On Demand: Liberating the Core Self from the confines of Heterosexist Oppression in AEDP™

Presented by: Kate Halliday, LCSW and Ben Medley, LCSW

Recorded for OnDemand Learning (Live Seminar was Presented February 9 + 10 , 2024 ) 

A seminar for everyone, of every sexual orientation*

*We especially welcome community members who identify as straight or heterosexual.

This seminar is intended for Psychologists, Psychoanalysts, Social Workers, Counselors/Marriage and Family Therapists, Creative Arts Therapists. Course Content Level: Beginner + Intermediate + Advanced


Level: This seminar content will benefit clinicians with some familiarity with AEDP. Participants with no prior experience with AEDP will be introduced to this unique model that goes beyond working with repairing what went wrong, and privileges working with positivity and emergence. If you would like to familiarize yourself, please consider reading the first chapter in AEDP 2.0.

Description:

Heterosexism affects us all, no matter how we may identify on the spectrum of sexual identity.

For those who identify with a sexual minority group, living in a world that favors and expects heterosexuality can be both an alienating and traumatic experience. For members of this population, experiences of heterosexism have been linked to increases in depression and suicidality, anxiety, symptoms of PTSD, attachment injury and substance abuse. Not only can relationships with others be negatively impacted by heterosexism, but tragically, internalized heterosexism has also been shown to negatively affect how one views, experiences and relates to themselves.

Those who are “advantaged” by heterosexism may also find themselves and their relationships to others restricted and negatively impacted. However, due to the insidious nature of oppression, anyone can uphold heterosexist norms and systems-knowingly and unknowingly- whether they are advantaged or oppressed by heterosexism. This is true for clients and for therapists.

In this interactive seminar, Ben Medley and Kate Halliday will help clinicians explore how to explicitly and therapeutically work with the negative effects of heterosexist oppression using AEDP and the triangle of social experience. By explicitly recognizing systems of heterosexist oppression and the negative impact these systems can have on clients, the AEDP therapist seeks to dyadically co-create new, positive experiences in therapy. Healing is catalyzed by a focus on deeply processing core affect connected to experiences of heterosexism, in relationship to an informed, supportive, authentic and emotionally present therapist. As a result, the core self can be liberated from internalized heterosexism giving the client access to more internal resources, self-compassion, understanding and new cohesive narratives.

Learning Objectives:

  • Identify the negative effects of heterosexism on internal views of self and others
  • Describe how to use the Triangle of Social Experience to track the relationship between experiences of heterosexism, client’s symptoms, and internal working models of social groups, self and others
  • Identify clear strategies and tools to comfortably use AEDP to explicitly address internalized heterosexism
  • Identify how the AEDP stance helps therapists avoid making assumptions about any client’s sexual identity and have open dialogue with all clients about sexual identity
  • Define intersectionality and how heterosexism overlaps and intersects with other systems of oppression, such as genderism, sexism and white supremacy
  • Develop experiential methods for helping clients access the Core Self and increase self-compassion
  • Demonstrate greater ability and sensitivity in integrating AEDP theory and clinical work with members of sexual minority groups

Presenter: Kate Halliday, LCSW

Kate Halliday, LCSW, (she, her, hers) is an AEDP senior faculty member  from Ithaca, New York.

Kate is a white, cis-female, lesbian psychotherapist born and brought up in the UK, now based in Ithaca New York. She has been in private practice since 1998 after a number of years spent in community human service agencies. As a member of the AEDP community, Kate is particularly pleased to have developed and maintained a thriving local AEDP group in the Finger Lakes region of New York. As Senior Faculty, she teaches the Essential Skills courses, and developed her “Experience Teaches” series. Her Advanced Skills courses have a focus on the “+1” aspects of being an AEDP clinician. She has also re-discovered an early passion for time limited treatment as a member of the AEDP Research project.

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Presenter: Ben Medley, LCSW

Ben Medley, LCSW (he/him/his) is an AEDP senior faculty member and has taught AEDP internationally with the AEDP Institute, the National Institute of Psychotherapy, the Cape Cod Institute, NASW and in mental health organizations and clinical practices. He has a private practice in New York City and specializes in working with the LGBTQ+ community. Ben earned his degree in Clinical Social Work with the NYU Silver School of Social Work. Before private practice, Ben worked in Greenwich House’s HIV mental health program and the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services’ LGBTQ+ mental health treatment unit. His paper “Recovering the True Self: Affirmative Therapy, Attachment and AEDP in Psychotherapy with Gay Men” is published with the SEPI Journal: the Journal of Psychotherapy Integration and he has written a chapter on using portrayals to process core affective experience for the most recent AEDP book Undoing Aloneness and the Transformation of Suffering Into Flourishing: AEDP 2.0, Washington D.C.: APA. He has also presented with AEDP faculty member Kate Halliday the “5 Star” seminar Liberating the Core Self from the Confines of Heterosexist Oppression with AEDP and with AEDP faculty member Ben Lipton Undoing Shame and Healing Attachment Trauma with straight and gay men (also available on demand). His newest work, a book chapter on AEDP, will be published in Experiential Therapies for the Treatment of Trauma with Routledge Publishing Company.


Requirements

AEDP Institute On Demand Trainings are to be viewed on your private computer or smart device. They are intentionally not downloadable; we “stream” them. So, having a high speed Internet connection is important to having a good learning experience.

This training is intended to be viewed only by mental health professionals and students in mental health or related fields. You will be asked to provide evidence of and swear to uphold your professional credentials before completing registration and payment and receiving access to the materials.

Attendance and Makeup Policy & Refunds

Scholarships are available. To learn more and apply, please go here.


ADA Accommodations | Attendance | Refund Policy | Questions

ADA Accommodations
All AEDP Institute Trainings are offered Live Online.
Should you need any modification or accommodation to allow you to effectively
participate, please contact Marilia Rodriguez, admin@aedpinstitute.org or call
813-5553-1294 thirty days or more before the event so we can be sure to accommodate
you.

Attendance and Makeup Policy & Refunds:

Course and all customer service related questions:
Please contact Customer Service Administrator
Marilia Rodriguez
admin@aedpinstitute.org
813-553-1294
Office Hours: 9:00 – 5:00 PM Eastern Time USA