For Professionals
Many individuals seek help from mental health professionals simply because they want more out of life. As therapists, we want to help clients live a more fulfilling existence, a life free of imagined limitations and rich in meaning. We want to help individuals establish and reach their goals. We sometimes wonder why clients, even when they know what they need to do to change their lives, stubbornly cling to self-destructive patterns and behaviors.

This workshop explores these concepts using a conceptual model that integrates existential, psychodynamic, and family systems frameworks. The presenters describe how defenses developed early in life, although originally helpful, later act as barriers to achieving meaningful interpersonal relationships. They discuss how these defenses are formed, show how they interfere in personal development, and describe how the resulting emotional pain can inhibit progress in therapy. Lastly, the presenters provide practical tools therapists can use to help patients develop strategies for coping with this psychic pain, more fully appreciate the many facets of life, and live their life with meaning and compassion.

Learning Objectives

Participants will:

  • Gain a theoretical perspective which can enhance their ability to help clients to change self-destructive behavior patterns;
  • Develop strategies to help clients develop more meaningful goal-directed lives based on their true desires and needs, and
  • Learn to apply an innovative cognitive/affective/behavioral technique to facilitate clients changing self-destructive thoughts and beliefs and help them live free from imagined limitations

For the General Public
Most of us want to live a more fulfilling existence, a life free of imagined limitations. But what really prevents us from fully reaching our goals? Why do we, even when we know what we need to do to change our lives, hold on to self-destructive patterns and behaviors? This workshop explores these questions, and offers a method for making meaningful changes in our lives. This workshop, based on the book entitled Creating a Life of Meaning and Compassion: The Wisdom of Psychotherapy, offers step-by-step exercises that participants can use to challenge negative thoughts and behaviors that may be standing in the way of a more fulfilling, meaningful life.

To see a complete list of upcoming workshops click here

To request a workshop in your area contact TheGlendonAssociation@glendon.org