There is generosity in receiving and absorbing loving-kindness. As Brene Brown puts it: “until we can receive with an open heart, we’re never really giving with an open heart”. The seemingly simple practice of being available for what Diana Fosha has termed the “bi-directional relational experience” that is fundamental to practice of AEDP can be challenging for many people. You might have already discovered in your AEDP journey how the scope and depth of rewards we receive from taking this relational challenge are in fact one of the gateways to State Four expansiveness and delight. To quote senior faculty member Yuko Hanakawa, we “facilitate an upward spiral of transformations beyond ….already accomplished therapeutic gains” of changes in attachment style and repair of Trauma. We have the lofty goal of supporting our clients beyond surviving their wounds into flourishing as a secure, joyful, and competent self.

Many of us, as we have learned AEDP, have remarked upon the dramatic differences it has caused in our professional efficacy. It’s also cause for celebration that we note a corollary and dramatic transformation in our personal relationships, both with ourselves and with others. As we ourselves participate in the deep healing work the model offers our clients, we receive equal benefit. (One colleague has remarked to me “I get a session for every session I give, when I really show up and use everything I’ve learned with AEDP!”)

This course aims to be an opportunity to “bring home” your theoretical knowledge of AEDP, to deepen your understanding of how the model works from the bottom up and inside out, starting with yourself. Alongside the reliable AEDP training components of didactic and video presentations we will use a variety of experiential exercises, with ourselves and with one another. As you’ve come to realize, the joy of learning AEDP is in the ways it potentiates access to delight. The hope is that this class will lighten your spirits and enhance your enjoyment of your practice as a

Sunday December 12 – Monday December 13, 2021

10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time USA + Canada

DAY 1: Eastern Times USA + Canada

10:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.     Course Overview & Orientation 

10:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.     Experiential Group Introductory experience  

11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Didactic, and Video:

Positive relational experiences activate positive neuroplasticity. AEDP harnesses theory to practice. (“positive affects are the raw materials of transformational work.” And… “AEDP therapeutic work activates positive neuroplasticity” Diana Fosha)

12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.        Lunch Break

1:30 p.m. - 2:45 p.m. Didactic and Clinical Video:

Recognizing moments (even tiny ones!) when things are going well between ourselves and our clients. Going beyond mirroring to create those moments!

2:45 p.m.  - 3:00 p.m. Break

3:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. Introduction to participant roles and exercises

3:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. Experiential exercises 

5:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.        Large group Q & A, close of day

DAY 2: Eastern Times USA + Canada

10:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.    Course Overview & Orientation 

10:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.     Experiential dyads     

11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Didactic, and Video:

Seizing Transformational moments: Transformational experiences are bi-directional; AEDP clinicians are inside AEDP’s relational hologram. We’ll explore ways that  practicing the model using our interventions helps us expand our own tolerance for emotional presence.

12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.        Lunch Break

1:30 p.m. - 2:45 p.m. Didactic, some personal experiences, more video:

Staying skillfully present: Deepening our own experiences of Core State’s “sense of sacredness and transcendence” (Danny Yeung, Chapter 14, AEDP 2.0)  makes us brave co-travelers in “the realms of gold” (John Keats).  Turbo-charging our own R.A.C enables us to ride that transformational spiral between Metaprocessing and Core State. 

2:45 p.m.  - 3:00 p.m. Break

3:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. Introduction to group experientials

3:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. Experiential exercises 

5:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.    Q & A and Metaprocessing

• Define AEDP’s theoretical perspective on the therapeutic importance of Receptive Affective capacity for clients and clinicians.
• Apply concepts of AEDP’s four state model to recognize affective phenomena as they arise, and use this understanding to guide promotion of R.A.C.
• Utilize skills articulated by AEDP to enhance “secure enough” attachment experiences by using “small m” metaprocessing to assess and deepen how both members of the therapeutic dyad are receiving one another’s presence.
• Recognize opportunities for developing Receptive Affective Capacity specifically as they arise as State Three Transformational Healing Affects, which include “feeling moved, touched, or emotional within oneself and/ or feelings of tenderness, love, or gratitude toward the other, in this case, the therapist.” Diana Fosha (2009, 2011, 2020)
• Explain how expanded focus on moments of gratitude and relational delight promote brain growth and neural integration.
• Explain how ruptures and repair of ruptures enhance and deepen relational intimacy.
• Recognize and reflect upon opportunities within ourselves as clinicians to grow our relational capacities, personally and professionally.
• Role-play personal challenges: receiving expressions of positive emotions and ways to grow our own capacity.
• Demonstrate the enhanced emotional, cognitive, and spiritual benefits of deepened relational experience
• Develop curiosity around the mysteries of the energetic space between members of any dyad, and the beauty of AEDP’s theoretic model to explain, expand, and explore new frontiers in our awareness of those mysteries.