From Theory to Practice: Helping People Form Preferred Relationships with Systems

Dr. Travis Heath

Worth 1.5 CEUs

Thursday, March 2, 2023, 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM

The consideration of systemic influences on living has seemingly increased quite substantially in recent years. More specifically, people are considering how social and economic systems are impacting themselves and others, sometimes in disproportionate ways. How might these ideas relate to therapy, which has historically been an individualist venture with little consideration for how larger systems (outside of family) might be causing distress? In what ways can therapists help people learn to form more preferred relationships with the systems in which they reside?

About Dr. Travis Heath

Travis is a licensed psychologist and is an Associate Professor at San Diego State University, where he serves as Chair of the Department of Counseling & School Psychology. Past work he’s been involved with looked at shifting from a multicultural approach to counseling to one of cultural democracy that invites people to heal in mediums that are culturally near.

His most recent work involves incorporating the work of Black abolitionist scholars into psychotherapy, community healing, and uprising. His writing has focused on the use of rap music in narrative therapy, working with persons entangled in the criminal injustice system in ways that maintain their dignity, narrative practice stories as pedagogy, a co-created questioning practice called reunion questions, and community healing strategies. He is co-author, with David Epston and Tom Carlson, of the first book on Contemporary Narrative Therapy released in June 2022 entitled, “Reimagining Narrative Therapy Through Practice Stories and Autoethnography.” The book is part of the “Writing Lives” series with Routledge publishing. Travis has been fortunate to facilitate workshops and speak in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Hong Kong, India, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States.