How To Bring Focusing Seamlessly into Therapeutic Conversations: Being the Interaction That Makes It Better - Starting March 3rd.

Dr. Eugene Gendlin was a psychotherapist & seamlessly & naturally weaved focusing into his therapeutic conversations.  In addition, the original research from which focusing emerged was derived from analyzing psychotherapeutic conversations.

Mary Hendricks, former director of TIFI, & Eugene Gendlin’s wife, was the also the teacher of TFI’s certification course.  Mary handed the responsibility of teaching and certifying focusing professionals for the Institute to Charlotte several years ago. Charlotte led the Institute’s certification program for over 12 years before going on to teach the course independently for the past 5 years, and so has a wealth of experience as a focusing teacher and has worked as a focusing oriented therapist, and coach for 28 years.

In this 1-hour Q & A Charlotte will present her 1-year course which covers some of the points below:

- How this course is for all kinds of mental health practitioners, coaches, as well as those wanting to bring focusing more fully into their lives and relationships.

- How to bring focusing seamlessly into therapeutic conversations without the client/other person feeling like you are 'doing' something to them, or getting them to 'do' something, which can profoundly effect the dynamic of the therapeutic dyad.

- There are a lot of opportunities for experiential practice on this course with the support of focusing coaches to use the skills learnt in the richer, faster and more improvisational nature of a conversation.

- How in conversations much more of the whole 'self' is engaged and so is available for rich focusing and healing experiences.

- It is working with the relationship that heals, and focusing is inherently deeply relational and so we learn how to work in this realm.

- We will learn how to tune into the felt sense of the 'one interaction' you are living with your client and use this to guide your sessions.  How to tune into your felt sense of the dyad - your felt sense of the focuser's (client's) felt sense, and the felt sense of the relationship, and use these experiences to profoundly deepen sessions. 

- We will study and practice how each of us is trying to make a deeper point, one that we are often initially not even aware of.  We will learn how to listen for the signs of this deeper point, and how to facilitate its emergence as we work with focusing’s organic forward movement.

- Students will study and practice how to notice and work with a client's, or focuser’s, forward growing edge, as well as the undertow, or trailing edge that comes with it.

- In most stuck places there can be several threads and one of these is often a younger place, or flash back. Students will learn how to identify and unpack these places allowing their forward edge to flow and grow.

- We will have a class with Isabel Adon on working with focusing and trauma.

- There will be also be a class with Lynn Preston on working with the felt sense in both dyad and group work.

- Students to become certified Focusing Oriented Therapists, or Focusing Professionals if they have already had sufficent focusing training prior to taking this course.

- Students also have the option of also being certified as focusing teachers and trainers.