Relate Courses

Counselling Lesbians, Gay Men and Bisexuals

Speaker: Gail Simon
Price: £100 (non-Relate employees)
£75 (Relate employees)
£50 (Students registered on a course on the Relate Institute academic programme)

Who it's for

Course Objectives

"Counselling organisations and practitioners are keen to make their services relevant and accessible to lesbians, gay men and other members of queer communities. Many lesbians and gay men are often hesitant about seeing a straight counsellor based on experiences of not having been understood, ignorance of lesbian and gay lifestyles, significant differences in values and assumptions. This workshop does not intend to be a crash course on all things lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender so much as a forum to develop strategies on becoming more LGBT sensitive /aware and explore which theories and practices are more useful in working with lesbians and gay men.

While we are keen to treat all people with equal respect, the lifestyles and relationship choices of the LGBT communicates may not be the same as many heterosexual couples. There will be opportunities for some self exploration and discussion of clinical work. "

Expanding the Repertoire of Therapy with Children and Families - 2 Day Linked Course

Speaker: Jim Wilson
Price: £100 per day (non-Relate employees)
£75 per day (Relate employees)
£50 per day (Students registered on a course on the Relate Institute academic programme)

Who it's for

Course Objectives

This workshop will explore and illustrate a range of possibilities for therapists and practitioners to widen their scope in order to engage both children and adults more effectively as active participants. The focus will be on the therapist’s manoeuvrability and capacity for respectful provocation.

The workshop will be relevant to practitioners and therapists interested in expanding and challenging the limits of their practice with adults and children.

Illustration of practice modes, skills exercises and discussion will be used and examples may include the following:
• Stepping outside our comfort zones of familiar practice
• Therapy as "workshop"; Family Focus Days and other engaging and seriously playful approaches
• Modes and illustrations of Systemic Focused Drama to bring action to words
• Repositioning practices to bring movement and spontaneity to "stuck" practice
• Spontaneity and planning in story making
• Introduction to "Scales for Improvisational Systemic Practice" - a guide to reflection in action.

Internalised other interviewing: improving relational abilities between couples: children and parents: therapist/clients: supervisor/supervisee

Speaker: John Burnham
Price: £100 (non-Relate employees)
£75 (Relate employees)
£50 (Students registered on a course on the Relate Institute academic programme)

Who it's for

Course Objectives

"A specific therapeutic technique of internalized other interviewing is based on a social constructionist perspective in which “a person” as a self conscious individual is seen to arise through social interaction. If a therapist is able to apply this perspective and conceive of “the self” as constituted by an internalized community, it becomes coherent to interview another person as an “internalized other” within the self. As a result, the possibilities for systemic intervention for therapeutic change may be extended significantly.
• Internalised other interviewing involves a therapist interviewing a person as, for example, another person, an emotion or an idea, sometimes in the ‘presence of’ the other.
• offer all participants in systemic interviews a valuable opportunity to enter the world of an 'other'
• with the aim of gaining a different perspective, and deeper appreciation of the 'other's' position.
• Can facilitate understanding, change and development in ideas, emotions, behaviour and relationships
• the person being interviewed can often develop a wider range of thinking about and feeling towards the 'other' and may subsequently develop a different relationship with the 'other',

Explored through talk, tape and exercises."

Relational Risk-Taking, Men and Affairs

Speaker: Dr Barry Mason
Price: £100 (non-Relate employees)
£75 (Relate employees)
£50 (Students registered on a course on the Relate Institute academic programme)

Please note that the price of this course is subject to change for dates after August 2007

Who it's for

Course Objectives

"In two recent publications the presenter has addressed risk-taking in our work as clinicians and supervisors. He has made a distinction between what he has called relational risk-taking (interpersonal) and individual/singular risk-taking (such as driving cars fast). While the latter may have relational implications, the relational aspect tends to be secondary; in the former it tends to be primary.
In this workshop, Barry Mason will show how he has developed this idea in clinical work with heterosexual men who have had affairs, and how he involves the female partner who has experienced the infidelity. He will put forward a new model for this area of work, which emphasises the exploration of relational risk-taking scripts, scripts in coping with adversity and the taking of emotional initiatives. The workshop will include a detailed presentation of the ideas, their use in practice, and discussion."

The Dilemmas of Working with Multi-Cultural Issues

Speaker: Reenee Singh
Price: £100 (non-Relate employees)
£75 (Relate employees)
£50 (Students registered on a course on the Relate Institute academic programme)

Who it's for

Course Objectives

"The purpose of this course is to create a safe space where participants can explore the challenges of intercultural and intra-cultural work from a range of perspectives. The course will address some of the questions raised by living and working in our multicultural society:

• How do we position ourselves within the contexts of discrimination and powerlessness that constitute the worlds inhabited by our clients?
• How do we understand the role of faith in our clients’ belief systems, especially if they are different from our own?
• How do we work with some of the challenges of inter-faith and intercultural couple relationships?
• How do we collaborate with interpreters and bi-cultural workers?
• In which instances do we think that cultural sensitivity is the most important consideration, and when do we privilege the safety of the child or family as the highest context marker?

These questions will be addressed through a formal theory and research presentation, followed by experiential exercises and case vignettes. Participants will be encouraged to bring material from their own agency context for a case consultation at the end of the day."