Wednesday 3 July 2019
Glenda Fredman
Journeying through Stories of Personal & Professional Identity. A practical workshop for working in therapy, supervision & self-reflection
We are living in times when many of us face re-descriptions of our identities; times when borders and walls are being created; times of reclassification, registration and accreditation to identify who is in and who is out, who belongs and whom to exclude, who is welcome and how we welcome. For me the word ‘Identity’ goes with ‘belonging’ – who we ‘are’ is not just shaped by who we want to be – but who will have us – where and who we can be. In this workshop I will draw on stories from my practice and my personal, professional and political lives to reflect on my relationship with different discourses of identity and models of self. This practical workshop will offer exercises that participants can use with people in therapy, in supervision and for self-reflection. For example, I will invite you to reflect on narratives from the multi-storied contexts (personal, professional and political) of your lives that inform who you are and who you want to be. We will explore using these different stories as opportunities for creative practice, to help us work respectfully alongside colleagues who hold a loyalty to different approaches and to inspire hope in challenging times. I will also invite participants to work with the ‘journey metaphor’ and ‘migration of identity’ to reflect on and navigate our changing and developing professional identities as we navigate changing political and cultural contexts.
Glenda Fredman is a clinical psychologist, systemic family psychotherapist, trainer and supervisor. She is committed to enabling systemic and ethical practice within public services where she has worked at all levels of organisations with people in therapy, with staff in training and with teams and organizations in consultation. Glenda is author of ‘Death Talk: Conversations with Children and Families’ (Karnac);‘Transforming Emotion: Conversations in Counselling and Psychotherapy’(Wiley) and co-editor of‘Being with Older People: A systemic approach’ (Karnac); Working with Embodiment in Supervision: A systemic approach (Routledge) and Collaborative Consultation in Mental Health: Guidelines for the new consultant (Routledge).