Confer US

02/23/2023

"Freud famously described dreams as the royal road to the unconscious. And this seems to be even more true in describing the psychedelic experience. [Tim Read’s and Maria Papaspyrou’s] central assumption as editors is that while psychedelic states offer unequalled access to the deep psyche, this is usually not in itself enough; to make full use of their power, there needs to be traction, an engagement with process, a working through. The psychedelic experience is not so much a magic bullet as an evolving relationship with our inner world, a journey that riders over time. "

Join Tim and Maria in an expansive exploration on the use of psychedelics in psychotherapy: https://www.conferonline.org/event/psychedelics.html

Excerpt from "Psychedelics and Psychotherapy: The Healing Potential of Expanded States" : https://www.karnacbooks.com/product/psychedelics-and-psychotherapy-the-healing-potential-of-expanded-states/97051/?MATCH=1

This event will not be recorded. Bookings close at 5:00am EDT Tuesday 21 March Psychedelic assisted therapy has emerged as a new treatment with significant potential to cause transformative change. But for that change to materialise we need to work in novel ways that often-run counter to our current...

02/23/2023

The ability to meet the challenges of everyday life is a marker of well-being and is dependent on the autonomic nervous system. Our nervous systems shape the way we navigate living, loving, and working. Polyvagal Theory, through the organising principles of hierarchy, neuroception, and co-regulation, has revolutionised our understanding of how this system works...

Join our course on working with the nervous system, and explore the stages of the polyvagal system and its responses in therapy.

https://www.conferonline.org/event/nervous.html

02/23/2023

An excerpt from Dr Nancy McWilliams' book "Psychoanalytic Diagnosis: Understanding Personality Structure in the Clinical Process". Dr McWilliams will be exploring the inferential and dimensional assessment of psychological suffering in our upcoming seminar on the medicalisation of distress: https://www.conferonline.org/event/distress.html

For many people, including some therapists, diagnosis is a dirty word. We have all seen the misuse of psychodiagnostic formulations: the complex person gets flippantly oversimplified by the interviewer who is anxious about uncertainty; the anguished person gets linguistically distanced by the clinician who cannot bear to feel the pain; the troublesome person get punished with a pathologizing label. Racism, s*xism, heteros*xism, classism, and numerous other prejudices can be (and have often been) handily fortified by nosology. Currently in the United Sates, where insurance companies allot specific numbers of sessions for specific diagnostic categories, often in defiance of a therapists’ judgement, the assessment process is especially subject to corruption.

You can buy the book with a 15% discount from our bookshop, Karnac Books, here: https://www.karnacbooks.com/product/psychoanalytic-diagnosis-understanding-personality-structure-in-the-clinical-process-second-edition/95061/

Includes a subtitled recording of the event and a transcript, with access for a year (14 days post the event) Bookings close at 4:00am EST Wednesday 1 March In the US and UK — and increasingly the rest of the world — our language, thinking, and responses to emotional and psychological distress h...

02/22/2023

What are your thoughts on how psychiatric drugs and limited formulaic psychotherapy have become the default modes of care?

https://www.conferonline.org/event/distress.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=distress

Born out of the rejection of psychoanalysis and social psychiatric models in the 1980s, the shift was explicitly intended as a biomedical ‘revolution’. With the “decade of the brain,” a new era of enlightened mental health medicine was supposed to ensue. Yet, after decades of research and countless billions of dollars spent, not only has very little of scientific value resulted in terms of treatments, we are increasingly hearing about mental health “crises” and even “pandemics.” At the same time, more and more research has been supporting the centrality of the social and interpersonal factors that have traditionally been neglected by the medical model and medicalised therapies. Could the medical framing have been contributing to the problem? Has the power behind the medical model occluded the issues at hand and contributed to ongoing social injustice? Our presenters will try to address these and other questions in the hopes of starting this important conversation afresh.

Includes a subtitled recording of the event and a transcript, with access for a year (14 days post the event) Bookings close at 4:00am EST Wednesday 1 March In the US and UK — and increasingly the rest of the world — our language, thinking, and responses to emotional and psychological distress h...

02/22/2023

Our seminar on the medicalisation of distress is closing next week Wednesday... Book your spot in this radical and engaging talk, with a chance to engage the speakers during our panel and Q&A sessions!

UK (4.5 CPD hours): https://www.confer.uk.com/event/distress.html
US (4 CE credits): https://www.conferonline.org/event/distress.html

02/20/2023

CLOSING THIS WEEK (4 CE Credits):

Bookings for our seminar on working with kink-affirmative therapy close this week!

Book your spot here:

Includes a subtitled recording of the event and a transcript, with access for a year (14 days post the event) Bookings close at 4:00am EST Wednesday 22 February Many therapists struggle with their responses when working with clients who engage in kink, fe**sh, and/or B**M. However, research suggests...

02/15/2023

Bookings for our seminar on working with kink-affirmative therapy close next week!

Book your spot here:

Includes a subtitled recording of the event and a transcript, with access for a year (14 days post the event) Bookings close at 4:00am EST Wednesday 22 February Many therapists struggle with their responses when working with clients who engage in kink, fe**sh, and/or B**M. However, research suggests...

02/14/2023

Valentine's Day can become a mixed day in the consulting room -- from clients facing loss, heartbreak, loneliness, and abuse, to clients enjoying their relationships and discovering new aspects of life and romanticism... How can we be prepared to work with all these aspects of couples and individual therapy?

Confer has curated a range of seminars over the years that can help you deal with the work arising from this day... Check them out below.

Upcoming seminar on working with clients who engage in kinks and B**M: https://www.conferoline.org/event/fe**sh.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=fe**sh

Oxytocin: The Neurobiological Mystery of Love and Attachment: https://www.conferoline.org/on-demand-events/oxytocin.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=oxytocin

Working with Domestic Violence and Emotional Abuse: https://www.conferoline.org/on-demand-events/relations.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=relations

The Art of Letting Go: https://www.conferoline.org/on-demand-events/letting-go.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=letting-go

Conscious Uncoupling: https://www.conferoline.org/on-demand-events/uncoupling.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=uncoupling

Psychotherapeutic Forms of Love: https://www.conferoline.org/on-demand-events/love.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=uncoupling

02/13/2023

Our upcoming seminar speaker Dr Davies outlines in his book "Sedated: How Modern Capitalism Created our Mental Health Crisis " that “by sedating people to the causes and solutions for their socially rooted distress – both literally and ideologically – our mental health sector has stilled the impulse for social reform, which has distracted people from the real origins of their despair and has favoured results that are primarily economic while presiding over the worst outcomes in our health care system”.

How can therapists work around the medicalisation of distress? Why has the medical model continued to expand and dominate mental health provision and public discourse while presiding over poor outcomes since its ascendancy in the 1980/90s?

Join our seminar with Dr Nancy McWilliams, with James Barnes, James Davies, and Lucy Johnstone and find out more:

02/13/2023

Do you find it hard, awkward, or uneasy in your responses when working with clients who want to discuss their s*x lives with you? How about when working with clients who engage in kink, fe**sh, and/or B**M? How can we work towards a s*x-positive and kink-affirmative environment in the consulting room?

Join us in our upcoming seminar and find out more about how to work with Fe**sh, B**M, and Kink Practices with clients: https://www.conferonline.org/event/fe**sh.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=fe**sh

During a therapeutic session with clients that engage in kinks, fe**shes or B**M, the therapist may experience disgust or embarrassment, shame dynamics may take over, and a need to objectify and distance from the client may emerge. They may feel deep concern if fe**sh activities include rough s*x or bo***ge and not know when, or if, they should intervene.

Research suggests that a vast number of people, both clients and therapists, engage in, or fantasise about, B**M and kink practices and pathologising is still dominant with therapists reporting not feeling competent with this work.

Join our speakers Lori Beth Bisbey, Richard Sprott, Dominic Davies (Pink Therapy), Anna Randall, and Dr Ryan Witherspoon: https://www.conferonline.org/event/fe**sh.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=fe**sh