Continuing Professional Development
We provide a variety of professional development opportunities. Some of these are available only to our members whilst others are available to other qualified psychotherapists and counsellors and we are committed to developing training provision aimed at giving an attachment orientation to other professionals.
Bowlby Centre Online Conference 2021
Saturday 24 April 2021
Attachment, the body and gender
Can we assume there is a link between our early attachment history and how we come to develop our sense of gender?
In what way can the treatment of our bodies as babies impact on our sense of gender?
To what extent do we form our gender identity from our caregivers’ sense of their own gender?
How do our attachments to primary caregivers impact on our ability to safely explore our gender identities?
What is the impact on us when we can’t talk about our gendered sense of self?
This conference will bring together clinicians from diverse backgrounds to explore the ways in which our early attachments may contribute to how we develop our sense of a gendered self and how we come to experience our bodies sexually. Our speakers will be bringing multiple perspectives to this conference – and in particular, perspectives from attachment theory, feminism and transgender theory. The aim of this conference is to explore and develop our understanding of the many ways in which we come to experience our bodies and how we choose to identify ourselves.
Speakers
Meg-John Barker (they/them)
Meg-John Barker is the author of a number of popular books on sex, gender, and relationships, including graphic guides to Queer, Gender, and Sexuality (with Jules Scheele), How To Understand Your Gender, Hell Yeah Self Care, and Life Isn’t Binary (with Alex Iantaffi), Enjoy Sex (How, When, and IF You Want To) (with Justin Hancock), Rewriting the Rules and The Psychology of Sex. They also work as a one-to-one writing mentor, as a creative consultant on various projects, and speak and train on gender, sexual and relationship diversity. They are half of the Meg-John and Justin podcast (megjohnandjustin.com) and blog and publish zines and comics on rewriting-the-rules.com. They regularly speak on their areas of expertise in the media, including Radio 4, Cosmo, and being featured in the Independent on Sunday Rainbow List.
They were an academic psychologist and UKCP accredited therapist for many years before focusing on writing full time. They are an internationally recognised expert on gender, sexual, and relationship diversity (GSRD) and therapy, with numerous academic books and papers on the topics of bisexuality, open non-monogamy, sadomasochism, non-binary gender, and Buddhist mindfulness. They co-founded the journal Psychology & Sexuality and the activist-research organisation BiUK, through which they published The Bisexuality Report. They have advised many organisations, therapeutic bodies, and governmental departments on matters relating to gender, sexual, and relationship diversity (GSRD) including writing the BACP document on the topic. They’ve also been involved in facilitating many public events on sexuality and relationships, including Sense about Sex and Critical Sexology. Twitter: @
Susie Orbach (she/her)
Susie Orbach is a psychotherapist, psychoanalyst, writer and co-founder of The Women’s Therapy Centre in London and The Women’s Therapy Centre in New York.
She is the author of many books. Her most recent In Therapy: The Unfolding Story is an expanded edition of In Therapy (an annotated version of the BBC series listened to live by 2 million people). Her first book Fat is a Feminist Issue has been continuously in print since 1978. Bodies (which won the APA Psychology of Women’s Book Prize in 2009) was updated in 2019.
She is the recipient of the Inaugural British Psychoanalytic Council’s Lifetime Achievement Award. She is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL).
Igi Moon (they/them)
Igi Moon is the Chair of the MoU Coalition Against Conversion Therapy. They are a Senior Lecturer of Counselling Psychology at Roehampton University and they also lecture at Warwick University, Sociology.
They have designed and are now delivering ‘Beyond the Binary: Trans/Forming gender’ which is the first module of its kind in sociology in the UK and they are putting together a textbook for future reference.
They have edited 3 books: ‘Feeling Queer or Queer Feelings? Radical Approaches to Counselling Sex, Sexualities and Genders’; ‘Counselling Ideologies: Queer Challenges to Heteronormativity’ and ‘The Emergence of Trans: Cultures, Politics and Everyday Life’. They are interested in the way therapeutic knowledge and affect is shaped through historical, cultural, political and colonialist tropes. What makes a liveable life?
Further speakers to be announced.
Programme to follow.
5 Hours CPD
Full ticket – £75
Bowlby Centre members – £60
Please contact Carol Tobin carol.tobin@thebowlbycentre.org.uk to book your low income/retired ticket (limited to 20 places) – £50
Open Days
Psychotherapy Training Open Days
The Open Day provides an opportunity to meet staff from the Bowlby Centre to find out more about our approach and the details of our training programme. The event is a facilitated workshop, with an overview of the curriculum, a clinical vignette and a discussion about our approach and the theoretical influences that have informed our work. It is also an opportunity to meet some of those who may be training alongside you, should you decide to join us.
There is a charge of £30 for attendance via Zoom. Please note that Zoom is free to download and the facilitator will send you a link to join the Open Day. All papers will be emailed to you beforehand.
Dates:
27 February 2021
15 May 2021
3 July 2021
Online Workshops
Attachment Theory: The Basics
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7554997694358489870
Watch an interactive introduction to the most important psychological idea of recent years: attachment theory.
We explore why the pioneering work of John Bowlby on attachment matters to all of us – in our friendships; our romantic relationships; in our roles as parents and carers; in our work; and what helps to change insecure attachment styles.
We answer questions like:
– How do trauma and neglect shape our brains and nervous systems?
– Why do some of us retreat from intimacy, while some of us cannot stand being alone?
– How should we best try to care for our children to help them grow up to be secure adults?
– What can we do if we find relationships difficult?
This recorded workshop is aimed at those in the caring professions but is also be accessible and enjoyable for the complete beginner. For practitioners, this event will be 1.5 hours of CPD. For those interested in exploring attachment theory in greater detail, the workshop forms the first in a short series of four interactive online seminars on attachment theory run by The Bowlby Centre which will add up to a Certificate in Attachment Theory once all four workshops are completed. All the workshops will be available to buy separately if you are unable to attend the live events.
This recorded workshop costs £40.
Anxious Attachment: Origins and Repair
In this workshop, we develop the ideas we explored in our Attachment Theory: The Basics introductory workshop, and explore how anxious attachment styles develop in childhood, how they impact our friendships and relationships and, crucially, what works to calm the anxiety within us.
This workshop is aimed at those in the caring professions but is also accessible and enjoyable for the complete beginner. For practitioners, this event will be 1.5 hours of CPD. This workshop forms the second of four interactive online workshops on attachment theory run by The Bowlby Centre which add up to a Certificate in Attachment Theory once all four workshops are completed. All the workshops will be available to buy separately if you are unable to attend the live event.
This workshop recording costs £40.
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1172633961304833294
Avoidant Attachment: Origins and Repair
In this recorded workshop, we explore how avoidant attachment styles develop in childhood, how they impact our friendships and relationships and, crucially, what works to expand our enjoyment of our emotional world on our own and with others. This workshop is aimed at those in the caring professions but is accessible and enjoyable for the complete beginner who knows nothing about the field. For practitioners, this event is 1.5 hours of CPD. This workshop forms the third of four interactive online workshops on attachment theory run by The Bowlby Centre which add up to a Certificate in Attachment Theory once all four workshops are completed.
This recorded workshop costs £40.
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1531289156727238670
Disorganised Attachment: Origins and Repair
In this recorded workshop, we develop the ideas we explored in our Attachment Theory: The Basics introductory workshop, and explore how disorganised attachment styles develop in childhood, how they impact our friendships and relationships and, crucially, what works to escape the “fear without solution” relational prison.
This workshop is aimed at those in the caring professions but is also accessible and enjoyable for the complete beginner who knows nothing about the field. For practitioners, this event is 1.5 hours of CPD.
This workshop forms the fourth of four online workshops on attachment theory run by The Bowlby Centre which add up to a Certificate in Attachment Theory once all four workshops are completed.
This recorded workshop costs £40.
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8720451432498770190
Clinical Forums
Clinical Forum – Via Video link – The Development of the self in the presence of a “scaregiver”
Saturday, 9th January 2021 11am – 1pm
Speaker: Orit Badouk Epstein
Synopsis:
Mary Main and Judith Solomon (1986) first identified fear in the face of attachment needs and described it as the (D)Disorganised Attachment Style. The research findings have given us a new lens into the way we see human behaviour that is evident in many of our traumatised clients. The child’s needs for both protection and autonomy are universal and has been at the heart of object relation and attachment theory. It is there where co-relatedness matters and a developed sense of self are most involved. This presentation will discuss a client who suffered extensive abuse resulting in the colonisation of her body and mind and fragmentation of the self. Her attachment to her “scaregiver” (Badouk Epstein,2015) was “cannot be classified” and was diagnosed with DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder). The client’s regular suicidal ideation, eating disorders and other forms of self harm were the client’s attachment cries and a response to a diminished self. The relational journey we embarked upon gradually enabled the client to move on to a place of safety, better functioning and self-regulation allowing her slowly to develop the coherence needed for the emancipation of her imprisoned body and mind.
About the speaker
Orit Badouk Epstein is a UKCP registered Attachment based Psychoanalytic psychotherapist, trained at the Bowlby Centre. She is a trainee supervisor and therapist, a teacher and the Editor of the journal “Attachment-New Directions in Psychotherapy and Relational Psychoanalysis”. She specialises in attachment theory and trauma, writes and present papers on these topics and consults worldwide on attachment theory. She runs a private practice with individuals and parents. Orit has a particular interest in working with individuals who have experienced extreme abuse and trauma and have displayed symptoms of dissociation. She is the co-author of the books “Ritual Abuse and Mind Control: The Manipulation of Attachment Needs” (Badouk Epstein, Wingfield & Schwartz, 2011 Karnac), “Terror within & without” (Yellin, Badouk Epstein, 2013, Karnac) and was the co-editor of the ESTD (European Society for Trauma and Dissociation) newsletter for 10 years as well as being a regular contributor of articles and film reviews. In her spare time Orit enjoys the arts, reading philosophy and writing poetry.
Date: Saturday, 9th January 2021
Time: 11.00am – 1.00pm
Cost: £30 (Bowlby Centre members and students – free)
Bookings now closed
CPD: 2 hours (CPD certificate provided)
Courses
Online – Attachment Narrative Therapy – May and June 2021
14th and 15th May 2021, and 11th and 12th June 2021
2pm -8.30pm on Friday, and 10am -2.30pm on the Saturday
Cost: £500
Attachment Narrative Therapy: Working Systemically with Attachment Narratives
This four day course will introduce an integrative approach to systemic practice: attachment narrative systemic therapy. The course combines attachment, trauma and narrative theories of development with systemic theory and practice to consider how systemic processes in families are fuelled by attachment dynamics. We shall explore how family members’ narratives –their explanations and understandings of their difficulties –are connected to, and in turn shape the attachment and systemic processes.
The course uses an adapted range of therapeutic interventions that can be employed in various therapeutic settings. The following main themes are covered: representational systems of attachment; intergenerational learning and care in families; trauma and the restriction of attempted solutions; recursive processes of intervention; the use of self in therapeutic work; developing and monitoring the secure base in therapy and for families; the use of action methods in therapy; and healing in relationships. The course uses a mix of adult learning methods including therapeutic examples, lectures, and experiential learning in small groups and group discussion.
COURSE CONTENT
The course will cover the following main themes: representational systems of attachment; intergenerational learning and care in families; trauma and the restriction of attempted solutions; recursive processes of intervention -paying attention to pattern and process; the use of self in therapeutic work; developing and monitoring the secure base in therapy and in families; the use of action techniques in therapy; and healing in relationships.
Block 1 14-15 May 2021
Introduction and Implications of Attachment Theory
Exploration and Understanding of Attachment Narratives: the role of loss and trauma
Formats for Exploration
Block 2 11-12 June 2022
Attachment Narratives: Intervention and the Possibility of Change
Maintaining the Secure Base into the Future
Formats for Exploration.
This course will be held Online by:
The Resource for London
356 Holloway Road
London N7 6PA
The 4 day courses come with the option of continuing Skype –based supervision/application sessions. These will be 4 -6, 2-hour follow up sessions for groups of up to 4/5 people. There is the further option of continuing sessions on a monthly basis to guide participants’ application of the ANT approach andtechniques in their practice.
Rudi Dallos
r.dallos@plymouth.ac.uk
Arlene Vetere
drarlenevetere@hotmail.com
References
Dallos, R (2005) Attachment Narrative Therapy. Maidenhead: OU Press
Dallos, R and Vetere, A (2009) Systemic Therapy and Attachment Narratives: Applications in a range of clinical settings. London: Routledge
Vetere, A and Dallos, R (2008) Systemic Therapy and Attachment Narratives. Journal of Family Therapy, 30, 374-385
Dallos, R ( 2019) Don’t Blame the Parents: Positive Intentions, Scriptsand Change in Family Therapy. London: McGraw Hill.
Rudi Dallos is Emeritus Professor on the Clinical Psychology Training Programme at the University of Plymouth. He has developed an intervention SAFE –using ANT for families with a child with a diagnosis of autism. This is being evaluated as part of a funded researchtrial.Rudi contributes to various family therapy training programmes and offers consultation and supervision using the ANT approach. He is continuing to develop a programme of research into family dynamics, attachment and the development of problems. He has written several books including: Attachment Narrative Therapy, Systemic Therapy and Attachment Narratives, Attachment and Family Therapy, Formulation in Psychotherapy and Counselling and an Introduction to Family Therapy.
Arlene Vetere, FBPsS, FAcSS,is Professor of Family Therapy and Systemic Practice at VID Specialized University, Oslo, Norway. I am a clinical psychologist and systemic psychotherapist specialising in working with couples and families, and with violence and substance use in families. In the past I have worked in clinical settings designated for older people and their families, with child and adolescent problems, with the child protection system and family courts, with acute psychiatric and rehabilitation settings, with intellectual and physical disability, and with community, in-patient and out-patient settings. The course draws on our recent book: Dallos R and Vetere A (2009) Systemic Therapy and Attachment Narratives: Applications in a range of clinical settings. London: Routledge.Rudi Dallos and I are currently working on the second edition of this book.My more recent writing includes Supervision of Family Therapy and Systemic Practice’ co-edited with Jim Sheehan, Springer 2018; and ‘Intervening After Violence: Therapy with Couples and Families’ co-written with Jan Cooper, Clarissa Summit Scerri and Angela Abela, Springer 2018; and ‘Interacting Selves: Systemic approaches to personal and professional development in psychotherapy and counselling, co-edited with Peter Stratton, Routledge 2016. Also ‘Narrative Therapies with Children and their Families’ co-edited with Emilia Dowling, Routledge second edition 2018.
Attachment Theory in Clinical Practice – June/July 2021
Saturday 26th June and Sunday 27th June 2021
and
Saturday 10th July and Sunday 11th July 2021
10.00am – 4.00pm
Cost: £580 Organisations, £540 Individuals
Seminars will include the following themes
• Introductions – our relationship to attachment theory.
• Attachment theory in context
• Separation, loss and mourning
• Patterns of attachment and their internal representation
• Secure • Dismissing •Preoccupied • Unresolved/disorganised • Not classifiable
• Evaluating adult attachment states of mind
• Internal working models
• Reflective functioning
• Intersubjectivity
Clinical work will consider the role of mourning, narrative, mutuality and recognition, affective attunement and cycles of rupture and repair in thetherapeutic process.
The objectives of this course are to introduce Attachment theory and deepen your understanding of it. It’s designed to be of practical value with implications for therapy and human relatedness. The course is aimed for Counsellors, Psychotherapists, Psychologists, Psychiatrists and Social Workers.
“I was surprised how this course touched on all areas of my life… for me it has been the missing piece of the jigsaw I have been looking for and brings together many things…”
Victoria Settle is a UKCP registered attachment based Psychoanalytic psychotherapist, a training supervisor and a training therapist. She is currently the CEO of the Bowlby Centre. She has many years of experience teaching in the areas of Infant Observation, Gender and Sexuality and Clinical seminars on Attachment theory. She specialises in attachment theory and trauma and regularly writes and presents papers on these topics. She runs a private practice and works relationally with individuals and couples.
She is the co-author of the chapter on Attachment-based Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy in 4th Edition The Sage Handbook of Counselling and Psychotherapy edited by Feltham C, Hanley T and Winter LA (Sage Publishing Co.)