Workshops

Workshops
To accommodate class size, PRE-REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED FOR GROUPS AND WORKSHOPS.
You will be contacted prior to the event with its specific address.

WORKSHOPS FOR THE PUBLIC

Women, Aging, and The Body Experience
How do we accept and even enjoy our aging bodies while living in a culture that demands an ideal body and promises eternal youth? How can we comfortably live in our bodies as we confront and absorb the unrealistic images and messages that bombard us daily? Aging is a challenge for all and also an opportunity to look more deeply at our own attitudes and feelings. In this experiential workshop we explore the dichotomy of the realities of aging and the socially constructed expectations of how we should age with an eye towards developing new and positive perspectives.

Bonnie Gitlin, LCSW and Lela Zaphiropoulos, LCSW
Saturday, March 31, 2012 10:00am - 12:00pm
Location: Upper West Side; Fee: $75

It's Hot or It's Not--Sustaining Sexual Desire and Erotic Energy
This workshop for the public will address how women can stay in touch with, nurture and re-find their desire and erotic energy, especially in long term relationships. For many, long term relationships pose a particular problem to maintaining sexual energy as familiarity and comfortableness can replace excitement and aliveness. We will look at what goes into attending to an erotic life, what gets in the way and what makes it so hard to maintain. We will also explore if there is an intrinsic incompatibility between safety and erotic excitement. All are welcome, whether gay or straight, in a relationship or not.

Wendy Miller, Ph.D.
Saturday, April 14, 2012 11:00am-1:00pm
Location: Greenwich Village; Fee: $50

You Can't Go Out Dressed Like That!: For Mothers of Teenage Daughters
Whether you've actually said these words, or just thought them, you know how powerful your reaction can be to your daughter's body. Be it for reasons of modesty, body size, or eating habits, mothers are often in conflict and/or combat over their daughters' bodies, and what their bodies express. In the face of cultural demands on ever younger girls to be "sexy," many mothers are having difficulty helping their daughters navigate the complex road to womanhood. This workshop helps mothers cool down in the face of some very hot issues.

Andrea Gitter MA,LCAT, BC-DMT
Thursday, December 1, 2011 10:30am-12:30pm
Location: Greenwich Village; Fee: $ 75

WORKSHOPS FOR PRACTITIONERS

You Can Never Get Enough of What You Don't Really Need:
Working with Compulsive Buyers
Compulsive buying is finally coming out of the closet. Although the study of compulsive buying is still in relative infancy compared with some of its psychological siblings -- alcoholism, for example, or eating disorders or drug abuse -- there is more and more evidence that it poses a serious and worsening problem, one with significant emotional, social, occupational, and financial consequences. Prevalence studies suggest that at least six percent of the population may be full-fledged compulsive buyers and that perhaps 15 million people have little control over how much they spend or what they buy.
Sometimes termed the “smiled upon” addiction, compulsive buying may be an even greater source of guilt and shame than other addictions, which are commonly thought of as diseases, or at least recognized as serious problems requiring treatment.
This Workshop will provide an overview of the disorder, focusing on a number of aspects -- the sociocultural context, assessment, associated disorders, gender issues, characteristics of compulsive buyers, and the underlying dynamics. I’ll describe the various treatment options that are available, including the model that I’ve developed, present some case vignettes, and provide an extensive bibliography. Through this exploration, the attendees will more easily recognize and identify this problem in patients and come away with a variety of ways to be helpful, both within the treatment setting and by directing patients to extra-therapeutic resources.

April Lane Benson, Ph.D.
Friday, February 10, 2012, 7:00pm-8:30pm
Location: TBD; Fee: $65

THIS WORKSHOP IS FILLED:
An Introduction to Neuroscience and Psychotherapy: Giving Our Clients What Their Brains Need
It is an exciting time to be a clinician. Neuroscience is offering dramatic insights into human development that can greatly enhance our effectiveness with clients. Did you know that a child’s brain is designed to develop through interactions with caregivers? As babies and parents exchange long, loving glances, babble and coo, neurons in the baby’s brain are firing and wiring together with lifelong implications for self-esteem, optimism, trust and relational capacity. Current brain research validates what we have always known: that our love and attunement are the agents of change in psychotherapy. But how can we create the conditions that optimize neuroplasticity? Newer models of practice that emphasize attachment theory, affect regulation, and somatic and sensory motor processing offer clues to this vital question. Come to this introductory workshop to learn more about neuroscience, neuroplasticity, and the implications of current practice models for our work with clients.

Amy Gladstone, Ph.D.
Saturday, October 29, 2011 10:30am-12:30pm
Location: TBA; Fee: $85

Somatic Cognition: Accessing The Narrative of the Gendered Body
In recent years psychoanalysis has turned its attention to the role of the body in treatment. What is missing from the current discourse is the role gender plays in our experiences of and expressions through our bodies. Decoding somatic and non-verbal material, both ours and our patients', offers another route to understanding gendered human experience. Utilizing clinical material, we will examine the physical manifestations of psyche and culture, learning to "read" the body in order to make use of knowledge held in the body as a vehicle for change.

Andrea Gitter MA,LCAT, BC-DMT
Thursday November 17, 2011 10:30am-12:00pm
Location: West Village; Fee: $75

THIS WORKSHOP IS FILLED:
Seven Levels of Selfhood: Understanding Development Through the Body-Self
In order to assist clients in healing and developing an expanded sense of self, therapists are increasingly integrating the body and somatic experience into treatment. Often, however, therapists have neither a sufficient theoretical map nor techniques needed to do so. Drawing on both Eastern and Western wisdom, and proposing that the core of the body self is an energetic one, participants will be given exercises to use with clients that will assist in accessing the body's wisdom to help in the healing process. The workshop will be both didactic and experiential, allowing participants a unique perspective on human development, both felt and conceptualized.

Tulasi Jordan, LCSW, ERYT-500
Saturday, January 14, 2012 10:30am-1:00pm
Location: West Village; Fee: $55