Lifting Heavy Things
A consultation group focusing on therapeutic process
The practice of therapy requires a good bit of heavy lifting - close listening to patients and ourselves, tolerance for what is most painful and challenging, courage to be honest and kind, and sitting in the uncertainty of not knowing- so that something new can emerge.
This thirteen week consultation group will provide a space for therapists to explore the heavy lifting involved in our work and develop language to describe therapeutic process and change - as they understand it. While diagnosis and identity will surely be a part of this work, this group aims to pay close attention to therapeutic process and the ways that ‘how’ questions help us (and the patient) to learn about who they are.
The group will meet virtually from 12:00pm-1:20pm EST, beginning February 7th, 2025. Each group member (6 total) will present case material for two weeks in a row. Participants will share their associations to case material and we will work as a group to formulate the clinical process. If the group is curious about readings or other artifacts to supplement our time together, we can discuss this.
Clinical Orientation: The orientation is broadly psychoanalytic and clinical work with children, adolescents, and adults is welcome.
We will explore questions such as:
How can we tolerate the tension and uncertainty in any therapy and use this to deepen clinical work?
How can we maintain a therapeutic process that is as dynamic and complex as the patient’s experience and avoid falling into rote formulation and prescription?
How can we help patients to reflect on their experience with greater honesty and kindness?
How do we foster creativity, expansiveness, meta-cognition, and play in our clinical work and our patients’ lives?
How can we as therapists meaningfully represent our work to patients and colleagues beyond marketing niches and subject matter expertise?
Fee: The fee is $100 per session and payment for all sessions ($1,300) is due by the first group meeting. There is no refund for missed meetings.