Wendy Behary, LCSW
Friday Dec 5th
DELIBERATE PRACTICE A BREAKTHROUGH METHOD TO DEVELOPING SCHEMA THERAPY MASTERY
Deliberate Practice is redefining how therapists build mastery. Just as musicians and athletes refine their craft through targeted, repeated exercises, Schema Therapists can now apply the same science of skill acquisition to clinical training. This session, led by two of the field’s foremost master trainers, demonstrates how deliberate practice turns knowledge into embodied expertise.
Participants will see how Schema Therapy’s most essential micro-skills—empathic confrontation, limited reparenting, and experiential dialogue—can be broken down, practiced, and strengthened through structured feedback and repetition. Using role-play and real-time feedback, the presenters show how small, precise improvements lead to major gains in clinical effectiveness.
This interactive session offers a rare chance to observe deliberate practice in action and to understand how it bridges the gap between theory and transformative therapeutic performance.
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
TREATING COUPLES WITH ISSUES OF NARCISSISM
Few dynamics challenge therapists more than couples impacted by narcissism. Guided by Schema Therapy and supported by other evidence-based approaches, this session examines how unmet core emotional needs and early attachment wounds create powerful schema chemistry—the unconscious pull that drives attraction, conflict, and emotional pain in intimate relationships.
Wendy Behary, internationally known for her expertise in narcissism and Schema Therapy, reveals how these dynamics evolve into cycles of control, mistrust, and emotional withdrawal. Attendees will learn practical interventions to manage narcissistic modes, strengthen empathy, and reduce defensiveness. Schema Therapy’s unique integration of individual and joint sessions provides a pathway to repair, allowing both partners to grow while rebuilding safety and connection.