In a mononormative culture, relationship commitment and relationship health are judged as sexual and romantic exclusivity to one person at a time. Those who journey beyond this mainstream relationship model are likely to encounter prejudice, misunderstanding, and condescension.
As psychotherapists seeped in dominant cultural and political norms, our beliefs and standards of relationship ideals can be so easily misinformed and limited. To usefully support and understand clients in open and polyamorous relationships we need to be aware of our own biases and develop insight into the specific challenges and delights of our clients living and loving in such expansive ways.
This talk will offer reflective questions, an opportunity for questions, and the introduction of my 7-stage model for opening up monogamous relationships, which can offer a guide for therapist and client when exploring open relationships in sessions.
This event is included in a series of seminars organised in collaboration with the Therapy and Social Change Network.
Course Content
Organisation
Presenter
I have worked as a therapist for over 30 years in statutory and voluntary sectors and private practice. I work with individuals, relationships, and therapy groups.
I hold an MA in Existential Psychotherapy, am an advanced accredited GSRD therapist, a clinical associate with Pink Therapy, and have trained in somatic body therapy.
Continuing to enjoy offering therapeutic supervision to individuals and supervision groups and previously being a tutor and visiting lecturer on psychotherapy courses for 20 years. I have particular interest and experience working with GSRD (gender, sexual, and relationship diversity) in relationships and groups.
I am excited to be delivering the UK’s first in-depth open & polyamorous relationship therapy training this year with a colleague Alex Sanderson-Shortt. I have a chapter on open relationships ‘Loving Freedom – Opening a Dyad’, in Relationally Queer: A Pink Therapy Guide for Professionals 2023, edited by Silva Neves & Dominic Davies. I am currently working on a book on open and polyamorous relationships.
I am a bi+/queer cis woman with a preference for open relationships. You can read more about me and my approach on my website
The Therapy and Social Change (TaSC) Network is a broad affiliation of people interested in exploring the interface between therapeutic ideas and practices and social justice perspectives and actions. We are interested both in the ways that counselling and psychotherapy can be practiced with social justice concerns in mind (for instance, tackling unconscious biases in the consulting room), and also in the ways that therapeutic principles and practices can be extended out to the wider social realm (for instance, developing social and emotional literacy in schools).
