This talk will introduce some key ideas about the particular understanding and clinical practice of Contemplative Psychotherapy. Clinical vignettes will illustrate the following themes: psychotherapy without a self; using mindfulness in our practice; loving kindness and the persecutory inner voices; fixing nothing and beyond the narrative. The Contemplative Psychotherapy I present here draws deeply upon Buddhist roots and values an approach that celebrates curiosity and kindness, being mindfully present with our emotions and opening to the ground of our already awakened nature.

Assessment is an important aspect of delivering spiritual care and one which healthcare professionals often feel ill equipped to manage. Being curious about what gives meaning to a person's life and what helps most in difficult times is an important way to strengthen the therapeutic relationship. In this presentation a range of models will be explored from styles popular with the medical profession through to the nursing process as well as narrative and theological approaches. Practical concerns as to who does the assessment, when it is carried out and how it is recorded are also considered.

Very similar mental and behavioral states may be designated mental disorders in some cultural settings and religious experiences in others. A variety of behavioral and phenomenological factors along with good prognostic signs can be used to differentiate between these states. Studies also have shown that clients bring a wide range of spiritual experiences and problems into psychotherapy. Thus psychotherapists need to be able to distinguish healthy from unhealthy spirituality without pathologizing clients' experiences, beliefs, or their religious faiths.

• W1 Mapping the far side of the mind: Psychosis and recovery as an inner spiritual journey
  Janice Hartley
  We will explore the concept of 'The Hero's Journey' based on the work of anthropologist Joseph Campbell, and transpersonal psychologist Professor David Lukoff, as a powerful and liberating way to make sense of terrifying psychotic experiences. I draw on personal experience of hallucinations to illustrate how such difficult and troubling phenomena can be worked with and valued in a way that can facilitate transformation and spiritual growth.
  
  
• W2 A mindfulness-based approach to spiritual emergency
  Catherine Lucas
  We will take an experiential approach using simple meditation and mindfulness techniques to illustrate the theory and to inform our discussion. The main focus is to ground experience in the body, finding ways to be with and work with any difficult or painful aspects. This workshop is suitable both for experienced meditators and beginners.
  
  
• W3 Clinical approaches to spiritual assessment
  Dr David Lukoff
  Spiritual interventions and culturally competent therapy begin with a spiritual assessment and identifying a client's spiritual beliefs, practices, community and religious coping resources are the focus of this workshop. One approach is the F.I.C.A. (Faith, Importance, Community and how to Address client's faith during the treatment), which is currently taught in two-thirds of the medical schools in the USA and only takes a few minutes to administer. We will consider two other approaches.
  
  
• W4 'Verily in the Remembrance of God do Hearts find their Rest': Psychotherapy with Muslims, and Islam as psychotherapy
  Shahnawaz Haque
  The quote in the title is from a verse in the Qur'an (13:28). This workshop is an exploration of aspects of psychotherapeutic work within the Muslim community in London together with reflections on therapeutic elements existing in the beliefs and practices of Islam.
  
  
• W5 Keeping body and mind together: meditation made simple
  Dr Sarah Eagger
  The aims of this workshop are to promote the benefits of a calm and discerning mind, both in clinical practice and everyday life, by offering instruction in one or two simple meditation techniques that bring body and mind into harmony. It seeks to increase our capacity to stay focused in the present and remain attentive with equanimity, while allowing us to improve our capacity to witness and endure distress, and sustain an attitude of hope.
  
  
• W6 A narrative approach to spirituality in psychotherapy
  Agneta Schreurs & Beaumont Stevenson
  Moving from the psychological to the spiritual level implies moving from personal pain to universal meaning - which often contributes significantly to the healing process. Sometimes such a move happens spontaneously, for example in a religious experience, some other times it does not happen spontaneously. Then we can help people making such a change of perspective by teaching them how to re-formulate their tragedy or difficulty on the narrative, myth or metaphoric level.
  
  
• W7 Reaching out beyond the threshold. What do you say?
  Isabel Clarke
  As a therapist, the spiritual preoccupations of clients on or beyond the borders of sanity present a challenge. This workshop will introduce a normalising way of working with this challenge, and cement the therapeutic alliance. Exercises will enable participants to try out the approach.
  
  
• W8 Yoga session relating to the theme of the conference
  Sue Staziker
  

There is growing interest in the integration of spiritual perspectives within psychotherapy - not as an idealisation but as an innate part of our existence. In essence spiritual traditions offer guidance to facilitate a complex and ongoing dialogue or process between the ego and self-less or altruistic aspects of our human nature. We will explore some of the key practices and qualities which lie at the heart of spirituality. This will include how contemplation and mindfulness can help us to develop an 'impartial observer', teaching us to see beyond the identity, beliefs and concepts of the ego. We will also look at how core spiritual qualities such as acceptance, compassion and forgiveness can be cultivated within the therapeutic context. And how to communicate in a truthful language which is based on the client's internal frameworks yet allows for deeper spiritual meaning to emerge.

Several studies document that patients with serious mental disorders use religion to cope with their condition. In fact, religious practices (such as worship and prayer) appear to protect against severity of psychiatric symptoms and hospitalization, and enhance life satisfaction and speed recovery in mental disorders. For many people, having a relationship with a higher power is the foundation of their psychological well-being. This presentation focuses on how to provide spiritually-oriented psychotherapy and support for a client's spiritual journey in recovery.

Insight into the relational structure of a religious patient's spirituality may help to analyse how psychological and spiritual factors are interconnected and in what way the patient's 'spiritual relationship' influences his mental health problems either positively or negatively. They also help us to identify the latent opportunities for therapeutic and spiritual healing that are present within spiritually-minded patients' own religious frame of reference.

Plus yoga group, biodynamic massage sessions, or meditative walk in the grounds...

A café conversation is a simple methodology for collectively considering answers to important questions. It rests on the principles that change arises from conversation, that strategic questions encourage collective learning and that jointly we have the wisdom and resources to impact on social or professional issues.

Research suggests that breaking into non-ordinary reality is a widespread, but not universal, part of human experience. However, the devastating effect of standard medical approaches on self image can turn a brief excursion into long standing disability. Isabel Clarke's approach to such disturbances to normal life treats them with respect while enabling people to recognise their origins and gain control over their lives through techniques such as mindfulness.