APG•IPS invites you to an International Hybrid Workshop with
Suzanne Keys
The politics and ethics of love in person-centred therapy today
Rogers' relational conditions for therapeutic change and growth can be understood as different aspects of love. But what is the impact of the contexts that we live and work in on our capacity to love and be loved?
Globally there is a deep disconnection between humans and their ecosystem, inter-personally there is fear, mistrust, hatred and even 'cancelling' each other and intra-personally there are multiple distortions between our experiencing of our internal worlds and what we present to the world, particularly the virtual world. How can we co-create growthful environments for change, where the actualising and formative tendencies are facilitated, when our contexts are dehumanising, hostile and exploitative?
In my counselling work with young people in schools in the UK and as a supervisor of therapists for 25 years I have seen the devastating impact of having to live incongruently, with an externalised locus of evaluation, multiple conditions of worth and no sense of being lovable or capable of loving. I have seen the increase of the medicalisation of this distress and the pathologizing of people's emotions and differences. Within the therapy world there seems to be limited active understanding of the impact of socio-economic inequalities and discrimination on a person's sense of self worth and capacity to fulfill their potential.
This day is an opportunity for us to explore why we do what we do and how we can maintain our integrity and congruence in relation not only to our clients but in the contexts that we live and work in. How can we hope, and have faith, in human potential when there is so much cause for despair, so many adverse living conditions, so much evidence of abusive human behaviour and so much 'us versus them'. What could a post-humanist world mean for person-centred therapists? How do we embody real, truthful, congruent, integrated relationships with our clients?
Suzanne will draw on her work with young people and as a supervisor but also ecotherapy, contact work, political activism, spirituality, creativity and the arts as ways to stay connected and hopeful whilst experiencing the realities of the deep divisions, disconnections and incongruencies of the worlds we live in. There will be presentations and time for personal reflection as well as small group work and large group discussion.
The workshop will be held in English.
Suzanne Keys is based in London, UK and has worked as a person-centred counsellor since 1997. She has worked privately and as a supervisor and a trainer on person-centred workshops and courses including in Europe. Most of her work has been with young people aged 11 – 18 in education. She was honoured to be invited to speak on love to celebrate Peter Schmid's receiving the APA Carl Rogers' Award in 2009 and then again on hope at the PCE World Conference in Vienna in 2018. Love and hope seem to be in short supply in our world at the moment and therefore all the more important to be talking about them together with our differences. I am grateful that there are many resources and inspirations to draw on including Peter Schmid's prolific and profound thinking, writing and encouragement on these subjects.
Date: Saturday, April, 20th, 2024, 09.30 am – 06.00 pm (CEST)
Venue: Live at Diefenbachgasse 5/2, 1150 Vienna and Online (Zoom) – You will receive the Zoom Link on April 19th, 2024
Organizer: APG•IPS
Registration: Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist vor Spambots geschützt! Zur Anzeige muss JavaScript eingeschaltet sein!, Please, contact Bettina Fleischmann for any questions.
Participation Fee: EUR 120 (for members and students of APG•IPS EUR 90)
Registration and payment deadline:
Please, transfer the participation fee to the bank account by April 10th, 2024 at the latest:
APG•IPS
Diefenbachgasse 5/2, 1150 Vienna, Austria
IBAN: AT84 3242 6000 0091 1248
BIC: RLNWATWW426
In accordance with the Austrian Psychotherapy Act and the advanced training guidelines of the Federal Ministry (advanced training obligation), 10 work units can be credited.
