At this practical workshop, which is relevant for psychotherapists, counsellors, clinical psychologists, psychiatrists and social workers; we will explore why these aspects of the client are inseparable and how each depends on the other to define and maintain its existence. We will learn how to work with this unlikely inner couple of the child and perpetrator-imitating parts. While we are more accustomed to working with child parts of the client that may be reliving the traumatic experience, parts that imitate the perpetrator are more challenging to engage and understand. They are often hidden and serve as the last and strongest line of defence for the client against vulnerability, helplessness, rage, and yearning to be connected to others. Thus, these parts should not be banished, ignored, or resisted in therapy. Instead, they can be understood and worked with as part of the client as a whole.

Through case-vignettes and examples, delegates will learn how:

• Child parts and perpetrator-imitating parts are bound together by a traumatic combination of fear, rage, shame, dependency and loyalty
• We can work systematically with both parts to promote better integration and functioning
• Both parts require a compassionate and boundaried approach; and both hold keys to help resolve traumatic memory and attachment problems
• Perpetrator-imitating parts exert influence over the client even though they are often hidden and reluctant to engage in therapy
• Perpetrator-imitating parts remain the last major defence of the client as a whole against vulnerability, helplessness and the desire to connect with others

The workshop is consistent with and would be a beneficial adjunct to multiple modalities of psychotherapy or specialised trauma therapy (including analytical, dynamic and somatic approaches, cognitive behavioural and EMDR).