Chairwork is considered to be an important technique within schema therapy. With this technique, schema therapists can work on schema’s and modes on an experiential level, allowing the patient to internalize meaningful, healthier messages. Many therapists experience this technique to be difficult. Either they feel themselves not experienced enough since it’s not their usual way of working with patients. Or they encounter specific challenging situations that haven’t been covered in their basic ST training, e.g. the coping mode is so strong that it doesn’t make any difference to let the patient sit in the chair of the Vulnerable Child mode. Or the Punitive Parent mode is so strong that you seem to be unable to win the battle and start feeling helpless. Maybe you are also struggling with the different styles you can use to fight the Guilt-inducing- or Demanding Parent mode
This training aims to provide specific methods to fine tune the already existing skills of the participants in order to make them more effective and efficient in working with parent- and or coping modes. The objective is that this day should be an enjoyable, educational experience involving a lot of practice within a secure atmosphere, in order to enable the therapists to apply chairwork more often and more effectively.
Topics that will be covered on these days:

• Strong coping modes blocking the patient from connecting to their emotions
• Strong parent modes
• Mode flipping; how to deal with the patient constantly flipping from one mode to another
• The use of chairs in strengthening the Healthy Adult

Imagery rescripting is generally regarded as one of the most effective techniques within schema therapy. However, it is often difficult to apply this technique. For instance, therapists are regularly faced with challenging situations in which, for example, the client says ‘I have no memories of my childhood’ or ‘I don’t want to dredge up those old memories, what would be the point of that?’. Furthermore, patients have often been so damaged by their childhoods that childhood memories are very emotionally charged. As a result, therapists are inhibited from using imagery to bring back images from that charged past for fear of decompensation.
This training aims to make therapists more proficient in applying imagery rescripting. Existing skills will be refined and challenging situations discussed and practiced. During the workshop, use will be made of recently developed teaching materials specifically focused on imagery exercises and based on the most recent insights and experiences of this method. Specialist fields of application will also be discussed, such as imagery rescripting in flash-forwards and nightmares.
The objective is that this day should be an enjoyable, educational experience involving a lot of practice within a secure atmosphere, in order to enable the therapists to apply imagery rescripting more often and more effectively.

The workshop is aimed at therapists who are already working with Chairwork and Imagery with Rescripting (standard level) and who wish to increase their skills and the effectiveness of this intervention.