Making Sense of Therapy: the art & science of healing
Sessions: 15
Lecture: 16h 7m
Certificate: 30+ hrs
750 CAD
This advanced course explores the art and science of healing through the lens of the attachment-based developmental approach. Dr. Neufeld enhances the material with the experiences and insights gleaned from his many years as an active therapist. Although directed towards therapists, formal training as a helping professional is not required.
- The prerequisites for Making Sense of Therapy are Neufeld Intensive I: Making Sense of Kids, Neufeld Intensive II: The Separation Complex, Science of Emotion, Play & Attachment, and Play & Emotion, which can be taken anytime on your own - or as a scheduled class (when available). Highly recommended are also Neufeld Intensive III: Becoming Attached and Making Sense of Adolescence.
As is the case with all our courses, this course features lectures by Dr. Neufeld, carefully curated support for enriched study, study aides, the opportunity to ask questions of trained faculty or course facilitators, a year's access to the campus to enable study at one's own pace, and a certificate of attendance upon completion. For more information, consult the 'about our courses' page.
COURSE SUMMARY
There have never been more schools of psychotherapy, more training available for psychotherapists, and more therapy practices to master. Yet despite all this, there is little in the field of psychotherapy that is directly inspired by an understanding of the attachment-based developmental approach. A second concern is that the practice of psychotherapy itself seems to be increasingly divorced from the science of relationship, the science of emotion and the science of human development. This 15-session course has been created as an attempt to address these issues. This course is also a vehicle for Dr. Neufeld to share the experiences and insights gleaned from his extensive experience as a psychotherapist covering a wide range of syndromes and conditions across the lifespan. He uses this opportunity to reflect back on his journey as a therapist with the theoretical lenses he developed in the process. He highlights cases from his own practice that illustrate the dynamics discussed.
To ensure an optimal learning experience, we restrict registration to those who have completed the Intensives 1 & 2, the Science of Emotion, and one of the Play courses.
SUITABILITY/APPLICABILITY
Since the issues of healing and change are universal, this course is open to ALL who have completed the prerequisite Neufeld Institute courses. Although Dr. Neufeld speaks as if to fellow psychotherapists, he does not assume a formal training in clinical diagnosis and disorder. This course is for all those who desire to become better midwifes to the healing process, who yearn to help get others unstuck, who are curious about the therapeutic process, as well as those who want to make their therapeutic practice more congruent with their commitment to the attachment-based developmental approach. Although the focus is on therapy, the Intensive is not just for therapists but for anyone who wants to make sense of therapy, including the phenomena of healing, transformation, recovery and resilience.
Some of the material for this course will have been introduced in Becoming Attached as well as Play & Emotion. However, the lens through which this material is viewed is distinctive to this course on Therapy.
SAMPLE TOPICS
- the distinctives of an attachment-based developmental approach
- demystifying the therapeutic process
- how healing can happen quite naturally and spontaneously
- the conditions conducive to healing and how to provide them
- viewing the therapist as a midwife to the healing process
- the hidden and unsung work of tears in transformation
- the why's and how's of parent consulting
- the challenges of helping the adolescent
- how true play can serve as a template for therapy
- how to best help partners take care of each other
- some questionable origins of the impulse to help
- the hidden dangers of the 'talking cure'
- the essential elements of the therapeutic process
COURSE OUTLINE
The course is structured into 15 sessions with each session including approximately one hour of instructional video from Dr. Neufeld.
- Session 1 - Finding ourselves on a typical treatment map
How should we think of psychotherapy? What is its meaning? What is the history of psychotherapy and what are its main schools? How does one find the attachment-based developmental approach on a typical treatment map? - Session 2 - Helping emotion do its work
What should be the focus of treatment in therapy? Is it mental illness? syndromes of disorder? behavioural problems? developmental arrest? alleviation of suffering? the reduction of stress? social interaction? - Session 3 - Trusting in tears to transform
If therapy is primarily about becoming transformed through the process of coming to terms with what didn’t work in one’s life, then adaptation is the core issue in therapy and tears must be a pivotal part of the therapeutic story line. - Session 4 - Harnessing the natural power of play
How does spontaneous healing happen? Could it be that different therapies only work to the extent that the characteristics of true play are emulated? Could playfulness be both the primary indicator of emotional health as well as the primary pathway towards it? - Session 5 - Treating relationship through relationship
In the attachment-based developmental approach, relationship is both the target and context for treatment. In this session the focus is on what renders a relationship therapeutic and on how to develop a therapeutic touch. - Session 6 - Using words as an instrument of change
Words serve a multitude of purposes and are a therapist’s primary instrument of change. In this session we review the therapeutic power of the words spoken by the client and why we must not lose sight of this powerful instrument in the treatment of emotion. - Session 7- Navigating the dark side of the talking cure
What most practitioners of the ‘talking cure’ are still primarily ignorant of, is the power of words in creating attachment. The sense of closeness when understood or when sharing one’s secrets can be more binding than sex. This renders the talking cure, as well as trading in secrets, fraught with hidden dangers that a therapist would be wise to be cognizant of.
SOME SPECIAL APPLICATIONS
- Session 8 - Treating adults through expressive play
The most exciting and ground-breaking development in therapy is the application of play therapy to the treatment of adults. This session covers how to harness the power of play in formal therapy settings as well as how to help adults discover and develop their own therapeutic emotional playgrounds. - Session 9 - Treating children through play in natural settings
Although there are several schools of play therapy for children, there is still lacking a more comprehensive understanding of the therapeutic nature of play in children’s lives and how this can be fostered informally under the informed facilitation of parents and teachers. - Session 10 - Treating children through their parents
Given the role of attachment in development as well as in treatment, it makes good sense to treat children when possible through their most significant working attachment. This session not only covers the ‘whys’ and ‘how to’s’ of treating children through their parents, but also on how to discern when treating children through their parents will be most helpful or when direct treatment with the child is called for. - Session 11 - Treating adults through their children
Do parents need to grow up before they can effectively grow their children up? Do parents need to address their own unfinished business before applying themselves to the raising of their children? Dr. Neufeld presents his arguments on how becoming the parent a child needs is actually the best medicine for the parent as well. - Session 12 - Special challenges in treating adolescents
Should adolescents be treated as children or adults? Should the focus of treatment be attachment or individuation? Should the sharing of secrets with the therapist be encouraged or discouraged? How should parents be involved? Adolescence is certainly a critical time for identity issues, eating issues and attachment issues as well for a vulnerable time for the crystallization of a number of syndromes. Intervention is critical but how best to approach this? - Session 13 - Making sense of marriage
Marriage is probably best conceived as an exclusive sexualized primary working attachment with all of the challenges and dynamics that this involves. Marriage is viewed through the lenses of attachment, of emotion and of maturation. The challenge is not only to make sense of marriage but to make sense of ourselves in the context of our marriages. - Session 14 - Helping couples to love and hold on to each other
How do we help spouses to hold on to each other when apart, bridge anything that could divide, take care of each other through thick and thin, master the alpha/dependent dance, deal with attachment wounds, keep defensive detachment from tearing the relationship apart, handle divisive secrets, and achieve psychological intimacy? How do we help partners preserve their capacity to be fulfilled by each other? How do therapists keep from getting involved in awkward triangles, from being used as fodder in marital conflict, or from inadvertently serving the function of a spouse? - Session 15 - Concluding reflections
In this session, Dr. Neufeld explores the dubious origins of helping, including how ‘rescuers’ come to be made. He shares some reflections on the wounded healer and reviews the main constructs and themes of the course.
Inquiries
If you have questions or require additional information that you cannot find on our website or FAQ page, you may contact our office on our Inquiries page.
Charity & Non-Profit Status
The Neufeld Institute is a registered Canadian charitable organization under the name Neufeld Institute Foundation and is also registered as a NPO in British Columbia. If you would like to make a contribution to us, please go to our donation page.
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The Neufeld Institute is a registered Canadian charitable organization under the name Neufeld Institute Foundation and is also registered as a NPO in British Columbia.
2155 West 36th Avenue
Vancouver, BC V6M 1L3
Canada
Vancouver, BC V6M 1L3
Canada
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