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First Encounters

First Encounters

What happens when two people meet, and what is special about a first meeting between a therapist and patient ? How can the therapist manage the meeting and their own responses to the patient so that the encounter will support the patient in showing something of the deep hopes and fears that accompany their wish for therapy. How might (and should) the therapist say something to the patient about what s/he understands those hopes and fears to be?

Many therapists are anxious that a first meeting will prove to be a ‘brief encounter’ leaving one or both parties feeling unsatisfied or rejected. We hope this workshop will help.

Workshop leaders: Mark Budden and Julia Warburton

10th January 2026 - 10am to 4pm

11 Orchard Street in central Bristol

£90 - Full / £60 - Students and trainees

More events

  • The Setting

    7th February 2026
    11 Orchard Street in central Bristol

    The “ideal” setting for our work is one which contains, supports and facilitates; however, the setting can also impinge on and disrupt therapy.

  • What’s money got to do with it?

    NEW DATE: 11th July 2026
    11 Orchard Street in central Bristol

    Without money there is no therapy. It is how we earn our living and what we live on.

  • Breaks

    18th April 2026
    11 Orchard Street in central Bristol

    Whatever helping role we hold and whatever context we work in, breaks in the contact between us and our clients/patients always have an impact on the relationship between us, and so on the work.

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