Keynote speakers

Friday 6 October 09:30–10:30

Oliver James – Clinical Psychologist and Author

The impact of affluenza on modern relationships

Affluenza is the virus of wanting money, possessions, better appearances (physical and social) and fame. Studies from 14 different countries demonstrate that people infected with the virus are more likely to suffer depression, anxiety, personality disorder and substance abuse.

The virus-infected also suffer more disordered relationships: more divorce, worse relationships with children, skin-deep friendships, a lack of intimacy. The clinical implications of the virus for counselling distressed clients are presented, with reference to conventional therapeutic approaches to relationship counselling.

Friday 6 October 16:15–17:15

Roz Carroll – Body Psychotherapist

Being in two minds: how neuroscience sheds some light on the tensions and paradoxes of the therapeutic relationship

Neuroscientific research shows that brain and body are hugely interlinked and interactive. Feelings, movement, and instincts all involve the brain's perception of the body in action. The right brain is further specialised to process bodily and facial information relating to another person. As human beings we have a remarkable capacity to be able to resonate with another's state of mind (and body). But we also have a part of the brain – the left cortex – that is relatively detached from the body. The left brain is dominant for language, analysis, attention to detail, and theory. The right brain tends to operate in pictures and through feelings. Understanding more about these two sides of the brain throws some light on the paradoxes and tensions of psychotherapy such as: can we feel and think clearly at the same time? Can we be fully in touch with our own state, while paying close attention to the other? Can we bear the intensity of relating to another and find a way to talk about what's going on?

Saturday 7 October 09:30–10:15

Helen Osman – Head of Customer Solutions, Mintel

If we cannot sort out the epidemic of depression (according to Mintel) then how do we hope to be happy with each other at all?

The findings of two surveys undertaken for BACP by Mintel in March 2006 will be presented. The first survey looks at the incidence of depression and anxiety among the whole population, while the second survey examines in more detail the experiences of 500 people who had reported that they had suffered depression/anxiety severe enough to warrant them consulting a GP or therapist. It explores the causes of depression, how people deal with mental problems of this nature and their use and assessment of the benefits of counselling and therapy.

Saturday 7 October 16:00–17:00

Ernesto Spinelli – Existential Psychotherapist & Senior Fellow, School of Psychotherapy and Counselling, Regent's College

Embracing the World: The Therapeutic Relationship as Viewed by Existential Psychotherapy

Existential psychotherapy places pivotal significance upon the inter-relational aspects of human experience. By so doing, the therapeutic relationship itself becomes the principal means through which the client's presenting symptoms and disorders are disclosed as direct expressions and outcomes of the client's overall 'way of being' rather than as isolated and disruptive impediments. This paper examines the therapeutic relationship as viewed from four primary inter-relational dimensions. Further, it focuses upon psychotherapy's tendency to exclude 'the world' from the therapeutic relationship and provides two novel and challenging alternatives whose principal aim is to 'bring the world back into the therapeutic relationship'.

Biographies

Oliver James

Oliver James is Britain's best-known psychologist. His television interview with Peter Mandelson, in which the erstwhile MP shed a tear, achieved front page prominence in all the broadsheet newspapers in 1997, but today James is most famous for his frequent broadcasting appearances and his bestselling book, They ff*** you up – how to survive family life. It demonstrates the crucial role of our early childhood years in forming our adult personalities and ambitions. His new book Affluenza – How to be successful and stay sane will be published in September.

After a degree at Cambridge University and training as a clinical psychologist, he worked in the Cassel mental hospital and as a management consultant, before becoming a bestselling author, journalist (he has had columns in five national newspapers, most recently the Observer Magazine), radio broadcaster and television presenter (most recently, two series of parenting programmes for ITV's This Morning).

He has done in-depth interviews with over 70 celebrities on television (Stephen Fry first announced that he was gay in one of James' programmes) and interviewed 20 chief executives for newspapers.

While Jack Straw was at the Home Office, James attended bi-monthly lunches with the Home Secretary to help him develop the department's strategy.

James lives in the Cotswolds with his wife and two small children.

Roz Carroll

Roz Carroll is a body psychotherapist, trainer and supervisor practising in West London. She teaches at the Minster Centre, the Chiron Centre and the Centre for Attachment-based Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy. Roz has become well known as a speaker through her lectures for Confer on topics from depression to defences, and also through her seminar series Emotion and Embodiment, which explores the relevance of neuroscience for psychotherapy. She is a member of the Society for Neuro-Psychoanalysis. Her recent publications include chapters in Revolutionary connnections, New dimensions in body psychotherapy, How does psychotherapy work? and About a body: working with the embodied mind in psychotherapy. Many of her articles are available on www.thinkbody.co.uk

Helen Osman

Helen is Head of Custom Solutions at Mintel, the international marketing research group. Helen joined Mintel five years ago to set up a new consultancy division, which now undertakes business development research for a wide range of organisations, ranging from government departments, charities, through to multi-national companies. Helen has a Master's degree in sociology and diplomas in marketing, is a member of the Market Research Society and describes herself as a commercial sociologist. She regularly runs seminars and workshops for companies wanting to understand the implications of social and market trends for their businesses.

Ernesto Spinelli

Professor Ernesto Spinelli is a Fellow of both the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and the British Psychological Society (BPS) as well as a UKCP registered existential psychotherapist and APECS registered executive coach and coaching supervisor. In 1999 he was awarded a Personal Chair as Professor of Psychotherapy, Counselling and Counselling Psychology. His authorship of numerous specialist articles and several highly respected and widely read books dealing with the theory and practise of existential psychotherapy has earned him a BPS Counselling Psychology Division Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Advancement of the Profession as well as an international reputation as a leading figure in the advancement of contemporary existential psychotherapy, coaching and mediation. Ernesto is Senior Fellow at the School of Psychotherapy and Counselling, Regent's College, London and Founding Director of ES Associates.

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