Do you get frustrated, dispirited, bored in your work at times? 

Do you find yourself looking forward to the end of the day, the end of the week, holidays?

There have been many attempts to codify and explain some of the infinite varieties of human suffering and have been somewhat useful, but often leaving us feeling that there is still something missing.

Because we humans are more than mechanisms, any such attempt will be an approximation at best, and run the risk of missing the essential mystery that we humans are.

Healing has been an integral part of human culture through history and there is a resurgence of interest from clients and therapists in reconnecting with this ancient process. One stimulus for this resurgence is a groundswell of discontent with the limitations of the medicalisation of therapy - labelling then treating conditions and overlooking the individual human being.

Instead of learning yet one more approach and another bunch of techniques,  we will explore the experiences which underly and inform all effective therapy - the therapeutic relationship and a mood of expectancy.

This exploration will lead to a bodily felt experience - learning through recurrent opportunities to watch, apply and play - all in a safe, trusting online environment which will lead to a simple way of learning how to enhance the effectiveness of our work and increase our personal satisfaction.

I had the rare privilege of learning from the late Milton Erickson MD, and have been teaching my version of what I learnt from him over the last 35 years in Australia, Singapore, Tokyo, Denmark, Brazil, Finland, UK, Ireland, Czech Republic, and USA.

Erickson said that we all have more abilities that we know, that everyone is like their fingerprints - a one of a kind, and we should tailor our approach to each individual client rather than trying to tailor the client to fit our theories, reconnecting them with their innate resourcefulness and helping them to create a preferred future.

His comments to "Just do good work" and "Observe, observe, and observe" are crucial to being effective and an inspiring invitation to explore what "good work" is, and also how to "observe, observe, and observe" and create a healing environment.

This can only happen when we can listen to a client - who they are, what they want - in a genuine, compassionate therapeutic relationship, and create a mood of expectancy - that things can improve. 

These principles are often appreciated, but rarely actively and specifically attended to. Enhancing them shifts our work from diagnosing a condition then treating IT to focusing on each individual client and their latent abilities and provide an opportunity to get beyond merely treating a condition to helping a person heal.

How can we maximise our successes and minimise our failures?

This shift of focus can dramatically increase our effectiveness and also allow us to be enlivened and more satisfied within ourselves. We can reconnect with the magical experience of healing, moving beyond a mere mechanical process. Human relationships emerge.

But recognising this, and even being inspired is insufficient.

Practice is required, and we can only practice freely when we are in a safe and respectful environment, but where can we find such an place where we are unhampered by the frear of criticism and getting it wrong?

Perhaps surprisingly, the online video environment, particularly with breakout rooms, does just that!

People from different countries can meet face to face online and practice as if they are in the same room. It's a delight ... and people appreciate it ... and it leads to solid confidence - the confidence that comes from recurrent practice, not just memorising something and hoping to get away with it.

The core component of this programme is a series of 3 video calls each 2 hours including

• an introduction to a topic 
• a demonstration of how this might be applied
• a discussion of the experience
  
• all calls will be recorded for your future reference

Topics will include

• the gentle art of listening
• creating a genuine, trusting and empathic therapeutic relationship
• shifting a client's mood from resignation to possibility or expectancy
  

In this highly interactive video programme we will explore learning to embody the essential elements of effectiveness in therapy as a natural expression of who we are.

In summary, by participating in this programme, you can expect to become solidly confident in

• adapting your approach to each individual
• accessing client resources
• connecting clients with their resources
• increasing your effectiveness even with previously "difficult" clients
• greater personal satisfaction

I hope you will join us in this unique opportunity.

Rob.

Details, dates and times here