Dual Relationships: Integrating the Personal and Professional
“I’d like to go to that workshop, but I’m anxious about seeing my therapist there.”
“In grad school they emphasized that we shouldn’t have dual relationships.”
“Was it therapeutic for me to share that personal information about myself with that client?”
Does any of this sound familiar? Our academic preparation for work as individual and group therapists can’t possibly prepare us for the reality that we are part of a “small town” where our personal and therapeutic relationships will intersect with our professional world.
In group work, we can struggle with sharing our deepest vulnerabilities with others that we may know in more than one capacity. Exposing ourselves in this way can be tricky, and requires us at times to silently contain confidential information in certain settings. Group is not a place where we can guarantee confidentiality; it is dependent on a shared commitment to maintain an awareness of the awesome responsibility of holding our knowledge of each other carefully and respectfully.
It is possible to increase our capacity for respecting others’ boundaries and develop the skills necessary to manage injury when it occurs. Working through this process of respect, injury, and repair is, at its heart, a vital component of forming and maintaining healthy and vibrant relationships.
Kristen Wicke and John Cooper have been working individually and together on developing both the personal and professional aspects of their relationships for several years. We invite you to join us for a weekend institute, exclusively for AGPS scholarship recipients, where we can explore the challenges and rewards of delving into the wonderful complexity of relationships where the personal and professional intersect.
Leaders: John Cooper, MA, LPC, CGP; Kristen Wicke, MA, LPC, CGP
Tickets Available: 3/24/21 @12:00pm
About the Presenters:
John Cooper, MA, LPC, CGP, is in private practice in Austin. Since 1987, he has worked in the helping professions of public and higher education, medical speech-language pathology, counseling and psychotherapy. He works with multiple populations in individual, couple, and group settings, including survivors of physical and/or emotional trauma, survivors of stroke/traumatic brain injury, members of the LGBTQ community, and those seeking to build healthier relationships with themselves, others, and money/finance. John approaches counseling and psychotherapy from a combination of attachment, neurobiological, and contemporary psychoanalytic orientations. He has led successful relational process groups for high functioning survivors of traumatic brain injury and for gay/bisexual men since 2014. As part of his ongoing commitment to excellence in the field, John is an active participant in his own individual/group therapy and professional development.
Kristen Wicke, MA, LPC, CGP, is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Certified Group Psychotherapist providing individual and group therapy to adults and adolescents in her private practice. Her passion for group therapy results from the massive personal and relational growth she has experienced personally and witnessed in her clients. Her objective as a group leader is to provide a holding environment for discussing personal issues while challenging group members to build self-awareness and try new ways of relating. She has over nine years of experience leading and participating in psychotherapy groups. Kristen strengthens her group leader skills through weekly individual and group consultation and ongoing training from the Center for Group Studies, the Austin Group Psychotherapy Society, and the American Group Psychotherapy Association.
Cost: Included with AGPS Scholarship
CEUs: 8.5 Continuing Education credits offered for Psychologists, Social Workers, LPCs, and LMFTs.
Schedule:
Saturday, April 17
9:00 - 9:15 Welcome and introductions
9:15 - 9:30 Didactic
9:30 - 10:30 Process Group
10:30 - 10:45 Break
10:45 - 12:15 Process Group
12:15 - 1:45 Lunch
1:45 - 3:00 Process Group
3:00 - 3:15 Break
3:15 - 4:15 Process Group
4:15 - 4:45 Review and discussion
Sunday, April 18
9:00 - 10:15 Process Group
10:15 - 10:30 Break
10:30 - 11:30 Closing Process Group
11:30 - 12:00 Review, discussion, and evaluations
Objectives:
Participants will be able to:
1. Identify common emotional responses that emerge when managing personal and professional duality in relationships with clients, colleagues, and mentors.
2. Describe their individual capacity to manage information about themselves and others in environments where dual relationships exist.
3. Demonstrate an increased capacity to manage the collision of personal and professional relationships.
