Who is this workshop for?

This online professional and deeply personal workshop is for therapists, counsellors and those with experience of working therapeutically with individuals or groups.

Why take this workshop?

• These are times of great change and uncertainty. We are transiting a cultural threshold by going ‘through the door’ and this requires relinquishing ‘normal’ reality. Much anxiety accompanies this social fragmentation and cultural rupture as we let go of the familiar and search for new ways of connecting. The workshop does not aim for solutions to the ‘What shall I do?’ question or therapeutic practices for coping with the anxiety because these are likely to be avoidances of the present catastrophe.

• The therapeutic training we have had as practitioners may allow us to tolerate this anxiety, to stay with difficulties, to attend to unconscious processes and be containers, even catalysts, for transformation. Between the desire to ‘Do Something’ and the feelings of overwhelm, is a third possibility, that of being with the unendurable feelings and engaging in a different reality.

• The workshop is an experience of feeling, thinking and imagining together that supports participants in their own version of going ‘through the door’ and finding new ways of feeling into an unknown future that is coming towards us through the climate and ecological crises of our time. It is process rather than outcomes focused, working emergently with the group emotional experience. The aim being to inspire and make space for new forms of being and doing fit for the challenges of this uncertain time.

What is it like taking part in Through the Door?

Through the Door involves imaginal practices and group work that draw on traditional rites of passage to visualise and experience being at the threshold of a new self. In the words of one participant:

“Yesterday, I was so surprised and energised by the marvellously imaginative and creative event you facilitated. I can’t believe I’m saying this of a Zoom event!!!

It stayed with me for the whole day. Lots of images and thoughts drifting back and forth. It felt fertile and productive but also, painful and confusing. But, above all I felt energised. I don’t think it’s made me feel clearer about what I should be doing, or how, but I feel inspired and alive to possibilities!

The group thinking triggered not just the loss and chaos of the Crisis but also my personal story. I think this was the ‘powerful’ connection enlivened in me.

Playful, creative and imaginative crisis!

If this is what is on the other side of the door …..then, count me in.”

For a reflection from Chris Robertson, one of the founding facilitators of CPA’s Through the Door, on its central metaphor and the experience of the workshop click here. If you’d like to discuss whether Through the Door is for you, email us on [email protected]

Fees are:

Standard: £100

Reduced Fee: £30 – £80

Very low income: £5 – £20

Reduced fee and very low income rates are offered on a sliding scale. Please consider what is an appropriate and manageable amount for you and pay what you can. Thank you.

Places are limited to 18 persons.

Who is facilitating this workshop?

Two facilitators will hold this workshop.

Our current team:

Rebecca Nestor: organisational consultant, facilitator and coach, based in Oxford, UK. She is a board member of the Climate Psychology Alliance, leads the CPA’s work on climate cafes, and recently submitted her doctoral thesis at the University of Essex/Tavistock Centre on leadership in climate change organisations

Chris Robertson: psychotherapist and trainer since 1978, ex-CPA Chair, co-founder of Re-Vision and contributor to Depth Psychology and Climate Change and forthcoming A Matter of Life and Death. https://www.culture-crisis.net

Steffi Bednarek: psychotherapist, trauma therapist and organisational consultant https://www.steffibednarek.com

Harriet Sams: tutor, mentor, guide and ecotherapist. She is currently researching archaeotherapy for her PhD. www.nwyfre-earth.co

Jennifer Fendya, PhD: Psychologist, Sandplay practitioner, nature & forest therapy guide, Climate Reality Project leader and CPA member, actively engaged in the creative expression of climate change-related experience.

Those who register will receive reminder emails, a pre-course questionnaire and the Zoom link nearer to the date of the workshop.

Please note that this is specifically for parents, carers and guardians. If you are a professional who is interested in parental climate distress you are welcome to get in touch with us.

Thurs 26th Jan 10 – 11.30am UK time

What emotions are present for us when we think about the climate and ecological crisis? How do we feel knowing our children face such an uncertain and challenging future, some more so than others? What does it mean to be a good parent at this time?

We need this kind of exploration as it becomes increasingly evident that climate and ecological breakdown are a clear and present danger to our own safety and wellbeing with an even greater impact likely for our children.

We need to talk about what our changing world means for us and them in terms of impacts at personal, family and societal level. We need to imagine it in some detail so as to be able to think about it constructively and clearly, and to explore some complex feelings and thoughts which may often be taboo and hard to talk about.

A space for feelings rather than advice

The focus of discussion is participants’ thoughts and feelings about the climate and ecological crisis. There are no guest speakers, no talks and no advice offered – this is a space for feelings. Whilst the climate and ecological crisis is usually the main focus of the circle we realise that in these exceptional times there will be other related preoccupations and these can be explored here too.

Who will be facilitating?

This circle will be led by two trained facilitators from our small team who have been trained by Rebecca Nestor and Jo McAndrews who developed the format.

Rebecca is an organisational consultant, facilitator and coach, based in Oxford, UK. She is a board member of the Climate Psychology Alliance, leads the CPA’s work on climate cafés, and recently submitted her doctoral thesis at the University of Essex/Tavistock Centre on leadership in climate change organisations.

Jo is a psychotherapist who trains, supports and facilitates parents and professionals who work with children, to understand how children grow with resilience and what gets in the way of that. https://www.jomcandrews.com

How much does a ticket cost?

Places for this Circle are offered free of charge and also on a ‘pay what you can’ basis. Paying an amount that feels appropriate and comfortable for you will help us to provide more of these spaces and train more facilitators, and free spaces are available for anyone who needs them too.

If you register and find that you can no longer attend please let us know so that your place can be offered to someone else.

If this Circle has booked up please add yourself to the waiting list – places do become available at short notice and we will contact anyone on the list with the date of future Circles.

Feedback

There will be an opportunity at the end of the session to feed back directly on your experience and/or to fill in a short form if you’d prefer to offer your thoughts confidentially. We welcome all comments – these will each be taken into consideration as we plan for more of these Climate Circles through the year.

Lead Image: Skaleskar1992, Pixabay

Second Image: Jupilu, Pixabay