Overcoming Therapeutic Impasses 

Using Schema Therapy Interventions

2 Day Master Class

Joan Farrell, Ph.D. and Ida Shaw, M.A.

This Master Class is for people who had basic schema-therapy training and already actively practicing individual therapy sessions. 

Day 1 will focus on the conceptualization of impasses with client and therapist during therapy  

Clients typically “get stuck” because of barriers to engagement such as avoidant coping styles, mistrust-abuse schemas, low motivation, lack of connection, defining problems differently to the therapist and feelings of being unsafe, misunderstood or hopelessness.Participants will learn ways to identify what the impasses are and help clients work though them. Interventions will include experiential work to connect and get through the resistance of dysfunctional coping styles and the reluctance of clients to experience strong emotion and their avoidance of experiential interventions. Also to be included will be imagery rescripting and storytelling to introduce the Vulnerable Child Mode and mode dialogues (aka Schema Mode Chair work). 

Day 2 will focus on overcoming avoidant coping modes in personality disorders, complex trauma and dissociative disorders

It focuses on the challenges that exist with these clients and the schema activation and mode triggering that therapists encounter in working with them. The overall focus will be on experiential interventions to get through or around the Avoidant Coping Modes, heal the frightened or traumatized Vulnerable Child and diminish the control of the Dysfunctional Critic Modes. The phenomenon of client’s avoidance triggering therapist’s avoidance will be discussed with ways to overcome this. 

Each day will include an opportunity for “live supervision” with a participant presenting a problematic case and the presenters role-playing the interventions they would use. A new supervision technique that uses mode dialogue work with the multiple modes present in the therapist and the client will be demonstrated.

We are planning to use simultaneous translationfrom English to Russian and a live video streaming optionin both English and Russian for remote attendance.

Organizers: Moscow Institute of Schema Therapy

Contact person: Alexandra Yaltonskaya, MD, PhD

Contacts for registration and further communication: Send email here if you want to be registered for the event, receive further information and in the case of any questions.

A reduced early bird rate is avaialble. See sttached flyer for details on this and other information.