Words of the body: contacting the creative process in clinical practice

Date | Friday & Saturday 17–18 May 2024, 9.30am to 5.00pm

Where | Elie, 27 Royal Parade, Parkville

Fee | $650.

Includes GST.

Be prepared to move and be moved. In this 2-day workshop, you will learn how to access and trust your embodied presence, to deepen your ability to embrace uncertainty and use embodied knowing as a guide for therapeutic interventions.

Through a series of improvisation activities, including movement, voice, and drama, participants will gain confidence in their ability to be attuned to the moment. Group exercises, discussions, and reflection will offer opportunities for playful and authentic risk-taking.

By the end of the workshop, you will be more attuned and responsive, with greater fluidity in navigating the egotism-spontaneity continuum. Join us to cultivate your creativity and develop the skills to make meaningful connections with your clients.

Gestalt therapy is known for its playful and experimental approach to helping clients become more aware of themselves through action. This is achieved through the gestalt principles of phenomenological enquiry and experiment, which focus on the here and now experience of the body. Embodied presence is crucial in supporting the dialogue between therapist and client and to stay attuned to the co-created field. But how do we know which intervention to use in the moment? How do we trust our intuition and feel confident in diving deeper into patterns of contact? When we are in touch with our own embodied knowing, we can hold space for our clients in a powerful and non-verbal way.

This workshop is designed for therapists of all levels of experience who are interested in exploring their own growing edges. Through group activities and processes, you'll have the opportunity to move and be moved as you learn how to access your own embodied knowing and use it to enhance your therapeutic practice. Discover new ways of connecting with your clients and deepening your own personal and professional development

This workshop will use a mixture of theory presentation, discussion, experiential exercises, and skill practice. There will be a focus on experiential inquiry, practice development and clinical application.

As healthcare clinicians, we know that being in tune with our embodied knowing is essential for building strong and meaningful relationships with our patients. By applying the phenomenological principles of description and horizontalisation, we can enhance our ability to stay present in the moment. Grounding techniques can help us connect with our bodies in a way that goes beyond words. On day one, we will explore various techniques, drawing from the rich traditions of gestalt, psychodrama, and movement-based psychotherapy. Through playful exercises, improvisation, and movement, we will guide you through a series of experiments designed to help you harness and enliven your embodied felt sense.

When we trust our embodied experience, we open ourselves up to the creative possibilities of playful exploration. This allows us to be guided by our intuitive and emergent knowing, letting go of the need to know and allowing the therapeutic relationship to unfold organically. In day one of this workshop, we will focus on embodied play, resourcing, and building the therapeutic relationship. On day two, we will build on these micro-skills and explore more complex applications of our embodied knowing in therapy. Through facilitated exercises and reflective practice, we will draw on the live experience of the group to deepen our understanding of how to apply these techniques in real-world situations.

Whether you're new to these approaches or have experience in these fields, this workshop will provide you with the opportunity to develop your skills and grow as a therapist. Join us to discover new ways to cultivate trust in your embodied knowing and enhance your therapeutic practice.

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www.gestaltcentre.com.au

www.gestalttherapyaustralia.com.au

Awombda Codd is a gestalt psychotherapist and creative arts therapist working in private practice and community health. She supports creative exploration and experiential body work in her clinical practice. Awombda has a background in theatre, film, performance art and performed with an improvisation collective for many years. Awombda was a sessional teacher at MIECAT (Melbourne Institute of Experiential Creative Arts Therapy) and values creating spaces in which curiosity can be manifested and explored.

Anna Evans is a psychologist and psychotherapist working in private practice. Anna has a keen interest in embodiment and taught yoga for ten years. Her other practices include creative dance, Alexander technique and contact improvisation. Anna now follows an approach to yoga developed by Vanda Scaravelli and is fascinated by the idea that relationality can be explored through every joint in the body.

Host or Publisher Gestalt Therapy Australia