Mastering Change in Schema Therapy: Working with Rigid, Perfectionistic, Avoidant and Dependent Clients
Date - April 20 and 21 2026
Sold out
Venue- Mounts Bay Sailing Club
Continuing Professional Development- 14 hours of active CPD
Course Description:
This workshop offers schema therapists a focused opportunity to deepen their understanding and skill in working with clients who present with rigid, perfectionistic, avoidant, and dependent patterns—often seen in Cluster C personality presentations. Through experiential exercises, live demonstrations, and applied case material, participants will refine their use of empathic confrontation, experiential techniques, and mode work. The training will support therapists to navigate common stuck points, enhance motivational engagement, and respond flexibly to protective coping modes while strengthening the Healthy Adult mode. The Workshop is best suited to those who have previously completed some schema therapy training.
Remco Van Der Wijngaart is a leading international trainer, supervisor and author of several leading Schema Therapy textbooks.
Learning Objectives:
Identify and differentiate schema modes commonly seen in rigid, perfectionistic, avoidant, and dependent clients, including how these modes function as survival strategies linked to core unmet emotional needs.
Develop tailored interventions for working with high-control and avoidance coping styles, including experiential strategies to bypass Detached and Overcontroller modes.
Strengthen therapist stance and use of empathic confrontation to challenge demanding and avoidant coping while preserving the therapeutic alliance.
Apply mode dialogues and imagery rescripting techniques to increase emotional accessibility and schema healing in clients with low insight or high resistance.
Recognize and manage therapist schema activations and countertransference reactions commonly evoked by Cluster C presentations, supporting clearer boundary-setting and more compassionate engagement
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