May 9 Workshop
Presenter: David Russell
This workshop is open to all. The aim is to invite participants, from all and every background, to consider the therapeutic experience as a meeting of two embodied minds for the purpose of meaning making and action taking.
There will be an emphasis on ‘case formulation’ as the process of tentative conceptualisation of the psychological disturbance (with reference to the social, cultural, economic, environmental, and spiritual aspects) that brought the client into this particular therapeutic relationship.
It will be via the vehicle of a case formulation that the differing worldviews, of ‘evidence-based’ psychological therapy and of Jungian psychotherapy, will surface and be discussed.
This will not be a therapeutic workshop in that there is no intention to conduct a therapy session.
Dr David Russell is a psychologist and psychotherapist in private practice (East Sydney). He also holds the position of Associate Professor (Adjunct) in the School of Psychology at the University of Western Sydney. Through the study of the history and philosophy of psychology whilst a student at the University of Sydney he was drawn to the works of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. However, the spirit of the times being as they were, the only area for a PhD candidate in psychology interested in therapeutic methods was cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT). Following a few years in private practice he moved into a teaching/research position with UWS and was responsible, as part of a small and enthusiastic group, firstly for the foundation of degrees in Social Ecology and then a master’s degree in Analytical Psychology (a postgraduate course-work program based on the works of Carl Jung and the post Jungians). David has recently retired from the academic life in order to more fully pursue his therapeutic practice.