Workshop Description
What does it mean to connect to others in an in-depth way in therapy, and what is its impact?
Research shows that relational depth with clients is associated with improved therapeutic outcomes. At a time of social disconnection, fragmentation, and fear, those connections may be more important than ever.
This workshop will give participants an opportunity to explore their experiences of relational depth and how it feels to meet others at this level of intensity and intimacy: in both their therapeutic practice and everyday life. The workshop will look at the impact of, and psychological processes behind, relational disconnection, and the mechanisms by which relational depth can have a positive effect.
The second part of the workshop will focus on means by which we can deepen our relating with clients; and we will focus on both face-to-face work and online/telephone counselling. Recent research shows that relational depth can be reached in online therapy, and we will explore the factors that can facilitate, and inhibit, the experience of relational depth in this particular modality.
Course Content
Presenter
Mick Cooper is an internationally recognised author, trainer, and consultant in the field of humanistic, existential, and pluralistic therapies. He is a Chartered Psychologist, and Professor of Counselling Psychology at the University of Roehampton.
Mick has facilitated workshops and lectures around the world, including New Zealand, Lithuania, and Florida.
Mick’s books include Existential Therapies (Sage, 2017), Working at Relational Depth in Counselling and Psychotherapy (Sage, 2018), and The Handbook of Person-Centred Psychotherapy and Counselling (Palgrave, 2013).
His latest work is Integrating Counselling and Psychotherapy: Directionality, Synergy, and Social Change (Sage, 2019).
Mick’s principal areas of research have been in shared decision-making/personalising therapy, and counselling for young people in schools.
In 2014, Mick received the Carmi Harari Mid-Career Award from Division 32 of the American Psychological Association. He is a Fellow of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy and the Academy of Social Sciences.
