Working with Anger and Empathic Confrontation in Schema Therapy

22 -  23rd April 2027
Online, UK
with Helen Startup and Janis Briedis

This two‑day workshop offers a Schema Therapy masterclass in working with anger (Day One) and using Empathic Confrontation across the spectrum of challenging modes (Day Two).

Day One centres on recognising the anger “mode in action” — most commonly the Angry Child, Angry Protector, Bully Attack, Self‑Aggrandizer, or Punitive Critic — each shaped by unmet emotional needs. Building on this conceptualisation, participants will learn to work effectively with parts of the self that feel overwhelmed by anger, depend on it for protection, or avoid it altogether. The day also supports therapists in exploring their own responses to anger and developing approaches that help clients process anger related core pain and integrate these experiences within the Healthy Adult mode.

Day Two provides an in‑depth immersion in Empathic Confrontation (EC), a core Schema Therapy technique for navigating complex mode presentations and relational challenges. EC blends warmth, attunement, and validation with the capacity to gently challenge entrenched, unhelpful patterns. It allows therapists to address difficult issues in the moment without rupturing the therapeutic relationship, helping clients feel understood while creating space to reflect on coping or critic modes that maintain their difficulties.

Across the day, therapists will be supported to build confidence and precision in using EC, with guided practice focused on timing, language, emotional presence, and balancing empathic confrontation with limited reparenting. Participants will learn to intervene effectively while maintaining safety and connection, strengthening the therapeutic alliance as a foundation for meaningful change.

Together, these two training days offer a rich, experiential masterclass in relational and mode‑based tools for navigating some of the most challenging clinical encounters.

The workshop will cover:

Day One: Working With Anger Across Modes

• How anger presents across key modes (Angry Child, Angry Protector, Bully Attack, Self‑Aggrandizer, Punitive Critic)
• Distinguishing primary anger (Angry Child) from secondary anger (Coping and Critic modes)
• Identifying the “mode in action,” the unmet need beneath it, and the appropriate therapeutic antidote
• Creative and experiential interventions for working with the Angry Child
• Accessing anger beneath a Compliant Surrenderer presentation
• Reaching the unmet needs embedded in anger and integrating them within the Healthy Adult
• Stabilising ourselves as therapists when anger arises in the therapeutic relationship

Day Two: Empathic Confrontation in Practice

• Delivering confrontation to coping or critic modes without wounding the Vulnerable Child or causing rupture
• Balancing empathy, validation, and limit‑setting
• Spotting schema‑driven behaviours and therapy‑interfering modes in real time
• Using tone, timing, and language with precision
• Repairing the therapeutic alliance after confrontation
• Applying empathic confrontation across coping modes (compensatory, avoidant, compliant) and critic modes (punitive, demanding)

How you’ll learn: 

• Bespoke videos and live demonstrations of core schema therapy techniques
• Guided practice in imagery, chair work and empathic confrontation
• Interactive exercises and case-based discussion
• Reflective space to explore your own schema activation around anger and empathic confrontation
• Delegates will receive the workshop recording, slides and handouts 

Trainers

Dr Helen Startup is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist with over 20 years’ experience working in the NHS and Private Practice. Helen has a PhD in psychological mechanisms of anxiety and worry and is interested in the role of complex emotional states as core transdiagnostic processes across mental health presentations. She has worked as a researcher and clinician in specialist settings for those with eating disorders, personality disorders and psychosis. She is passionate about improving outcomes for those with complex mental health needs. She co-directs Schema Therapy School UK.

Janis Briedis is a Consultant Psychologist, advanced level Schema Therapist, Supervisor and Trainer with many years of clinical experience in the NHS and private practice. He teaches regularly schema therapy, CBT and trauma-focused approaches in a variety of NHS and academic settings. Janis has worked in primary care, drug and alcohol, LGBT services, community mental health teams and specialist psychology services and has a wide range of clinical experience working particularly with complex trauma, dissociation, personality disorders and relationship difficulties. Janis is a co-director at Schema Therapy School UK.