Dr Catherine Knibbs is a child and adult trauma psychotherapist, researcher, and pioneer of cybertrauma theory, with over 20 years experience at the intersection of child development, trauma and technology. She is a TEDx speaker, CEO of Children and Tech, and author of multiple books, including titles with Routledge and the British Psychological Society. Dr Knibbs runs a clinical practice that specialises in online harms and is a leading authority on cyber-enabled trauma and online safeguarding.

Synopsis

Cyber trauma/online harm and its impact on human connections 

This talk tackles an urgent and often overlooked question: why does technology belong in the therapy room? It explores this highly topical issue, examining the risks of AI to client process and what therapists need to know about the Attachment Imitator in the therapy room. Dr Knibbs will also discuss the impact of cyber trauma, the importance of including technology in assessments (and how to do this), and why working with children requires greater familiarity with technology and online spaces. This session will equip practitioners with the frameworks they need to understand and work with online harm – and challenge us to consider whether we are ready to meet the world our clients are already living in.

Debbie Livingston is a UKCP transpersonal psychotherapist and supervisor with over 25 years of clinical experience, including thirteen years in an NHS eating disorders service and extensive roles in teaching, ethics and professional development. She is nearing completion of her PhD in professional practice at Canterbury Christ Church University, exploring what psychological clinicians need to better support autistic clients in therapy.

Synopsis

Weaving together: neurodivergence and the therapeutic alliance 

Debbie Livingston and Karen Rawden will be doing a joint session where they invite therapists to enrich their practice by actively weaving aspects of their expertise with neurodivergent insights into a collaborative, relational approach to working with neurodivergent clients. Drawing on lived experience, clinical practice and research, this experiential workshop explores how masking, sensory overwhelm and neurological difference can be misread – even by experienced clinicians. The session will look at how practical awareness and experiential reflection act as threads that shape this knowledge and inform the therapeutic alliance when working with neurodivergent clients. Participants will learn how to deepen their capacity to recognise the unknown, work safely with complexity and co-create an attuned, ethically grounded therapeutic relationship that honours neurological difference.

Dr Dwight Turner is course leader in humanistic psychotherapy at the University of Brighton, as well as a UKCP psychotherapist and supervisor. He is the author of three Routledge books and is an experienced conference speaker, specialising in intersectional practice.

Synopsis

'I belong here. I belong': existential explorations of our intersectional identities in counselling and psychotherapy

Drawing on intersectional theory and existential frameworks – including Emmy van Deurzen's four worlds structure – this presentation uses creativity and poetry to explore the shifting, phenomenological nature of identity. Psychotherapy is challenged to confront this changing psychotherapy landscape. In a world more polarised than it has been since the Second World War, and with clients increasingly presenting with fear and anxiety around identity, Dr Turner asks how practitioners must examine our own positions within systems of power in order to truly meet our clients.

Geoff Hopping is a senior partner at The Link Centre and an experienced UKCP psychotherapist with qualifications in transactional analysis and psychoanalysis, having trained at the Society for Analytical Psychology. He has decades of experience across NHS, the social work sector, and psychotherapy settings including specialist work with complex trauma in high security prisons. He has a keen interest in bereavement, loss and the spiritual dimension of psychotherapy.

Synopsis

Fragmentation (internal and external) and the move towards inter-connectivity

This session explores psychological fragmentation and the internal disconnection, alienation and anxiety that can blur the boundary between inner experience and outer reality. Drawing on Winnicott, Jung, Klein and Francis Weller, it examines how intra-psychic phenomena such as objectification and shadow projection connect to broader societal, political and cultural divisions. Participants are invited to reflect on how these dynamics shape the way we absorb and process the world around us.

Jeremy Holmes MD FRCPsych is Honorary Professor at the University of Exeter and was for 35 years medical psychotherapist and consultant psychiatrist at University College London Hospitals Trust then in North Devon. He was chair of the medical psychotherapy faculty of the Royal College of Psychiatrists 1998-2002. He set up the Exeter Psychoanalytic Studies programme in 1998. Author of over 250 papers and book chapters, his books include The Oxford textbook of psychotherapy (2008, co-eds Glen Gabbard & Judy Beck), John Bowlby and attachment theory (2014), Attachment in therapeutic practice (2017), and The brain has a mind of its own (2020). His latest, The spirit of psychotherapy: a hidden dimension (Karnac) was published in 2024. He is recipient of the Bowlby-Ainsworth foundation award and the Canadian Clinical Psychology Goethe Prize. Gardening, green politics and grand-parenting now parallel his lifelong fascination with psychoanalytic psychotherapy and attachment theory.

Synopsis

Bringing threads together through joint action: engagement as secret of successful psychotherapies

Psychotherapy research confirms the ‘dodo bird verdict’ that there are few significant differences in outcomes between the divided species of psychotherapy. But in contrast to psychotherapies, psychotherapists vary greatly in their effectiveness. So what is the decisive contrast between ‘good’ and not-so-good therapists? Jeremy Holmes suggests the key theme is engagement – the capacity to create a collaborative, ‘we-mode' culture in which therapist and client work actively together on the client’s difficulties. This weaving of connections contrasts with both silent-passive, and ‘one who knows' or ‘life-coach’ approaches. Holmes justifies this with evidence threads from mother-infant attachment and neuroscience research, and illustrative 'case reports' from novels including Chimamanda Adichie’s Dream Count and Bronte’s Jane Eyre. He will conclude by arguing that effective therapy entails disambiguating ‘bottom-up’ uncertainty and division, leading to less fragmented, more complex ‘top-down’ mentalised models of self and others.

Julie Sale is a UKCP psychotherapist and psychosexual and relationship therapist. She is the founding director and principal of the Contemporary Institute of Clinical Sexology (CICS), a specialist training provider offering qualification pathways in psychosexual and relationship therapy. She serves on the executive committee of the UKCP College for Sexual and Relationship Psychotherapists and UKCP's Education, Training and Practice Committee (ETPC). Julie is committed to fairness in the training and provision of psychotherapy. 

Synopsis

Coalition for Anti-Oppressive Practice and Inclusion: Anti-oppressive Practice guiding principles 

Established in 2018, the Coalition for Anti-Oppressive Practice brings together representatives from UK counselling and psychotherapy professional bodies and UK-based training providers, aiming to enhance diversity within the counselling, psychotherapy and psychology professions.

A notable recent output from the coalition is the development of Ten Guiding Principles for Anti-Oppressive Practice, designed to guide ethical practice in the provision of psychotherapy and psychotherapy training in the UK. Julie Sale and Myira Khan, both active members of the coalition, will lead this presentation, illustrating each of the Ten Guiding Principles through client and training case examples. 

Julie Stone is the UKCP’s independent ethics lead and chair of its Ethics Committee. An academic healthcare lawyer and ethicist by background, Julie has directly influenced healthcare regulatory strategy, policy development and professional standards for over 30 years, advising regulators, professional associations and the government. She is an advocate of research-informed practice, and co-production with experts by experience. She is a former non-executive director of an NHS mental health/community provider and a commissioner trust, and has promoted trauma-informed practice, Freedom to Speak Up, and staff wellbeing initiatives. She has a particular expertise in professional boundaries and moral courage. 

Synopsis

Ethical fixity and flexibility: whither ethics in a fractured world?

This talk will consider whether a consistent, reflective ethical approach supports therapeutic practice across divides. Is it possible to reach agreement on what values or principles stay constant in a fractured world, where moral courage and ethical duty point good people and good therapists in opposite directions? Julie will consider arguments for both constancy and flexibility in supporting clients in the midst of divided and divisive times. She will also examine approaches to pedagogy which may help trainees acquire ethical wisdom and contemplate how a fragmented profession reaches shared ethical positions. 

Karen Rawden is a UKCP psychotherapist specialising in psychosynthesis and neuroaffirmative therapy. She is a certified ADHD clinical provider, a member of the UKCP DiverseMinds Special Interest Group, and has served on the board of the European Psychosynthesis Association (EpA). She also tutors neurodivergent students and delivers programs to therapists on creating supportive and transformational therapeutic spaces for people who identify as neurodivergent.

Synopsis

Weaving together: neurodivergence and the therapeutic alliance 

Karen Rawden and Debbie Livingston will be doing a joint session where they invite therapists to enrich their practice by actively weaving aspects of their expertise with neurodivergent insights into a collaborative, relational approach to working with neurodivergent clients. Drawing on lived experience, clinical practice and research, this workshop explores how masking, sensory overwhelm and neurological difference can be misread – even by experienced clinicians. This experiential workshop explores how practical awareness and experiential reflection act as threads that shape this knowledge and inform the therapeutic alliance when working with neurodivergent clients. Participants will learn how to deepen their capacity to recognise the unknown, work safely with complexity and co-create an attuned, ethically grounded therapeutic relationship that honours neurological difference.

Dr Linda Finlay is a relational-centred, existentially oriented integrative UKCP psychotherapist, supervisor, and academic. She teaches psychology/counselling at the Open University and mentors master's and doctoral students across the UK and Europe. Her research interests include the application of relational, reflexive, hermeneutic phenomenological approaches to exploring the lived experience of disability and trauma. She is also a widely published author.

Synopsis

The challenges of working relationally

Linda Finlay's session explores what relational psychotherapy looks like in practice, drawing on case studies to examine evocative relational moments that are potentially transformative. While all therapies recognise the significance of relationships in shaping psychological distress and wellbeing, this presentation focuses specifically on work where the therapeutic relationship is used as the primary tool of therapy, considering both the opportunities and challenges this brings. The session also acknowledges the limits of relationality, including when a non-relational approach may in fact be more appropriate.

Mamood Ahmad is a UKCP psychotherapist, tutor, speaker and published author. He has close to two decades of experience in private practice with specialisms in trauma, multicultural competence and social change. His current primary focus is on driving professional standards change. 

Mamood will deliver a joint session alongside Sheetal Amin: Bridging the relational divide: sameness, difference and the wholeness solution

Synopsis

Is our understanding of the relationship strong enough to bridge the divide? Relationship v2.0

In our understanding of the therapeutic relationship lies the hope of weaving together connections that are fragmented, fractured or polarised. This talk explores how these challenges are reflected in our everyday assumptions about relational development and repair, and how we might strengthen our capacity to foster unity and authentic connection. Drawing on his work and his new book, Mamood introduces the concept of Relational Scope and a "Relationship v2.0" framework to enable depth, adaptability and responsiveness in relationships that are marked by embodied threat and systemic and structural injustice.

Myira Khan is a UKCP counsellor, supervisor, coach, trainer and published author, with over 16 years of clinical experience. She is the founder of the Muslim counsellor and psychotherapist network (MCAPN), which supports Muslim practitioners through CPD, community and visibility. A regular international keynote speaker, Myira is a visibly Muslim, neurodivergent practitioner committed to advancing anti-oppressive and culturally-attuned practice.

Synopsis

Coalition for Anti-Oppressive Practice and Inclusion: Anti-oppressive Practice guiding principles 

Established in 2018, the Coalition for Anti-Oppressive Practice brings together representatives from UK counselling and psychotherapy professional bodies and UK-based training providers, aiming to enhance diversity within the counselling, psychotherapy and psychology professions.

A notable recent output from the coalition is the development of Ten Guiding Principles for Anti-Oppressive Practice, designed to guide ethical practice in the provision of psychotherapy and psychotherapy training in the UK. Myira Khan and Julie Sale, both active members of the coalition, will lead this presentation, illustrating each of the Ten Guiding Principles through client and training case examples. 

Niki D is a UKCP psychotherapist, supervisor and educator with 35 years of experience across private, statutory and voluntary sectors. She specialises in working with gender, sexual and relationship diverse (GSRD) clients. Niki teaches relationship diversity for Pink Therapy and is co-director of Opening Up CPD, where she delivers specialist training for therapists supporting clients in polyamorous and open relationships.

Synopsis

Intimacy without gatekeeping: rethinking exclusivity in romantic and sexual relationships

In many Western contexts, monogamy is positioned as the only relationship style offering genuine health, maturity, and commitment. In this session, Niki D. invites us to consider whether open relationships and polyamory offer a useful lens for exploring how people negotiate closeness and autonomy, novelty and security. Through critical reflection on the relationship scripts we have inherited, participants will explore who belongs in our intimate lives, who is excluded, and why. The session aims to deconstruct the narratives that may unconsciously shape or even limit our work with relationally diverse clients.

Nick Totton is a body psychotherapist, trainer, supervisor and training programme creator. He is a published author and was founding editor of the peer-reviewed journal Psychotherapy and Politics International. Nick has held leadership roles at a number of professional bodies, holding the position of chair at Psychotherapists and Counsellors for Social Responsibility, the UK Body Psychotherapy Network, and the Psychotherapy and Counselling Union. He is also a member of the European Association for Body Psychotherapy ThinkTank.

Synopsis

It’s complicated: can we bridge the different approaches to therapy? 

Are there distinct positions in psychotherapy, or simply different expressions of a shared endeavour? This talk proposes that the many arguments in the field can be distilled into two broad camps: the Expert position, focused on evidence-based techniques for improving wellbeing, and the Process position, centred on creating a safe, relational space in which an unpredictable process of integration can emerge. Rather than advocating for one over the other, Nick Totton uses a form of internal chairwork to give equal voice to both perspectives, bringing them into dialogue. 

Paul Hoggett is emeritus professor of social policy at The University of the West of England, Bristol. He is a retired psychoanalytic psychotherapist who is active in the Climate Psychology Alliance (CPA), which he co-founded in 2012, and continues to edit it's online magazine, Explorations in Climate Psychology. He also serves on the Steering Group of Psychoanalytic Voices for Palestine. 

Synopsis

Paradise lost? The estranged self and the longing for the ideal

In this session, Paul explores the modern self of the global north – haunted by an idealised world just out of reach and marked by three fundamental separations: from nature, from our own creaturely nature and from others. He will examine the cultural and political consequences of these estrangements – including the climate crisis and the rise of authoritarian nationalism – and consider what pathways towards repair might look like.

Dr Paula Hall is a UKCP sexual and relationship psychotherapist specialising in compulsive sexual behaviours and problematic pornography use. She is the founder of The Laurel Centre, the UK’s largest therapy service supporting individuals in addressing unwanted sexual behaviours. She also established Pivotal Recovery, a not-for-profit organisation offering affordable, anonymous resources for those seeking change. 

Synopsis

The illusion of intimacy: how pornography fractures and fosters connection

Dr Paula Hall brings nuance and courage to one of the most complex intimacy questions of the digital age. Her talk explores the paradox at the heart of pornography use: how many turn to it to ease loneliness, only to find it deepens isolation and damages relationships. But she will also hold space for the more uncomfortable question – whether some forms of online connection, including relationships with OnlyFans creators, might meet genuine intimacy needs, and what this asks of our evolving understanding of connection and sexuality.

Sheetal Amin is a UKCP psychotherapist with 25 years of experience working with children, young people, adults, families, organisations and communities. Sheetal has led NHS services that provide therapeutic care for Looked After Children (LAC) including adoption, fostering and Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC). She is a trainer, educator and supervisor and has worked in multi-agency rapid response services (MARRS). Sheetal is currently responsible for supporting partnerships between health, education and social care. 

Sheetal will deliver a joint session alongside Mamood Ahmad: Bridging the relational divide: sameness, difference and the wholeness solution

Synopsis

Thinking about representation across the profession: exploring sameness and difference in therapy

Diverse representation across the therapeutic profession that spans modalities, cultures, languages, religious beliefs and theoretical perspectives is essential. This presentation explores how greater representation can better serve those who feel marginalised or under-represented within wider systems of care. It is also an opportunity to consider how the profession can widen access and raise standards for clients who experience displacement and discrimination.

Susie Orbach is a psychotherapist and the author of numerous influential books – her seminal work, Fat Is a Feminist Issue was published in 1978 and has remained relevant throughout the decades. She has also held a long-running column in The Guardian. Susie has a visiting professorship at the London School of Economics, co-founded The Women's Therapy Centre in London (1976) and in New York (1981), and has spent fifty years linking psychotherapy, psychoanalysis and social structure through her writing and lectures. 

Synopsis

In conversation with Susie Orbach:  40 years on from Fat is a Feminist Issue

In conversation with UKCP chair Pippa Donovan, Susie Orbach revisits her seminal work, Fat is a Feminist Issue, forty years since its publication. She draws on her clinical and feminist insights to discuss how body relationship issues still present in the therapy room, and what they still reveal about identity and contemporary culture. She will then move on to discuss the value of psychotherapy in today's society.