All posts by rhona

Still time to book: Gaining Ground 30 June 23

In case you’ve missed this opportunity, there’s still time to book in for this mini-conference style CPD day which has been led by trainee/graduating CAT practitioners from our 2021 intake. It’s a packed programme of offers, including several from clinicians in a liminal period as they complete the final parts of their their training and head towards qualification.

Several have stepped forward to present on work produced for year two written assignments. In these they weave CAT theory with contemporary clinical practice. The day includes live presentations plus posters. Topics include neurodivergence, race, physical health, masculinity, CAMHS services and integration of CAT with EMDR. In addition, there will be a feature on the new series of training films on Working With Challenging Situations in Cognitive Analytic Therapy. We’ll be sharing and seeking feedback on a new tool in development for scaffolding conversations about the Social Self.

We’re also really pleased that ACAT’s Vice Chair for Supervisor Training, Yvonne Stevens, is attending the day in person. Yvonne aims to engage and inform on this important next step which supports the development of CAT going forward. Stephen Kellett is also attending to tell us about latest research developments and opportunities.

So it’s not just a day of looking back over achievements to date, but also an opportunity to look ahead to the future, beyond qualifying as a CAT Practitioner. So far we have a mix of trainees and more seasoned clinicians attending, and all are welcome. We’d love to see a whole range of attendees, from the CAT curious through to senior clinicians and service leads. In short, anyone who wants to learn about, support and celebrate CAT training in the north.

Thanks to everyone’s generosity with their time, we are running the day at cost. We hope this makes it affordable and accessible. There is a reduced fee of £40 for practitioner trainees from any course, and just £50 for others.

You can see full details of the programme and options for booking at the event page at this link.

Finally, acknowledgements and gratitude. We wanted to thank artist Brenda Mallon who offered her beautiful artwork as part of the event promotion. Its suggestion of geological forms, perhaps even crystals and gems, forming a basis for building and “gaining ground”, helped us arrive at a title for the day. We’d also like to thank all contributors who are listed on the programme below, for their enthusiasm and generosity. Thanks go also to Jo Qurashi, who has helped to co-ordinate contributions throughout.

New CAT Training Films Fliers

Curious about the Catalyse Training Films? Including the new set soon to be available? Then read on…..

You might already be familiar with the first series of films, released in September 2020. Catalyse Practitioner course trainees have access to these to supplement the first year of their training. To date a further three Practitioner level training courses have subscribed too. Additionally, a CAT Skills course, three D Clin Psych courses, and an NHS Trust have taken out subscriptions. We didn’t anticipate that individuals would sign up to them but have found that some do. We hope to launch a second survey of trainer and learner experience about using the films. If you’ve made use of them, do look out for this opportunity to feed back in the next few months.

A second set of films, on Working With Challenging Situations in Cognitive Analytic Therapy, is inching closer to release. This series of five films illustrate a range of challenging clinical situations in CAT, requiring skilled therapist responses. The films themselves are complete, thanks to the efforts of director Kathryn Pemberton, other Catalyse colleagues involved in developing the materials, and a host of mainly volunteer CAT therapists who played roles of both therapists and clients. The image featured above shows Catalyse graduates Kelly Savery and Sam Hartley having a relaxed moment between takes.

The project was enabled by a grant from Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust’s Endowment Fund. This helped us enlist the excellent technical and creative skills of Brickoven Media. We are currently working on the supporting materials and hope to make this package available soon.

In the meantime, and in time for ICATA’s conference in Helsinki between 15 and 17 June, we’ve produced some updated fliers to share. Feel free to print these off and share them in your networks, services and courses.

Update on 2023 NHSE funding for Practitioner Training

Please see our page below outlining current information for applicants to our 2023 intake for CAT Practitioner training who are seeking funding from NHS England. We will update information on the site as soon as we can. In the meantime we regret that we may not be able to respond directly to the many enquiries we’re receiving.

“Young people can sniff out inauthenticity a mile away”

We’re fortunate that Lee Crothers is running a CPD day with Catalyse while she is in the UK in June. Her day “A CAT Approach to Inclusive Practice With Young People” takes place on 9 June in Manchester. You can also join the day remotely, using the Zoom platform. Over the course of the day, Lee will share with UK cognitive analytic and other therapists her rich perspective and experience working with adolescents, young people and their families in the Australian context. Curiosity got the better of us, and we posed Lee a few questions in advance of the day.

How did you find CAT?  What was your journey into CAT?

I was fortunate to be part of Orygen youth health when we were offered training by a UK group including Ian Kerr that initially visited Australia in 2003. I was even luckier that Eva Burns Lundgren supervised me through phone conference (no zoom then!), supported by Louise McCutcheon. The three of us would huddle around the phone very early or very late in the day and fax our maps and reformulation letters.

What brought you into work with young people in particular and why do you like it?

I like the energy and hope young people bring to the room. Don’t tell my two teenagers but I like a bit of attitude too! Of course, you can have attitude and energy at any age but it is more common in young people who are finding their feet in the world. I also like how young people’s emerging perspectives of the world can challenge me and be challenged too. Young people are adaptable. They are often keen to try new things and haven’t got long histories of being stuck in relational patterns.

In your work with young people, is there a CAT tool or idea that tends to work particularly well or that you find yourself drawn to?

I am often drawn to mapping with young people. I like it when they take a photo of it on their phones and change it up with memes or phrases. Recently one of my clients told me the map needed a “glow up”. I use the visual of a target problem and maps do that well.

The idea of the target problem is one I value highly and use in my work with young people even if I am not doing traditional CAT. Establishing a shared sense of the problem is crucial; a must-do. Digging down to the real issue does bring relieved looks. I am often saying things like “it seems that what got you here was your parents being concerned about self-harm but the real issue seems to be that you feel like you don’t belong”. Writing or reformulating in a narrative way is fun to do through email exchange. Together we can put it together from bite sized pieces. It is how we take in information now – through small pieces. Putting it together with the young person is a useful process.

What is it about CAT that makes it so useful with your work with young people?

The collaborative, doing with style of CAT and the adaptable tools. I also like the direction but not the rigidity of CAT and how the ‘Three Rs’ are useful signposts. CAT has given me permission and confidence to use myself in the room in a relationally helpful way. And you can be transparent about it! Young people can sniff out inauthenticity a mile away.

While young people might lack life experience they often carry many strengths and resources to enable healing, recovery and growth. What have been the most useful ‘healthy islands’ or strengths you’ve seen in this client group over the years?

I think I may be repeating myself but the flexibility and openness of young people is a great resource. Young people today have access to so much information and I admire their energy and ability to synthesise and engage with it. They often want to help others with what they have learned. I feel hope about the world and its future working with young people. They have inherited a great climate burden and yet show such sensitivity and passion in change and shaking us up.

As well as your therapy practice you’ve done lots of work with headspace National and running CAT trainings via Orygen. What are you proudest of in this part of your work?

I feel proud and lucky that I have been part of new innovative ways of working with young people. Particularly at Orygen I’ve been part of early intervention services for young people seen as the most complex and at risk.

Recently I am proud of writing with headspace National and Orygen about a relational definition of complexity in young people. I am proud of the message that often the complexity is within the relationships between worker, system and young person rather than solely located within the young person. This became a practice principle for Orygen and headspace National that supports over 150 headspace centres in Australia. It worries me that young people take in this label of being “complex”. This work has sparked training called Relate and Reflect www.relateandreflect.com.au that teaches the relational formulation skills to headspace centres.

And….I am really proud of the book I am editing with Nick Barnes, Honorary Associate Professor at UCL. For this I’m writing a chapter with a young person, Mel, about a relational approach to working with young people with eating disorders. We had so much to say and we think we could fill a whole book. It’s a start to a working friendship that I hope continues.

In the UK there is much concern about the lack of available therapy services for people generally, and young people in particular.  Is there anything you think services here can learn from the Australian experience?

The headspace services have been a great initiative where young people aged 12 to 25 can access services without referral or cost. Professor Pat McGorry has been a tireless advocate for early intervention for youth. headspaces are youth friendly accessible services that don’t just offer counselling but things like vocational support. Often the referral pathways make access difficult for young people and there is a “no wrong door policy” with headspaces.

Because of the huge space of Australia and young people in rural and regional areas we are well prepared in offering ehealth and eheadspace is an exceptional service, well set up before lockdowns of COVID-19. Of course, we have the same difficulties of recruiting and retaining workforce. headspace National and many other CAMHS and CYMHS have early career programs or new graduate programs that perhaps UK have as well? The headspace National one supports hundreds of early career nurses, OT, social workers and psychologists over two years with extra training, supervision and clinical support.

If you’d like to hear more from Lee and build your own skills for working with young people, you can find full details and booking for her day at this link.