WORKSHOPS >>
 
THERAPEUTIC ARTISTRY:
THE CREATIVE USE OF SELF OUTSIDE THE COMFORT ZONE WITH COMPLEX AND DIFFICULT CLIENT PRACTICE SITUATIONS

At times in our professional careers, all of us have been faced with clinical situations in which we were intimidated by or experienced therapeutic paralysis in reaction to particular clients' provocative and perplexing presenting problems and extensive treatment histories, families with multiple symptom-bearing members carrying serious DSM-IV diagnoses, and families that seem to thrive on one crisis to the next. With these challenging and nightmarish client situations, it can feel like we are trapped in and neutralized by the gravitational pull of a stellar black hole. In this hands-on practice-oriented workshop, we will present several effective ways therapists can tap the full range of their inner resources and creative selves for getting unstuck and being the catalysts for therapeutic change with complex and difficult client practice situations. Participants will come away from this workshop with a plethora of therapeutic tools and strategies, feeling inspired, energized, and more confident working outside of their comfort zones with their most challenging clients. Live case consultations are provided to demonstrate in real-time the therapeutic ideas and strategies discussed in action.

As a result of attending this workshop, participants will learn the following:

• Use of reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action to keep an open mind, maintain therapeutic maneuverability, and co-create possibilities with complex and difficult client situations
• Identify and utilize specific inner resources and talents to further expand one's therapeutic style and range
• Bring more humor, drama, and playfulness to one's therapeutic practice
• Tap the inventiveness and imagination powers of our clients to co-construct creative and high quality solutions
• Creative use of self in collaborative meetings with highly pessimistic and pathology-minded involved helping professionals from larger systems