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West Coast Psychosis Care and Connection: A Retreat on Humanistic Approaches

Understanding the Dialogue in Open Dialogue: Recognition and the Struggle to be Heard

Ross Ellenhorn, MSW, PhD
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Description

This session will center on learning Open Dialogue, but will take the learning deeper, and give it richer meaning, by investigating what it means to be in dialogue: the kinds of truths that emerge from it, the noetic quality of it, the experiences it engenders, how it is often associated with a connection to the divine, and its close-to-synonymous relationship with play. After all, if we consider psychosis an acute experience of estrangement, whether that estrangement is endogenous or caused by stigma, we might also want to consider it a disconnection from dialogue or a blocked-off world of purely inner dialogue and want to find new forms of dialogue that will be especially sensitive to psychotic experience. That’s what this presentation, discussion and shared-learning experience will be all about.

Learning Objectives

Participants will be able to:

  • Define Open Dialogue and describe its theoretical underpinnings.

  • Describe what i means to be “in dialogue,” and identify at least two types of truth that can emerge from being in dialogue.

  • Identify at least two new forms of dialogue that are responsive to psychotic experiences.

Educational Goal

The educational goal of this session is to enhance clinicians’ understanding of Open Dialogue as a therapeutic framework in psychosis care by examining how dialogical practices can strengthen relational connection, support therapeutic engagement, and promote more responsive, person-centered care.

Presenters

Ross Ellenhorn, MSW, PhD
Dr. 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.