Contents
- 2010 Training Calendar under way
- Solution-Focused Supervision training NEW DATES
- INTERNATIONAL PRESENTATION — Solution-Focused Suicide Prevention
- "Advanced" Solution-Focused training
- Solution-Focused Brief Therapy introductory courses
- Training in New Zealand
- International training opportunity for OTs
2010 Training Calendar UNDER WAY
Our 2010 training calendar has successfully started, with the first outing of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy: A Comprehensive Introduction in Parramatta well received. Participants rated both "Overall, how helpful was this course?" and "How much will the ideas discussed in the course make a difference in your work" at above 8 (on average).
Complete details of the Brief Therapy Institute of Sydney's training for 2010 are available HERE.
Solution-Focused Supervision training — NEW DATES
Michael Durrant will be presenting the course Solution-Focused Supervision in Counselling and Welfare Agencies in Parramatta in June.
This two-day course explores the implications of Solution-focused thinking for supervising and managing staff within welfare/counselling contexts by looking at what it might mean to use a philosophy and process derived from Solution-Focused Brief Therapy in the supervision of staff. If we are serious about trying to treat our staff in a way that is consistent with how we treat our clients, what difference might this actually make?
Participants will gain practical methods for working with staff in ways that enhance their sense of competence and effectiveness. A framework for supervisory conversations will be presented and its use in a variety of counselling/welfare contexts will be explored - including how "strengths-based" conversations can be used in potential disciplinary situations and/or where the organisation has a "bottom line" that is not open to negotiation.
Note that the previously advertised dates for this course have been changed.
Parramatta — 17 & 18 June 2010 — details HERE.
INTERNATIONAL PRESENTATION — Solution-Focused Suicide Prevention — Sydney and Melbourne
John Henden is a therapist and consultant in the UK who is known for his pioneering work using the Solution-Focused approach in situations of acute suicidal thinking. John has worked extensively in the mental health context and, for some time, worked with people who had suffered extreme abuse and trauma. Part of this experience included working with Gulf War veterans who had been severely traumatised and returned home with persistent thoughts of suicide.
We are privileged to be able to announce that John will be conducting a two-day workshop in Sydney and in Melbourne in August 2010 on his Solution-Focused work with suicide. The workshop, Preventing Suicide Using a Solution-Focused Approach, will include ways to use Solution-Focused techniques to generate seeds of hope and will demonstrate techniques for answering the traditional suicide "risk assessment" questions without losing a forward-looking Solution Focus.
Some of the specialized tools I have learned, I can see will be of great benefit to clients I see in our Crisis Service. — Kirsten Ahlberg, Karlstad, Sweden I can see how this approach can actually prevent people from taking their lives. When a worker instills hope and opens up other possibilities, what choice has a client got other than to stick around and see what happens? — Elizabeth McCullough, Perth |
John is the author of the book, Preventing Suicide: The Solution-Focused Approach, published by Wiley in 2008.
This work is truly revolutionary. In FIFTEEN years of using and testing the approach, John and his colleagues have ONLY ONE confirmed, completed suicide. Mental health services to which John has consulted have documented significant reductions in suicide rates.
Sydney — 5 & 6 August 2010 — Melbourne — 12 & 13 August 2010
Details HERE or download the brochure HERE.
John will also be offering one-day workshops in Perth and Brisbane, organised by our friends at Compass Seminars. Details at www.compassaustralia.com.au
"Advanced" Solution-Focused Brief Therapy training
The "advanced" course Consolidating Skills in Solution-Focused Brief Therapy will be offered in Parramatta in May.
This two-day course builds on the course Solution-Focused Brief Therapy: A Comprehensive Introduction and offers participants the opportunity to refine and consolidate their skills. The emphasis is on participants' own experience of using Solution-Focused ideas and tools — with consideration of the things that have worked or been helpful as well as looking at places where people have felt stuck.
The course is participatory and practical.
Parramatta — 13 & 14 May 2009 — details HERE.
Solution-Focused Brief Therapy introductory courses
Solution-Focused Brief Therapy: A Comprehensive Introduction — this popular two-day course offers a systematic introduction to the Strengths Perspective and Solution-Focused Brief Therapy. A variety of REAL clinical examples illustrate the use of the various major tools of the approach.
This course is offered a number of times during the year (February, May, August & November) and is often sold-out! Places are now available in the May course.
Parramatta — 6 & 7 May 2010 — details HERE.
The Brief Therapy Institute of Sydney has enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship with Compass Ltd for the last four years. Compass is New Zealand's leading professional development training provider for professionals who work with Children, Young People and Families.
Over the last four years, Michael has presented a one-day seminar in Solution-Focused Brief Therapy on fifteen different occasions, in different cities around the country. The three-day "Intensive" course has been sold-out all five times it has been offered — in Hamilton, Christchurch, Auckland, Palmerston North and Wellington.
In 2010, Michael will be conducting further training in New Zealand for Compass.
Details HERE.
International training opportunity for OTs
The Australian Association of Occupational Therapists is sponsoring a series of workshops for OTs conducted by Rayya Ghul, well-known Solution-Focused therapist from the UK.
Rayya is a senior lecturer in the Allied Health Department and is the Programme Director for the MSc Advanced Occupational Therapy Practice at Canterbury University in the UK. She is actively involved in developing solution focused brief therapy and its application to occupational therapy practice and is co-author of 'Creating Positive Futures: Solution Focused Recovery from Mental Distress' with Sarah Mousley and Lucie Duncan (Published by BT Press, London, 2007).
According to Brian Cade —
This book ... is a valuable resource for anybody working in the fields of mental health and disability, regardless of pro-fessional discipline. It is not only for occupational therapists but also for psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers and nurses.
It demonstrates a respectful, structured and realistically optimistic way of talking with troubled people so that their own strengths and resources are highlighted. This book introduces their Solution Focused Measure of Occupational Function.
Rayya is conducting workshops in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Brochures are available —
Brisbane brochure here.
Melbourne brochure here.
Sydney brochure here.
PLEASE NOTE that the Brief Therapy Institute of Sydney has no involvement in sponsoring these workshops. However, Rayya is a friend and colleague and we recommend her enthusiastically.
Read our previous newsletters — late 2008, early 2009 or December 2009.
Go to main Brief Therapy Institute of Sydney web site.
Details of training are available on our web site at http://www.brieftherapysydney.com.au/training.html
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THANK YOU for your support of the Brief Therapy Institute of Sydney ... and for reading this far!