Conference Information

Why Did I Get Into This Field, Anyway?
Promoting Collaborative Practices In Therapy
presented by Bruce Chalmer, Ph.D.

6 hours continuing education credit approved or applied for
Registration begins at 8:00 AM; conference begins at 8:30 AM.

Wednesday, October 17, 2001:  Colchester, VT:  Hampton Inn.  Near I-89 to Exit 16 (Colchester).  802-655-6177.

A conference for:

Problem situations sometimes try to separate us from the values that led many of us into people-oriented professions in the first place—values like respect for human dignity, celebration of people’s expertise concerning their own lives, and commitment to ending oppression.  Problems can invite people to blame each other, and traditional practices often reinforce this by reducing people to categories and pathologies.

Collaborative practices, by contrast, promote mutual respect and richer understandings of people and contexts.  In so doing, collaborative practices can keep us in touch with values we care about.

Collaborative practices are ways of working that emphasize:

In this conference, we’ll consider some collaborative approaches as applied to our work as clinicians.  Through discussion, exercises and demonstrations, participants will be invited to consider how these approaches might be applied to specific problems they have encountered in their own work.

Bruce Chalmer, Ph.D. is a psychologist in private practice in Montpelier, and is director of the Vermont Center for Collaborative Assessment.  He provides facilitation and consultation on collaborative practices for schools and other organizations, and has taught and offered workshops for over twenty years.

Program:  Registration opens at 8:00 A.M.

8:00 - 8:30 Continental breakfast buffet
8:30 - 9:15 Introduction: What got us into this line of work? How do problem situations invite us to separate from the values we care about? How do some common professional practices fit in with these values?
9:15 - 10:30 Collaborative practices and ideas from narrative therapy
10:30 - 10:45 Coffee break (refreshments provided)
10:45 - 12:00 Collaborative interview and reflecting team practice/demonstration
12:00 - 1:00 Lunch on your own (restaurants nearby or on site)
1:00 - 2:15 Collaborative practices as "counter-practices"
2:15 - 2:30 Afternoon break (refreshments provided)
2:30 - 4:00 Collaborative practices applied to evaluation and mediation settings: Collaborative Assessment and Collaborative Problem Resolution
4:00 Distribution of attendance certificates

Continuing Education credits:  Psychologists:  6 hours of CE credit in Category 1 has been approved by the Vermont Board of Psychological Examiners.  Social workers:  6 hours of CE credit has been approved by the Vermont chapter of NASW.

Tuition:  $85 per person with pre-registration and payment.  $90 at the door, if space permits.  Groups of 3 or more pre-registering and paying together may register for $80 per person.

To register by phone, call 802-229-4974.  By mail, send your name, address, phone, email, and full payment (by check payable to VCCA) to:  VCCA, 2 Spring St., Montpelier, VT 05602.

 

Vermont Center for Collaborative Assessment
Bruce Chalmer, Ph.D., Director
366 Dorset St., Suite 10
S. Burlington, VT 05403
USA

802-860-6671

vcca@someware.com