Connecting with Self, Others and the Environment in a Complex World

CPD

Speaker

Dr. Linda Finlay Related seminars and products

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Dr. Linda Finlay practices as an existential, relational-centred integrative psychotherapist based in York and she teaches psychology/counselling at the Open University. She is also an academic consultant offering bespoke training, mentoring, and supervision packages on different aspects of relational/existential psychotherapy practice, research, and writing. She has published widely including textbooks and articles on relational and integrative psychotherapy, and also qualitative, phenomenological research and reflexivity.

Objectives

1. Hear from leading researchers on emerging themes within the psychotherapy research field 
2. Discover emerging research on the relationship between psychotherapy and environmental connection and consider its implications for therapeutic practice and community engagement. 
3. Explore how psychotherapists can cultivate deeper self-awareness and personal resilience in the context of a complex and evolving

Outline

Session 1: Wide open container: A qualitative study into how child and adolescent psychotherapists offer boundaries, confidentiality and a therapeutic container when working outdoors - Ms Vanessa Bear    

More and more psychotherapists feel the pull to work outdoors... drawn by the well-documented emotional, cognitive and physiological benefits that nature brings to children and young people. But stepping outside the therapy room also means stepping into the unknown. 

In this illuminating presentation, you’ll discover findings from a research study exploring exactly these questions. Through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with six experienced integrative child psychotherapists, this study dives deep into the practical, emotional, and relational dimensions of outdoor therapy. 

You’ll discover: 

• Real-world strategies for maintaining the therapeutic frame in nature, covering boundaries, confidentiality, and container-setting. 
• How seasoned therapists use their presence, embodiment, and relationship with nature as powerful tools for holding a safe, consistent frame. 
• Why the therapist’s connection to nature can become a co-therapist through offering support, containment, and emotional grounding. 
• Insights into how increased flexibility and individualised contracting can actually strengthen the therapeutic alliance both outdoors and indoors. 

Session 2: Nature allied psychotherapy: Exploring relationships with self, others and nature - Beth Collier  

As therapists, we are increasingly aware of the deep, systemic disconnection between people and the natural world... and the emotional, psychological, and cultural consequences of that rupture. 

This powerful presentation draws on over a decade of clinical work in natural settings to explore how Nature can serve not just as a backdrop, but as a co-therapist and dynamic container in long-term, relational psychotherapy. 

You’ll discover: 

• How Nature functions as a co-regulator, mirror, and emotional container in ongoing trauma-informed psychotherapy 
• A clear introduction to the theoretical foundations and philosophical rationale behind Nature Allied Psychotherapy 
• How natural spaces can support processing of complex trauma, especially when traditional clinical spaces feel limiting 
• Case studies from Wild in the City, illustrating innovative approaches to community healing, intergenerational reconnection, and restoring the oral tradition of learning about nature 
• A political and psychological analysis of nature disenfranchisement, especially among people of colour, and how this loss contributes to collective and individual trauma 

Session 3: Building connection through Creative Therapies - Matthew McCloskey, Miriam Sakwa, Nicola Brophy and Saz Domville  

How can creativity help us build connection where words fall short? 

This inspiring presentation introduces Arts for the Blues: a research-informed, creative psychotherapeutic model designed to support emotional wellbeing through the arts. Whether working in community settings, CAMHS, or with victims of domestic abuse, this model offers a flexible and effective way to build safety, connection, and self-expression. 

You’ll see how movement, music, visual art, and drama can become powerful tools for healing. 

You’ll discover: 

• An overview of the Arts for the Blues model and its evidence-based foundations 
• Best practices for using creative methods to support emotional expression, regulation, and connection in different settings 
• Insight into working with children and young people including examples from CAMHS and community-based projects 
• How arts-based approaches have supported victims of domestic abuse, helping them reconnect with their sense of agency and voice 
• An introduction to the Arts4Us research programme, including meaningful contributions from the Young Arts4Us PPIE group 
• Reflections on co-production, lived experience, and how participatory research is shaping more inclusive and relevant practice 

Session 4: Forming form: Researching practical and bodily knowledge - Dr Helena Kallner 

What if the most vital skills in psychotherapy aren’t found in textbooks... but in the therapist’s body? 

In a profession often dominated by theory and abstraction, this workshop brings much-needed attention to a different kind of knowledge: the bodily, practical, intuitive knowing that shapes how therapists hold space, make choices, and respond to the ever-changing moment. 

You’ll discover: 

• Phronesis in Practice: Discover Aristotle’s concept of practical wisdom and how it lives in the body, not just the mind 
• Embodied Knowing: Explore how therapists develop the ability to “know how to act” through movement, felt-sense, and lived experience 
• Alternative Research Methods: Learn how this study wove together focus groups, autoethnographic writing, and theory to illuminate what is often unseen and unnamed in our practice 
• The Active Movement of Holding : Understand "holding" not as a static container but as an embodied, responsive action grounded in attention, judgment, and presence 
• Verbalising the Body: Explore language as a bridge between bodily experience and conceptual understanding which is crucial for reflective practice and supervision 

Session 5: Double binds: An autoethnographic study of gay minority stress - Dr Paul C. Mollitt    

Why are so many LGBTQ+ clients still dissatisfied with therapy? 

Despite increasing awareness of inclusion, the concept of minority stress, a powerful psychosocial framework for understanding the mental health of marginalised groups, remains largely missing from mainstream therapeutic discourse. This presentation offers a compelling intervention. 

Drawing from his doctoral autoethnography, the speaker explores minority stress through a deeply personal lens: that of a gay man navigating a world of microaggressions, invisibility, internalised shame... and resilience. 

You’ll discover: 

• A clear, clinically grounded understanding of minority stress theory, including: 
  • Distal stressors (e.g. discrimination, rejection, prejudice) 
  • Proximal stressors (e.g. vigilance, concealment, internalised stigma) 
  • How these interwoven layers shape mental and physical health outcomes 
• How autoethnographic methods can give voice to lived experience, bridging the gap between cultural theory and clinical understanding 
• The affirmative and generative dimensions of minority stress: resilience, creativity, identity formation, and community healing 
• A critique of how some therapeutic models pathologise queer experience, and how therapists can do better through more informed, affirming, and culturally attuned practice 
• Practical implications for individual and group interventions, including an affirmative-exploratory model that honours both identity and struggle 

Session 6: Dyslexic or human being, a transpersonal perspective on labelling - Claudia Smith    

What does it mean to reclaim your sense of wholeness as an adult after being diagnosed as “broken” in childhood? 

In a culture where diagnoses are rising at unprecedented rates, this presentation asks a deeply personal and socially urgent question: 

What is the lived experience of an adult reclaiming their identity and self-worth after a childhood diagnosis of Dyslexia? 

Through the lens of personal narrative and professional insight, the speaker, a psychotherapist diagnosed with Dyslexia at age 8... 

...explores the lifelong psychological and emotional impact of early diagnostic labelling, and the journey toward healing, integration, and self-redefinition. 

You’ll discover: 

• The long shadow of childhood diagnosis: how labels meant to “help” can fragment identity and limit potential 
• The subtle (and not-so-subtle) ways diagnostic language can generate shame, internalised deficit narratives, and emotional disconnection 
• The complex process of reclaiming a sense of wholeness as an adult, a professional, and a human being 
• A critical, compassionate look at why diagnostic culture is accelerating, and what we may be losing in the process 
• How psychotherapy can become a space to unlearn pathologising stories, reconnect with innate strengths, and reimagine neurodivergence

Session 7: Refugees' Experience of Loneliness: Implications for healing and therapy - Dr Linda Finlay

In a time of rising global displacement and disconnection, mental health professionals are increasingly called to support individuals navigating the profound trauma of forced migration. But what really happens to a person’s sense of self, relationship, and hope when everything familiar is lost? 

This powerful, research-based presentation explores the hidden emotional landscape of refugee experience—and how psychotherapy can become a lifeline for reconnection, meaning, and restoration. 

You’ll discover: 

• The real psychological cost of social rupture, cultural exile, and systemic exclusion on refugees. 
• How grief, shame, and dislocation fragment the continuity of self across time—past, present, and future. 
• Why traditional therapeutic models often fall short in addressing the unique existential wounds of displaced individuals. 
• Concrete ways to support your refugee and asylum-seeking clients in their journey of Be-ing and Becoming—beyond mere survival toward thriving. 

Target Audience

• Psychotherapists
• Psychotherapeutic Counsellors
• Counsellors
• Other psychotherapeutic professionals from other professional bodies
• Those working in mental health, social change, climate change and ethics

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