This unique reading group has gone from strength to strength so we are delighted to be able to offer an opportunity to explore, examine and enjoy the books below. Our presenters have been stimulating and challenging, and have introduced us to new delights or opened up fresh vistas onto pre-loved favourites.

Although many participants have been trainees and practising counsellors or psychotherapists, everyone is welcome to attend. If you are thinking of attending for the first time or have enjoyed one of the previous sessions, why not tell a friend and encourage them to come along too. Please read the novel before attending.

All are welcome to attend this event. Refreshments provided.

Friday 25th January 2019
Warlight by Michael Ondaatje
Led by Kristina Hemon

Friday 22nd February 2019
Staring at the Sun – Overcoming the Dread of Death by Irvin Yalom
Led by Virginia Lewis

Friday 22nd March 2019
The Solitude of Prime Numbers by Paolo Giordando
Led by Michael Lyons

Friday 17th May 2019
Somewhere Towards the End by Diana Athill
Led by Jan McHugh

We are still looking for people to facilitate reading groups, particularly for 2019-2020, so please e-mail events@wpf.org.uk if you are interested.

This is a repeat of last year’s very successful and fully subscribed study group.

Did you study Kleinian theory on your training? Maybe you would like the opportunity to explore it in more depth now that you have more clinical experience.  Theory only really comes alive when we can connect with it from our clinical practice. Maybe you did not cover Klein during your training and would like to know more about her work and how it might help you in your practice.

This study group sets out to explore developments in Kleinian theory and practice over the past seventy years – what has remained central, what has been discarded, what has become better understood and what is contentious today. The course is designed to work at different levels, offering food for thought to those unfamiliar with Kleinian thinking as well as those who wish to deepen and enrich their understanding and use of psychoanalytic concepts.

Melanie Klein and those influenced by her have formed a central strand in British psychoanalytic and psychodynamic thinking since the Second World War. Much that was once considered innovative and controversial in her approach has been taken up by those with reservations about her basic tenets. Lively debate continues among those more sympathetic to Kleinian ways of seeing and understanding.

It is possible to attend individual sessions, but there is much to be gained by revisiting material that may seem familiar and through involvement in an ongoing process. In previous years there has been a lively dynamism in the group: participants have found a space to share impressions, responses, puzzlement, connections and insights, including reflections on clinical issues.

The readings include earlier and later practitioners, clinical and theoretical considerations. We refer back to Freud and Klein as we consider how thinking and technique has developed, aiming to replicate the analytic cycle of learning and working-through. Detailed notes are provided to help contextualise the readings; there are suggestions of secondary sources that discuss and summarise the main readings and of further relevant material.

If you attend these study groups, you can expect:

1. A deeper understanding of projective and identificatory processes in work with clients.
2. A broader conception of how internal and external worlds interact and affect each other.
3. Greater clarity about where you stand in relation to key theoretical and ethical issues.
4. An overview of what the Kleinian tradition has contributed to British Object Relations.

There will be a different paper for each session. The programme centres on readings from key figures in the Kleinian tradition – Freud, Segal, Rosenfeld, Bion, Money-Kyrle, Meltzer, Joseph, Steiner, Britton. We will think about the issues raised in the readings in relation to participants’ clinical experiences and dilemmas.

Comments from Previous Participants

• “This once monthly format is really good value, as I have learnt so much more compared to the equivalent amount of hours in an average 2 days CPD course.”

• “I’m finding the papers enriching whilst at the same time challenging as well as questions and views raised by the group.  This is good as its stirring me up out of lazy thinking.  I have found the relevance/benefit of theories has been demonstrated in the group on several occasions and also it’s helping me with often confusing work.”
• “Linking the reading to our clinical work is most valuable.”

Course Reading

Participants will be expected to have a basic understanding of the concepts of the paranoid-schizoid and depressive positions and of projective identification. Detailed session reading will be sent on booking.

David Smart’s first career was in multi-disciplinary work in mainstream educational and off-site settings with secondary-age pupils experiencing difficulties. He trained with WPF Therapy to practice as a school counsellor and work privately as a psychotherapist with adults. He is committed to collaborative learning and understands development as a life-long, spiral process. Publications include “Play’ in practice in psychotherapy and education’, European Journal of Psychotherapy & Counselling, Volume 10, Issue 2, 2008, pp. 147 – 158 (with L. Gomez).

These sessions will be of interest to practicing counsellors/psychotherapists and trainees engaged in clinical work. There will be a focus on working with the ideas and issues clinically. Priority will be given to participants who can attend all 10 sessions.

If you experience any problems during the application process then please call or e-mail Training Administration on 020 7378 2050/events@wpf.org.uk in order to be sent an application form.

This lecture will describe aspects of Joan Riviere’s life and her experiences which were relevant to the depressive position  Marion will also describe the influence of Freud and Melanie Klein on Joan Riviere’s thinking.

By attending this lecture participants will:

1. Gain an understanding of people who respond to getting better by getting worse.
2. Understand attacks on helpful interventions.
3. Learn more about psychoanalytic ancestors.
4. Gain an understanding of the depressive position.
5. Establish an understanding of envy.
6. Appreciate how learning about the lives of psychoanalysts helps understand their theories.

There will be plenty of time for participants to bring their own material.

Speaker
Marion Bower has trained as a teacher, a social worker and an adult psychotherapist.  She worked in the child and family department of the Tavistock clinic.  She has edited four books including ‘Addictive States of Mind’.  She has just published a biography of Joan Riviere.

Applications must be received by Thursday, 18th July 2019. Booking will be final after receipt of payment.

If you experience any problems during the application process then please call or e-mail Training Administration on 020 7378 2050/events@wpf.org.uk in order to be sent an application form.

During this personal talk Mark will present an account of Christianity as an evolution of human consciousness. He will talk about some of the ideas of the Oxford Inkling, Owen Barfield. Finally, he will consider a personal journey through spirituality and psychotherapy.

This lecture will include:

1. Thinking about Christianity and inner life
2. Psychotherapy and spirituality
3. Understanding one idea about the evolution of western consciousness
4. An opportunity to buy a discounted copy of Mark Vernon’s new book

Target Audience

Therapists and people interested in therapy who are also drawn to questions around Christianity, western consciousness, ancient and modern understandings of spirituality, and the meaning of psychotherapy.

Speaker
Mark Vernon is a psychotherapist and writer, based in London. He is also a broadcaster and podcaster, and regularly gives talks and lectures. He has a PhD in philosophy, and degrees in theology and physics. His new book focuses on the great twentieth century Romantic thinker and Oxford Inkling, Owen Barfield, and is entitled, A Secret History of Christianity (John Hunt Publishing). His is also the author of The Idler Guide To Ancient Philosophy (Idler Books) and has other books on friendship, love and the good life, too. Mark contributes regularly to publications in the UK and also broadcasts on the BBC. He began his professional life as a priest in the Church of England. For more visit, www.markvernon.com.  Mark trained with WPF Therapy.

Applications must be received by Thursday, 31st October 2019. Booking will be final after receipt of payment.

If you experience any problems during the application process then please call or e-mail Training Administration on 020 7378 2050/events@wpf.org.uk in order to be sent an application form.

Attendees of this lecture may also be interested in attending Beyond Psychoanalysis: The place of religious language with David Black.

The inner world of a human being develops as it comes to be recognised.  The process is necessarily circular.  “We are creatures who, for our very existence, depend on concepts that depend on us,” as Jonathan Lear says in his book Wisdom Won from Illness: Essays in Philosophy and Psychoanalysis (Harvard University Press 2017).  It matters greatly, therefore, what concepts we encounter, and how those concepts are regarded.  And our encounter with them depends in turn on language and how language is used in the cultural world, perhaps even the “silo”, in which we find ourselves.  Using examples from the history of Buddhism and Christianity I shall argue that religions offer linguistic resources that can’t be substituted by a scientific psychology, however careful.

Lecturer
David M. Black is a Fellow of the British Psychoanalytic Society who has published widely on psychoanalytic, ethical and religious issues. He edited Psychoanalysis and Religion in the 21st Century (Routledge New Library of Psychoanalysis 2006) and is author of Why Things Matter (Routledge 2011). His initial psychotherapy training was at WPF, of which he wrote an early history, A Place for Exploration (WPF, 1991).

Applications must be received by Thursday, 13th March 2020. Booking will be final after receipt of payment.

If you experience any problems during the application process then please call or e-mail Training Administration on 020 7378 2050/events@wpf.org.uk in order to be sent an application form.

Attendees of this lecture may also be interested in attending Christianity and Consciousness: a personal account with Mark Vernon.