Upcoming Seminars

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Course Information

Feeling Like a Man: Using AEDP to Overcome Shame and Heal Attachment Trauma with Gay and Straight Men

Perhaps with the exception of anger, emotions are feminized and shamed in our society. For men, this has created a pernicious demand for defensive strategies of denial and dissociation that conceal underlying shame and unbearable feelings of aloneness. As a result, men have been thwarted from reaping the psychological and social rewards of feeling one’s emotions. The cost of this phenomenon, not only in terms of personal well-being, but also societal development, has been great.

For gay men, growing up in a world that favors and expects heterosexuality can be a doubly alienating and traumatic experience. From a very early age, boys become aware of homophobia and heterosexism and begin to receive clear messages that being gay is not okay. Often these boys, adolescents and, eventually, grown men are left carrying their struggles, and the pathogenic feelings attached to being gay in a homophobic world, alone.

With its specific focus on accessing and processing emotion from a therapeutic stance of affirmation and authenticity, AEDP offers the clinician theoretical knowledge and a set of operational tools particularly well suited to address the psychological needs of men, both gay and straight. By dyadically co-creating new, positive experiences and deeply processing adaptive emotions in the context of a supportive, authentic, emotionally engaged relationship, men can recover and discover themselves. For straight men, this experience opens the door to possibilities of relating to themselves and others with authenticity and compassion. For gay men, this experience goes one step further by undoing the shame of internalized homophobia and allowing their True Selves to be seen, affirmed, and integrated.

Using extensive videotape from their clinical work, the presenters will illustrate specific ways that AEDP can be used to address the therapeutic needs of men that so often center on shame and aloneness. Through the lens of AEDP theory and technique, we will first examine the ways that AEDP’s focus on healing attachment trauma provides a framework for work with gay men. Then, we will explore the paradoxical ways in which gay male therapists, grounded in the AEDP therapeutic stance, seem to offer unique opportunities for healing the psychological wounds of their straight male clients.
 

Presenters


Benjamin Lipton, MSW, LCSW, ACWS

Benjamin Lipton, LCSW, is a founding faculty member of the AEDP Institute. He is based in New York City and travels nationally and internationally to teach and present AEDP to a broad range of professional audiences. Mr. Lipton pioneered the first AEDP Advanced Core Training programs (Bay Area and Seattle) and currently co-leads the AEDP Retreat Style Essential Skills course. His open and engaging teaching style and skill in translating complex ideas into clear and accessible learning points receives consistent praise from his audiences. Mr. Lipton is the editor of From Crisis to Crossroads: Gay Men Living with Chronic Illnesses and Disabilities (Haworth Press) and has published many clinical articles and book chapters in psychology and social service journals over the past two decades. His most recent article, co-authored with Diana Fosha, is on working with attachment in AEDP; Attachment as a Transformative Process in AEDP: Operationalizing the Intersection of Attachment Theory and Affective Neuroscience. Mr. Lipton has held adjunct faculty appointments at Columbia Presbyterian Department of Psychiatry and New York University School of Social Work and he serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Gay and Lesbian Social Services. Previously, he was the Director of Clinical Services at Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC), the world’s first and largest HIV/AIDS service organization. In addition to his expertise in AEDP, Mr. Lipton has training in EMDR, Internal Family Systems, Somatic Experiencing, Solution-Focused therapy and psychodynamic psychotherapy. Mr. Lipton is committed to the foundational principle of human development that change for the better, at every level of civilization, flourishes when people feel safe enough to be curious and take necessary risks. He is passionately dedicated to bringing this alive in both his practice and teaching.


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.

 

Agenda:

  • 9:00-9:15 Welcome and Introductions
  • 9:15-10:30 The Emotional Challenges of Being a Man
  • 10:30-10:45 Break
  • 10:45-12:30 Using AEDP with Gay Male Clients
  • 12:30-1:45 Lunch
  • 1:45-3:15 What Gay Therapists can offer Straight Men
  • 3:15-3:30 Break
  • 3:30-4:30 Experiential Exercise
  • 4:30-5:00 Large Group Discussion
 

This event is co-sponsored by R. Cassidy Seminars
 
Satisfactory Completion
Participants must have paid tuition fee, signed in, attended the entire seminar, completed an evaluation, and signed out in order to receive a certificate. Failure to sign in or out will result in forfeiture of credit for the entire course. No exceptions will be made. Partial credit is not available.
 
Psychologists
R. Cassidy Seminars is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to offer continuing education for psychologists.  R. Cassidy Seminars maintains responsibility for this program. 6.25 CE hours.
NY: R. Cassidy Seminars is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychoanalysts. #P-0005. (6.25) clock hours.
 
Social Workers
This organization, R. Cassidy Seminars, ACE provider #1082,  is approved as a provider for social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) www.aswb.org, through the Approved Continuing Education (ACE) Program. R. Cassidy Seminars maintains responsibility for the program. Approval Period: April 15, 2015-April 15, 2018. Social workers should contact their regulatory board to determine course approval. Social workers participating in this course will receive 6.25  continuing education clock hours.
NY: R. Cassidy Seminars is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider (#0006) of continuing education for licensed social workers. This program is approved for 6.25  contact hours live..
OH: Provider approved by the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker and Marriage and Family Therapist Board for (6.25) clock hours, #RCST110701
 
Counselors/Marriage and Family Therapists
CA: The Board of Behavioral Sciences has deferred CE course approvals to APA and ASWB for its licensees. See those approvals under Psychologists and Social Workers.
Other States: If your state is not specifically listed, nearly all state Counselor and MFT boards accept either APA or ASWB approval, or are reciprocal with other state licensing board approvals, such as those listed below. Check with your board to be sure. The Ohio Board includes Counselors and MFTs.
IL: Illinois Dept of Professional Regulation, Approved Continuing Education Sponsor, #168-000141.  (#) hours.
NY-LMHCs: R. Cassidy Seminars is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board of Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors. #MHC-0015. (6.25) contact hours.
NY-LMFTs: R. Cassidy Seminars is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board of Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed marriage and family therapists. #MFT-0011. (6.25) contact hours.
OH: Provider approved by the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker and Marriage and Family Therapist Board for (6.25) clock hours, #RCST110701
TX: Approved CE Sponsor through the Texas State Board of Examiners of Marriage & Family Therapists. 6.25  CE clock hours. Provider #151
 
Creative Arts Therapists
NY: R. Cassidy Seminars is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board of Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed creative arts therapists. #CAT-0005. (6.25) contact hours.
 
Disability Access - If you require ADA accommodations please contact our office 30 days or more before the event. We cannot ensure accommodations without adequate prior notification.
 
Please Note: Licensing Boards change regulations often and while we attempt to stay abreast of their most recent changes, if you have questions or concerns about this course meeting your specific board’s approval, we recommend you contact your board directly to obtain a ruling.