Upcoming Seminars

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Course Information

Clinically Oppressed: Addressing the Trauma of Marginalization with AEDP

This course is for Beginning/Intermediate levels.

Marginalized populations and people experience high levels of stress and negative life events as a result of their minority status. Oppression denies people involvement in economic, political, cultural and social activities due to their identification in regards to race, gender, sexuality, ability, class and/or religion. The more these aspects of identity intersect, the more there can be an increase in marginalization and psychological distress. This stress occurs not only as result of direct experiences of discrimination, prejudice and oppression, but also from a lack of connection to others and the culture at large.

AEDP views trauma as being alone with and overwhelmed by unregulated affective experiences. Oppression can not only result in disconnect from others on an institutional, societal and inter-relational level, but also from the self on an intra-relational level. The external messages associated with racism, ableism, sexism, heterosexism and classism (to name a few of the “isms”) can also be internalized and negatively affect views of self and others. In essence, an insecure attachment relationship can be formed on any or all levels of connection, causing distress, emotional suffering and unbearable aloneness.

With a focus on undoing aloneness and creating secure attachment in the therapeutic relationship, AEDP, when employed with cultural humility, offers the clinician the theoretical knowledge and operational tools well-suited for addressing experiences of marginalization and oppression. By authentically recognizing and exploring the effects of marginalization, and the emotions associated with these experiences, the AEDP therapist seeks to dyadically co-create new, positive experiences by deeply processing core affect in relationship to a supportive, authentic and emotionally present therapist. For the marginalized client, and perhaps even therapist, this creates the possibility of undoing internalized messages and relating to self and others in new, healing ways.

This program is for 6.5CE

There is no conflict of interest or commercial support for this program.
 

Presenter


Ben Medley, LCSW

Ben Medley, LCSW loves supervising clinicians learning AEDP! He has a private practice in NYC where he works with individuals and couples and supervises both in-person and online. In addition to being a certified AEDP Supervisor, Ben is also a certified Emotionally Focused Therapy for couples (EFT) Supervisor. He has presented nationally and internationally, including co-presenting with AEDP faculty member Ben Lipton the workshop Feeling Like a Man: Using AEDP to Overcome Shame and Heal Attachment Trauma both with AEDP West in California and in New York City. He has also taught/presented with the Essential Skills course in Parma, Italy; taught/ presented in Ithaca with the Central New York AEDP community; has assisted with the NY Immersion Course with Diana Fosha; and has assisted in Essential Skills courses with Natasha Prenn, Ben Lipton and Eileen Russell. Ben also created and launched AEDP Jumpstart, a short-term AEDP supervision group for those beginning AEDP supervision and/or beginning to review video of clinical material. Before private practice, Ben began a mental health program for study abroad students with the Scuola Lorenzo di Medici in Florence, Italy; worked in the Jewish Board of Family Services LGBTQ Unit; and worked in Greenwich House's HIV Mental Health and Chemical Dependency programs. His paper "Recovering the True Self: Affirmative Therapy, Attachment and AEDP in Psychotherapy with Gay Men" is being published with the SEPI Journal: the Journal of Psychotherapy Integration and, in 2019, Ben will be helming the five-weekend ES2 training in New York City. Ben earned his degree in Clinical Social Work with the NYU Silver School of Social Work.

 

Target Audience:

Psychologists, Psychotherapists, Psychiatrists, Psychoanalysts, Social Workers, Counselors, MFTs, MD’s, Nurses, Creative Arts Therapists, in mental health and the healing arts and sciences.

 

Course Objectives:

  • Define how marginalization and oppression can be traumatic
  • Name and define 3 types of microaggressions
  • Describe how marginalization can negatively affect a client's relationship to the self
  • Recognize and know how to explicitly explore experiences of marginalization and oppression with your clients
  • Demonstrate the AEDP stance, undo aloneness and foster secure connection with marginalized clients
  • Identify and work with marginalization explicitly in each of the 4 States of the AEDP model
  • Recognize your own experiences of marginalzation, power and privilege and how this can intersect with your clients' own identity and experiences
 

Agenda

Time
9:00 – 9:15 Welcome and Seminar Overview
9:15 - 10:30 Understanding Marginalization, Oppression and Trauma
10:30 - 10:45       Break
10:45 - 12:30 Video Presentation
12:30 - 1:30 Lunch
1:30 - 3:00 Addressing the Trauma of Marginalization Using AEDP
3:00 - 3:15 Break
3:15 - 4:30 Video Presentation
4:30 - 5:00 Large Group Discussion