The ‘First Thursday’ seminar series engages with innovative, creative and radical conversations about counselling and psychotherapy research and practice Up-and-coming seminars Jeffrey Cornelius-White and Jin Wu: 6 June 2019, 4.30pm to 5.45pm Title: Carl Rogers The China Diary: 100 years on for the musings that are "more fun than a box of monkeys” Bios: Jeffrey H. D. Cornelius-White, PsyD, LPC is Professor of Counseling at Missouri State University. He has published over 100 works, including Person-Centered Approaches for Counselors (Sage) and the Interdisciplinary Handbook of the Person-Centered Approach (Springer), in addition to Carl Rogers The China Diary (PCCS Books). He is a co-editor of Person-Centered and Experiential Psychotherapies and former editor of The Person-Centered Journal. He has served as chair of the board of the World Association for Person-Centered and Experiential Psychotherapy in Counseling and loves playing volleyball. Jin Wu, Psy.D. is a clinical psychologist in the Chicago area, USA. Born and Raised in China, she went to the US in the early 1990s to pursue her education in clinical psychology at the Illinois School of Professional Psychology and soon found her professional home in the person-centered community. With her mentor Margaret Warner, she taught person-centered therapy in various parts of China. She also accompanied Natalie Rogers in her trip to China. Dr. Wu has presented and written about her own theoretical thinking on person-centered therapy and the Chinese culture in specific and collectivistic cultures in general. She is in the process of translating Rogers' China Diary into Chinese. Previous Seminars Andy Hardie: 4 October 2018, 4.30pm to 5.45pm Title: Long Journeys & Wild Places: An exploration of wilderness therapy Image Abstract: This title could potentially describe any type of therapeutic encounter, but in this seminar the psychological will blend into the physical with an exploration of practice outside the therapy room and outside the relative comfort of familiar surroundings. Varying models of Wilderness and Adventure Therapy have been offered in the USA for decades. They have been validated and recognised as efficacious and comparable to other therapies and now Britain is beginning to pioneer its own brand. We will explore what it means to work in remote, sometimes harsh outdoor places where open space and open skies abound. When Therapist accompanies Client on a physical journey, there is an intriguing, duality that emerges when this parallels an emotional journey. Walking alongside one another; tolerating being lost or stuck; not knowing the way; enduring unfavourable conditions; witnessing and containing hardship and suffering; exploring new territory. These are ways we might describe the therapeutic alliance in a text book. As you set out with a client on the trail with the intention of not returning for days or even weeks, the phrases radiate new meaning. We will explore theory that justifies and challenges this way of working by reaching into a range of influencing literature. We will consider applications of traditional psychotherapeutic thinking and how this interfaces, or doesn’t. Examples from practice will illustrate challenges for the Therapist and interpretations of ways to navigate these challenges. From the most practical, to the more existential. Bio: Andy has a background as an outdoor educator and group facilitator. Having lead expeditions all over the Scottish Highlands and Islands as well as other parts of the UK, he specialised in group work with offending populations and care experienced young people. Alongside a breadth of technical outdoor leadership and coaching qualifications, Andy is an accredited practitioner of the Institute for Outdoor Learning. He subsequently trained as a counsellor and is in practice here in Edinburgh. Since qualifying he has worked therapeutically in a number of settings including with young people, adults with addictions and at the PF Counselling Service. He is currently managing a social enterprise where he has developed and begun delivering Wilderness Therapy programmes for young people, with the intention of also developing an adult programme. Edgar Rodríguez-Dorans: 1st November 2018, 4.30pm to 5.45pm Image Title: 'When a kiss is an act of resistance: Counselling gay men, men who are attracted to other men, and men with other nonconforming identities' Abstract:In this seminar, I present some of the key findings of the research project: 'understanding gay men’s identities through narratives of their erotic and romantic relationships’, conducted between 2013 and 2017 as part of my PhD in Counselling Studies at the University of Edinburgh. Over the last five decades, gay men’s relationships have been researched, medicalised, criminalised, debated, and treated as profane. Sometimes, they have been celebrated too. However, not much has been said about what these relationships mean to us –gay men– and how these meanings intertwine with who we are. In trying to understand this intertwinement of identity and relationships, I talked with ten men from various ages and backgrounds. We engaged in conversations about their experiences of erotic and romantic intimacy. My goal was to understand how through those relationships we –gay men– make sense of our identity. Based on the research findings, in this seminar, I propose some strategies that counsellors, psychotherapists, and other mental health professionals can apply in their work with gay men, men who are attracted to other men, and men with other nonconforming identities. Bio: I hold a PhD in Counselling Studies by the University of Edinburgh and am interested in the study of identities, sexuality, dynamics in couple relationships, and the use of performing arts in research. I have presented my research work in Mexico, Canada, U.K., Malta, France, and New Zealand. I currently work as a Mental Health Mentor at the Student Disability Service, University of Edinburgh, and I am a Volunteer Counsellor at Arkordia Michelle Nicholson: 6 December 2018,4.30pm to 5.45pm Title: Writing Therapeutically about Pregnancy Sickness: The Power of Process over Prose. Image Abstract:Writing therapy provides a safe, gentle space for women recovering from severe pregnancy sickness to: form a narrative about their illness experience; reconnect with self and others; acknowledge trauma; vent; increase self-awareness; enhance personal resilience; heal; regain a sense of control; reclaim voice; and externalise that which has remained unspoken. This seminar encourages new understandings of the beneficial effects of illness-specific expressive writing, in the context of broader theoretical perspectives; and it welcomes new conversations around ‘what else might writing do except mean?’ Nicholson M. Women’s experiences of the therapeutic value of writing about pregnancy sickness. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research 2018; 18(1): 26–34. Nicholson M. Hyperemesis Gravidarum: Who Cares? Healthcare Counselling and Psychotherapy Journal 2018; 18(1): 24-27. https://www.bacp.co.uk/media/2422/bacp-healthcare-counselling-psychotherapy-jan18.pdf Bio: Michelle Nicholson MSW MBACP(Accred) is a Counsellor at the University of Edinburgh Student Counselling Service, and is founder of Hyperemesis Counselling, a specialist practice supporting women affected by pregnancy sickness. She completed her PG Dip Couns at the University of Brighton in 2001, and MSc Counselling Studies at the University of Edinburgh in 2015. Michelle lived with severe pregnancy sickness (Hyperemesis Gravidarum) for several months in both of her own pregnancies, and she has presented papers at various national and international conferences on this topic. She regularly integrates writing therapy into her counselling practice, and remains in awe of how powerfully beneficial this can be for clients. Sarah Helps: 7 February 2018, 4.30pm to 5.45pm Title: family therapy: tales from research and practice from different sides of the room. Abstract: In this interactive talk I will tell some stories about my work as a family therapist - what I do, what informs what I do and how family therapy works. I will link these with some stories from my autoethnographically inspired, insider-practice-based research which focuses on the small but important movements of words and bodies in therapeutic conversation. I will talk about how the therapeutic process cannot be scripted and demonstrate how the therapist can effectively take up a stuttering, improvisational, dialogical positioning. Bio: I am a consultant clinical psychologist, family therapist, clinician, researcher and lecturer. I work primarily at the Tavistock Clinic in North London. My clinical work is with families where children have had a 'different' start in life, whether through having neurodevelopmental difficulties which affect their developmental and relational life course or where they are living in families alternate to their biological family. I love oil rigs and other things that look solidly immovable but aren't. Seamus Prior: 7 March 2019, 4.30pm to 5.45pm Title – Staying the course: What helps practitioners to make a lifelong career in counselling and psychotherapy? Abstract: While much has been written about people's motivations to become therapists, with the 'wounded healer' metaphor being the most cited concept, much less is known about what enables practitioners to sustain a lifelong commitment to this work. Drawing on personal experience, empirical research, published memoirs and focused conversations with therapists of many years' standing, Seamus Prior explores what sustains therapists in working long-term in what Freud called 'the impossible profession'. He develops an inquiry into the intertwining of personal and professional identities, considering how therapeutic work becomes a practice of personal ethics and a channel for the fulfilment of life goals. We will explore theory that justifies and challenges this way of working by reaching into a range of influencing literature. We will consider applications of traditional psychotherapeutic thinking and how this interfaces, or doesn’t. Examples from practice will illustrate challenges for the Therapist and interpretations of ways to navigate these challenges. From the most practical, to the more existential. Bio: Seamus Prior is a Senior Lecturer on the Counselling and Psychotherapy programmes at the University of Edinburgh. He is a psychodynamic therapist with a practice base in community mental health settings and private practice. His research interests include the client’s experience of counselling, counselling training, and the intersection of culture, faith and therapy. Fiona Murray: 4 April 2019, 4.30pm to 5.45pm Title: Counselling at the Porn Factory: A tour Abstract: This seminar is a tour guide of the doctoral thesis, “The Porn Factory: A feminist dystopian inquiry into porn reproduced worlds." The tour explores many of the implications for practice foregrounded in the study and draws on and discusses current literature for therapists working with clients who present with issues around online pornography. It does not take a pro or anti-porn position but thinks with how therapists work with their political views within their counselling rooms. It explores how pornography as a capitalist industry works to manipulate desire and in light of this, analyses how the field of counselling and psychotherapy can unwittingly support but also work against this form of capitalist capture. Bio: Fiona Murray is a psychodynamic counsellor and a lecturer in Counselling, Psychotherapy and Applied Social Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. She is also the tour guide of the Porn Factory. Nick Totton: 2 May 2019, 4.30pm to 5.45pm Title: We are all body psychotherapists (whether we know it or not) Abstract: In this seminar I will propose that, as embodied beings, it is through our embodiment that we connect with and are impacted by each other’s being – an impact which, in the current psychotherapy model, is then reinterpreted in relatively disembodied, psychological terms, for example as transference and countertransference. I will indicate research from many field which supports this proposition; and talk about its implications for us as therapists. I will also offer a model for how any therapist can bring their embodiment fully into the work without necessarily doing anything odd or non-mainstream. With luck, we will also be able to talk about how a conscious focus on embodiment is good for the work, for us and for our clients. Bio: I have been working as a body psychotherapist for about 35 years, having trained originally in Post-Reichian Therapy, and incorporating into my work in particular psychoanalytic thinking and Process Oriented Psychotherapy. I developed my own approach, Embodied-Relational Therapy, which I practised and taught for many years, as well as the related but separate approach of Wild Therapy; this year I have retired from both trainings, which continue in other hands. I have written a number of books, including Body Psychotherapy: An Introduction; Wild Therapy; and Embodied
