Space and Trauma - Workshop 1

When: Saturday, June 24, 2023, 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Where: Beckenham Place Mansion

Part of a series of two workshops on Space and Trauma

When:

Saturday 24th June 11-1pm (Workshop 1)

Sunday 25th June 11-1pm (Workshop 2)

Where:

Workshop 1 will take place at Beckenham Place Mansion

Workshop 2 will take place at the One-in-Four office in South London

Who:

This workshop is designed for counsellors with some experience of working with survivors of sexual abuse

Details:

This series of two experiential workshops is aimed at exploring the use of space and objects for therapeutic healing among trauma-aware counsellors and is part of a research project run at Queen Mary University of London. 

Survivors of sexual abuse often grapple with neurobiologically determined state of hyperarousal, including extreme difficulty navigating public (and private) spaces (Ritchie, 2018). Understanding the geography of sexual abuse trauma is vital to improving support we provide, while empowering survivors. It addresses the interplay of physical landscapes, social structures, and sense of self. 

In the workshop we will experientially explore and discuss:

• Coping strategies used by survivors to mentally separate themselves from the space and time in which abuse took place including the use of dissociation and its impact on spatial and personal geographies.
• The importance of therapeutic space design and its impact on healing through explorations of room set up and various ‘support’ objects.
• The use of internal and external boundaries in constructing a sense of safety, exploring the complex interplay between movement and stillness, an urge to act, run or freeze and a desire to gain control of the external environment.
• The regulation of inhabited spaces through explicit and implicit behaviours (e.g. OCD and alterations of body size).
   

We hope that the discussions and activities will facilitate increased awareness of the ways in which space can impact work with trauma and that these discussions will feed into wider exploration of ways of working with space in healing trauma. 

The workshops are free and refreshments will be provided. You are invited to attend both workshops, but please get in touch if you’d like to attend but cannot make one of the dates. Due to the nature of the workshop, spaces are limited, so please RSVP as soon as possible to secure your space.

Please RSVP to Agnieszka at agnieszka.l@oneinfour.org.uk