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Friday Workshops

Friday Workshops

Workshop Session 1: 13.30 – 16.30  
(choose 1 workshop from 7 available)

   1. The ‚"We-ness" and "With-ness" of Research

Radical Relational Research Doing with and not to.

Andy Williams (He Him): TSTA / TTA / STA, Dr Hulya Hooker, Dr Alison Mackiewicz, and Dr Emma Jackson          

 

This workshop will be facilitated by the renewed and reinvigorated UKATA Research Committee, chaired by Dr Hulya Hooker. 

 

We intend to present a radical, relational perspective on research; that research can be approached through the relationship and co-creative principles. 

 

We hope to stimulate and provoke, offering a renewed freedom in research that can reflect your identity and play to your strengths and your philosophy. 

 

This workshop is about inclusivity, and energising, enriching and offering you the essential nature of research in your practice.

 

Workshop outcomes: 

Delegates will come away from the workshop

- With renewed confidence as a practitioner researcher

- Celebrating the holding nature of ethical practice

- Experiencing the integration of research and personal identity

- Having agreed with themselves their next step as a researcher.

Presenters: 

Hulya is a Turkish born, Cis-woman who came to the UK aged 22 for her postgraduate studies and to expand her understanding on cross cultural dynamics. Having spent most of her adult life in this country has significantly enriched Hulya's sense of self.​


Hulya is a TA Counsellor (Dip) and a Psychologist (PhD) working towards her UKCP accreditation.  She has spent over two decades working as a researcher in the UK after completing her Masters and Doctorate degrees in Psychology, the last 15 years working for the civil service as a Principal Researcher. Hulya runs a small private practice on the South Coast. She is passionate about using evidence to raise awareness and working towards reducing stigma around mental health in workplaces. She loves her exercise classes varying from Pilates, Zumba to HIIT and runs at the weekends as her play time.

Alison is Cis-female, white.

Dr Alison Mackiewicz is a chartered Psychologist and senior lecturer at Aberystwyth University, as well as working in private practice. She has a TA diploma and is currently working towards UKCP accreditation.  Alison is passionate about nature, and can often be found walking her dog Rufus on the beach or in the Welsh hills.

Emma grew up in a very working class environment, and is a bisexual working ADHD woman.​


Dr Emma Jackson is a Research Associate at the University of York and is in private practice and in her final year of my advanced clinical training at TATO. She is passionate about collaborate research with marginalised communities and thinking about how power structures are at play in both education and therapy settings and how experiences of trauma impacts how we relate to power. Emma enjoys getting out in nature with her dogs whilst indulging in her addiction to podcasts.
 

Andy's mother survived the Jewish Holocaust which profoundly impacts his identity.  Cis-male, white, dyslexic, gay, short-stature.


Andy is engaged in a Doctorate in Professional Studies at the University of Chester.  He is passionate about the coal face of psychotherapy and our effectiveness as practitioners.  His research interests include the lived experience of supervision for the supervisor and supervisee and the clinical supervision of therapists working with suicidal clients.  He loves working in the outdoors, and his heart is in the woods and on the hills as an Eco-TA practitioner. 

Level of prior experience required: Early Level - TA101, Foundation, Year 1

Focus: Education and Training; Counselling and Coaching; Psychotherapy and Clinical; Organisational

Style: Didactic Teaching; Discussion and Small Group and Pairs work; Experiential Work

   2. Working with Neurodiverse Couples

A practical guide to identifying and working with neurodivergence in couples        counselling.

Sarah Demaree (She/Her): PTSTA, Paul McManus: PGDip in TA Psychotherapeutic Counselling 

        

If you are working with couples, you are almost certainly already working with neurodiverse couples, whether or not you or they are aware of it. Our workshop is designed to give you an understanding of how the difference in neurotypes manifests itself in relationships, the difficulties these differences commonly create, and how to deal with them successfully in counselling.

 

Workshop outcomes:  ​

An increased awareness of how neurodivergence manifests in relationships and the ability to consider alternative explanations for behaviours that otherwise might not seem to make sense. 

Presenters:

Paul holds a Pg. Dip in Transactional Analysis Psychotherapeutic Counselling and a Pg.Cert in Autism Studies. He runs a private practice in central London working exclusively with neurodivergent individuals and couples. He is a founding member of The Listening Place, a London-based suicide prevention charity which offers a face-to-face listening service to over a thousand people a month. His interests are his wife, Japanese fountain pens and inks, Call of Duty, Vollebak clothing, the art of Mr Bingo, and big dogs.

Sarah is a UKCP registered psychotherapist and supervisor based in central London. In her TA teaching work, her recent focus has been on neuroscience, neurodivergence and relationships. She also has specialist training in working with eating disorders, particularly overeating and binge eating, and is keenly interested in new research looking at the role of the gut and nutrition in mental health, as well as developing greater understanding of the impact of PMDD and endometriosis on women's mental health.

Level of prior experience required: Advanced Level - Towards CTA and beyond

Focus: Counselling and Coaching; Psychotherapy and Clinical

Style: Didactic Teaching; Discussion and Small Group and Pairs work

   3. "I Don't Think I Am Academic Enough"

Find Your Academic Voice

Fiona Firmin (She/Her): PTSTA, Nea Clark

 

Are you a finding it difficult expressing yourself in writing?

Perhaps you struggle reading and processing academic articles and doubt your academic ability?

Are you a practitioner, bursting with creativity, and doubting your ability to express yourself through academic writing, teaching and workshops?

If any of the above questions resonate with you, and you would like to break through your self-limiting beliefs and discover the academic within, please come and join us. We will explore together different learning styles, different types of energies, and how people naturally express themselves. We will also discuss how neurodiversity can hinder our academic confidence. We will invite you to begin your own journey of building your professional worth, allowing yourself to shine in your own unique individual way.

Workshop outcomes: 

1. To break through your self-limiting beliefs and discover the academic within.
2. explore together different learning styles, different types of energies, and how people naturally express themselves
3. Discuss how neurodiversity can hinder our academic confidence.
4. An opportunity to begin your own journey of building your professional worth, allowing yourself to shine in your own unique individual way. 

Presenters:

Both presenters identify as Neurodivergent, and have first-hand experience of how Neurodiversity can impact and hinder academic confidence. We hope that through sharing some of our own experiences, it will help to empower our audience, as we invite them to begin their own journey of building their professional worth, allowing themselves to shine in their own unique individual way. 

Nea is a PTSTA-Psychotherapist, author, Supervisor and NLP practitioner. She supports Neurodivergent trainees in Physis Scotland. She is practising in Leeds, United Kingdom, where holding supervision groups face to face/online, webinars and seminars on a regular basis. And specialising in Neurodiversity, mainly clients and supervisees with ADHD and Dyslexia.

Nea developed a complete therapeutic treatment plan and training program for working with ADHD clients; her book is being published in June 2024. Travel into the ADHD Mind: How to work with ADHD clients.

Fiona is a UKCP registered psychotherapist, supervisor and an accredited COSCA Diploma trainer. She practices in Edinburgh and also online.

Fiona is a Director of Training at Physis Scotland and is one of the Core Tutors for Foundation Year.

Fiona has extensive experience in working with adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse. She also has a special interest in working with clients who have a Borderline process, &/or a formal diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder.

Fiona identifies as Neurodivergent and has considerable experience working with many clients, supervisees and trainees who identify as Neurodivergent.

Level of prior experience required: None

Focus: Education and Training; Counselling and Coaching; Psychotherapy and Clinical; Organisational          

Style: Didactic Teaching; Discussion and Small Group and Pairs work; Experiential Work

 

   4. Working with Menopause

A guide to positive change

Kate Codrington (She/Her): Other Professional Status

This interactive webinar will enable you to confidently support, reassure and help clients find solutions for their transition by understanding the physiological causes, symptoms, available treatments and appropriate lifestyle changes for this time of life.

In a culture where menopause is viewed as a pathology to be feared and medicated, this webinar also offers a positive re-framing of menopause as an opportunity for personal healing, self-empowerment and renewed creative vigour, showing how it can prepare for a whole new cycle of vibrant postmenopausal life.

 

Workshop outcomes:

That attendees will be able to confidently support, reassure and help clients find solutions for their transition by understanding the physiological causes, symptoms, available treatments and appropriate lifestyle changes for this time of life.

Presenter:

White, able, middle class priviledged British

Kate is a mentor, author, speaker, facilitator, artist and podcaster.  The author of Second Spring: the self-care guide to menopause, one of the seven best books on menopause according to the New York Times. Kate mentors people in perimenopause and beyond, 1-2-1 and in groups, is a nature-based Yoga Nidra meditation guide, hosts Life - An Inside Job podcast, has been a therapist for over 30 years and creates multi-level art textile projects. When she's not doing these things you'll find her playing in her compost heaps. Her second book, The Perimenopause Journal, is available now.

Level of prior experience required: None

Focus: Counselling and Coaching; Psychotherapy and Clinical

Style: Discussion and Small Group and Pairs work; Experiential Work

 

 

   5. Building Therapeutic Bridges

Entering your Clients' World and Speaking their Language  

 

Claire Bowers (She/Her): PTSTA;CTA

        

Join our voyage into exploring clients' interests, including video and online gaming, film, literature, TV, music and role play gaming to discover how these can be integrated with TA language and theory.

We will explore how we can enter our clients' worlds, especially those with different neuro types to our own, and how to create a shared language that enhances the therapeutic relationship and can be revisited throughout the therapy journey.

Join us in this quest to 'level up' your therapeutic connections and master the art of creatively integrating Transactional Analysis with your clients' unique interests and diverse backgrounds.

 

Come have serious fun.

 

Workshop outcomes:

 

- Understand why exploring clients' personal interests is important in building the therapeutic relationship (particularly with Neurodivergent clients)

- Develop confidence in working with clients who have a different neuro type to our own

- Develop confidence in using creative techniques in therapy, including bringing board and video gaming, film, literature and music into the therapeutic relationship

- Learn how to create a shared, creative language with clients, based on their interests and experiences 

Presenter:

Claire has late diagnosed ADHD and dyscalculia and has a daughter who is Neurodivergent with very complex needs. Claire has experience of fighting to get the educational and emotional needs of her daughter met. Her frustrations around this and the needs of Neurodivergent clients being missed led to her research with Mark Widdowson - Transactional Analysis Psychotherapy with Clients who are Neurodivergent: Experiences and Practice Recommendations.

Claire is CTA and PTSTA in the Psychotherapy Field. She has a small private therapy and supervision practice in Liverpool and is also academic tutor for the Psychotherapy Institute in Bolton. With a history in early years and family education, Claire has a real interest in working creatively with clients bringing their interests into the therapeutic relationship to build a shared language. 

 

Level of prior experience required: All levels

Focus: Education and Training; Counselling and Coaching; Psychotherapy and Clinical; Organisational

Style: Discussion and Small Group and Pairs work; Experiential Work

 

   6. The Use and Abuse of Ethics

Contact-Content- Context

 

Cathy McQuaid (She/Her): TSTA / TTA / STA, Sabine Blumenstein

E - Engaging
T - Trouble-provoking
H - Hijacking
I - Instinctive
C - Challenging
S - Stimulating.

 

In this workshop you will be invited to explore with us, how ethics, ethical codes and ethical guidelines can be used in different ways in our professional practice, whatever our field of application. We will discuss and play with scenarios, and your examples, to encourage us to develop our ethical practice. Using personal reflections, values, attitudes and beliefs leading to a growing understanding of the possible consequences of our actions or inactions.
Come with your curiosity, questions and examples and see how you can enhance your ethical processes.

 

Workshop outcomes:

1. To explore how ethics, ethical codes and ethical guidelines can be used in different ways in professional practice, whatever our field of application.
2. To encourage the development of an ethical practice. Using personal reflections, values, attitudes and beliefs leading to a growing understanding of the possible consequences of our actions or inactions.
3. To generate curiosity, sensitivity and searching questions to enhance ethical thinking and processes. 

Presenters:

Cathy McQuaid is a trainer, supervisor, psychotherapy training consultant and researcher. Her interest in research and training led to her first book What You Really Need to Know About Counselling and Psychotherapy Training: An Essential Guide published by Routledge in 2014. Her most recent research project has resulted her latest book Understanding Bereaved Parents and Siblings: A Handbook for Professionals, Family and Friends published in May 2021.

 

In addition to writing and researching Cathy runs a supervision and consultancy practice in the North-West offering research, clinical and training supervision along with various CPD training courses and workshops.

Sabine Blumenstein is a consultant, coach, trainer and supervisor and a counsellor for couples and individuals in  "crisis". For many years she managed projects for organisational development. Currently she is providing supervision and coaching for project leaders and mediates conflicts. She coaches managers for their development, managing challenges,  strategic decisions, conflicts.


Sabine runs training groups in TA leading to CTA and TSTA, and exam preparation workshops  in Germany, France and Italy, and various CPD training courses and workshops about Ethics. Sabine is the current Ethics Advisor to EATA and lives in Berlin.

Level of prior experience required: Early Level - TA101, Foundation, Year 1

Focus: Education and Training; Counselling and Coaching; Psychotherapy and Clinical; Organisational

Style: Discussion and Small Group and Pairs work; Experiential Work

 

   7. One world, One source

"You are not a drop in the ocean but the ocean in a drop‚". Rumi

 

Martin Wells (He/Him): CQSW, TSTA(P)

Everything in nature, on this earth and in the universe is connected. All is one.
However, with the limitations of the human mind, human beings can generally only perceive separation and division, which often leads to judgement, comparison and prejudice.


The wondrous diversity of nature does not mean separateness. The flower, the tree, the bird, the fish, stardust and the human all emanate from the same source. In this meeting we will explore the limitations of the human mind and share our experience of the source - celebrating our diversity as well our common essence.

Workshop outcomes:

​A celebration of diversity and our common source of being.

Presenter:

I grew up in lower middle class family in post war North London. My mother was a refugee from Germany and and my father English with a Swedish mother. (I think of this more as my cultural background and the conditioning of my "I"entity than my true identity which is storyless).

Martin Wells is a teaching and supervising psychotherapist who has also been studying and practising meditation for over 40 years. He worked for over 30 years in the NHS in the UK, as a consultant psychotherapist and teacher of mindfulness from a non dual perspective. He is the author of three books on non-dual wisdom.

 

Level of prior experience required: None

Focus: Education and Training; Counselling and Coaching; Psychotherapy and Clinical; Organisational

                 

Style: Didactic Teaching; Discussion and Small Group and Pairs work

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