I am very excited to be offering a creative workshop at Re-Vision's upcoming 30th Anniversary Conference with counsellor and dramatherapist, Haydn Forde. Drawing on story, movement, guided imagery and dialogue, our workshop will encourage participants to connect with a sense of the great mystery of life on earth. We will acknowledge and express feelings such as grief, despair, fear and rage in relation to our planetary crisis, and consider ways to go forth and take action with a renewed sense of resilience and hope.
This conference is for psychotherapists, counsellors, art therapists, trainees and anyone interested in how psychotherapy influences and is influenced by politics and the imagination.
The conference both celebrates 30 years of Re-Vision and looks outwards and forwards. At this point in the history of both our profession and the planet, it is clear that other, newer ways of looking at integrative practice are needed – just as ‘the personal is political’ was a way of seeing individual issues within the context of a wider political field, so we now need to see that ‘the personal is the planetary’ and work to develop an integrative approach to suffering, to speaking to the soul of the world at this time of crisis.
Our current world situation, with its challenges of climate change, of wars and refugees, politics of gender, fake news and more, impacts all of us with increasing force. Whilst they may regularly arise as issues in the therapist’s consulting room, treating them as an individual psychological distress, to be addressed at that level, is not necessarily sufficient, and may even compound the ‘cult of individuality’ that many see as underlying these phenomena in the first place. The need to attend differently to the woes of the world, at a collective as well as at an individual level, is the principal theme of this conference. To move therapy beyond the window of the consulting room and into the world may require us as therapists to become more ‘political’. Here we are drawing on the origins of the word politics: the Greek concept of Polis, or state. We ask how we can find our role, and the role of therapy in the political life of our communities. To sustain ourselves in service of our clients and our communities we need the nourishment of the imagination, and we need imagination to help us re-vision the work of therapeutic practice.
This conference brings together three keynote speakers:
Author Jay Griffiths, whose books including Wild: An Elemental Journey, and Tristimania: A Diary of Manic Depression give close attention to humanity’s relationship with the world.
Internationally renowned Poet and performer Lemn Sissay MBE; Lemn draws on his experience of growing up “in care” and uses his performance and poetry to challenge perceptions and to raise awareness.
Lawyer Marcia Willis Stewart , leading civil rights lawyer who represented 77 of the Hillsborough families and who won Black Solicitors’ Network lawyer of the year 2016 .
For more details and the booking booking form click here: Re-Vision Poetry Politics & Psychotherapy flyer
Afternoon workshops
Conference participants can choose one of the following workshops for the afternoon session:
Workshop A: ‘The political in the everyday.’ with Anna Wright and Sarah Van Gogh
In many industrialised countries, there are high levels of apathy and cynicism about beng able to effect meaningful change though manistream political channels.
This workshop will explore:
– what we might mean by ‘being politically active’
– how we see ‘Politics with a capital P ‘ having an impact on our everyday experiences
– what gets in the way of us feeling that we can take action to effect change in local, national and international arenas
– what helps us feel resourced and hopeful about playing a part in bringing about the changes we believe in.
Anna Wright is Deputy Director of Healthwatch Camden and is a Labour Councillor in the London Borough of Camden. She has many years of experience working for the United Nations, including for the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNAIDS where she worked on multi-partner programmes of research, negotiation and policy development. She has a Master’s Degree in Health Policy, Planning and Finance from the London School of Economics where she was awarded the Brian Abel-Smith Prize.
Sarah Van Gogh has worked as a counsellor since 2001 and is a member of the Re-Vision training staff. Before working as a counsellor she worked in the fields of Theatre-in-Education, Montessori teaching and community health outreach. She also worked for many years as a counsellor and trainer for Survivors UK, a charity that supports men who have experienced sexual abuse. She writes a regular column for the BACP Private Practice Journal, and her book, ‘Helping Male Survivors of Sexual Violation to Recover’ is published by Jessica Kingsley.
Workshop B: Dialogues Across Borders: A travelling exhibition with Elena Boukouvala and Mary Smail
‘Dialogues Across Borders’ is a travelling, interactive exhibition and performance event which uses photography, poetry, music and art produced by and with refugees, volunteers and members of the public as a catalyst to transcultural exchange. Workshop participants will be invited to enter into a conversation with the creators and make their own art in response which will then travel onward to the next exhibitions. The group will be supported to engage with the theme through a series of embodiment, imaginative activities before we start creating the exhibition, working with a range of different media.
Elena Boukouvala is a Drama and Movement therapist (Sesame), Psychologist, Counselor of Children and Young People, Consultant and Performance Activist. She has been working with young people with histories of migration across Europe using performance to create opportunities for integration and cultural exchange.
Mary Smail is is an HCPC registered dramatherapist a UKCP registered psychotherapist. She has trained therapists for 22 years and runs a CPD course ‘Psyche and Soma: Soul through the arts’. She co-authored Dramatherapy with Myth and Fairy Tale in 2013 and is presently researching soul-making, death and the after-life.
Workshop C: Responding to ecological crisis with Dvora Liberman and Haydn Forde
Drawing on story, movement, image, guided inquiry and dialogue, participants will be encouraged to connect with a sense of the great mystery of life on earth. We will acknowledge and express feelings such as grief, despair, fear and rage in relation to our planetary crisis, and consider ways to go forth and take action with a renewed sense of resilience and hope.
Dvora Liberman is a storyteller, oral historian, researcher and educator who believes everyone has stories to tell.
Haydn Forde is a Re-Vision qualified counsellor currently undertaking Re-Vision’s psychotherapy training, He is also a Sesame-trained Dramatherapist who currently works in dramatherapy in adult psychiatry for the NHS. He is author of River – Cultural Experiences as a Trinidadian Dramatherapist with an evolving practice in the UK.
This conference is for psychotherapists, counsellors, art therapists, trainees and anyone interested in how psychotherapy influences and is influenced by politics and the imagination.
The conference both celebrates 30 years of Re-Vision and looks outwards and forwards. At this point in the history of both our profession and the planet, it is clear that other, newer ways of looking at integrative practice are needed – just as ‘the personal is political’ was a way of seeing individual issues within the context of a wider political field, so we now need to see that ‘the personal is the planetary’ and work to develop an integrative approach to suffering, to speaking to the soul of the world at this time of crisis.
Our current world situation, with its challenges of climate change, of wars and refugees, politics of gender, fake news and more, impacts all of us with increasing force. Whilst they may regularly arise as issues in the therapist’s consulting room, treating them as an individual psychological distress, to be addressed at that level, is not necessarily sufficient, and may even compound the ‘cult of individuality’ that many see as underlying these phenomena in the first place. The need to attend differently to the woes of the world, at a collective as well as at an individual level, is the principal theme of this conference. To move therapy beyond the window of the consulting room and into the world may require us as therapists to become more ‘political’. Here we are drawing on the origins of the word politics: the Greek concept of Polis, or state. We ask how we can find our role, and the role of therapy in the political life of our communities. To sustain ourselves in service of our clients and our communities we need the nourishment of the imagination, and we need imagination to help us re-vision the work of therapeutic practice.
This conference brings together three keynote speakers:
Author Jay Griffiths, whose books including Wild: An Elemental Journey, and Tristimania: A Diary of Manic Depression give close attention to humanity’s relationship with the world.
Internationally renowned Poet and performer Lemn Sissay MBE; Lemn draws on his experience of growing up “in care” and uses his performance and poetry to challenge perceptions and to raise awareness.
Lawyer Marcia Willis Stewart , leading civil rights lawyer who represented 77 of the Hillsborough families and who won Black Solicitors’ Network lawyer of the year 2016 .
For more details and the booking booking form click here: Re-Vision Poetry Politics & Psychotherapy flyer
Afternoon workshops
Conference participants can choose one of the following workshops for the afternoon session:
Workshop A: ‘The political in the everyday.’ with Anna Wright and Sarah Van Gogh
In many industrialised countries, there are high levels of apathy and cynicism about beng able to effect meaningful change though manistream political channels.
This workshop will explore:
– what we might mean by ‘being politically active’
– how we see ‘Politics with a capital P ‘ having an impact on our everyday experiences
– what gets in the way of us feeling that we can take action to effect change in local, national and international arenas
– what helps us feel resourced and hopeful about playing a part in bringing about the changes we believe in.
Anna Wright is Deputy Director of Healthwatch Camden and is a Labour Councillor in the London Borough of Camden. She has many years of experience working for the United Nations, including for the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNAIDS where she worked on multi-partner programmes of research, negotiation and policy development. She has a Master’s Degree in Health Policy, Planning and Finance from the London School of Economics where she was awarded the Brian Abel-Smith Prize.
Sarah Van Gogh has worked as a counsellor since 2001 and is a member of the Re-Vision training staff. Before working as a counsellor she worked in the fields of Theatre-in-Education, Montessori teaching and community health outreach. She also worked for many years as a counsellor and trainer for Survivors UK, a charity that supports men who have experienced sexual abuse. She writes a regular column for the BACP Private Practice Journal, and her book, ‘Helping Male Survivors of Sexual Violation to Recover’ is published by Jessica Kingsley.
Workshop B: Dialogues Across Borders: A travelling exhibition with Elena Boukouvala and Mary Smail
‘Dialogues Across Borders’ is a travelling, interactive exhibition and performance event which uses photography, poetry, music and art produced by and with refugees, volunteers and members of the public as a catalyst to transcultural exchange. Workshop participants will be invited to enter into a conversation with the creators and make their own art in response which will then travel onward to the next exhibitions. The group will be supported to engage with the theme through a series of embodiment, imaginative activities before we start creating the exhibition, working with a range of different media.
Elena Boukouvala is a Drama and Movement therapist (Sesame), Psychologist, Counselor of Children and Young People, Consultant and Performance Activist. She has been working with young people with histories of migration across Europe using performance to create opportunities for integration and cultural exchange.
Mary Smail is is an HCPC registered dramatherapist a UKCP registered psychotherapist. She has trained therapists for 22 years and runs a CPD course ‘Psyche and Soma: Soul through the arts’. She co-authored Dramatherapy with Myth and Fairy Tale in 2013 and is presently researching soul-making, death and the after-life.
Workshop C: Responding to ecological crisis with Dvora Liberman and Haydn Forde
Drawing on story, movement, image, guided inquiry and dialogue, participants will be encouraged to connect with a sense of the great mystery of life on earth. We will acknowledge and express feelings such as grief, despair, fear and rage in relation to our planetary crisis, and consider ways to go forth and take action with a renewed sense of resilience and hope.
Dvora Liberman is a storyteller, oral historian, researcher and educator who believes everyone has stories to tell.
Haydn Forde is a Re-Vision qualified counsellor currently undertaking Re-Vision’s psychotherapy training, He is also a Sesame-trained Dramatherapist who currently works in dramatherapy in adult psychiatry for the NHS. He is author of River – Cultural Experiences as a Trinidadian Dramatherapist with an evolving practice in the UK.
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