Workshop: Past trauma and the unconscious mind

At our workshop on Saturday 24th November we will be exploring the ways in which counselling brings the past into the present and looking at the effects of past experiences on future selves.

We will be thinking about clients with issues such as chronic anger, low self-esteem, and self destructive patterns of behaviour.

We will be findings ways to explore past relationships, experiences of trauma or abuse, and other influences on a client’s sense of identity. This may include parents who divorced when the client was young, prolonged illnesses while at school, family upheavals, accidents, or deaths. Or it may be about the personalities that they were exposed to during important developmental stages.

We will be using psychodynamic theory to identify issues and connections, and then person-centred theory to work with the client in the moment. We will provide a programme to follow which will lead a client toward understanding and acceptance – able to understand their triggers and coping mechanisms, and to trace their presenting issues to past (and unchangeable) experiences; thus to work more effectively at overcoming present problems.

We will be looking at Freud and Eriksson and their views on the importance of developmental stages; and at Melanie Klein’s theory of splitting. We will also include Parent-Adult-Child from Transactional Analysis as well as some other theorists.

Our workshop will include materials and activities (some personal work and some using case studies). There will be opportunities to network with other counsellors from a variety of placements and practices. We keep numbers small so everyone can get the most from the day.

Please click here for an application form