We offer 4 courses. You are welcome to take just one, or as few as you please. There is no specific order in which to take these courses.
If you take all 4 courses, you are eligible for certification by the International Focusing Institute. Taking all 4 courses at a reasonable pace while working as a therapist takes 2 years or so.
They are all suitable for all levels of Focusing experience, including therapists who have no prior knowledge of Focusing.
Courses are scheduled at a time of day that is convenient to people on both coasts of North America as well as in Europe.
The 4 courses are as follows:
– Serge’s 2 courses: Info common to both | The DNA of Change | Sunflower Mind
– Leslie’s course: Embodied Experiential Dreamwork
– Jan’s course: Treating Trauma and Addiction with the Felt Sense Polyvagal Model
Serge’s 2 courses
These 2 courses help you add a more embodied, experiential dimension to your work. They help you hone clinical skills such as deep listening, felt-sensing, moment-by-moment attention to process, self-regulation, and co-regulation.
They train you to deepen the client’s process in a safe and respectful way, informed by neuroscience and a somatic approach to trauma.
Each of the 2 courses has a specific theme:
– “The DNA of change” trains you to foster a mindful, proactive space for change.
– “Sunflower Mind” trains you to creatively work with embodied experience.
In each course, the training itself is experiential, interweaving personal process, supervision, and conceptual learning.
The DNA of Change: the mindful & proactive edge of Focusing-oriented therapy
A course with Serge Prengel
With Integrative Focusing, the goal of lasting change is not separate from how we work to achieve it. This is why this course is called The DNA of Change.
You practice ways to foster a mindful, proactive space in which clients will organically tap into their inner ability to heal and grow.
You develop a quality of presence that allows clients to face what might otherwise feel uncomfortable or even unbearable and allows new possibilities to emerge.
When: The next cohort begins September 12, 2024 (on the second Thursday of the month at 12 noon New York time)
Sunflower Mind: The embodied & relational edge of Focusing-oriented therapy
A course with Serge Prengel
A sunflower moves without using willpower or cognition. The Sunflower Mind metaphor draws attention to the relational and embodied nature of our mind process.
In this course, you study how the bodily felt sense emerges in the context of interaction and explore the physicality of our relational patterns.
You do this experientially as you practice creatively using embodied experience to harness the transformative power of Integrative Focusing.
When: The next cohort will be in 2025. It will be at a time convenient to many time zones: 12 noon New York time.
Embodied Experiential Dreamwork
A course with Leslie Ellis
This course is a deep dive into the world of dreams, and a clear path to learning how to engage yourself and guide others in embodied experiential dreamwork practices.
Students will learn and practice three ways of engaging experientially with dreams and will have a chance to practice these methods in class and with each other between sessions.
There will be a focus on finding and embodying the resources that can be found within dreams themselves and applying this to navigate the depths of any dream, including nightmares. And you will be able to help those who suffer from trauma-related nightmares to not only reduce nightmare frequency and distress but also PTSD symptoms.
When: There are two versions of this course: as a six-month course, or a full-year course. The next cohort starts in September 2024.
Treating Trauma and Addiction with the Felt Sense Polyvagal Model
A course with Jan Winhall
In this 6-month certificate program, we explore the intersection of trauma and addiction and how to address both with an embodied approach.
Participants of this course will be in Focusing partnerships and become part of a growing supportive community of like-minded therapists who understand the importance of a polyvagal lens in working with clients.
In addition to play-on-demand lectures, there will be six live monthly zoom classes, as well as monthly Focusing with your assigned partner.
When: The next cohort begins in the second half of 2024 (date TBD)
What next?
You do not enroll in the program as a whole. You enroll in a specific course, using the “more info & enrollment” links above.
We would appreciate your letting us know if you intend to do the whole program. This is not a commitment, just a way of introducing yourself. Please use the application form.