Body-focused Interventions in Schema Therapy (Part 1 - Day 2)
TBA
Janis Briedis, Consultant Psychologist
This workshop follows on from the introductory day of ‘Body-focused Interventions in Schema Therapy’ and presents experiential strategies to enhance schema therapy practice. It is a practical one-day online workshop with plenty of live demonstrations, original video material and a chance to practice body focused techniques in pairs, with the focus on somatic limited reparenting, working with anger modes, and deepening understanding of somatic resourcing and a range of somatic experiments.
This workshop is designed for psychologists, psychotherapists, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals who wish to incorporate somatically-focused interventions in schema therapy.
Topics covered at the workshop
- weaving somatic resourcing into schema therapy practice to enhance emotional regulation both for the client and the therapist
- using somatic strategies for up-regulation and down-regulation
- understanding anger from a somatic perspective
- somatic limited reparenting with non-verbal young child modes
- verbal experiments to complement flashcard work
- strengthening a sense of self via developing somatic boundaries
- developing embodied Healthy Adult mode
Pre-requisite: attendance of 'Body-focused Interventions in Schema Therapy - Day 1 of Part 1' (live training or a recording).
Training costs and to book
Cost: £120.00 for a one-day online workshop.
Payment may be made by bank transfer. Please email on
A Somatic Perspective on Working with Modes in Schema Therapy: An Advanced Experiential Self-practice Workshop (Part 3)
4-5th December, 2025 (in person)
3-4th December, 2026 (online)
(9:30am - 5.00pm)
The British Psychological Society, 30 Tabernacle St, London EC2A 4UE
Janis Briedis, Consultant Psychologist
Modes are as much somatic as they are emotional and cognitive constructs. We all have modes or parts of self which consist of patterns that have formed over many years since childhood, and have become automatic movements, gestures and expressions that form our sense of who we are. When there has been trauma or negative attachment experiences in the past, these will often be expressed as somatic patterns that are replayed unconsciously as defensive actions.
Each mode is likely to have specific indicators in the body, and a non-verbal, as well as verbal, story to tell. This advanced experiential workshop will build on previous body-focused workshops, going deeper with ways of bringing body focus to schema therapy. The workshop is based on ideas and techniques drawn from sensorimotor psychotherapy, somatic experiencing, polyvagal theory and somatic internal family systems, put in the context of mode work in schema therapy, and will help participants deepen their awareness of ways in which their own schemas and modes present in their bodies.
This is primarily an experiential workshop, with limited theory, and plenty of opportunities to explore own personal themes and ways in which they manifest in their bodies. Video and live demonstrations will be used at the workshop.
Topics covered at the workshop:
- Building detailed mode awareness – exploring patterns of emotion, sensation, movement and impulses associated with specific modes
- Attunement, resonance and listening to the stories of the body – learning to read the non-verbal language of modes
- Creative use of breathwork as a foundation to somatic work
- Working with coping and critic modes somatically – building a somatic sense of safety when it does not feel safe enough to go in the body
- Tuning into dissociative parts of self – when there is too much or too little feeling in the body
- Limited parenting of the youngest parts – adding somatic tools to enhance work with Child Modes
- Working with impulses in the body to complete stuck actions
- Moving flexibly between working with trauma and non-trauma based somatic patterns
- Creative ways of adding movement to enhance somatic work
- Therapeutic use of touch – how to use it safely and with client’s consent
Pre-requisite: attendance of 'Body-focused Interventions in Schema Therapy - Part 1' or an equivalent.
Training costs and to book
Cost: £325.00 for a two day workshop.
Payment may be made by bank transfer. Please email on
Body-focused Interventions in Schema Therapy
(Part 1)
23rd & 30th January, 2026 (online)
17-18th September, 2026 (London)
Janis Briedis, Consultant Psychologist
This workshop presents the theory and experiential approach to integrating body-focused techniques to enhance schema therapy practice in a time-limited manner. These strategies are particularly useful for clients who present with complex needs and have histories of severe childhood neglect or trauma, and who have difficulties engaging with traditional schema therapy techniques.
This highly interactive and experiential workshop is designed for psychologists, psychotherapists, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals. Attendees should have an understanding of schema therapy model who wish to expand their repertoire for working with trauma and the body by incorporating simple but powerful somatically-focused interventions.
Topics covered at the workshop:
- Understanding the role of the body in trauma – the neurobiology underpinning complex trauma and fragmentation of self
- Barriers to working with the body both for the client and the therapist and how to overcome them
- Tracking the body to identify triggers for modes and schemas
- Understanding the principles of working safely - helping clients stay within their Window of Tolerance while
- processing traumatic material
- Healing traumatic reactions, including freeze and submit states, with body-oriented affect regulation
- resources and working with intense affect, including anger, grief, terror
- Working on the therapist’s own body awareness to enhance self-regulation and to facilitate higher levels of
- attunement with and co-regulation of the clients in the therapeutic space
- Utilizing body techniques in the work with dissociation
- Enhancing imagery and chair techniques with somatic focus
- Somatic interventions for boundary setting and strengthening of a sense of self
- Facilitating development of an embodied healthy adult mode both for clients and therapists
Training costs and to book
Cost: £290 (online) OR £325.00 (in person London).
Payment may be made by bank transfer. Please email on
Schema-informed CBT for Perinatal Complexity: A Masterclass in Formulation and Experiential Skills
13-14th June, 2024 (online)
(9:30am-4.00pm UK time)
Dr Helen Startup and Dr Cathy Green, Clinical Psychologists
More than one in ten women will develop a mental illness in pregnancy or the year after birth. These illnesses can cause intense suffering for women and their families. They can also have an adverse impact on the interaction between a mother and her baby, affecting the child’s emotional, social and cognitive development. For women who have suffered complex developmental trauma the transition to motherhood can be a particularly challenging and vulnerable time. Pregnancy or parenthood may trigger painful memories, precipitate strong emotions which are hard to manage, reduce access to usual ways of coping and make new and changing relationships, particularly with baby difficult to navigate.
This is a unique 2-day workshop designed for clinicians with experience in schema therapy or cognitive behavioural approaches (or other allied modalities) working with women in the perinatal period. You will be interested in expanding your skills for working with more complex perinatal presentations, particularly where there is a background of relational trauma e.g. where there are significant relational challenges, or where the person has not responded to standard treatment to date.
The workshop will cover the fundamental concepts and techniques of schema theory and how these can be integrated into time-limited CBT. There will be a practical emphasis on supporting attendees to feel confident in:
- formulating complex perinatal presentations via mode mapping (e.g. primary tokophobia, emotion dysregulation (including anger) in response to the demands of parenting and trauma reactions such as dissociation and states of paralyzing helplessness)
- in the change techniques of: chair work (e.g. to uncouple a severe critic from a vulnerable child), imagery work (e.g. for rescripting early trauma memories which may have resurfaced in the context of parenthood), limited reparenting (e.g the use of transitional objects and body focused methods when a client is highly dissociated) and empathic confrontation (e.g. to negotiate with therapy interfering coping modes).
- methods for enhancing a ‘Flourishing Parent’ mode where individuals have limited positive internal dialogues.
Training costs and to book
£290 for a two-day workshop (10% discount if booked by 1st April, 2024)
To reserve a place or for more information please email:
Strengthening Healthy Adult in Schema Therapy
17th April, 2026 (online)
(9.30am - 4.30pm UK time)
Janis Briedis and Dr Helen Startup, Consultant Psychologists
The Healthy Adult is often positioned as an ‘essential’ feature of the self with its development being a principal goal of Schema Therapy. However, in many ways the Healthy Adult is poorly articulated and understood both in terms of its content and process features. This workshop will focus on elaborating a clear working definition of the Healthy Adult in schema therapy, that is contrasted with overlapping constructs across other therapies (such as the Wise Mind in DBT, Compassionate Self in CFT). We will then propose methods to build and harness this essential part of the self to support maximum growth through schema therapy.
During this one day masterclass, delegates will:
- Learn about the critical importance or ‘meta’ role of the Healthy Adult in managing and overseeing self-organisation.
- Creatively use imagery and body-focused strategies to build the Heathy Adult where there may have been little chance for Healthy Adult development.
- Use Chair work to place the Healthy Adult in the ‘driving seat’ and to ‘dial down’ reliance on coping modes and the influence of the Critic.
- Explore the use of Positive Schemas in the development of the Healthy Adult mode.
- Discover cognitive techniques to bolster a Healthy Adult and to support mentalisation where there is fragmentation of the self.
- Use somatic techniques and transitional objects to foster a deeper connection between the Healthy Adult and the needs of a fragile Vulnerable Child part.
- Learn how to integrate creative methods such as the use of toys, puppets and craft to support playful development and integration of a Healthy Adult.
- Therapists will learn about their own contribution to ‘schema chemistry’ and will learn strategies for staying within their own Healthy Adult at times of clinical challenge and rupture.
This will be a lively and experiential workshop with video demonstrations of techniques and opportunities to practice under supervision.
Training costs and to book
£160.00 for a one-day workshop.
Payment may be made by card or bank transfer. Please email us if your employer requires an invoice and/or if you wish to pay by bank transfer.
Body-focused interventions in schema therapy (Part 1)
3-4th October, 2024 (in person)
(9.30am - 5.00pm UK time)
The British Psychological Society, 30 Tabernacle St, London EC2A 4UE
Janis Briedis and Dr Helen Startup, Consultant Psychologists
This workshop presents the theory and experiential approach to integrating body-focused techniques to enhance schema therapy practice in a time-limited manner. These strategies are particularly useful for clients who present with complex needs and have histories of severe childhood neglect or trauma, and who have difficulties engaging with traditional schema therapy techniques.
This highly interactive and experiential workshop is designed for psychologists, psychotherapists, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals. Attendees should have an understanding of schema therapy model who wish to expand their repertoire for working with trauma and the body by incorporating simple but powerful somatically-focused interventions.
Topics covered at the workshop:
- Understanding the role of the body in trauma – the neurobiology underpinning complex trauma and fragmentation of self
- Barriers to working with the body both for the client and the therapist and how to overcome them
- Tracking the body to identify triggers for modes and schemas
- Understanding the principles of working safely - helping clients stay within their Window of Tolerance while processing traumatic material
- Healing traumatic reactions, including freeze and submit states, with body-oriented affect regulation resources and working with intense affect, including anger, grief, terror
- Working on the therapist’s own body awareness to enhance self-regulation and to facilitate higher levels of attunement with and co-regulation of the clients in the therapeutic space
- Utilizing body techniques in the work with dissociation
- Enhancing imagery and chair techniques with somatic focus
- Somatic interventions for boundary setting and strengthening of a sense of self
- Facilitating development of an embodied healthy adult mode both for clients and therapists
Training costs and to book
£325 for a two day workshop.
Payment may be made by card or bank transfer. Please email us if your employer requires an invoice and/or if you wish to pay by bank transfer.
Schema Therapy for Shame and Guilt-based Difficulties
24-25th September, 2026 (online)
(9:30am - 4:30pm UK time)
Janis Briedis and Dr Helen Startup, Consultant Psychologists
Individuals who endure early life trauma may go on to experience disruption in the coherence and continuity of their sense of self, and may have shame and guilt at the core of their selves. In Schema Therapy we conceptualize these clients via a mode map as having overpowering Punitive, Guilt-inducing and Invalidating Critic modes. For these clients’ their Vulnerable Child part may be ‘fused’ to a highly forceful inner Critic, giving rise to a core sense of defectiveness, dissociated states, and a tendency to switch between harmful coping strategies, leaving basic emotional needs unmet at core level. This workshop is designed for therapists with knowledge of schema theory and therapy and experience of working therapeutically with clients who have endured trauma. This workshop is highly specialised and aims to support therapists to conceptualise shame and guilt in the context of complex trauma presentations and to support these individuals to safely and effectively engage in the therapeutic process.
Topics covered at the workshop
- Explore evolutionary, developmental and attachment perspectives on the development of the self and complex emotional responses
- Have an overview of leading trauma theories and their understanding of shame and guilt (attachment, compassion-focused, polyvagal, sensorimotor)
- Conceptualise shame and guilt using a schema mode framework
- Work with shame, guilt and dissociation across diagnoses: stepping beyond the diagnoses of Personality Disorder, Complex PTSD and Dissociative Spectrum Disorders
- Explore relational implications for working with highly shame-prone and dissociative clients - brushing along the edges of limited parenting and empathic confrontation
- Observe and practice strategies for working with shame as an embodied pre-verbal trauma state
- Observe and practice the key interventions for working with highly traumatised individuals
- Un-fusing blended critic states from Vulnerable Child
Training costs and to book
£290 for a two-day workshop.
Payment may be made by card or bank transfer. Please email us if your employer requires an invoice and/or if you wish to pay by bank transfer.
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