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NP0038: Who’s Afraid of Couples Therapy?
Welcome to our “Who’s Afraid of Couples Therapy?” This exciting series, back by popular demand, is based on our November/December 2011 issue on this topic and will explore the challenges of couples work.
What are the most effective strategies in working with couples? How can therapists structure therapy—particularly in the early sessions—so that couples leave with a sense of hope, rather than frustration? Can working with individuals who have serious issues in their relationships actually be detrimental to them? Find out the answers to these questions and much more. In this first session with expert couples therapists Ellyn Bader and Peter Pearson, the creators of the Developmental Model of Couples Therapy, you’ll find out why clinicians often avoid working with couples and how you can better prepare yourself for couples therapy work.
How can therapists most effectively work with emotion in the consulting room—particularly when it comes to couples therapy? Learn with internationally known couples therapist Hedy Schleifer how to help create a nourishing connection between partners, define a role as therapist-as-guide, and much more. Schleifer, who’s pioneered the training of Imago Relationship therapists internationally, will go into how to use this theory in practice and how to best work with emotions.
What happens when partners in couples therapy have two different agendas in mind? Hear from expert William Doherty on this little spoken about topic. Learn how Discernment Counseling, an approach that helps couples clarify their feelings about the next step in their relationship, can help both clients and therapists.
Is it possible to rebuild trust and intimacy in a couple’s relationship after a partner has had an affair? How can therapists help? Hear from Esther Perel, author of the international bestseller Mating in Captivity: Unlocking Erotic Intelligence, on how to help couples after an infidelity and the role that cultural perspectives have in this emotional situation.
Explore this classic dynamic of couples therapy—an angry woman and a withdrawn man—that’s often confusing for therapists, with couples therapist Jette Simon. Learn more about what’s behind the feelings of anger and the behavior of withdrawing, and how clinicians can more effectively work with shame and fear of disconnection.
Hear an unconventional perspective on couples therapy from David Schnarch, who believes that the best way to help couples is to challenge partners to change their individual behaviors and attitudes. Schnarch’s direct, upfront approach to helping clients will illustrate a different viewpoint on effective couples therapy.
Join Marty Klein, a marriage and family therapist and certified sex therapist, us for a candid discussion about the assumptions that both clients and therapists often share that can get in the way of improving couples’ sexual relationships.
Discover with Kathryn Rheem how to respond effectively when clients express strong feelings in session. Based on Emotionally Focused Therapy, you’ll explore attunement and how to use your own emotions to help clients move beyond attachment injuries.
After the session, please let us know what you think. If you ever have any technical questions or issues, please feel free to email support@psychotherapynetworker.org.
Whole Psychiatry: Alternatives to Conventional Psychopharmacology with Robert Hedaya
Meds: Myths and Realities: NP0035 – Session 4
Is psychopharmacology is a 'go-to' in your practice? Join Robert Hedaya as he discusses how to treat the bodily systems that underlay many mental health issues while avoiding medication. After the session, please let us know what you think. If you ever have any technical questions or issues, please feel free to email support@psychotherapynetworker.org.Tough Customers: Is It Them or Us?
By Rich Simon As therapists, many of us practice in two different worlds. In the first, we see polite, well-behaved, articulate clients with solid values. They engage fully in therapy, talk cogently about their problems, listen attentively to our responses, make reasonably good-faith efforts to follow our suggestions, and sooner or later get better. No wonder we genuinely like these people! Does This Kid Need Medication? with Ron Taffel
Meds: Myths and Realities: NP0035 – Session 3
Do you feel like you could be a more effective therapist with your younger clients? Do you find it hard to determine when interventions--psychological and pharmacological--might be needed? Join Ron Taffel and learn to identify key diagnostic signs that indicate medications could be helpful when dealing with depression, anxiety, AD/HD, and affective disorders. After the session, please let us know what you think. If you ever have any technical questions or issues, please feel free to email support@psychotherapynetworker.org.
 NP0015, Trauma, Session 3, Pat OgdenLearn how to help trauma clients create a “somatic narrative” with Pat Ogden, the founder and director of the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute in Boulder, Colorado. Discover how helping clients gain greater awareness of their bodies and creating a somatic narrative will help them work through experiences and distressing emotions that may be otherwise inaccessible to them cognitively. Comments  Changing Ways of Working with Children, Teens, and FamiliesEver since I was not much older than a child myself, I’ve always been captivated by children and their enchanting ways of perceiving the world and behaving. It’s especially interesting to watch and try to understand family interactions in light of stark generational differences. I’m actually not a parent or a therapist myself, but I often work with young children in a range of situations, such as babysitting, tutoring, volunteering, and in the past, working as a camp counselor. Comments Tapping into Mind/Body Wisdom with Pat OgdenComments NP0013, Mindfulness, Session 6, Mark EpsteinExplore the inherent joyfulness that becomes available through Buddhism’s rejection of our focus on maximizing pleasure with Mark Epstein, a psychiatrist who integrates Buddhist psychology into his work. Epstein will discuss the joyful and loving energy that Buddhist psychology can bring to the Western therapeutic relationship, as well as the pitfalls of Buddhism in the consulting room. You’ll learn what it means to have Buddhism as a therapeutic attitude. After the session, please take a few minutes to take a look at the Comment Board and let us know what you think. We invite you to discuss your thoughts and questions, as well as sharing your name and hometown with your comments. If you have any technical questions, please feel free to contact support@psychotherapynetworker.org. Thanks for your participation. Comments NP0015, Trauma, Session 2, Donald MeichenbaumDiscover how the stories clients tell about a trauma event shape their experience of it with Donald Meichenbaum, a founder of Cognitive Behavioral Modification and an expert in the treatment of PTSD. You’ll learn how to help clients create a more positive, “untold” story, the significance of resilience in healing, and how to help clients enhance their cognitive, emotional, physical, and behavioral resilience.
02.15.2012 Posted In: NP0015 21st-Century Trauma Treatment By Psychotherapy Networker
After listening to the session, please share your thoughts and any questions on the Comment Board. What was most interesting to you or relevant? We encourage you to include your name and hometown with your comment, and to take a few minutes to read and response to other participants’ comments. As always, if you have any technical questions or issues, please feel free to email support@psychotherapynetworker.org. Comments Become a Better Clinician with Scott MillerHow do we know if and when we’re getting better at what we do? It’s a seemingly simple question, but there are some fields—like psychotherapy—in which measuring progress and outcomes, and then applying that information to practice, is harder to do than in other fields. For example, in math, it’s pretty clear-cut—either the answer to a specific problem is right or wrong, although the process by which you get to the answer may differ. But when it comes to the mental health profession, how do we measure clinical mastery? How do we measure when we’re “right” and when we’re “wrong?” And is the process we use—the specific methods and techniques—significant or not?
02.14.2012 Posted In: Symposium 2012 By Jordan Magaziner
Scott Miller, the founder of the International Center for Clinical Excellence, has been a driving force in applying the science of expertise to the practicalities of the consulting room. He coauthored a feature article on clinical excellence in our May 2011 issue, offered a session on the same topic in our webcast series on excellence, and will be presenting the luncheon address on Friday—“Charting Your Path to Clinical Excellence”—at the upcoming March Symposium. Here are some of the questions he’ll be discussing in his luncheon keynote. Although there’s been a boom in resources on the field of psychotherapy during the last few decades, have individual therapists actually gotten better? Are we getting better as a field? How do we measure our progress as therapists and clients’ progress with their treatment goals? How do we then take what we’ve learned and apply it to becoming better therapists? Hear Miller present in person to learn the answers to these important questions and much more. Want to hear even more details? He’ll also be presenting a workshop on Friday at Symposium 2012 to go more in-depth on the subject. Learning about Miller’s insights and applying these methods in your practice may forever change the way you work with clients and think about therapy. Comments The 5 Ingredients of Effective Trauma Treatment with Mary Jo BarrettI just have to say “wow.” What an incredible session. I always love hearing Mary Jo present because she’s such an incredibly clear speaker and seems so down-to-earth. I have this overriding feeling of trust in her—she knows what she’s doing, based on both her experience and research, and although she’s confident in her work, she’s organized and meticulous about staying in the moment and being deliberate. Comments NP0013, Mindfulness, Session 5, Richard SchwartzDuring meditation practices, we learn how to observe and calm our disturbing thoughts and feelings. Discover with Richard Schwartz, the founder of the Internal Family Systems model, how to take the next step from paying attention to these distressed parts to healing them.
02.09.2012 Posted In: NP0013 Is Mindfulness Enough? By Psychotherapy Networker
After this session, please take a few minutes to take a look at the Comment Board and let us know what you think. Do you have any experience with the Internal Family Systems model? If not, would you consider bringing these techniques into the consulting room? Do you have any questions for the presenter or your colleagues? We invite you to share your reflections and including your name and hometown with your comments. If you have any technical questions, please feel free to contact support@psychotherapynetworker.org. Thanks for your participation. Comments Meet the 2012 Symposium VisionariesOver the last 35 years, one of the most noteworthy aspects of the Networker Symposium has been the depth and wisdom of the keynoters who address the conference. This year’s Symposium is no exception. Opening the conference with a morning keynote on Friday is Andrew Weil, the world’s leading proponent of integrative medicine. Next will be Scott Miller’s luncheon address on “Charting Your Path to Clinical Excellence,” a topic that’s been much discussed in the Networker community during this past year. He’ll share what research is showing us about how to achieve excellence, and how we can apply these understandings to gain mastery in the consulting room, as well as in our personal lives. Mary Pipher has achieved national renown as the author of Reviving Ophelia, a Pat Ogden will be Saturday’s luncheon address speaker and she’ll cover her transforming, trailblazing work that incorporating bodywork in psychotherapy. Later that day, Jane Fonda will be speaking with Networker Editor Finally, Sunday holds even more opportunities for discovery, as brain science pioneer Dan Siegel will be discussing whether our growing knowledge about brain science is making us wiser. If you’ve never heard Dan Siegel speak before—or even if you have—his presentations are always a treat. For more information about the incredible lineup of Symposium 2012 speakers, click here. Make sure to check back for more Symposium blogs soon—this blog will continue to give you a detailed view of the people and events coming up at Symposium 2012. Whether or not you decide to travel to Washington, D.C. this spring, it’s definitely worth knowing about all the exciting features this year’s conference has to offer. Comments NP0015, Trauma, Session 1, Mary Jo BarrettWelcome to “21st-Century Trauma Treatment: The State of the Art.” This new series will explore the clinical implications of the latest advances from attachment, development, and neurobiological research and how to effectively apply them with clients. What’s the best way to structure treatment with trauma clients? How can therapists help clients reshape their trauma narrative? How can clinicians effectively tailor therapy to meet clients’ needs in the context of trauma? Discover the answers to these questions and much more.
02.08.2012 Posted In: NP0015 21st-Century Trauma Treatment By Psychotherapy Networker
In this first session with Mary Jo Barrett, the founder and director of the Center for Contextual Change, she’ll explain what she’s identified as the five essential ingredients to effective trauma work, through the lens of a structured, collaborative method of working with clients. Throughout the series, a Comment Board after each session will be available. The Comment Boards are a way for participants to share thoughts and reflections about what was most interesting and to ask questions of the presenters and of each other. We invite and encourage you to use these Comment Boards as a forum for thought and to continue the conversation sparked by each session. After listening to this first session, please just take a few minutes to share what you think. What was most striking about this session? What questions do you have? Thank you so much for your participation, and welcome to this relevant and important series. If you ever have any technical questions or issues, please feel free to email support@psychotherapynetworker.org. Comments NP0013, Mindfulness, Session 4, Michael YapkoWhat do mindfulness practices and clinical hypnosis have in common? Michael Yapko, a clinical psychologist internationally recognized for his work in clinical hypnosis, will expound upon the practical lessons hypnosis may have to teach therapists about the vital role of suggestion in the change process. Explore the similarities between mindfulness and clinical hypnosis, and decide for yourself whether there are clinically significant connections between mindfulness and hypnosis techniques.
02.02.2012 Posted In: NP0013 Is Mindfulness Enough? By Psychotherapy Networker
After the session, please take a few minutes to take a look at the Comment Board and let us know what you think. Do you have any experience with clinical hypnosis practices? If not, would you consider bringing these techniques into the consulting room? Do you have any questions for the presenter or your colleagues? We invite you to share your thoughts and questions, as well as sharing your name and hometown with your comments. If you have any technical questions, please feel free to contact support@psychotherapynetworker.org. Thanks for your participation. Comments NP0014, Diets, Session 3, Linda BaconLinda Bacon, researcher, professor, and author of Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight, will discuss the evidence illustrating that popular ideas regarding weight loss as equal to positive self-care can actually hinder a healthy lifestyle. She’ll cover the science that disputes conventional perspectives about health and weight, how working toward weight-loss goals can undermine a client’s ability to achieve positive, healthy habits, how to help clients understand that self-nourishment is more important than weight loss, and much more. If you have any technical questions, please feel free to contact support@psychotherapynetworker.org. Thanks for your participation. Comments Andrew Weil and the Future of PsychotherapyThis year’s 35th-Anniversary Symposium will not only offer an up-to-the-minute perspective on the field’s recent innovations and advances, but a vision of its future. We'll be exploring how all the ferment of the moment--the exciting possibilities opened up by brain science, the growing understanding of the mind-body connection, the clinical influence of mindfulness practice, the emerging science of human performance--will shape therapeutic practice in the years to come. In his Symposium keynote address, "The Vision of Integrative Mental Health," Andrew Weil, world-famous pioneer in the development of complementary medicine, will explore the new skills and knowledge the practitioner of tomorrow will need. We interviewed him recently and here's what he had to say: Comments What’s Hot in Psychotherapy Today: The Symposium Top 5Curious about the presenters and approaches attracting the most attention at this year’s Symposium? Here’s your chance to find out. In addition, with the early registration deadline just around the corner (February 6th), now’s a good time to consider workshop choices. You can peruse the Symposium program a number of easy ways—online, via our digital brochure, or in print—but we wanted to let you know about the workshops people seem most excited about so far. In reverse order, the 5 top workshops to date are: Comments NP0013, Mindfulness, Session 3, Tara BrachExplore RAIN, a simple but powerful technique for directing attention to one’s inner world, with Tara Brach, a leading Western teacher of Buddhism, known for her ability to integrate psychotherapy with meditative and mindfulness practices. Understanding and learning how to implement RAIN into your clinical practice will allow you to help clients discover the thoughts, emotions, and feelings that make up their true inner experiences, and will open the door for deconditioning unconscious patterns. After the session, please take a few minutes to engage in the Comment Board and let us know your reflections. What do you think about this technique and how it might be implemented into your professional or personal life? We invite you to share your thoughts, questions, and revelations, as well as including your name and hometown with your comments. If you have any technical questions, please feel free to contact support@psychotherapynetworker.org. Thanks for your participation. Comments NP0011, Couples, Bonus 2, Kathryn RheemDiscover with Kathryn Rheem how to respond effectively when clients express strong feelings in session. Based on Emotionally Focused Therapy, you’ll explore attunement and how to use your own emotions to help clients move beyond attachment injuries.
01.25.2012 Posted In: NP0011 Who's Afraid of Couples Therapy? By Psychotherapy Networker
After the session, please take a few minutes to let us know what you think, both about this session and about the series as a whole. What stood out for you? What questions remain? We encourage you to take this opportunity to share your thoughts, questions, and revelations. Please include your name and hometown with your comments. As always, if you have any technical questions or issues, please feel free to contact support@psychotherapynetworker.org. Thank you so much for your participation during this series. Comments NP0014, Diets, Session 2, Judith BeckJoin Judith Beck, one of the world’s leading cognitive-behavioral therapists, in this second session of “Diets and Our Demons.” She’ll cover the skills that are necessary for successful dieting, and detail what’s most important to effective weight loss. Beck will explain how to help clients follow through on a healthy lifestyle by facilitating the development of pre-dieting skills, regularizing eating, changing food selection, planning for special occasions, and keeping the motivation to integrate these skills into everyday life in a long-term manner. Comments What Is the New Wisdom?When you ask a therapist about the single quality that distinguishes the young clinician from a weathered old pro who’s seen and heard it all, the answer is likely to have something to do with wisdom. It’s a word with enormous resonance that seems to get at the heart of what psychotherapy is all about. But what do therapists actually know about wisdom? Clinical theories, techniques, how to fill out insurance forms—sure, we know a lot about those things. But wisdom?
01.17.2012 Posted In: Symposium 2012 By Rich Simon
Read more Comments NP0014, Diets, Session 1, Judith MatzWelcome to “Diets and Our Demons,” a 4-week webcast series, which will cover a variety of perspectives about helping clients maintain mental and physical health.
01.17.2012 Posted In: NP0014 Diets and Our Demons By Psychotherapy Networker
In this first session with Judith Matz, the director of the Chicago Center for Overcoming Overeating, she will present some of the research that shows that dieting is actually counterproductive. Matz will discuss why the practices of attuned eating and weight acceptance can offer a more effective substitute to conventional dieting techniques. After each webcast session, a Comment Board will be provided so that all of you can share reflections on what you’ve learned, or any questions you may have. We believe these forums create a sense of community of learning and help inspire each other. Please take a few moments to comment on what was most interesting or relevant to you, and we encourage you to include your name and hometown with your comments. Thank you so much for your participation, and welcome to this relevant series. If you ever have any technical questions or issues, please feel free to email support@psychotherapynetworker.org anytime. *Make sure to check out our January/February 2011 issue, which was also called “Diets and Our Demons.” This issue reported on research and case studies related to different ways of looking at dieting and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. If you’re interested, check out that issue here. Comments NP0013, Mindfulness, Session 1, Jack KornfieldWelcome to the New Perspectives on Practice series, “Is Mindfulness Enough?” This series will explore the benefits and limitations of both psychotherapy and mindfulness as well as the integration of these two wisdom traditions. In the first session with leading Buddhist teacher Jack Kornfield, he’ll discuss the erroneous belief that prayer and meditation is all that’s needed for personal transformation, talk about how to combine meditation with our daily activities, and describe how to bring the sacred into the practice of therapy.
01.10.2012 Posted In: NP0013 Is Mindfulness Enough? By Psychotherapy Networker
Throughout the series, a Comment Board after each session will be available. The Comment Boards are a way for course participants to share thoughts and reflections about what was most interesting after each session and to ask questions of the presenters and of each other. We invite and encourage you to use these Comment Boards as a forum for thought and to continue the conversation sparked by each session. After listening to this first session, please just take a few minutes to engage in the Comment Board. What was most striking about this session? What questions do you have? Thank you so much for your participation, and welcome to this relevant series. If you ever have any technical questions or issues, please feel free to email support@psychotherapynetworker.org anytime. Comments |
He’ll be discussing the meaning of integrative mental health and how therapists can enrich their knowledge and understandings to help clients—and themselves—achieve optimal health. To learn more about integrative mental health, see the recent Networker article on his work 
nd she will be inspiring attendees as the Saturday morning keynote speaker. Her subject—“Facing the Challenge of 21st-Century Activism” is a compelling presentation of her vision of the many ways therapists can influence the world-at-large and why doing so can make us feel more joyous, connected, and empowered.
Rich Simon about her life, career, and beliefs about how to improve your life while growing older. Yes, that’s right… Jane Fonda will be at the Networker Symposium! You really won’t want to miss this conference and especially not this particular dinner event.
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