Men interrupting!
Men interrupting: two half-day workshops on ‘Working with men’, and ‘Interrupting in family systemic therapy’
Cost: £25 early bird until 4 November 2026, £29 after this date
St Nicholas Hospital (Jubilee Theatre)
Jubilee Road, Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne NE3 3XT, UK
Organiser
North East AFSP
The North East AFSP branch is pleased to host these two half-day workshops presented by Dr Ged Smith:
Morning workshop: Working with men
An opportunity to reflect on how we work with masculinity in therapy. The central theme of the day is that masculinity is a learned, rather than a natural or ‘hard-wired’ aspect of peoples’ behaviour and attitudes, and as such can be changed. For therapists, it is important we are able to respond to this concept within therapy by challenging both the socialisation process we are all subject to, as much as challenging themes around masculinity within the therapeutic relationship itself.
Afternoon workshop: Interruption
Working with families and couples is not for the faint hearted. Sometimes we have to be directive and assertive in order to bring in reticent voices or avoid others dominating. This occasionally requires that we interrupt people, which is not always easy, and may contravene the traditional therapeutic practices of patient listening and validating. It also brings into play the crucial matters of therapist power, as well as social graces such as gender, race, and many more. How do we position ourselves as nurturing therapists while we also stop people talking, where is the concept of “Self”, and can these practices be learned or taught?
Both workshops will include clinical examples to explore themes and will encourage dialogue with the participants.
About the presenter:
Dr Ged Smith is a family and systemic psychotherapist with 30 years’ experience; He works in consultant systemic psychotherapist, supervisor and trainer roles. He is a visiting lecturer at The Tavistock Clinic in London, as well as to Universities of Liverpool, Hull, Manchester, Lancaster and other educational institutes abroad including staff member at Malta Institute of Family Therapy. He publishes and presents his work all over the world, and has been editor of Context, the UK magazine for family therapy and systemic practice for several years, and AFSP rep with the European Family Therapy Association. Ged is based in his hometown of Liverpool.
(Please note, there will NOT be a recording or video link for the workshop.)
Lunch is not provided, but there is a canteen on-site and a nearby cafe.