2025 New Perspectives on Treatment Series: The Art of Holding in the Therapeutic Space
Pricing
Information
Date & Time
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Description
The art of holding is the gift of offering another a sense of containment and comfort in the face of insecurity. Holding isn’t easy to do; all of us struggle with being held. Thus, holding is a mutual embrace that requires the participation of at least two willing participants.
Tightly clasping hands, hugging or even throwing an arm around a pal are all examples of holding, and yet the amazing thing about humans is that we can hold someone without physically touching them, and we can feel held by others even when they are miles away.
Think about that: We can feel held by people we haven’t spoken to in years, and we can feel them holding us without being in their physical proximity. Indeed, our autonomy is based upon this, since we’re only willing to roam the earth on our own when we are able to hold in our minds the holding source of others. Holding is the source of human transformation: People don’t change if they don’t feel held.
Sadly, as the therapeutic professions have increasingly turned to techniques that claim to cure specific psychiatric issues, they have turned away from holding as their prime responsibility. In fact, holding is often left out of the therapeutic space completely—but not in this series.
We are committed to keeping holding front and center in our 2025 New Perspectives on Treatment Series through a series of talks that will explore the diverse ways in which holding can be expressed therapeutically. After all, this remarkable art in which one person tends to the fertile ground from which another can grow deserves our respect and attention.
Target Audience
- Counselor
- Marriage & Family Therapist
- Psychologist
- Social Worker
- Substance Use Disorder Professionals
Presenters
Dr. Ellenhorn is the Founder and CEO of Ellenhorn. is a pioneer and leader in the development and promotion of community integration services, types of care that serve and empower individuals diagnosed with psychiatric and/or addiction issues while they remain in their own communities and outside institutional settings.
Trained as a sociologist, psychotherapist and social worker, he created the first fully operating intensive hospital diversion and wrap-around program in Massachusetts. Ellenhorn later created and led one of the first public Programs for Assertive Community Treatment teams in the state. In 2022, Ellenhorn co-founded CARDEA, a psychedelics based practice that assists those who seek recovery from deep and entrenched psychological anguish, from behaviors that are out of control, as well as those who want a more awakened life and expanded sense of existence.
Dr. Ellenhorn has authored three books on human behavior. Parasuicidality and Paradox: Breaking Through the Medical Model addresses psychiatric hospital recidivism and techniques for diverting hospital use. It was published by Springer Publishing in 2007. His most recent book, How We Change (and the Ten Reasons Why We Don’t), takes a deep dive into the dynamics that influence all human change. Published by Harper Collins, and in seven different languages, How We Change was released in May of 2020. Purple Crayons: The Art of Drawing a Life celebrates our inherent “sacred originality” and establishes a new framework for self-reliance. It was published in 2022. He has authored numerous articles, gives talks and seminars throughout the country, and provides consultation to mental health agencies, psychiatric hospitals and addiction programs.
Dr. Ellenhorn is the founder of the Shifting The Paradigm conferences, a bi‑annual series that addresses humanistic and empowering changes in behavioral healthcare. He is the executive producer of the film, Recovering Addiction: A Public Health Rescue Mission, a documentary on new, less‑oppressive means for understanding problematic substance use and other distressing habits.
Dr. Ellenhorn is the first person to receive a joint Ph.D. from Brandeis University’s prestigious Florence Heller School for Social Welfare Policy and Management and the Department of Sociology.
Elizabeth is an LICSW who first earned her Bachelor’s Degree from Westfield State University, in Ethnic and Gender Studies, followed by a Master’s Degree from Salem State University’s School of Social Work, in Salem, MA. Elizabeth completed field placements in a leadership position for a non-profit PACT team, as well as at a Community Crisis Team where she provided short term, solution-focused clinical intervention evaluations and placements for individuals in extreme states of mind.
Elizabeth joined the Ellenhorn team in November of 2018, following having worked as the lead clinician at a Department of Mental Health-funded public PACT program. In this position, she provided individualized therapy, guided by clinical interventions, evidenced-based practices, facilitated the recovery process and responded to the needs of the individual on a case-by-case basis. During her six years with that program she also served as the vocational specialist, and dual-diagnosis clinician. Her clinical experience in the field is diverse, also having worked for years with at risk children/adolescents and their families suffering with mental health, domestic violence, and homelessness, through a Department of Children and Families-funded program.
Elizabeth believes building therapeutic alliances with individuals and their families are vital in the collaboration of creating effective interventions that promote recovery, rehabilitation, and growth in a community setting. Elizabeth is dedicated to learning and growth surrounding the importance of the connection between mind and body, in order to inform treatment interventions, and overall health.
Shelly Simpson, LCSW, is Clinical Director and Director of AMBIT at Ellenhorn, LLC. She specializes in attachment, interpersonal relationship difficulties, and mentalization, with expertise in helping teams build secure, supportive relationships through the use of mentalization. Shelly holds a BSW and MSW, and completed a postgraduate Psychodynamic fellowship.
Dr. Kristin Budde began as a lover of stories. She studied English literature at the University of Michigan, then earned her medical degree from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, ultimately graduating with honors and also earning a Master of Public Health. She completed her psychiatry residency at Yale University, where she served as chief resident for diversity, received excellent training in psychotherapy, pharmacology and neuromodulatory therapies, and also began to appreciate the importance of the stories we tell ourselves, and the power these narratives have to shape our outlook and life.
Dr. Budde has mentored and taught medical trainees at all levels, and served on the teaching faculties of Yale University, Harvard University and the University of Washington in both inpatient and emergency-department settings. She remains passionate about teaching and public engagement, even as she continues to write, consult, lecture and occasionally participate in storytelling events. She also maintains a private practice in psychotherapy and pharmacology, for which she takes a holistic approach to well-being that includes diet, exercise, social connection and even a bit of storytelling. Her steadfast goal is for clients to receive superb care in an environment in which they feel understood and supported, and to help them find moments of joy and humor along the way.
Financially Sponsored By
- Ellenhorn