Courses

5th and 6th December 2009. 10am-4pm

This year I will be fifty and I felt this would be a good time to explore with other women some fundamental questions that have been whirling around my head about being a woman in today’s society. What does it mean to be a powerful woman? How do women express and hold power? As women, what do we use our power to create? How does our sense of our relationship with the earth and our understanding of a wider spiritual context shape who we are in the world? What responsibility do we take for our potency in the world? What relationship do we see between power and this potency? This is a person centred community experience for women to explore these and no doubt many more questions together with other interesting women .We will use creative approaches including art, storytelling, drumming, movement, sociodrama, dialogue, conversation expressive therapy and whatever else comes into the space.

Tracey Walshaw 27th and 28thFebruary 2010 10am-4pm In my personal and professional experience I have found that using a wider range of creative expression can enhance the work groups engage in. This weekend will look at and explore the place of expressive media in person centred groups. Being expressive in groups can be quite a scary thing for individuals if they are weighted down with introjects like ‘I carnt draw, my work looks silly, people will judge my work as not creative’ and a personal favourite of mines ‘that’s not person centred!’ This weekend will explore many of the practical, philosophical, and theoretical issues around facilitation and expressive media. It will be a safe place to experiment and explore a range of mediums and to discuss the dilemmas and tensions that arise out of this work. SIf you work with groups and already work in a expressive way or want to develop your creative facilitation then this weekend will be useful on many levels.

Tracey Walshaw 6th and 7th of March 2010 10am-4pm Women experience the power of change in their bodies and relationships throughout their lives. Some changes are welcome, some painful, some dreaded, some celebrated, all bringing their wisdom and gifts. This workshop is designed to explore the changes in our lives as women and find the power they hold in the adventure of living.

Tracey Walshaw 24th and 25th April 2010 10am-4pm ‘Changing our own perspective on the creative process is one of the most helpful things we can do in preparing the environment for others to be creative People have a right as well as a need to fulfil their creative capacities. An inherent impulse or drive within each of us longs for creative expression.’ Natalie Rogers 2000 How does your own creative authenticity manifest in therapeutic relationship as a creative, dynamic and empowering force within a person centred framework. How are the core conditions necessary and sufficient? How can Expressive therapy be a means of personal development? This workshop will be an opportunity to experience expressive therapy as well as explore practical, philosophical and theoretical questions that arise out of this work. We will be working and experimenting with a wide range of arts materials including sand, clay, collage, movement and any other creative media that comes into the space.

Tracey Walshaw 15th and 16thh May 2010 10am-4pm As a person centred practitioner I feel my willingness to engage with both my own and my clients’ creativity is fundamental to any therapeutic relationship I find myself in. This workshop will help explore and develop the place of creativity, sponteniety and expressive medium in working with families and couples. We will be exploring the place of expressive therapy, sociodrama, sand play and miniatures in helping these clients groups explore and deepen their understanding in the issues they wish to explore in the counselling relationship.

Tracey Walshaw June 2010 10am-4pm [date to be confirmed] This weekend is for current and potential practitioners who work with children and young people in a therapeutic context. When I enter the social context in working with my young clients then I become aware that they are not restricted to ‘talking’ but are spontaneous and creative within the ‘action’ they bring to the counselling arena. I have been interested for many years in how I facilitate some of my young clients’ processes in telling stories they wish to explore, expanding and developing my creative repertoire in this process. In my practice I have discovered that children of primary school age are more able to express themselves freely using a range of creative techniques. This workshop will introduce you to the use of puppets, clay, dolls houses, plasticine, drawing, collage, sandtray work and other creative forms to help you explore their usefulness.

Working with Children, Young People, Puppets, Stories and Dolls Houses.

Tracey Walshaw 17th and 18th July 2010 Tracey Walshaw This weekend is for current and potential practitioners who work with children and young people in a therapeutic context. When I enter the social context in working with my young clients then I become aware that they are not restricted to ‘talking’ but  are spontaneous and creative within the ‘action’ they bring to the counselling arena. I have been interested for many years in how I facilitate some of my young clients processes in telling stories they wish to explore, expanding and developing my creative repertoire in this process..  Puppets really challenged my creativity and I have found them to be both  invaluable and ‘safe’ for my clients to start to unfurl their difficult and sometimes painful stories. Alongside this the play that emerges from working with the dolls house has proven invaluable for clients in telling their stories about their families,  exploring their place within their families and understanding worries they have in relation to this.

Tracey Walshaw 11th and 12th September 2010 10am-4pm This workshop is for current and potential practitioners who work with children and young people in a therapeutic context. Axline suggests that non-directive play therapy is an opportunity to offer a child an experience to grow under the most favourable conditions. How can we ensure that we offer this opportunity grounded in person centred philosophy and the theoretical understanding which underpins our practise. Can you be a classical person centred play therapist? What does this mean and how might this be manifested in the play room? What is therapeutic play? Can play enhance the therapeutic relationship? Is it another medium for communication? This weekend will be working with a diversity of therapeutic media to engage in therapeutic play in a non directive, non interpretative way.