Unstuck: Moving towards emotional health

Workshop by invitation only.

Description:

People are more anxious, aggressive, and shut down than ever. We were seeing this epidemic of emotional health crises and behavioral problems before COVID 19 and are now watching as these behaviours only intensify following this turbulent time.

Based on the developmental insights of Dr. Gordon Neufeld and Dr. Gabor Mate, we will explore some of what is behind the challenging behaviours that we see around us and sometimes in us. What’s the emotion behind aggression? Why do humans have a built-in alarm system?  And how does our defense system both protect us but also make change challenging?

This workshop will explore the roots of aggression and anxiety and offer practical suggestions for how we can support those we work with to find emotional rest. We will examine some of the specific dynamics of adolescence, including the construct of counterwill and its link to individuation. These human processes can sometimes get stuck in childhood and need help moving through.

As a way of bringing it all together we will delve into the construct of play and its connection to emotional health. When we hear the word ‘play,’ many of us think of young children and toys. This workshop will expand our understanding of what play is and the importance of it in our lives at all stages of development. Growing numbers of us have replaced play with entertainment. We will examine how play and emotional playgrounds can make it easier to access feelings – a key aspect to development, maturation, and the unfolding of human potential.