The 'night-side of life' - working with the effects of long-term illness on the couple relationship

About the workshop

The subject of illness and how it relates to couple functioning is often an overlooked area of research and clinical practice. This workshop will seek to redress that balance, and to offer up new ways of understanding the ways in which illness can play out dynamically between a couple. After all, as Susan Sontag puts it, serious 'illness is the night-side of life', and is likely to affect us all at certain times.

Illness can be difficult to work with therapeutically due to a shared avoidance within the couple, which may be colluded with defensively by the therapist. It can be difficult to put words to the loss that a couple is facing, and to the challenges illness poses to the pre-illness projective system, including those demanded by the new roles of carer and cared for. It can also be daunting for therapists to become involved with embodied experiences, and to consider the body as an object on par with other objects that inhabit our inner worlds.

Christopher Vincent, Liz Salter, and Andrew Balfour will bring their experiences of working with couples where one or both partners suffer from serious illnesses, which include Huntington’s disease, dementia, and cancer. They will examine the idea of illness as an existential state, and one which can be thought about across a range of different long-term and chronic health conditions.

They will draw on research and their clinical experience to flesh out a rich psychoanalytic account of the effects of illness on the couple relationship - and how to work with these therapeutically. This workshop is aimed at clinicians working with couples who are suffering from a broad range of illnesses as well as those seeking to expand their expertise in this area. Delegates are encouraged to bring material for case discussion.

Who is this workshop for?

Individual, group, family, and couple psychotherapists and counsellors.

About the trainers

Christopher Vincent is a couple psychotherapist, trainer, and researcher. Originally trained as a social worker, he was a staff member of Tavistock Relationships from 1977 to 2002 and then a consultant psychotherapist in the mental health department of an NHS Trust until 2006. Since then, he has been in private practice and, from 2008 to 2018, a part-time research student in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Southampton University. Last year he submitted his research thesis examining the impact of a diagnosis of Huntington's disease on couple relationships. His current research interests and passions include the interface between psycho-social research methods and couple psychoanalytic theory, the possibilities and constraints of undertaking research in private practice, and the psychodynamics of clinical writing.

Liz Salter is a psychodynamic individual and couple counsellor with a background in general and mental health nursing. She is senior therapist and supervisor at The Harbour, a Bristol Counselling Charity that offers counselling and psychotherapy to adults affected by life-threatening illness and long-term conditions. About 15 years ago, she developed this service to include working with couples, the majority of whom have a cancer diagnosis. Since 2013 she has worked with Andrew Balfour developing 'living together with dementia' in London and Bristol. She has a small private practice which includes counselling, supervision, and training in relation to couple work.

Andrew Balfour is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist and a clinical psychologist. He has many years' experience of working psychotherapeutically with couples, developing new projects and conducting research in the area of dementia care. With his colleague, Liz Salter, he developed a psychotherapeutic intervention for couples living with dementia. He has published many papers in the field and has taught and lectured widely both in Britain and abroad.

Book here: https://tavistockrelationships.ac.uk/forthcoming-events/1230-night-side-of-life

Please note that the event will take place on the fourth floor and lift access will not be available until late 2019.