28 and 29 October

Following the highly successful joint conference in 2009, IFT and the Relate Institute are delighted to announce another collaborative event.

This will be a practice based conference for all those practitioners who work in voluntary, statutory and private sectors.  The conference will focus on the development of discourses around sexuality; seek to consider useful ways of talking with clients about sex and sexuality; seek to consider useful ways of talking with clients about sex and sexuality; and the effects on the family and wider systems.   

The keynote speakers and workshop presenters are leaders in the field and bring together a significant body of knowledge and experience of working with sexuality with couples, individuals and families.

Keynote speakers on Thursday 28th October

Presenter:  Dominic Davies is Director of Pink Therapy and co-editor (with Charles Neal) of a trilogy of leading British textbooks (Pink Therapy vols 1-3, Open University Press,1996 & 2000).  He has worked as a counsellor, psychotherapist and sex therapist with gender and sexual minority clients for almost 30 years and was a Fellow of the British Association for Counselling for his "distinguished contribution to the field".

Dominic's opening plenary will procide an overview of sex and sexuality from a non-hetero-normative perspective.  He will explore the meanings placed on sexuality and ideas generated about sexuality in multiple contexts.  he will also look at how a heterosexist lens (the dominant discourse) can lend a particular hue or tone to examining other's lives and how the rose tinted spectacles of the presenter might show an alternative perspective.

As an example of this ‘rose tinted lens’, we shall explore non-shaming sexuality affirmative perspectives of understanding sexual compulsivity in men who have sex with other men.  

We shall also be seeking to understand how non-monogamies (Barker and Langdridge 2010) can contribute to our understanding of relationships.

The presenter aims to help therapists tune into some of the key issues in working with gender and sexual minority clients and be aware of some of the common pitfalls in undertaking this work.

Presenter: Catherine Butler is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist and systemic psychotherapist in the Infection & Immunology Department at Barts & the London Trust. She was the research officer on the BPS HIV and Sexual Health Faculty committee and was previously on the BPS Lesbian and Gay Psychology Subsection committee and won their postgraduate research prize. Catherine has also worked in the private and voluntary sector, including as a couple/family therapist at PACE and as a therapist, trainer and Clinical Associate with Pink Therapy.

Catherine’s keynote entitled Adventures in Wonderland: moving beyond a heteronormative frame will explore the limiting effects of heteronormativity and sexual prejudice in the therapy room. She will explore alternative discourses including queer theory, social constructionism, systemic therapy and sexual & gender minority therapy. Dilemmas will be unpacked such as self-disclosure and valuing multiple perspectives which may lead us out of our familiar comfort zone. By removing the restrictions of what is ‘normal’, we free ourselves to co-construct with clients more meaningful and fulfilling lives, loves and dreams.

Dominic and Catherine will provide parallel workshops in the afternoon session extending these themes focusing on clinical work.

Keynote Speakers on Friday 29th October

Presenter: Damian McCann is a Consultant Family & Systemic Psychotherapist. Supervisor and Trainer working in a Child & Adolescent Service in north London. He is also a Clinical Associate of Pink Therapy and is in private practice specialising in sexual minority therapy.

Damian’s keynote will consider the place of sex and sexuality within the context of the family. He will engage with the challenges that sex and sexuality poses for families, particularly around areas of difference. He will help practitioners to position themselves within the therapeutic endeavour in this important piece of work. Developments in thinking about working with families in relation to ‘coming out’ issues, gender variant children and young people, parental sexuality and the limits of engagement will also be examined.

Presenter: Desa Markovic is a systemic therapist, supervisor and trainer. She has worked in the UK for the last 20 years and incorporates her work as a psychosexual therapist within a wider frame of working systemically. She has written, taught, presented and practiced clinically in the context of integrating systemic and sex therapy. Desa was Assistant Director of the Institute of Family Therapy between 2000 and 2004 and for two years prior to that, Senior Practice Consultant with Relate. She is currently Programme Director for Psychotherapy and Counselling at Regent’s College, London.

Desa’s keynote entitled Deconstructing Sex will address the importance of the rationale for opening up conversations about sex in therapy and propose ideas about bridging the thinking and practice between systemic and sex therapy. She will reflect on case examples where she combines systemic and sex therapy approaches in an integrated way. She will also offer her perspective on deconstructing social and cultural mythology and silence around the topic of sex and introduce a Model for Systemic Sex Therapy that she has developed through her years of working with clients presenting a wide range of sexual issues.

This will be an exciting opportunity to hear from and work with experienced therapists about their ideas and clinical practice in the area of sex and sexuality.

Fee for 2 days: £245 refreshments - light lunch included.