influence this development.
• Develop a better understanding of how the intimate work between therapist and client has a mutually transformative effect, and how we can utilize this process to maximize healing in therapy and our development as clinicians and people.
• Understand what the various positive and negative impacts that result from the decision to become a professional agent of change, looking at the interplay between client and therapist and between life and work.
• Learn the essential elements in the therapy process that effect change, including knowledge of the role of the therapist as a model and the relationship between personal and professional effectiveness.
• Provided with practical ways they can revitalize and take better care of themselves regarding their personal and professional development.
Faculty:
Jeffrey A. Kottler, PhD., is one of the most prolific authors in the field of psychotherapy, having written 80 books about a wide range of subjects during the past 30 years. He has authored a dozen texts for counselors and therapists that are used in universities around the world and a dozen books each for practicing therapists and educators.
Some of his most highly regarded works include: On Being a Therapist, The Imperfect Therapist, Compassionate Therapy, Making Changes Last, Divine Madness, Learning Group Therapy, Changing Peoples Lives While Transforming Your Own, The Client Who Changed Me, Bad Therapy, and Creative Breakthroughs in Therapy.
Jeffrey has been an educator for 35 years. He has worked as a teacher, counselor, and therapist in preschool, middle school, mental health center, crisis center, university, community college, and private practice settings. He has served as a Fulbright Scholar and Senior Lecturer in Peru (1980) and Iceland (2000), as well as worked as a Visiting Professor in New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Nepal. Jeffrey is currently Professor of Counseling at California State University, Fullerton and Co-Founder of the Empower Nepali Girls (http://empowernepaligirls.org/wordpress/) which provides scholarships for lower caste girls in Nepal who would otherwise be unable to attend school.
Who:
Beginning and experienced therapists and students
Continuing Education:
2.5 hour approved CE credits for pre-conference
When:
Friday, May 13, 2011 Time: 6:00pm-9:00pm
Where:
University of Washington School of Social Work
Room 305 A/B
4101 15th Ave. NE Seattle 98195
Directions: The School of Social Work is on the corner of 41st and 15th Avenue N.E. in the University District, directly across from the Meany Parking Garage.
Parking is readily available on the street, in the parking garage, or on street level parking lots.
Cancellation Policy: No Refunds for the pre-conference due to administration fees associated with registration.
