These seminars can be attended individually or as an eight-session course. The seminars are aimed at all those interested in working psychologically with patient groups, doctors, nurses, psychologists, health care assistants, project workers, counsellors and therapists. Psychodynamic insight and ways of approaching mental health care are increasingly difficult to access but highly relevant for today’s health care environments. Psychotherapists and group analysts teaching on the course work as a cooperative. Meeting on the last Saturday morning of the month over eight months of the year, the course is designed to be achievable and affordable for health care professionals with busy lifestyles. Participants will have the opportunity to reflect on their own working practices and to develop their roles through working with experienced psychodynamically trained psychotherapists. For those who attend eight sessions a certificate of 40 hours CPD will be awarded and you will also be eligible for an ongoing support group. Graduation will take place in November each year. After receiving the certificate students will also have access to subsequent seminars at a reduced rate. 2020 Programme [Seminars take place on the last Saturday of the month] 25th January: 09:30 – 13:00 Understanding the psychological impact of working with people in the care system Seminar Leader: Bob Harris Experiential Group Conductor: Mike Tait Convenor: Marcus Price Bob’s talk will focus on the communication and transmission of distress by people who are experiencing psychological disturbance or who are disturbing others around them. Revisiting classical theories including experiences of projective identification he will use illuminating examples from the arts, sports and games, politics, social and group life, and vignettes from clinical and clinical supervisory work. Participants will have time and space to bring their own examples and experiences for discussion, learning and reflection. 29th February: 09:30 – 13:00 Working with Groups Seminar leader: David Glyn Experiential Group Conductor: Mike Tait Convenor: Marcus Price Being, or working, in a group-analytic group, offers us an opportunity to encounter our own minds, as they have been forged, through our multiple, complex, membership of human groups.Current forms of education, together with prevailing indvidualistic ideologies, foster debilitating images of ourselves. Life is increasingly described in technical terms, and we experience ourselves as fault-prone functions, operating within tyrannical support systems. Psychology, itself, plays a part in a process whereby our capacity for pain, and emotional complexity, leads to diagnoses of mental health infirmity.In this context, many people expect ‘the group’ to be a finely programmed engine of change, with pre-determined learning outcomes. On the contrary, some of the most fruitful groups are those which allow us to recover moments of uncertainty and not knowing, which are the conditions for our being able to re-learn to be ourselves. The Following Seminar has been rescheduled for December 5th 2020 28th March: 09:30 – 13:00 Working With Difference Seminar Leader: Sally Skaife Experiential Group Conductor: Mike Tait Convenor: Marcus Price All therapy involves understanding ‘the other’. The difference will involve power relations, variations of privilege and advantage. How does a history of colonialism, white privilege, class difference and patriarchy show itself in the therapeutic relationship and what effect might it have on the therapy? I will present two examples from my own practice and my developing thinking about them that is represented in an image. Participants will have an opportunity to discuss their own experiences of working with difference. The Following Seminar will be conducted online via Zoom. A link to the seminar will be sent to all who purchase tickets in the usual way. 25 April: 09:30 – 13:00 ‘Finding a Voice’ Large Group Dialogue – How we can understand and function within organisations and large groups? Seminar leader: Teresa von Sommaruga Howard Experiential Group Conductor: Mike Tait Convenor, Marcus Price This will be an interactive session online to introduce some theoretical ideas about larger groups and their characteristics. Our society, community groups and workgroups are all larger groups rather than small groups and they all have an impact on who we are and how we think. This session will encourage students to explore these forces, which impact our lives without us necessarily thinking about them. 30th of May: 09:30 – 13:00 The Survival of Destruction Seminar leader: Mike Tait Experiential Group Conductor: Mike Tait Convenor: Marcus Price I have spent much of my working life working with young people, or with staff who work with those young people, usually in a therapeutic community context. Although these young people want life to be better, they do not usually present for therapy. More often, it is the ***** carers who are seeking respite from the anxiety, confusion or anger evoked within themselves by the behaviour of these young people. A central task then becomes understanding the communications fueling the anxiety-provoking behaviour and finding alternative forms of communication. This will be a workshop style of learning in which participants will have the opportunity to explore roles and embody ideas – should they so choose. Theorists I find most helpful in thinking about these matters include D.W. Winnicott, S.H. Foulkes and Pat de Mare. 27th June: 09:30 – 13:00 The Matrix Seminar Leader: Josephine Canty Experiential Group Conductor: Mike Tait Convenor: Marcus Price The Matrix.Foundation Group Matrix Dynamic Group Matrix The Matrix I find always presented as a complex theory.In this session, I will try to make it accessible even visible. 26th September: 09:30 – 13:00 Literature: Towards an Understanding of Depth Psychology Seminar Leader: Mariajose Blanco Experiential Group Conductor: Mike Tait Convenor: Marcus Price In this seminar, we will be looking at reading and writing as therapeutic tools. I would like you to bring with you an extract from a book (fiction or non-fiction), a poem or something you have written to be used during the seminar. We will be thinking about what responses we have to literature and how the reading we do or did when we were children influenced our lives 28th November: 09:30 – 13:00 Anger Seminar Leader: Angelika Goltz Experiential Group Conductor: Mike Tait Convenor: Marcus Price In this seminar we will explore how anger impacts on our work with clients. What is our experience of anger, how have past experiences shaped our attitude towards it, and how does the way we view and cope with our own anger impact on our work. Our clients can be angry, and more often than not they are told that they will only be listened to if they are not angry. In my experience working with outpatient groups in the NHS, the tolerance of anger and aggression within the group could differ depending on the clientele. And the way I would use my own anger, either in reflection or direct, would very much depend on the situation I was facing. I would hope that this issue resonates with you, and that we can explore this in discussion together. You can book individual sessions or the whole course. Reimbursements will be made to people who drop out 30 days prior to the course commencing. Please note that a small percentage is added to the cost of tickets to cover Eventbrite site costs, this latter would not be reimbursed if you were to withdraw. Cost of each seminar booked via Eventbrite: Individual: £40.00 + Eventbrite fee £3.71 total £43.71 Paid by Institution £60.00 + Eventbrite fee £5.27 total £65.27 The complete course of 8 sessions for individuals: £320.00 + Eventbrite Fee £25.55 total £ 345.55 The institutional rate for 8 sessions: £480.00 + Eventbrite Fee £38.03 total £518.03
( When booking individual seminars please specify the dates of the seminars you wish to attend by emailing email. Please note also that there are a maximum of 25 spaces for each seminar so early booking is advisable)
For further information contact Marcus Price at email tel. 07760614028
PLEASE NOTE THAT FROM TIME TO TIME WE DO HAVE TO MAKE UNFORSEEN CHANGES TO THE PROGRAMME About EPIC Staff Members Marcus Price EPI Organiser, UKCP registered Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist, BAPPS registered clinical supervisor and a full member of the Group Analytic Society International. Marcus works in NHS and private practice psychotherapy. Having developed a career in psychodynamic psychotherapy from nursing practice, he has a particular interest in how experiential psychodynamic education can assist health care professionals from differing orientations and backgrounds. Founder of The Experiential Psychotherapy Initiative he currently organises and convenes the ‘Psychodynamic Skills Training’, He is the poetry editor of ‘Contexts’ newsletter of the Group Analytic Society International. Bob Harris Fully Qualified Member of the Institute of Group Analysis (IGA),1986.; Certificate in Education, University of Exeter; Approved Clinical Supervisor, Institute of Group Analysis UK; Formerly Principal NHS Psychotherapist and Director of Programmes at the Institute of Group Analysis. Currently Director of Training, Group Analysis Albania. Bob is also an author whose publications include the excellent book, Working with Distressed Young People, SAGE/Learning Matters 2011. Mike Tait Full member of the Institute of Group analysis and Group Analytic Society International. Mike has worked for many years in therapeutic communities. A group analyst and drama therapist, Mike is well known for using cricket, mountaineering and other activities in helping troubled young people. Mike has conducted many different types of groups, including dream groups in various settings. Teresa von Sommaruga Howard Teresa is an honorary member of the Institute of Group Analysis. She has conducted groups in many different countries. Her careers in architecture and group analysis are combined in her book, Design Through Dialogue: A Guide for Architects and Clients (Architecture in Practice) by Franck, Karen A., von Sommaruga Howard, Teresa (2010). Having trained with the late Patrick de Maré, Teresa has an international reputation for conducting median and large groups as well as social dreaming matrices. Josephine Canty Josephine is a member of The Institute of Group Analysis. (IGA) a qualified supervisor (IGA) Art psychotherapist, UKCP registered. Josephine’s work experience since 1988, includes drug rehabilitation centres, a NHS personality disorders unit and an HMS Pr*son. David Glyn David is a group analyst and President of The Group-Analytic Society International. His psychotherapy work has included private individual and group work, supervision of NHS teams and individuals working in the NHS as well as teaching on group analytic trainings. Mariajosé Blanco Maria-José Blanco has an academic background in Spanish literature and language. She is a Group Work Practitioner (IGA) and is in the final stages of her Group Analytic training. Her academic interest lays in Life-Writing and autobiography. She has co-edited The Power of Death: Reflections on Death in Western Society (Berghahn: 2014) and Feminine Singular: Women Growing Up Through Life-Writing in the Luso-Hispanic World (Peter Lang 2017). She has published two special issues of the Journal of Romance Studies on Autobiographical writing and Women’s Ageing in Literature. Angelika Gölz Angelika Gölz began working therapeutically with people whilst studying ‘Social Education’ in Berlin in the early 1970’s. Her first role was a counselling to parents at a Family Therapy Centre. 1979 she qualified as a biodynamic body psychotherapist in London. Her deep interest in the relational aspects of therapeutic work led her towards a more psychoanalytic approach. She qualified as a Group Analyst 2003 and is now a member and training group analyst with the IGA (London). Angelika’s work has included consultation to teams in crisis, supervision to mental health teams, and also supervision to people working with individuals, groups, and training courses. She teaches regularly on the clinical psychology doctorate program at Plymouth University, and on other psychotherapy courses. For 12 years Angelika worked with outpatient groups in the NHS. She is currently working in private practice with individuals and a twice-weekly group. She is also offering supervision for individuals, groups and teams Sally Skaife Sally Skaife is an art therapist and group analyst. She has worked in ***** psychiatry in the NHS, privately and in charities. She was Lecturer then Senior Lecturer in art psychotherapy at Goldsmiths, the University of London, leading the MA in Art Psychotherapy for ten years and supervising research students. She was a past chairperson of the British Association of Art Therapists and has numerous publications on art therapy groups and art therapy education. Her interest is in art therapy as a practice of resistance to neoliberal individualism.
