Lectures will take place at the following times:

*To enable access to the widest possible audience these lectures are planned to be delivered live, but remotely, as webinars. Where we are able, a recording will be made available to all booked delegates although we encourage live attendance wherever possible. Please see the details above to see if this lecture will be recorded and available after the live event.

These lectures will be delivered remotely using Zoom.

You will need a device with a microphone and camera together with a suitably fast internet connection. Although mobile devices and tablets can be used, we recommend the use of a laptop or desktop PC for the best experience. Some devices provided by employers may have restrictions in place. Please use this Zoom test link to check your set up before booking.

You will be sent the necessary login link about a week before the course start date. Should you have any concerns about the accessibility of remote delivery please contact us to discuss how we can best help you.

Three lectures make up this spring 2026 series:

Lecture 1: The unbearable burden of meaning

Tuesday 13 January 2026

This lecture will be recorded.

Lecturer: Jean Knox

A person who has suffered long-term abuse tries to retain some sense of agency by constructing narratives which might give some meaning to the abusive experiences. The terrible choice they are faced with is between accepting the fact that they have been treated as a mindless object, that their own subjectivity has been of no value or significance to the other person, or, on the other hand, if they retain a sense of agency then it leads to a belief that they must somehow have caused the abuse.

Such an imaginative belief would allow a child to retain some sense of cause and effect, some belief that she actually does have some control over the situation because she did something wrong which provoked this violent response. So, faced with the choice between passive helplessness and some kind of active role, people often seem to choose the latter – to retain some sense of agency, whatever the price.

I shall discuss the resulting state of mind of both utter helplessness and a sense of total responsibility, which combine to create the deep sense of shame that results from what Ferenczi named as ’Identification with the aggressor’.

Lecture 2: Sexual abuse of infants: Facing what we cannot bear to know

5 February 2026

This lecture will be recorded.

Lecturer: Dr Frances Thomson-Salo

Sexual abuse of infants under 3, referred to in the literature for about 100 years, will be briefly described and current worldwide rates of incidence given, although often these are not easy to ascertain. (Incidence is likely to be much higher from birth onwards within the family.) Statistics suggest a greater preponderance of female infants abused, and usually a greater proportion of male perpetrators.

That infants have a range of affective and behavioural responses to abuse, with short and long-term effects, partly depending on whether it is single incident or chronic, will be explored and discussed. Their painful responses of fear, shame and despairing compliance can have a debilitating effect and evoke responses in the therapist, often stirring shame, disgust and horror. Some age-appropriate therapeutic interventions will be discussed, including the importance of providing a reflective space for a therapist, aware of a potentially polarising effect that infant abuse can have. Several vignettes will be given, many of them indicating infant outcomes. 

Please note, some of the clinical material may be distressing.

Lecture 3: Womb Life: Why we need to take prenatal life more seriously

5 March 2026

This lecture will be recorded.

Please note: This recording will be sent out a few days after the lecture and only be available for TWO WEEKS.

Lecturer: Graham Music

This talk will explore the importance of pregnancy, and life in the womb, and the later consequences of those experiences. The talk will examine the latest scientific findings on pregnancy and the incredible life of the foetus, what affects the foetus positively or adversely, and consider how life before birth, and lives before conception, can sculpt a baby’s lifelong health, for example via the mother’s ancestral inheritances, trauma, stress levels, and emotional states. The talk raises the question of whether we should be asking more about the very earliest experiences of our complex clients to help us and them make sense of their lives.
The talk will link together therapeutic insights, real-life stories and new science to make the case for the importance of this most early and vulnerable periods of a life.

Save £15 with a lecture series bundle

Lectures can be booked individually at £30 each or as a cost-saving bundle comprising the three spring 2026 series lectures at £75 – a saving of £15 compared to booking the lectures individually.