relate: Creating and Sustaining Empathic Relationships
The relate course is about the power of empathy, the influence of our past on the present, our fundamental need for relationship, interdependence and our strivings to ‘belong’. relate is about ‘getting the story straight’, the story of our lives, and strengthening the context in which that story is being lived today. relate invites you to extend your relational repertoire and make fundamental changes in the way you experience God, your world, your neighbour and yourself. If you desire greater clarity about yourself, practical help to forge deeper connections with others and a broader frame of reference for viewing the world then relate will help get you started.This dynamic interactive course moves rapidly from theory to practice in every session. The relate course creates time for individual personal reflection, weekly partner work, eight member facilitated process groups, large group semi-structured spaces – and of course great new teaching material. relate will expand your awareness psychologically, interpersonally, emotionally and spiritually.
Course Details
For dates of upcoming relate courses, click here.FEES:
The full fee of $650 covers tuition and texts. This is a flat rate applying to all students. A $100 non refundable deposit will secure a place.Course Overview
The relate course is best understood in three interconnecting phases:
1) Getting the story straight: The personal story of my life.
2) Creating a strengthened life context: where relationships are reparative and where new and transforming emotional, psychological and spiritual experiences can take place
3) Repertoire expansion: new concert and specific communication tools for relational growth designed to create a new language of interdependence between you and those that you love.
Introduction
This unfolding introduction sets out the theological and philosophical framework on which the relate course rests. The core issue of bringing together Christian spirituality, developmental psychology and the relational wisdom of psychotherapy is addressed. The further questions and challenges of having a psychodynamic faith are also explored.Section One “Finding Myself”
This brief but important section contains skills to help student’s ‘warm-up to themselves’, get centred and prepare for the evenings class and other work ahead. Included in this section is the ‘Self-Empathy’ journal exercise designed to help students get more connected to their feelings and needs.Section Two “Finding the Other”
The critical work of the relate course is in creating and sustaining empathic connections. To create these connections we need to be keenly aware of “the other”. In this section we will learn how to make emotional contact and be aware of other people’s feelings and needs as they emerge in our day to day conversations. This “Finding the Other” section, will be addressed throughout the duration of the course and contains the philosophy, the skill set, and weekly opportunities to practice making genuine contact with others in a safe environment.Section Three “Finding Myself in the Story”
It is my conviction that when you are a stranger to yourself, you really are a stranger to everyone else, and everyone else is a stranger to you. In this section called “Finding Myself in the Story” you will discover a large variety of tools and concepts to help bring you to a greater sense of clarity about your story and how you find yourself in it. Drawing from a broad range of theorists in developmental psychology, counselling and psychotherapy this chapter is designed to help you create a “coherent narrative” that will give you a deeper sense of well being, authenticity, self-awareness and compassion.Genograms
The concept of Genograms was created by Monica McGoldrick and has served thousands of people in the task of being able to understand and literally SEE their own story. Genograms are visual family trees that focus on intergenerational family dynamics more than names, dates and places. Each student’s Genogram will likely unfold piece by piece as the course progresses and each person will have different emotional and practical investments in them. Be creative, allow your curiosity to lead you and be willing to go in differing directions as your family story comes to light.Section Four "Finding Interdependence"
The essential goal of the relate course is for students to achieve a high level of interdependence. Love for God, for ourselves, our neighbours and our world is my definition of a mature spirituality, a mature psychology and an empathic relationality. The specific goals of this section are: learning how to compassionately connect with one another on the feeling and need level, discovering our own genuine need to contribute to one another’s well-being, and finally adopting a shame free ability to ask for our own needs to be met.Section Five "Finding Myself in the Group"
Groups are where we start and finish our lives physically and psychologically. The group and its context are literally “where we find ourselves”. The group mind comes first in our lives, then our individual mind - “me before I”. This experiential part of the course brings much of the theoretical material into the “here-and-now” of our lived experience. The lecture material on group dynamics will bring your family and current groups into greater clarity while your own weekly process group will allow you to see, feel and understand those processes up close and personal.
