Psychology Training Courses - Inner West Therapy Centre
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Training courses offered by Christine Bolstad:
Christine Bolstad has over 25 years
experience using creative processes in therapy. Her professional
development has included a period of special training in movement and
action techniques under the guidance of Dr Bermudez in Europe. She has
helped both clients and fellow professionals in the fields of
relationships, family issues and interpersonal violence, trauma, eating
problems, anxiety and depression. Christine is eager to assist other
helping professionals interested in learning these skills and applying
them in their own practice.
To register or for more
information, please contact Christine on 9569 7433 or email:
chris@innerwesttherapy.com.au
Trauma and the body: a one-day workshop
This workshop will teach participants how to use creative processes to help clients recover from trauma, including that caused by repeated abuse or neglect.
Over the last decade, neurobiological research has shown that positive brain changes can be created in traumatised clients through the activation of moderate states of arousal, in the context of a close and trusting therapeutic relationship. This procedure entails stimulation of both affect (mood) and cognition (thinking), thus assisting the client to construct a narrative that makes sense to them. Techniques that utilise movement and the body are known to assist in this process.
Participants will learn:
- safe and respectful ways of dealing with trauma, using the body, action and art in therapy
- ways to help clients gain awareness of the body
- interventions that help create sound psychological and somatic boundaries
- techniques that help the client develop an experiential sense (through feeling, thinking and acting) of when to trust vs when to defend/protect themselves
- exercises that help clients connect mood and thinking so that they can create a meaningful story for themselves
- an effective trauma strategy that combines mental imagery and action.
Incorporating the body, movement and art in Relationship Therapy: a one-day workshop
This workshop is useful whether you work with couples or individuals. It will demonstrate the use of movement, the body and non-verbal creative processes in Relationship Therapy to extend and enhance verbal therapy.
Ever sat with a couple and found that talking about their issues does not result in sustained change? Even when they have good insight into their own or the other's behaviour, they can't change what they do and nothing improves. Over the last decade, neurobiological research has shown that 'unwanted patterns of acting' can become hard-wired in the brain. Therapists can learn to transform these patterns by stimulating both affect (mood) and cognition (thinking). Techniques that utilise movement and the body are known to help.
Participants will learn:
- safe and respectful ways of dealing with the body, movement and art in Relationship Therapy
- interventions to help clients gain a sense of empathy for their partner that is both cognitive (known on a thought level) and embodied (known on a felt 'whole mind' level)
- techniques that help clients develop an experiential sense (through feeling, thinking and acting) of how they become trapped in repeated unwanted patterns of interaction
- exercises that address and explore issues of sexuality and territory
- ways of exploring the values and qualities clients need in a relationship
- skills and exercises that help clients experience issues symbolically. This takes the pressure off the problem/s and allows couples to play with creating something together, negotiate conflicts and deal with third parties.
A body of knowledge: an eight-week experiential training workshop (one evening a week )
This
workshop will demonstrate how the use of movement, the body and
non-verbal creative processes can be used to extend and enhance verbal
therapy.
The focus of the workshop is assisting people who want to develop different relationships with their own body, other people and the environment. Each course will be tailored to and modified by participants in order to cover particular interests. Emphasis will be given to working respectfully with clients who have experienced various kinds of abuse and/or neglect. Particular attention will be given to developing skills and techniques for working with clients who find touch and movement difficult/frightening, present with extreme distress or who experience dissociation in sessions.
Participants will learn:
- safe and respectful ways of dealing with the body, movement and art in therapy
- how to develop an awareness of the body by using dance, movement, fabric and music
- techniques that help clients develop an experiential sense of themselves through feeling, thinking and acting in relation to concepts of limits and space
- exercises that address and explore the development of a sense of being grounded/firm
- ways of exploring safe and preferred touch and a sense of a preferred experience about their body. This involves the use of drawing, clay modelling and body work that does not require a therapist's physical intervention or involvement.
On request, this workshop can be taught through four one-day workshops.
