TRainings

Family estrangement comes up in the therapy room for many clients, and it tends to surface even more as the holidays approach. You may encounter clients considering distance from a family member, grieving an estrangement they didn't choose, navigating reconnection, or living somewhere in between. How we respond as clinicians is shaped not only by our training, but by our own identities, family history, values, and beliefs.

This experiential training invites clinicians to reflect on what comes up for them personally around family estrangement, so they can better meet clients where they are in their own process. We'll explore what estrangement is and the many forms it can take, look at the importance of attachment history, and consider how to support clients through this work. Drawing on Gestalt and relational approaches, we'll focus on using the therapeutic relationship as a container in which clients can safely explore the many feelings associated with estrangement, including grief, anger, guilt, relief, and ambivalence, from a here-and-now perspective. Participants will reflect and share in small groups and will have the opportunity to bring their reflections and questions to the larger group for discussion.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this training, participants will be able to:

1. Define family estrangement and describe at least three forms it can take, including estrangement that is chosen, unchosen, and mutual.

2. Explain the prevalence of estrangement according to recent data.

3. Identify their own personal responses, beliefs, or biases about family estrangement and describe how these may affect their clinical work.

4. Name at least two supportive interventions for clients navigating estrangement.

Educational Goals

In this training, participants will learn to:

1. Acknowledge and validate clients experiences of family estrangement without introducing biases or expected outcomes.

2. Bring awareness to their own intrapsychic experiences that are evoked when clients bring this topic into therapy.

3. Use the therapeutic relationship as a container to support clients’ self-discovery about needs and boundaries in relationships.

4. Work with family estrangement from a person-centered, here-and-now framework.

Continuing Education

This course meets the qualifications for 2 hours of continuing education credit for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs, and/or LEPs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. The Bay Area Gestalt Institute is approved by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences as a continuing education provider, Provider #135571. The Bay Area Gestalt Institute maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

Participants may cancel for a full refund until 24 hours before the training (9am Thursday, November 19th). No refunds are available for cancellations within 24 hours of the scheduled training or for no-shows or failure to attend due to emergencies. If the training must be cancelled or rescheduled, registrants will be notified by email. If the training is cancelled by Bay Area Gestalt Institute for any reason, participants will receive a full refund within 10 business days. Refunds will be processed via the original payment method.

Participants must attend the full training to receive CE credit. Certificates of completion will be issued upon completion of the training and course evaluation. For questions, accessibility accommodation requests, or grievances, please contact bagisf@gmail.com