Embodied Trauma Therapy

As I contemplate my advancing age and the prospect of winding down my London psychotherapy practice, I like to tell myself that I have learned enough  to have something of value to pass on.

Someone* said  “An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made, in a narrow field.”  On these terms I may qualify.  So my mind turns to what I could offer, what would I enjoy offering, what I would love to offer, in the way of Training and Professional Development.

* (Google tells me it was Niels Bohr, the quantum physicist)

In later posts I will attempt to answer those questions: what I would love to do, what I might enjoy, what is the list of things I am confident I could do.

But in reality it’s not about what I want or would enjoy. It’s about what you want. So what I need to hear is - What do you, my colleagues and  fellow labourers in the fields of trauma counselling and therapy, want in the way of training on this subject?

What format? What frequency? As part of a closed or an open group?

Didactic?  Hands and practical? Experiential?  

Supervision? Demonstrations? Role play and supervised practice?

Discussion of books and papers?

Any or all of these? And in what proportions?

What theories? What authors? What modalities?

TAKE MY SURVEY: GET THE SELF REMEMBERING SERIES

I have earmarked three weekends through the rest of 2012 to devote to Training and Professional Development in working with people affected by trauma.   They are June 9 &10, October 13 &14, and November 3 & 4.

Please join the discussion here (or on LinkedIn, or through the survey) and let me know your thoughts.

Of course I hope that some of you who are free on those days and can get to SW London will actually come for the training.  But I want to hear from people around the country - indeed around the world - what would be your optimum experience?

Add your comments below..

Email me at embodied.therapy@btinternet.com

Check out LinkedIn for discussion on these groups where I will be posting this same question: Counselling & Psychotherapy, Events, workshops and conferences to enhance CPD, Brain-based psychotherapy, Institute of Transactional Analysis, Mindfulness and Psychotherapy, Somatic Perspectives on Psychotherapy, Existential & humanistic psychology, BACP Workplace.

And if you will take a few minutes to complete my SurveyMonkey questionnaire, I will send you a modest (or should I say “incredibly valuable”  reward: a series on the practice of Self-Remembering (I think that’s another way of saying “mindfulness” It includes the revised version of the Compassion Satisfaction and Compassion Fatigue Self-test. Please do let me have your thoughts.  

Michael Gavin

PS  Many years ago, in another life it seems now, I studied the History and Philosophy of Education.  One thing we covered was the origin of the universities in the Middle Ages. There were two models: the Paris model and the Bologna model.

In Paris the teachers were in charge and selected the students, but in Bologna the student body was the final authority and hired and fired the teachers.  Obviously the Paris model has become the norm.  But let us hear it for Bologna and student power to determine the what and how of learning.  It really is about you.