‘The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appears’ (Antonio Gramsci)
A client’s arrival in therapy can be considered a time of crisis. Previous certainties and securities have been lost, and hope of finding a new way forward, people turn to therapy. Often this will involve a personal-historical perspective, uncovering the origin story of the current crisis in the client’s biography. But what if the crisis is not all about the past? What if it is also about the current world-crises clients (and therapists) are living through – the on-going trauma of ecological anxiety, political confusion and economic distress?
This workshop explores how to work with client crises by placing them within a broad collective context. Firstly, by suggesting therapy itself is in a time of crisis, transitioning away from its origins in a personal-historical framework towards a more collective and societal perspective. And secondly, on a practical level, how to better notice and work with world-issues in the consulting room alongside a personal-historical perspective.
The content of the workshop is based upon the current work-in-process by author Allan Frater, with the provisional title: ‘Living Between Stories: Imagination in a Time of Crisis’
Learning Objective Participants Can Expect From This Event
- How to help clients find meaningful lives within a world of increasing uncertainty and confusion.
- How to understand the place of systemic issues within client crises and find ways to work with them in the consulting room.
- How to avoid unwittingly exacerbating the internalisation of captialism and colonialism within therapeutic theory and practice.
Who is This Workshop Appropriate For?
- Psychotherapists, Counsellors, Coaches and anyone interested in therapy, transformation and creative change.
How May This Workshop Impact Your Practice?
- Discover greater confidence, creativity and freedom in working with the impact of world-isues.
Additional Resources:
You can read the opening pages of ‘Waking Dreams’ for free here: https://wildimagination.uk/book/
An article related to the workshop by Allan Frater here: https://psychosynthesistrust.org.uk/a-time-between-stories/
A video on the three key developments in ‘Waking Dreams’ on YouTube here:
Course Content
Presenter
Allan Frater is a UKCP psychotherapist and supervisor in private practice. He has taught at the Psychosynthesis Trust in London since 2011, on the Foundation and Diploma courses as well as CPD events related to his research interests in imagination, ecopsychology and transpersonal psychology. His book ‘Waking Dreams: Imagination in Psychotherapy & Everyday Life’ (2021, Transpersonal Press) presented a critical development of standard approaches to ‘active imagination’ and ‘guided imagery’, incorporating paradigm shifting ideas and methods from ecopsychology, complexity theory, fractal geometry and transpersonal psychotherapy. He lives in London with his wife and a three-legged dog called Milly.
