Advanced Trainings in Imago Relationship Theory and Practice for therapists and educators

To schedule an advanced training in your area – contact Sophie Slade at 514 766-5502 or slade.imago@bellnet.ca.

Sophie offers the following Advanced Training Programmes based on Imago Relationship Theory and Practice (descriptions follow):
Characterological Growth
Imago Artistry: Therapeutic Skill-Building from a Developmental Perspective
The Journey of Change in Imago: from enemies to allies
The Art of Receiving Love
The Relational Self
Growing into Competence in Imago

Characterological Growth (CE credits – 24)
This is a required course for all advanced certifications. In the Talmud there is a quote, “We can’t see the world as it is; we see it as we are.” This three day experience deepens theoretical understanding of characterological adaptations to pain through experiential processing at a personal level. The profound training takes the defense of projection and highlights the many ways we put it to use. As long as we are unconsciously using projection, we are out of connection with ourselves and others. This personal training is both exquisitely simple and complex, at the same time. Previous participants describe the training as “extraordinary and transformational.”
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Dates for 2010: 22nd to 24th January, 2010
Location: Stanhope Centre, Lower Grangegorman Road, Dublin 7
Tuition: $600 or €400

Imago Artistry: Therapeutic Skill-Building from a Developmental Perspective – Developed by: Mike Borash, Sophie Slade, Rick & Sherry Stolp and Rebecca Sears
The purpose of the course is to help Imago practitioners have a more vivid understanding of the developmental stages of childhood and how they impact on adult relationships, as well as greater skill in working with clients addressing issues related to each developmental stage. Participants will have an opportunity to also look at themselves as practitioners through the developmental lens.
Dates for 2010 5-month Telecourse: Thursdays from 3-4 p.m. Eastern time
Attachment: 1/21, 1/28, 2/4, 2/11
Exploration: 2/18, 2/25, 3/4, 3/11
Identity: 3/18, 3/25, 4/1, 4/8
Competency: 4/15, 4/22, 4/29, 5/7
Attunement: 5/13, 5/20, 5/27, 6/3

Learning objectives: Participants will
1) Acquire a deep understanding of the relational needs of each developmental stage, the pain and the adaptations which result when parents are not able to adequately meet these needs, and how this shows up in adult relationships.
2) Deepen their understanding of clients’ needs in their relationship with the therapist in order to attach to therapy and to the therapeutic model.
3) Develop greater expertise in identifying and working with couples working to heal the “wounding” from each developmental stage in the Imago model
4) Understand their own developmental journey as Imago therapists.

The Journey of Change in Imago: from enemies to allies – developed by Maya Kollman & Sophie Slade
Have you ever wondered why your partner finds it so difficult to change even when you use the Behavior Change Request Dialogue? And your clients? Combining 37 years of Imago experience, Maya and Sophie bring their humor and their wisdom to take you on a journey to
1) identify the many elements of change inherent in Imago work,
2) practice processes to support your couples and yourself to take the difficult steps towards change at each level and become allies in the process.
They will help you have a clearer sense of the many levels of change that are required in the BCR Dialogue for both the Sender and the Receiver, and will give you tools to help you guide your couples in making such transformative shifts as from reactivity to intentionality, from blaming to self-responsibility, from symbiosis to differentiation, from naming frustrations to naming relational issues and from gifting to follow through. They will also look at how to repair the rupture when it all falls apart.

Learning objectives: Participants will
1) be able to identify some of the many elements of change inherent in Imago work
2) have more understanding of the stages of change
3) have a better understanding of change from a relational perspective
4) have practice in facilitating processes to support their couples in making the transformative shifts from reactivity to intentionality, from blaming to self-awareness, from symbiosis to differentiation, from intentionality to action
5) have ways to help couples repair the rupture when anticipated changes do not occur.

The Art of Receiving Love – developed by Jette Simon & Sophie Slade
This course looks at why it seems to be so difficult for couples to receive the very thing they long for most and how to help them grow beyond that. It will integrate Imago theory and practice with the latest brain research and mindfulness practices to support Imago therapists in helping their couples grow into their capacity to take in the love their partner is willing to stretch into giving.

Learning Objectives: Participants will
1. Identify some of the reasons that couples and singles resist giving and receiving the love they so badly want.
2. Understand the role of self-rejection in receiving love and how to get beyond that.
3. Learn how to use the Imago processes to help dissolve resistances to receiving love
4. Understand more about how brains are re-wired through repetitive practices of receiving.
5. Learn sensory dialogue practices in sending and receiving non-verbally.

Dates for 2010: April 9th – New York.

The Relational Self Training – developed by Wendy Patterson & Sophie Slade
Most people who want a committed long term relationship look for the ideal partner match. They have little understanding that the person they select, and the ensuing relationship they have together is influenced by their early life experiences and the formation of their character defences. This course will greatly influence the therapists understanding of character structure. It will assist them to work with clients on modifying character structure and thereby changing their unconscious choice of partner, as well as the outcome of their relationship.

Learning objectives: Participants will
1) Become more effective in preparing their single clients for committed partnership and marriage.
2) Have a understanding of 6 models for working with individuals – three approaches to working individually and three to working in goups
3) Be able to offer a short-term Imago educational group
4) Be familiar with Imago concepts and processes for doing characterlogical work with individuals and couples
5) Have a deeper understanding of their own adaptive character structure and how it shows up in therapy.

Growing into Competence in Imago – developed by Sophie Slade
Many couples enter the new learning situation of therapy with their competence stage wounds triggered by feelings of failure in their marriage, and their competence stage adaptations firmly in place, over and above anything else that may be going on in the relationship. To grow into our competence as an Imago practitioner is an on-going developmental journey and our clients can trigger us into feelings of incompetence and our adaptations against these painful feelings from one minute to the next.

This course offers an in-depth exploration of Imago theory regarding Competence stage needs, wounding and adaptations as they impact on the therapist and on clients engaging in the dance of therapy. Participants will have an opportunity to further understand their own competence experiences and adaptations, how these manifest when clients trigger feelings of inadequacy and what they need to help them grow into their next level of competence. Research into what supports the development of competence in therapists will also be discussed and some specific therapy feedback tools shared.

Learning objectives: Participants will
1. Have a more extensive understanding of Imago theory regarding competence stage needs, wounding and adaptations.
2. Have a more extensive understanding of how competence stage experiences impact on the clients and the therapist in Imago therapy and supervision
3. Develop an understanding of the impact, based on research, of feedback (self & client) on therapists in increasing their competence and discuss particular measures for use with clients.
4. Fine tune participants awareness of their own supervision needs based on an understanding of their competence stage experiences, needs and adaptations.

If you have a particular topic of interest that you would like to have more training in contact Sophie Slade and she will try to respond to your need or refer you to someone with greater expertise in that area.

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO APPLY:
please contact Sophie Slade at slade.imago@bellnet.ca
or by phone in Canada (001) 514 766-5502