Robin Spiro, LCSW
Thursday Dec 4th
KEYNOTE: 35 YEARS OF THE SCHEMA THERAPY MODEL OF JEFFREY YOUNG
Sustaining the Integrity of the Core Model
How do we protect what makes Schema Therapy work while continuing to evolve? Developed by Dr. Jeffrey Young, Schema Therapy blends cognitive, attachment, experiential, and psychodynamic traditions into one of the most effective models for clients long considered untreatable. As it spreads across cultures and settings, the challenge is to keep its core alive while adapting to new needs.
This session explores the essence of what gives Schema Therapy its power—transforming schemas, healing unmet needs, and using the therapeutic relationship as a force for deep emotional repair. Join us as we honor Dr. Young’s legacy and examine how true innovation begins by staying rooted in the principles that heal.
Thursday Dec 4th
SCHEMA THERAPY FOR COMPLEX TRAUMA – SPECIAL TOPICS IN INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP TREATMENT
Lasting recovery from complex trauma depends on two essential elements: strengthening the Healthy Adult and building a genuine limited reparenting relationship. This session explores the core challenges that block both, offering clear, practical strategies for working through resistance, mistrust, and emotional disconnection.
In individual therapy, many clients struggle to engage with their Vulnerable Child mode, often responding with judgment or avoidance. Others carry deep schemas of Emotional Deprivation, Mistrust, or Subjugation that make it hard to trust the therapist’s care. Through vivid clinical examples, participants will learn how to repair these ruptures, foster safety, and nurture authentic healing.
The presentation also introduces a group-based Schema Therapy model for complex trauma. Attendees will see how to integrate mode work, experiential methods, and Healthy Adult modeling within a group to address shame, dissociation, and survival modes, transforming peer interactions into opportunities for reparenting and repair.