This two-day CPD workshop will introduce participants to the theory and skills of Schema Therapy.

Schema Therapy is an integrative approach to treatment that combines the best aspects of cognitive-behavioural, experiential, interpersonal and psychoanalytic therapies into one unified model. The Introduction to Schema Therapy course invites students to learn about the remarkable results that research has shown Schema Therapy to have in helping people to change negative ("maladaptive") patterns which they have lived with for a long time, even when other methods and efforts they have tried before have been largely unsuccessful.

Although schemas are usually developed early in life (during childhood or adolescence), they can also form later, in adulthood. This course informs students that these schemas are perpetuated behaviourally through the coping styles of schema maintenance, schema avoidance, and schema compensation. The Schema model of treatment is designed to help the person to break these negative patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving, which are often very tenacious, and to develop healthier alternatives to replace them. Throughout the course, students will have an opportunity to experience these concepts in practice.

Who is this course for?

This course is for counsellors and psychotherapists, including students, who are interested in understanding how internal schemas reinforce negative and unhelpful patterns of behaviour and how the application of schema therapy as a therapeutic approach can successfully break these cycles of unhealthy interaction styles.

What are the benefits of doing this course?

Students will gain theoretical knowledge of Schema Therapy along with a strong practical experience of working with schemas in a therapeutic setting. Students will gain insight into the key skills involved in this approach and have an opportunity to put these skills into practice. All learning can be transferred into a professional therapeutic setting.

What will you learn?

Students will be introduced to the concept of schemas and how they influence our interpersonal relationships. Insights will be gained in relation to how these schemas are developed and maintained through personal thinking, feeling and behaviour styles, in addition to delving into the schema as a coping mechanism. Students will be introduced to therapeutic strategies that challenge internal schemas and help break existing patterns of maladaptive behaviours.