Empathy Problems and Power

2.5 hr Live Online CPD Workshop or 🎥 Buy The Recording | All Tickets £35

About this event

Not being understood or connected with can be traumatic, but it’s a very common thing for people with minoritised experiences of the world. This can take the form of overt rejection but also the experience of routinely being missed and invalidated. We all enforce normative ideas about how to be a person - this workshop will explore how that is at the heart of so much relational harm, and what we can do about it.

This LIVE workshop will be a mix of presentation and discussion on neurodivergent and queer folks’ experiences of relational trauma. The first half will focus on the kinds of relational trauma that our neurodivergent and queer clients may have experienced due to being different. The second half will look at how similar dynamics can play out in therapy.

The workshop will introduce attendees to the concept of the Double Empathy Problem as a way of thinking about dominant and minoritised experiences, expectations, and ways of communicating.

While queerness and neurodivergence both cover a broad range of identities, they commonly encompass ways of being that challenge societal norms. They overlap both demographically and in terms of how discrimination and lack of understanding can play out. Understanding these common threads and working to expand our sensitivity around these experiences is important in helping us really meet and empathise with a broader range of humans.

How might this workshop impact your practice?

I hope that this workshop would be a starting point for participants to think about the ways in which they might expand their thinking and reflection around normative and dominant ways of being. I hope that it might help them bring more sensitivity and awareness to the ways in which their practice might support difference, or inadvertently stifle it.

Take Aways - Tools you’ll walk away with

1. An understanding of the Double Empathy Problem and its relevance to therapeutic work
2. How relational trauma can manifest for queer and neurodivergent people
3. Ways to make your practice less oppressive and more welcoming of difference

About your Speaker: Sonny Hallett

Sonny Hallett is a person-centred counsellor, supervisor, and trainer based in Edinburgh. They are trans, mixed race, and autistic, and work predominantly with clients and supervisees who are neurodivergent, queer, or have other intersecting and minoritised experiences. They also work on research relating to neurodivergence and communication, and write about person-centred therapy and minority experiences. They are interested in the ways normative expectations around communication, emotions, interests, distress, etc, can impact our lives and our relationships, especially for people who are different. They are particularly interested in these dynamics in therapy, and how therapeutic relationships and therapy training can both help challenge the dominance of these norms, and harm through reinforcing them. Part of their practice also takes place outdoors, in the woods, and they also think and write quite a bit about movement, nature, and ways to reconnect with ourselves, the world around us, and each other.

Who It’s For

This workshop welcomes those with an interest in the subject of relational trauma and neurodiversity, including both Neurotypical and Neurodivergent people working as Counsellors, Psychotherapists, Psychologists, Social Workers, Family Therapists, Coaches, and Teachers.

What to Expect

Format: Workshop, Slides, breakouts, group discussion, Q&A, experiential activity

Vibe: Interactive, introspective, empowering, philosophical, lively

A video of the event will be sent to you the week after the LIVE event

Event Details:

🗓️ Date: Friday, March 6th 2026

⏰ Time: 12:00–2:30 UK

📍 Location: Zoom (link sent upon ticket purchase)

💵 Cost: £35

🎟️ Reserve your spot now — Space is limited to keep the group intimate and safe.

🎥 ON DEMAND - Buy The Recording: Purchase a ticket and you will receive the recording and a CPD certificate

(Please note: CoPratice tier membership includes free access to the recording)

What's included?

1 year access to the online Video Recording and a CPD Certificate of Attendance

Course Delivery

Live online on Zoom or Via a Video Recording send out the week after the workshop

Accessibility

For any accessibility requirements, please get in touch with the organiser at events@counsellors-staffroom.co.uk, who will be happy to make arrangements with you before the event

Refund Policy

Regrettably, all bookings are non-refundable in the event of cancellation in advance by you or your non-attendance on the day

Booking conditions:

1. Tickets are sold via Eventbrite only

2. Cancellation by you - All bookings are non-refundable

3. Behaviour:

We all have a part in creating a positive, welcoming space in our events. This means being open to hearing when our behaviour or language may not have landed well with others, and contributing in ways that help keep the atmosphere respectful and supportive. If behaviour is disruptive or inappropriate, we may remove you from the event to protect the group. For more on how we work together, please see our Community Guidelines.

If you have any questions about this workshop, feel free to email events@counsellors-staffroom.co.uk