Therapists’ Circle: Practicing in the Shadow of the Pandemic - A Program Especially for Therapists

Thursday, April 23, 2020  from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm Eastern Time

Live attendance required - no recording.

Times worldwide: convert to your time zone

Please note limited registration: Current and former therapists are welcome, including psychotherapists, counselors, coaches, somatic practitioners, spiritual directors, occupational or physical therapists, nurses and the like.

The TIFI Membership Committee is pleased to introduce Therapists’ Circles, a new Roundtable series, designed especially for members who work with clients in therapeutic settings. If you are not a member, please join at http://focusing.org/membership and then return to this page to register.

Regardless of modality, we therapists hold in common the ethical and professional accountability and responsibility for our clients’ welfare and growth.  It is with this understanding that we come together to explore both the challenges of our work and the opportunities that arise through bringing a Focusing orientation to our practices.  These conversations are not intended to be professional supervision sessions, but rather an opportunity to share ideas and experiences with like-minded professionals.

For most of us, the covid19 epidemic has radically altered not only our personal lives but our professional practices as well. Some of us remain on the front lines in direct contact with clients and at risk to ourselves. Others have been forced to move their clients to the online environment and are still discerning what this means for our own effectiveness and the client experience. Some of us have experienced increased caseloads and a shift in the kinds of issues clients are raising in treatment. Others have had a drop off in our caseloads causing us economic uncertainty. For all of us the new environment brings change, challenges, and possibly also new learnings, insights and opportunities.

We invite you to come together with other therapists in this Therapist Circle to share your experiences, your questions, and your learnings as we innovate and face the challenges of the current environment.

Questions we might explore together include:

• How is the covid19 challenge affecting us personally?
• What changes and challenges are we encountering in our professional practices?
• What are we learning? How are we coping? How are we nurturing ourselves and our clients during this difficult time?

Other questions and issues may emerge from our mutual exploration during the Circle.

Who might be particularly interested in attending this Circle?

These Therapists’ Circles are intended to serve the needs and interests of a specialized subset of TIFI’s membership community who use or have used therapeutic modalities deepened by Focusing. Current and former therapists are welcome, including psychotherapists, counselors, coaches, somatic practitioners, spiritual directors, occupational or physical therapists, nurses and the like. If you have an area of interest, curiosity or passion that you would like to explore in a future Circle, please let us know.

CONNECTION>CONVERSATION>COMMUNITY

What to expect from Therapist Circles:  Each Therapist Circle is designed to promote informal peer-to-peer conversation. Rather than acting as expert presenters, the Hosts will serve as conversation moderators to encourage sharing and exploration of the topics from the participants’ own perspectives. All participants’ sharings are welcome and valuable, no matter what level of experience or knowledge you have on the topic. To preserve the nature of informal conversation, the program will be offered live only and no recordings will be available. Registration is limited and on a first-come, first served basis. Participants are encouraged to create follow up opportunities for connection among themselves after the Roundtable.

About your hosts:

Mary Anne Schleinich, MPS, BScOT is a counselling body psychotherapist in private practice in Calgary and online. She is certified with the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association and The International Focusing Institute as a Focusing Oriented Therapist. She teaches Focusing and has worked with pain, anxiety and trauma for 20 years.

Julie Ramsey, LICSW, FOT, is a psychotherapist in private practice in Wellesley, MA. She works with adolescents and adults in individual and couples therapy. She also teaches Focusing in small groups and enjoys bringing Focusing to all aspects of her work and life. She is a Coordinator-in-Training.

Steve Moscovitch MSW is a therapist in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He has been a Certified Focusing Trainer since 2002. He has integrated Focusing and a Focusing orientation into his work in individual, couple and family therapy for 20 years of his 38-year career. Other significant recent trainings are Emotion Focused Couple Therapy and Internal Family Systems.