Institute : Should They Stay or Should They Go: When Clients Want to Leave

AGPS Institute

 Should They Stay or Should They Go: When Clients Want to Leave

Facilitated by: 

Rhea Pledger, MA, LPC, CGP

Clients give many different reasons for wanting to leave therapy: financial strain, packed schedules, a desire to try life out on their own, or just a sense of feeling better.  Sometimes, they simply disappear.  But what lies beneath these departures and how do we respond?

This institute invites therapists to explore the often-overlooked territory of endings, exits, and the urge to flee.  Together, we’ll slow down the quick decision-making pace that clients (and therapists) can fall into.  Through group process and reflection, participants will be encouraged to confront their own resistances to staying, to feeling, and to being fully present in the room.  By turning inward, we uncover new ways to engage clients at the threshold of departure, and deepen the therapeutic relationship in the moments it feels most at risk.  

About the Presenter: 

Rhea Pledger is a group therapist who began practicing back in 2008, working with individuals, couples, and groups in a variety of settings before starting his private practice.  A Certified Group Psychotherapist, he is deeply committed to group therapy and studies modern group leadership at the Center for Group Studies in New York City.  He is active in the American Group Psychotherapy Association (AGPA) and the Austin Group Psychotherapy Society (AGPS,) and he currently serves on the board of the Group Foundation for Advancing Mental Health.  Prior to becoming a therapist, Rhea studied finance until he then found his own voice by joining the Peace Corps and living in Cape Verde West Africa, leading him to seek a career in psychotherapy.

What Are Group Institutes?

Institutes are a highly experiential form of small group teaching led by experienced instructors. They are intended to develop therapy skills relevant to leading groups. They often offer a chance to explore a particular theme in greater depth or to experience a different theoretical approach. Institutes are primarily designed for mental health professionals who have clinical psychotherapy experience. While institutes are not therapy, they are process-oriented and it is expected that they may stir feelings spanning the whole range of human experience. Members agree to attend the entire group, to participate actively, and to respect the confidentiality of the other members. The secure environment of these small groups allows for rich cognitive and deep emotional learning about group process and oneself, not to mention a chance for personal and professional renewal.

Objectives:

 Attendees will be able to:

1. Explain the difference between subjective countertransference and objective countertransference 

2. Define 2 of your own individual resistances during the weekend, using a Modern Analytic lens.

3. Discover 2 of the 5 steps in helping group members learn how to develop their observing ego

4. List 2 interventions that therapists can use when helping clients explore the decision to remain in or leave group

Schedule:

Friday, September 26

Group: 2pm-3:30pm

Break: 3:30pm-3:45pm

Group: 3:45pm-5:15pm

Saturday, September 27

Group: 8:30am-10am

Break: 10am-10:15am

Group: 10:15:am-11:45am

Lunch: 11:45am-1pm

Group: 1pm-2:30pm

Location given at registration. The location is wheelchair accessible.

7.5 CEUs available for social workers, LPCs, LMFTs, and psychologists.