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CPD Trauma and Transference

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Michelle Hamill, 2016. CPD Trauma and Transference. Reformulation, Winter, p.42.

 

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I attended Steve Potter’s CPD workshop on ‘Trauma and Transference’ on 13th November 2015. It was the first CPD event I had been to since returning from maternity leave in March and I had been really looking forward to it; to reconnect with Steve and some of the CAT community, and to refocus and develop my skills in therapeutic mapping of trauma. Having done my supervisor’s workshop with Steve back in 2011 I valued his encouragement to let go of some of my previously unhelpful notions about ‘perfect maps’, instead ‘mapping’ from the start of therapy to engage and join with patients in starting to co-construct a meaningful dialogue about their difficulties. The lasting effects of complex and early trauma are often central to my clinical work with older adults, and that of the colleagues that I supervise. Having a day to think and reflect on the process of this work, using CAT to map the enactments of trauma within the therapeutic relationship, was refreshing and reinvigorating.

 

Steve’s active style of facilitation and experiential mapping of our ‘safe enough’ to share experiences of trauma in small groups was a powerful learning experience. I was really fortunate to end up in a small group with another psychologist and our shared mapping experiences of recent work related difficulties (which we were both experiencing as personally and professionally painful and challenging) ended up being a mutually supportive supervisory/ therapeutic experience. I was very grateful to have had this space away from work to map and then process these experiences, which I had felt really stuck with. Being heard and validated through the mapping, allowed these experiences to be held, thought about and worked through. Although very tired by the end of the day I felt clearer about things going forward, and returned to work the next week ready to move forward again.

Dr. Michelle Hamill

Lead Clinical Psychologist,
Mental Health Care of Older People,
East London NHS Foundation Trust,