This will be an experiential workshop including time for input, personal reflection, small group work and large group discussion. I will draw on my work with young people and as a supervisor but also ecotherapy, 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 both internally and externally.

The workshop is an opportunity for us to connect with each other; 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.

• 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'? 

• How do we embody congruent, non-oppressive and transformative relationships with our clients?

• What is our humanity in a 'post-humanist' world and what does this mean for person-centred therapists? What does an ethic of love look like in practice in our contexts?

Rogers’ relational conditions for therapeutic change and growth can be understood as different aspects of loving. 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 our ecosystem; inter-personally there is mistrust, hatred and even 'cancelling' of each other; and, intra-personally, 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 and as a supervisor of therapists for 25 years I have seen the devastating impact on all of us of living incongruently, with an externalised locus of evaluation, multiple societal conditions of worth and no sense of being lovable or capable of loving. I have seen the increase of the medicalisation of this distress, the pathologizing of people’s emotions and differences and the manualisation of therapy. Within therapy work there seems to be limited active understanding and practice addressing the impact of discrimination and socio-economic inequalities on a person's sense of self worth and ability to fulfill their potential in the world and the internal and relational work a therapist has to do to challenge this. This workshop is an opportunity to do some of this internal work together.

Background on Suzanne Keys

Suzanne has worked as a person-centred practitioner since 1997 in private practice and educational settings with young people. Her taxonomy of love in person-centred therapy was published in Therapy Today in 2017. She has written articles and chapters and edited books and special issues of the PCEP journal on ethics, gender, ecotherapy, young people, disability, spirituality, human rights, idiosyncratic practice and her experience of training.

Tickets
£85 (concession £65 – these are limited and are available for students / unemployed and are sold on a first come first served basis). You will receive an e-Ticket from TicketTailor - the name on the booking will be added to the participant list on the door. We do not offer refunds unless the workshop is cancelled by us. However, please let Jenn Payne-Gregory know if you are unable to attend (email: jennpaynegregory@gmail.com) as we may be able to re-sell your ticket if the event is full and then we can provide you with a refund.

Parking
We would suggest that you travel to the workshop on public transport where possible. There is an NCP carpark on Church Road, a few minutes’ walk from Community Base, but parking can be expensive for a whole day.

CPD
CPD certificates (6 hours) will be distributed to participants at the end of the workshop or via email afterwards.

Brighton Person Centred Community
This workshop is organised by volunteers through the Brighton Person Centred Community. Please go to our website for more information and other events www.brightonbapca.co.uk

On the day
The workshop is in the 5th floor conference room at Community Base, 113 Queens Road, Brighton, BN1 3XG. Go to the South Wing entrance, buzz for the conference room and ask to be let in, there is a lift available. Doors open at 9.30am for a 10am start. We aim to finish at 4pm.