Special Institute Presentations
AGPA offers two full-day Special Institute presentations on Monday, March 6 from 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM (Eastern) with a lunch period from 12:00 - 2:00 PM (Eastern).
Attendees have the choice to attend presentations by:
1) Nina Harris & Duke Fisher
2) Jeffrey Hudson, MEd, LPC, CGP, AGPA-F
Continuing Education for Special Institute Presentations: 6.0 credits/.6 units
SI-1: Restorative Circle Process: Powerful Practice for Individual and Group Transformation
The emerging field of restorative practices offers new opportunities for how we engage groups in finding connections and shared values, identifying, and meeting individual and collective needs, and repairing and transforming harm. The facilitators provide support and guidance, not through the lens of neutrality, but engaging in multi-partiality – a practice that facilitates access and equity. In this experiential session we will use circle practice to explore the philosophy, methodology and facilitation of restorative circles and their power to transform.
Nina Harris serves as the Restorative Resolution Coordinator in the IDHR Office. Nina facilitates adaptable resolution processes - such as facilitated dialogue, mediation, and restorative conferencing - as alternative resolution pathways to investigation/ adjudication for addressing concerns of bias, discrimination, harassment, and misconduct based on protected classes. Bringing the lens of restorative practice, she works to expand opportunities for holistic solutions to individual and community harm beyond just disciplinary action. An equity and violence prevention advocate, educator, and restorative justice practitioner with over twenty years of experience in higher education, administration, and student engagement, Nina has provided crisis and resource counseling for hundreds of survivors of gender-based interpersonal/sexual violence and identity-based harm and harassment. Her practice anchors around frameworks of anti-racism/anti-oppression, restorative/transformative justice, strength and resiliency building and trauma-informed praxis. Nina formerly held the roles of advocate, crisis counselor, program manager, educator and TIX/conduct case manager (for complainants and respondents) at Harvard University, Swarthmore College, and the University of Pennsylvania.
Duke Fisher is a trusted facilitator and mediator who facilitates meaningful conversation in schools, universities, and organizations worldwide. He is committed to building bridges to all of his participants and ensuring their needs are honored. Duke has been a New York State Certified Mediation Trainer since 1989. He is the past director of the Dispute Resolution Center for Delaware and Chenango Counties and has taught mediation courses worldwide, including at Hofstra and Albany Law Schools. As a lead trainer for the University of San Diego Center for Restorative Justice, Duke frequently trains community agencies and educational institutions in restorative practices that help build community, respond to incidents of crime or misconduct, and successfully reintegrate students after suspension. Duke is the 2007 “Lawrence P. Cooke Peace Innovator Award” recipient recognized for his never-ending search for creative methods to support effective learning and address conflict.
Learning Objectives
The attendee will be able to:
- Articulate the basic principles and values of Restorative Justice/Restorative Practices.
- Develop critical awareness of one’s facilitation style and restorative values.
- Distinguish multi-partial facilitation from neutral facilitation.
- Identify different types of restorative circles and their application.
- Design an effective restorative circle process.
- Utilize restorative methods in 1:1 coaching for circle process.
- Employ the frameworks of non-violent communications and needs-based conflict resolution.
References
Gavrielides, T. (2017). The Psychology of Restorative Justice: Managing the power within. Routledge.
Wactel, T. (2012). Defining restorative - IIRP. www.iirp.edu. Retrieved December 16, 2022, from https://www.iirp.edu/images/pdf/Defining-Restorative_Nov-2016.pdf.
Williams, A. (2019). Family Support Services delivered using a restorative approach: A framework for relationship and strengths‐based whole‐family practice. Child & Family Social Work, 24(4), 555–564. https://doi.org/10.1111/cfs.12636.
SI-2: Emotional Availability in Group: Expanding the Capacity for Intimacy in Group Members and Leaders
Jeffrey Hudson, MEd, LPC, CGP, AGPA-F
As psychotherapists we routinely work with our patients' availability for emotional engagement. Our success depends, in part, on our own emotional availability. During this Special Institute, we will examine openness and resistance to emotional involvement in groups and discuss common sources of resistance for members and leaders. As we deepen our understanding of resistance, we can more readily welcome both positive and negative transferences. Additionally, we will explore Modern Psychoanalytic approaches to working with resistance, such as joining, emotional communication, and contact functioning.
Jeff Hudson has been a group psychotherapist in private practice in Austin, Texas for over 30 years. His practice includes solo and co-leadership of therapy and training groups in Austin, ongoing training groups in Nashville, and online groups of clinicians from a wide variety of backgrounds. Jeff is a graduate of the Center for Group Studies in New York, and a fellow of AGPA. He has served as President of the Austin Group Psychotherapy Society and, for 14 years, as a Board Member of the Group Foundation for Advancing Mental Health, including two terms as the Vice Chair. A frequent presenter on group treatment locally and nationally, Jeff’s training and consultation focuses on transference, countertransference, developing fluency with one’s emotional experience, and helping clinicians achieve their professional goals.
Learning Objectives
The attendee will be able to:
- Describe the difference between objective and subjective countertransference.
- Define countertransference resistance and recognize its role in group leadership.
- List common sources of countertransference resistance.
- Name three patient fears that impede emotional intimacy.
- Identify interventions to facilitate emotional communication.
- Discuss the role of acceptance in effective group leadership.
References
Black, A.E. (2017). On Attacking and Being Attacked in Group Psychotherapy. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 67(3), 291-313.
Hudson, J.S., E.J. Cooper, M.B. Kranzberg & L. Motherwell (2017). Current and Future Challenges in Group Therapy. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 67(Sup 1), S219-S239.
Levine, R. (2017). A Modern Psychoanalytic Perspective on Group Therapy. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 67(Sup 1), S109-S120.
Ormont, L.R. (1988). The Leader’s Role in Resolving Resistances to Intimacy in the Group Setting. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 38(1), 29-45.
Zeisel, E.M. (2012). The Leader’s Use of Self: A Modern Analytic Approach to Working in the Intrapsychic and Interpersonal Realm. Modern Psychoanalysis, 37(2), 43-58.
