Proposed Programme & Speaker Details:

Professor Thomas Skovholt

Tom Skovholt is a faculty member at the University of Minnesota, USA and a part-time psychology practitioner. In addition to the University of Minnesota he has taught at the University of Florida, Hacetteppe University in Turkey and the National Institute of Education in Singapore. 

His current work on Practitioner Resiliency has roots in his own teaching, years of practice as a therapist and counselor, his own research and writing and that of his graduate students and the research literature in general. He has given presentations on Practitioner Resiliency to many groups in recent years such as college counsellors in San Diego, social workers in Israel, school counsellors in Mobile, Alabama, highly-experienced licensed psychologists in Wisconsin, medical students in Norway and child welfare professionals in Minnesota.

His co-authored books include The Evolving Professional Self: Stages and Themes in Counsellor and Therapist Development; Expertise in Counselling and Therapy: Master Therapist Studies from Around the World; and The Resilient Practitioner: Burnout and Compassion Fatigue Prevention and Self-Care Strategies for the Helping Professions. 

PRACTICE MASTERCLASS

The Resilient Practitioner: Self-Care, Burnout and Resilience for Professionals

The core of the Helping Professions is an intense one-way caring relationship between us and another person where we work to establish a positive trusting attachment. We must actively meet our client’s high distress level (anxiety-anger-depression), lack of knowledge, low motivation, ambivalence about us as a helper and lack of trust of others. Making positive attachments, establishing valuable working alliances, healing any ruptures between us and the client—these are professional skills that are central to the helping professions broadly defined. Being able to develop and maintaining these professional relationships for the client’s well-being is the heart of why our work is so valuable as an accelerated method for human development. To do this work with client after client, time after time, the helping professional must actively engage in activities, big and small,  that produce positive energy for this work---work that can drain so much from us even as it also gives us great meaning. Avoiding burnout--compassion fatigue--emotional depletion--vicarious trauma while developing professional resiliency and compassion satisfaction are crucial for long-term vitality and competence in our work. 

9.30-10.am – Welcome and Introduction (IASW Chair/ CPD Officer)

10am-4pm Master Class presented by Thomas Skovholt.

4-4.15pn- Closing IASW – Chair/ CPD officer asdt

Coffee at 11.15

Lunch at 1pm.

Please note Thomas is also delivering a keynote speech at the conference on the Friday. IASW members get a discount if booking both Thursday and Friday.

to book your place http://swconf.ucc.ie/reg/