Schema-informed CBT for Perinatal Complexity: A Masterclass in Formulation and Experiential Skills

13-14th June, 2024 (online)
(9:30am-4.00pm UK time)

Dr Helen Startup and Dr Cathy Green, Clinical Psychologists

More than one in ten women will develop a mental illness in pregnancy or the year after birth. These illnesses can cause intense suffering for women and their families. They can also have an adverse impact on the interaction between a mother and her baby, affecting the child’s emotional, social and cognitive development. For women who have suffered complex developmental trauma the transition to motherhood can be a particularly challenging and vulnerable time. Pregnancy or parenthood may trigger painful memories, precipitate strong emotions which are hard to manage, reduce access to usual ways of coping and make new and changing relationships, particularly with baby difficult to navigate.

This is a unique 2-day workshop designed for clinicians with experience in schema therapy or cognitive behavioural approaches (or other allied modalities) working with women in the perinatal period.  You will be interested in expanding your skills for working with more complex perinatal presentations, particularly where there is a background of relational trauma e.g. where there are significant relational challenges, or where the person has not responded to standard treatment to date.

The workshop will cover the fundamental concepts and techniques of schema theory and how these can be integrated into time-limited CBT. There will be a practical emphasis on supporting attendees to feel confident in:

• formulating complex perinatal presentations via mode mapping (e.g. primary tokophobia, emotion dysregulation (including anger) in response to the demands of parenting and trauma reactions such as dissociation and states of paralyzing helplessness)
• in the change techniques of: chair work (e.g. to uncouple a severe critic from a vulnerable child), imagery work (e.g. for rescripting early trauma memories which may have resurfaced in the context of parenthood), limited reparenting (e.g the use of transitional objects and body focused methods when a client is highly dissociated) and empathic confrontation (e.g. to negotiate with therapy interfering coping modes).
• methods for enhancing a ‘Flourishing Parent’ mode where individuals have limited positive internal dialogues.

Training costs and to book

£290 for a two-day workshop  (10% discount if booked by 1^st April, 2024)

To reserve a place or for more information please email:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Please use reference code PERI24

Strengthening Healthy Adult in Schema Therapy

6th December, 2024 (online)

(9.30am - 4.30pm UK time)

Janis Briedis and Dr Helen Startup, Consultant Psychologists

The Healthy Adult (HA) is often positioned as an ‘essential’ feature of the self with its development being a principal goal of Schema Therapy.  However, in many ways The HA is poorly articulated and understood both in terms of its content and process features. This workshop will focus on elaborating a clear working definition of the HA in ST, that is contrasted with overlapping constructs across other therapies (such as the Wise Mind in DBT, Compassionate Self in CFT).  We will then propose methods to build and harness this essential part of the self to support maximum growth through Schema Therapy. 

During this one day masterclass, delegates will:

• Learn about the critical importance or ‘meta’ role of the HA in managing and overseeing self-organisation.
• Creatively use imagery and body-focused strategies to build the Heathy Adult where there may have been little chance for HA development.
• Use Chair work to place the HA in the ‘driving seat’ and to ‘dial down’ reliance on coping modes and the influence of the Critic.
• Discover cognitive techniques to bolster a HA and to support mentalisation where there is fragmentation of the self.
• Use somatic techniques and transitional objects to foster a deeper connection between the HA and the needs of a fragile Vulnerable Child part.
• Learn how to integrate creative methods such as the use of toys, puppets and craft to support playful development and integration of a HA
• Therapists will learn about their own contribution to ‘schema chemistry’ and will learn strategies for staying within their own HA at times of clinical challenge and rupture.

This will be a lively and experiential workshop with video demonstrations of techniques and opportunities to practice under supervision.

Training costs and to book

£160.00 for a one-day workshop. 

Payment may be made by card or bank transfer. Please email us if your employer requires an invoice and/or if you wish to pay by bank transfer.

Add to cart

Body-focused interventions in schema therapy (Part I)

3-4th October, 2024 (in person)
(9.30am - 5.00pm UK time)

The British Psychological Society, 30 Tabernacle St, London EC2A 4UE

Janis Briedis and Dr Helen Startup, Consultant Psychologists 

This workshop presents the theory and experiential approach to integrating body-focused techniques to enhance schema therapy practice in a time-limited manner. These strategies are particularly useful for clients who present with complex needs and have histories of severe childhood neglect or trauma, and who have difficulties engaging with traditional schema therapy techniques.

This highly interactive and experiential workshop is designed for psychologists, psychotherapists, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals. Attendees should have an understanding of schema therapy model who wish to expand their repertoire for working with trauma and the body by incorporating simple but powerful somatically-focused interventions.

Topics covered at the workshop:

• Understanding the role of the body in trauma – the neurobiology underpinning complex trauma and fragmentation of self
• Barriers to working with the body both for the client and the therapist and how to overcome them  
• Tracking the body to identify triggers for modes and schemas
• Understanding the principles of working safely - helping clients stay within their Window of Tolerance while processing traumatic material
• Healing traumatic reactions, including freeze and submit states, with body-oriented affect regulation resources and working with intense affect, including anger, grief, terror
• Working on the therapist’s own body awareness to enhance self-regulation and to facilitate higher levels of attunement with and co-regulation of the clients in the therapeutic space
• Utilizing body techniques in the work with dissociation
• Enhancing imagery and chair techniques with somatic focus
• Somatic interventions for boundary setting and strengthening of a sense of self
• Facilitating development of an embodied healthy adult mode both for clients and therapists

Training costs and to book

£325 for a two day workshop.

Payment may be made by card or bank transfer. Please email us if your employer requires an invoice and/or if you wish to pay by bank transfer.
 

Add to cart

Schema Therapy for Complex Trauma: An Experiential Skills Masterclass

16-17^th May, 2024 (online)
(9.30am - 4.30pm UK time)

Janis Briedis and Dr Helen Startup, Consultant Psychologists

Individuals who have endured prolonged and/or severe trauma, with origins in their younger lives, often struggle to get their needs met in adulthood. The profound relational and experiential consequences of trauma also interfere with the very processes that are usually relied upon to build safety in a therapeutic encounter. For example, where there has been relational trauma, there will be mistrust, which may manifest as a complete avoidance of true connection, or as intense attachment to the therapist (and oscillation between the two). As therapy progresses, the process of developing a shared formulation in the context of inter-personal mistrust, high levels of dissociation and an unintegrated sense of self (sometimes manifesting as ‘mode flipping’), can lead to bewilderment or disengagement if there is not a framework for naming and containing this. Furthermore, intervening where there are high levels of dissociation, pre-verbal trauma and strong reliance on avoidant styles of coping, can be difficult where therapists overly rely on cognitive and narrative based interventions.

During this workshop we present the schema therapy approach to working with individuals who have endured severe and prolonged trauma. The workshop will cover the following topics:

• How to construct a shared and meaningful ‘schema mode formulation’ in the context of a highly fragmented sense of self
• The rationale for pacing this work safely and effectively – ‘walking the tightrope’ of regulation potentially overwhelming affect while processing trauma effectively
• A relational framework for using the therapy relationship for change where attachment has been severely disrupted
• Strategies for working with hyper-arousal and hypo-arousal including dissociation by drawing on ideas from the polyvagal theory, sensorimotor psychotherapy and somatic experiencing

Throughout the workshop we will present ways of augmenting the core change techniques of Schema Therapy – imagery, chair work, limited reparenting and empathic confrontation – by weaving in body focused techniques to directly address trauma reactions.  We will provide ample time for case discussion and for live practice.

Training costs and to book

£290 for a two-day workshop.

Payment may be made by card or bank transfer. Please email us if your employer requires an invoice and/or if you wish to pay by bank transfer.

Add to cart

Book a Workshop

To book a stand-alone workshop please send us an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

You are only required to complete an application form if you wish to apply for full accreditation. 

Workshops Overview 

We offer both a full accreditation programme and stand-alone workshops (see below). The taught component of the full accreditation programme consists of two 3-day workshops - Module 1 and Module 2. Both can be booked separately as stand-alone workshops. However, Module 2 can only be booked if Module 1 or an equivalent has been completed. 

We offer a variety of specialist stand-alone workshops both for accredited schema therapists and clinicians who have an interest in learning more about specific aspects of schema therapy. Please see below a list of upcoming workshops. 

We also offer bespoke tailor-made workshops to bring to your workplace. Please click here for further information. 

To book a workshop or enquire further please send us an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 


UPCOMING WORKSHOPS: 
  

Module 1: Schema Therapy Foundations: Theory and Core Skills
10-12th May, 2024 (online)

Schema Therapy for Complex Trauma: An Experiential Skills Masterclass
16-17th May, 2024 (online)

Schema-informed CBT for Perinatal Complexity: An Masterclass in Formulation and Experiential Skills
13-14th June, 2024 (online)

Module 2: Advanced Schema Therapy Skills for Complex Cases
12-14th July, 2024 (online)

Body-focused Interventions in Schema Therapy (Part I)
3-4th October, 2024 (London, face to face) 

Time-limited Schema Therapy for Complex Axis I Presentations
7-8th November, 2024 (online)

Strengthening Healthy Adult in Schema Therapy
6th December, 2024 (online)

CANCELLATION POLICY

We are not able to offer refunds. However, you can send someone else suitable in your place, or have credit to attend one of our workshops in the future. 

Tailor made workshops

Schema Therapy School offers the option of arranging training in your locality or at your place of work. 

As well as our full accreditation training package, we offer tailor made workshops that can be delivered at your work place. We can deliver introductory workshops or courses focussing on particular aspects of schema therapy or the application of schema therapy in specific settings. Please get in touch by emailing to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you would like to discuss these options further.