Many people suffer from mental, emotional, behavioral and physical problems which are difficult to explain clearly. These problems are often given names, or diagnoses, which sound like an explanation, but really these are just pseudo-explanations, words which mean nothing much more than the description of the problem itself, such as borderline, depression, anxiety, or addiction. These diagnoses don’t add any new information or explain how the problem was caused.

Benjamin had his own journey as a patient in a system which used these labels. He has spent years getting to understand a much deeper picture of why these conditions occur and has hundreds of hours of clinical practice sharing his explanations with clients in consultations.

His own experience, and the one he observed in his clients, is that there is great value in having a condition explained in a way which makes sense to them in lay-terms. It is a universal human trait that we calm down when we understand a problem. A logical explanation for something which has previously been attributed to a personal or moral failure reduces shame and self-chastisement.

This is a workshop on how to understand the process which has led to symptoms, often a great starting point for treatment. Many highly skilled clinicians, who are adept at treating the problems caused by these processes, find the more cognitive skill of psycho-education sometimes difficult to incorporate into their clinical work. This workshop will give a series of tools and frameworks to help with that.

Neurobiologicaly Informed Healthcare

The background of this approach to explaining symptoms, thoughts, emotions and behviours is the neurobiologically informed model of health care. At the core of this model is the nervous system and the fundamental role it plays in sustaining both good physical and mental health.

Benjamin’s workshop will explain this model by looking at human development from evolution through to complex modern relationships. It will explain why we have become unable to handle stress and threat like other mammals, and as a result our nervous systems have lost their natural rhythm of regulation.

This loss of regulation changes everything. Our relationships develop differently as children. Our biochemistry alters affecting us physically and mentally. Our view of reality is distorted. We find different behaviours and substances to use to try to restore regulation to our systems. Our adult relationships suffer. We develop sophisticated strategies for getting what we need as adults despite these handicaps. All of this comes into the consulting room, but often the links are unclear. This workshop will lay out a framework to connect them.

This non-pathologizing approach will help to view these disorders as being a natural human reaction to stress and unfinished responses to threat.

Course Details

Benjamin is the author of The Invisible Lion. You can see more about the book at www.theinvisiblelion.com

Tea and coffee is included in your ticket price but you will need to bring or find your own lunch. There will be two sessions, morning and afternoon. Morning and afternoon tea and coffee will be served during the breaks.

CPD certificates will be available during the afternoon tea break for all registered delegates.