Therapists are in the impact business. By meeting with individuals for as little as one hour a week, we hope to bring about significant change in the rest of the client's life - in a home, a workplace, or a family we have probably never seen. To make the most of our time we want to ensure that we not only communicate clearly, but in a memorable way. We want therapy to be more than a simple conversation or lecture. We want it to be an actual experience that the client will recall once they are out of the consulting room.
One method for accomplishing this is to use physical objects during our work with clients. The consulting room can become a storehouse of teaching tools that can be brought into play as needed.
- We can have the client see, hold, and handle a model of the brain, rather than simply telling them about concussion effects.
- We can have them confront their ambivalence about change with counterfactual tools like a "magic" bell or a jelly bean "pill."
- We can invite them to re-enact their motor vehicle accident with model cars - both to educate us about what happened and to confront their own memories.
- We can provide the metaphor of a sea anchor, a crystal ball, or a darkened lens while actually holding these objects.
In so doing we can make therapy more fully present, more experiential, and yes, more memorable. They may never recall a therapeutic mini-lecture on the nature of cognitive distortion on their own - but having contemplated the world through an actual fuzzy filter they may never forget it.
This course reviews the use of a variety of inexpensive objects that you can use to accelerate and intensify your work. But part of the goal is to spark your own ideas based on the concepts, demonstrations, and metaphors that you use, so that you can identify tools you want to have on hand for the particular work you do.
Your Instructor
Randy Paterson is the Director of Changeways Clinic and author of The Assertiveness Workbook, How to be Miserable: 40 Strategies You Already Use, Private Practice Made Simple, and Your Depression Map. He is also the lead author of the Changeways Core Program, one of the world's most widely used group therapy treatment protocols for depression, and coauthor of The Antidepressant Skills Workbook. He has presented over 300 workshops on psychotherapy for professional mental health providers across Canada and internationally.
Course Curriculum
Object Assisted Psychotherapy: An Introduction
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Bringing Concepts Down to Earth: Demonstrations in Therapy
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Metaphor Made Real: Artificial Worlds and Concrete Realities
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Frequently Asked Questions
When does the course start and finish?
The course starts now and never ends! It is a completely self-paced online course - you decide when you start and when you finish.
How long do I have access to the course?
How does lifetime access sound? After enrolling, you have unlimited access to this course for as long as you like - across any and all devices you own.
What if I am unhappy with the course?
We would never want you to be unhappy! If you are unsatisfied with your purchase, contact us in the first 30 days and we will give you a full refund.