WORKSHOPS: Fall 2009 - Spring 2010

KEY PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES OF NARRATIVE THERAPY By Walter Bera, PhD and John Stillman, LICSW
Friday, October 9, 9:00 am – 4:30 pm at the Kenwood Therapy Center

Learn the essential insights, principles and practices of Narrative Therapy. Illustrated with actual clinical videos, handouts and interactive exercises, you will learn the often profound and pragmatic narrative questions of meaning and identity that help people construct their preferred lives and realities. Learn the new Narragram for visualizing narrative ideas and practices to help people face the effects of abuse, trauma and addiction; new approaches to assessment, diagnosis, insurance, charting, planning, narrative visual, art and music therapy and bring new creativity and enthusiasm to life and work. 6.5 CEU’s

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COLLABORATIVE THERAPY FOR MULTI-STRESSED FAMILIES By William Madsen, PhD

Friday, November 6, 9:00 am - 4:30 pm at the Minnesota Church Center

From Cambridge, MA, Bill Madsen is the noted author and trainer for front line therapists, workers and their organizations, on how to provide sensitive, respectful and effective family centered work.  Across the country, therapy and services for families are undergoing profound changes. Community and state agencies are searching for effective models that support strength-based, culturally responsive, empowering partnerships with families. This workshop offers an integrated practice framework that is applicable across protective, outreach, residential, and outpatient contexts. It is applicable for helpers holding both “professional” and “non-professional” degrees. It offers a flexible map to put family-centered principles into practice in the everyday “messiness” of this work. Drawing on Motivational Interviewing, Appreciative Inquiry, the Signs of Safety approach to child protection work, and Narrative, Collaborative, and Solution-Focused therapies, this workshop highlights a practice framework to help families envision desired lives, address long-standing problems, and develop proactive coping strategies in the context of their local communities.  6.5 CEU's.

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NAVIGATING THE COMPLEXITIES OF RELATIONSHIPS By John Stillman, LICSW
Friday, December 4, 9:00 am – 4:30 pm at the Minnesota Church Center

Working with couples in therapy can be very challenging. There is often a lot of emotion involved and the therapist is frequently placed in the middle of it. Unlike working with families, there is an option that the couple will separate, which increases the stakes. The partners also have different histories, different expectations, and often children are part of the picture. All of these factors make working with couples challenging and therapists are continually looking for new approaches, perspectives and ideas on how to best address this work. Couples are also looking to have a different experience than they have had in their conversations at home.
The workshop will address the importance of intentionality and perception in relationships. It is often the case that when there is clarification of their partner’s intentions, values, hopes, principles and commitments, couples can overcome their differences. The workshop will focus on specific ways to bridge the divide that occurs between a partner’s actions and the meaning that these actions represent. 6.5 CEU’s

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CUTTING THE PROBLEM DOWN TO THE SIZE/ STYLE/ KNOWLEDGES OF PEOPLE AND THEIR FAMILIES By David Epston, Auckland, NZ
Thursday, Feb. 4 and Friday, Feb. 5, 9:00 am – 4:30 pm at the Minnesota Church Center

In this two-day intensive workshop by David Epston, Co-founder of Narrative Therapy, learn a new genre of Narrative Therapy with examples of working with children, teens, adults, families and their communities. The intensive workshop will trace the history of a novel genre of Narrative Therapy for children, adults, their families and communities.  It is founded on a concern for a kind of enquiry that confers respect-worthiness upon everyone.  Its intention is for everyone to respond to their predicaments 'standing' on their own, their family's and community's dignity.

This requires the therapist to turn the by now well-established and taken for granted order of a meeting on its head.  Here any meeting commences with a detailed enquiry into the person's 'wonderfulnesses', many of which implicate their families and communities eg. ' do you think you got that from your mum or your dad, your sister or your brother or someone else?' The person and his/her family are provided with ample opportunities to impress on the Problem  (1) what they stand for and (2) what their skills and knowledges make available to them. The justification for what might seem like a disordered enquiry is that 'we all need to know what you and your family can put against the Problem that is troubling you all, after which we will get on to the Problem itself.'  Examples will survey a wide range of such 'problems' and 'troubles' and be illustrated with videotapes, case examples, transcripts and practice exercises.  Such enquiries can lead to unexpectedly rapid and thrilling results. 13 CEU’s

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BUDDHIST PSYCHOLOGY, NARRATIVE, MINDFULNESS, AND CREATIVITY By Walter Bera, PhD
Friday, March 12, 9:00 am – 4:30 pm at the Minnesota Church Center

Learn and experience the principles of Buddhist psychology, mindfulness, and narrative as they may be applied personally and therapeutically for creativity, peak performance, moods, cravings, identity, and relationships. This program is open to professional therapists and the interested public.

6.5 CEU’s

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TRAUMA, IDENTITY, TRANSFORMATION: Re-Authoring Life After Trauma By John Stillman, LICSW, Walter Bera, PhD and Staff
Friday, April 9, 9:00 am – 4:30 pm at the Minnesota Church Center

Participants will learn new, innovative and creative therapy principles and approaches for working with those who have experienced trauma. Trauma disconnects people from who they are in relationship with themselves and with others. Trauma also affects people’s sense of history and what they see as possible in the present and future. Learn Collaborative and Transformative Justice approaches and a new Trauma Manual that is being empirically studied to address these problems by helping people re-author their lives in the aftermath of trauma. 6.5 CEU’s.

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RE-AUTHORING THERAPISTS LIVES: Integrating Narrative Practice with Other Therapies By Walter Bera, PhD and Staff
Friday, May 14, 9:00 am – 4:30 pm at the Minnesota Church Center

Narrative Therapy has become an established approach in many clinical fields. Learn how Narrative Therapy can integrate with other therapy practices and metaphors: Hypnosis, cognitive behavioral, solution-focused, motivation enhancement, positive psychology, addiction, 12-step focused and more. Break down the barriers in this motivating and inspiring workshop and see how you might integrate Narrative ideas. Re-author and enrich your therapist identity based on your values, principles and experience. 6.5 CEU’s.

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