NEXT MEETING

Psychotherapists as Agents of Equality and Social Change - a focus on work with socially excluded young people and people with learning disabilities

Presented by Tamsin Cottis

Tuesday, 10 March 2020 8.00-9.30pm

Synopsis: This session will consider how psychotherapists can develop their consciousness of the social and economic context systems in which they work. At times of economic and political instability, the outside world is more frequently brought into to the consulting room. This affects both the way we relate to, and provide services for, our clients. In this session, Tamsin will draw on her experience as co-founder of Respond – the UKs leading voluntary sector organisation providing therapy to children and adults with learning disabilities - and her current work in primary schools in east London, and for the social change organisation Football Beyond Borders. She will describe how her clinical practice is shaped and guided by a political sensibility and an awareness of inequality, systemic discrimination and structural violence. In the session we will have the opportunity to discuss the dynamic relationship between clients’ internal and external worlds and to explore ways in which psychotherapists can develop and enhance their clinical practice alongside their potential role as an agent of both hope and social change.

Biography: Tamsin Cottis is a UKCP registered Child Psychotherapist and Clinical Supervisor, working in London primary schools and private practice. She is co- founder and former Assistant Director of Respond where, in addition to her management responsibilities she worked as a trainer, campaigner and psychotherapist. She was clinical lead of the young peoples’ forensic service at Respond for 6 years, developing and providing assessment and psychotherapy for young people with sexually harmful behaviour. Now working with children from a wide range of cultural and economic backgrounds in London, she is especially concerned about the adverse psychological effects of austerity on children and young people, especially those with special educational needs. Tamsin has written widely about her work in books and professional journals. She is editor of Intellectual Disability, Trauma and Psychotherapy (Routledge 2008). Her most recent professional paper is: The disabling effects of Trauma in a time of austerity: implications for the practice and theory of child psychotherapy (Journal of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy 2019 33, 3.) Tamsin is also a published and prizewinning writer of poetry and short stories.

Free to members; £10 on the door for non-members.

RTG talks are approved for Royal College of Psychiatrists CPD: 1.5 external units per session. Sessions may also be used as proof of Continuous Professional Development (CPD) as part of re-accreditations. Certificates and records of attendance are available at each meeting.

Disclaimer: All details are subject to change without notice and RTG cannot be held responsible for any financial losses incurred as a result.

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