Cultural Safety and Countertransference

• Discuss the common desire to work in a community to which you belong

• Explore the concepts of cultural and emotional safety – where they originate and how they get taken up

• Examine case scenarios where practitioners experience strong reactions toward their clients where they have a similar history or shared community

• Consider what the practitioner needs to be aware of to take care of themselves and optimally care for the client (reflections useful for the practitioner and clinical supervisor)

Tensions in Anti-Oppressive and Psychodynamic Theories

• Discuss the current context of graduate training programs in Canada

• Explore the following concepts as they relate to each modality: accessibility, therapeutic frame, history-taking, client advocacy, countertransference, self-reflexivity, enactments, projective identification, self-disclosure, transference, and termination

• Consider ways to integrate these two invaluable theoretical approaches into therapy and supervision 

On Being a Politicized Practitioner in The Therapeutic Space

• Answer "Should therapy be political?" and "Is neutrality important?"

• Examine case scenarios where sessions quickly veer into the political realm

• Discuss what it means when a client brings politics into a counselling session or meeting

• Consider who gets triggered around political issues and how to manage this

• Reflect on the benefits and hesitations of self-disclosure around social location 

Psychodynamic Practice, Introductory Concepts

• Explore common misconceptions and biases around psychoanalytic practice

• Conceptualize what contemporary psychodynamic therapy looks like

• Examine the following core concepts: unconscious process, therapeutic frame, defenses, transference, and countertransference

• Consider the importance of family history during the assessment stage of therapy

• Reflect on what it means to be culturally competent when assessing family of origin stories

• Discuss defense mechanisms with in-depth clinical examples

Sex Therapy 101

• Review sexual disorders from the DSM

• Consider the use of specifiers and the utility of V codes in an assessment

• Examine the use of narratives in sexual history-taking

• Distinguish between desire and willingness models

• Explore treatment approaches for sexual interest, arousal, orgasmic, and pain experiences

• Discuss cognitive, behavioural, and embodied approaches

Fear & Fluid(ity)

• Consider the symbolic and metaphoric connections between bodily fluid, gender fluidity, and "interpersonal fluidity."

• Explore our experiences of fear, disgust and shame in the context of bodily fluids

• Discuss how a desire to contain fluids' spills over' into a social containment of interracial relationships and gender expression

When Curiosity Sends the Wrong Message:
Exploring Therapist Bias

• Present a basic framework that defines anti-oppression, privilege, and oppression

• Explore cases where microaggressions reflect therapist bias

• Examine specific ways racism, homophobia, and ableism affect the therapeutic alliance and influence the outcomes of therapy

• Discuss the potential consequences of bias (i.e. misdiagnosis, underdiagnosis, hospitalization, stigma/shame, victim blaming)  

Reflections on Ethical Issues in Clinical Social Work Practice

• Explore practice experiences related to documentation, dual relationships, source of private practice referrals, boundary maintenance, unexamined reactions to clients, duty to report, and working within a circle of care

• Discuss case scenarios and specific ethical questions related to the identified domains