The Story and the Storyteller

A weekend retreat for connection, reflection and wellbeing

15 November 2024, 5:00pm - 17 November 2024, 12:00pm AEST

You are welcome to join a circle of colleagues in a safe, supportive space to explore your personal and professional journey stories for your empowerment and delight.

We have chosen a huge private venue on Bunurong Country in Portsea, Victoria with large gardens, a gas heated pool, 5 bedrooms, 13 beds and in walking distance to Portsea back beach.

In the program there will be a range of large group, paired work and self-directed times - supported by two warm, wacky, wonderful and welcoming supervisors:
Kim Billington will integrate narrative therapy practices with therapeutic folktales, creativity, craft and active imagination.
From her First Nations perspective, Michal DeWilloughby will bring an understanding of the transformative potential of stories and storytelling through the embodied use of nature, symbols and parts work.
Together, we will hold the sacred space for our collaborative care and your connection to self, with 10 other counsellors and allied health professionals.

Counsellors can use the wealth of wisdom inherent in folktales when a client becomes stuck, and motivation has failed them, or as a case closure tool to review survival through some arduous trauma.

Experiential learning activities include:
• Listening to and unpacking the wisdom of a therapeutic story 
• Using narrative therapy questions to practice unpacking the new meanings evoked from a folktale with a partner
• Using the Hero Journey Map to plot client and personal experiences through trauma. Often both the client and the counsellor are in limbo, which parallels how the hero comes to a place of darkness and despair
• Reflection time for childhood story characters that may have influenced one’s identity development
• Engaging in experiential craft and creative approaches to express journeys and new meanings

Learning outcomes of this PD:
• Develop an appreciation of what happens when a client hears a story told in therapy, and what to do next to facilitate change conversations
• Know when this tool might best be introduced into therapy to break a cycle of rumination and confusion
• Practice using key after-story questions which unpack what the client was hearing and finding important and resonant for themselves
• Practice the scaffolding processes to capture new perspectives of a person’s experiences, feelings, strengths, learnings and the purposes of their own journey
• Understand of the transformative potential of stories and storytelling through the embodied use of nature, symbols and parts work.
• Learn how to use Joseph Campbell’s The Hero Journey Map to promote new life meanings and open up discussions about post traumatic growth

Presenter/s:

Michal DeWilloughby
Masters Psychotherapy&Couns, BA (Couns), SpecPostGradTraining(MBCPT ), Voc Grad Cert Bereavement Couns & Intervention, Cert Expressive Therapies, Cert Clinical Supervision, Cert IV TAE. PACFA Clinical Counsellor & Supervisor

Kim Billington
M. Couns; M. Narrative Therapy; PACFA Clinical Counsellor & Supervisor

This course counts towards 7.5 hours of category A CPD.

Click here to contact Kim Billington for further information on registering.