This is an internal event for BCA members only. The workshop structure only allows 20 people! Tickets are sold on a first come first serve basis. 

Once tickets are sold out you can register your interest to be in a waiting list if you someone wants a refund of their ticket! For the waiting list, please email our Admin: admin@birkbeckcounsellingassociation.org 

The Past in the Present: 

Difficulties in Mourning

The workshop will focus on free associative discussion of clinical material. Paul views free
association as crucial in facilitating learning from the unconscious. He will introduce
vignettes to illustrate the difficulties of mourning and welcome other members of the
workshop, offering examples as they come to mind. He will draw on theory to elucidate
how recent developments in psychoanalytic thinking can help further our understanding of
difficulties in mourning. For example, obstructions to mourning are often linked to
projective identification, persecutory guilt, a destructive superego, and echoes of earlier,
unmounted losses that are revived in a recent loss. He will also discuss developments in
therapeutic technique that can enable these sorts of obstacles to be worked through in the
therapeutic relationship; for example, using counter-transference to guide when and how
to interpret, or what other kind of activity by the therapist could be useful.

Paul Terry is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist in private practice. During his career in public health, Paul worked in child, adolescent, adult mental health, forensic settings, and latterly in a specialist mental health service for older people. For many years, in tandem with clinical practice, he was Lecturer in Counselling at Birkbeck College, University of London. He has published extensively about using psychoanalysis in clinical work, and thinking about social and political issues. He can be seen discussing his latest book ‘A Clinician’s Guide to Understanding and Using Psychoanalysis in Practice’ (Routledge, 2023) on YouTube: 

 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLM1Cy44KcJskX7IeHaNGERh1tF0q6nJQ2

Tea and coffee will be provided at breaks.
Please bring your own pack lunch.