European Symposium on person centered and experiential psychotherapy

May 10, 2019 - May 12, 2019

Warsaw | Euro 180-480

Keynote sessions

‘Relational depth’: Moments of movement in therapy

Mick Cooper – United Kingdom

Relational depth’ is a concept developed by Dave Mearns, and refers to moments of profound contact and encounter in the therapeutic relationship.  These are the moments where we feel profoundly ‘touched’ by clients: a heart-to-heart meeting in which something deeply important seems to happen in the therapeutic work. This talk will give a state-of-the-art review of what we know of relational depth in therapy, based on research conducted over the last two decades.  It will explore therapists’ and clients’ experiences of relational depth, factors that facilitate these moments of deep connection, their impact on clients, and what therapists can do to facilitate their emergence.Mick Cooper is an internationally recognised authority in the field of counselling and psychotherapy and a chartered psychologist. Mick is author of a range of texts on humanistic, existential and relational approaches to therapy, and co-developed the pluralistic approach with Professor John McLeod. Mick is Director of the Centre for Social and psychological Transformation (CREST) at the University of Roehampton.His principal areas of research have been in shared decision-making/personalising therapy, and counselling for young people in schools.  In 2014, Mick received the Carmi Harari Mid-Career Award from Division 32 of the American Psychological Association. He is a Fellow of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy and the Academy of Social Sciences. 

The change process in person-centered and experiential therapies

Gerhard Stumm – Austria

Therapeutic change through the lens of pluralistic perspectives: classical person-centered, interpersonal, existential, FOT and EFT.

Gerhard Stumm, Ph.D., is a person-centred therapist in Vienna, a clinical and health psychologist, and trainer of the Forum, a training institute for person-centred therapy in Austria; numerous publications: e.g. co-editor of Die vielen Gesichter der Personzentrierten Psychotherapie (The many faces of Person-centred psychotherapy) (2002), Grundbegriffe der Personzentrierten und Focusing-orientierten Psychotherapie (Basic concepts of Person-centred and Focusing-oriented psychotherapy) (2003), Praxis der Personzentrierten Psychotherapie (Practice of Person-centred psychotherapy) (2014).