Abstract:

Communication with a difficult person is tough enough on a good day. Add in the stress of a global pandemic and the relationship strains that come with quarantining for weeks on end and it can feel nearly impossible to avoid activations of schemas and modes… and that’s not just happening to our patients, but to us too!

In this brief keynote… Wendy will talk about how we can navigate the challenges in the therapy relationship while also helping patients become more effective in their own conversations/confrontations with others, helping them to continue to be heard and to heal.

Wendy will address a spectrum of challenging conversations including:

· Confronting someone who is arrogant, rude, entitled, or narcissistic 

· What to say to someone who is grieving / in deep pain or sorrow 

· How to engage with someone who is detached/avoidant 

When uncertainty and fear fill us up, it’s only natural to put up our walls and protect what we feel we can still control. With all the unfamiliar transitions we’re going through right now, it’s more important than ever to keep opening up and working on more empathic communication and confrontation with others.  

About the Presenters:                   

Wendy Behary:

With 25 years post-graduate training and advanced level certifications, Wendy Behary is the founder and director of The Cognitive Therapy Center of New Jersey and co-director (with Dr. Jeffrey Young) of The New Jersey-New York City Schema Therapy Institutes. She has been treating clients, training professionals and supervising psychotherapists for more than 20 years. Wendy was on the faculty of the Cognitive Therapy Center and Schema Therapy Institute of New York (until merging in 2012 with the NJ Institute), where she trained and worked with Dr. Jeffrey Young since 1989. She is a Founding Fellow and consulting supervisor for The Academy of Cognitive Therapy (Aaron T. Beck Institute).  Wendy served as the President of the Executive Board of the International Society of Schema Therapy (ISST) from 2010-2014.

Wendy Behary has co-authored several chapters and articles on Schema Therapy and Cognitive Therapy. She is the author of"Disarming theNarcissist...”  (New Harbinger, 2013) translated in 10 languages. Wendy has a specialty in treating narcissists and the people who live with and deal with them. As an author and an expert on the subject of narcissism, she is a contributing chapter author of several chapters on schema therapy for narcissism for professional readers. She lectures both nationally and internationally to professional and general audiences on schema therapy, and the subject of narcissism, relationships, anger, and dealing with difficult people.  Her private practice is primarily devoted to treating narcissists, partners/people dealing with them, parenting issues, and couples experiencing relationship problems.