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Please Join Us for this Rich Exploration of
Thinking at the Edge!
April 15 - May 10, 2023
6 Workshops
April 15, April 22, April 26, April 29, May 6, May 10
The TAE-fest is intended as a light-hearted opportunity to explore TAE. Six teachers will offer you opportunities to touch into the power of TAE. If you are a beginner, it allows you to explore the potential of TAE. If you are already familiar with it, the TAE-fest can deepen and expand your experience. You'll get the most out of the TAE-fest if you have some background in Focusing, as the workshop leaders will presume that attendees have at least a basic understanding of felt sensing.
Your registration includes all workshops as well as the recordings.
We welcome you to attend as many live as you are able.
The recordings will be available until August 31, 2023.
Children's Focusing Conference 2023A Huge Inspiration for the Focusing Community
"One week after the conference, our Moments of Wonder are still resonating inside AND outside." - CF Advisory Group
We as a Children’s Focusing (CF) Advisory Group felt all of this, like a HUGE inspiration for the Focusing community and also as a HUGE support and deepening for the international CF connections! So, thank you for being a part of this! And, of course, you're welcome to give YOUR personal response of the event! Held over three days in February, the Online Children & Focusing Conference: Moments of Wonder welcomed 128 attendees from around the world - 28 countries to be exact - and we want to take this opportunity to highlight all the people that made this gathering a tremendous success!
Atsmaout Perlstein, Lucy Bowers, Susan Watson, Luiza Stefan, René Veugelers, Mareike Ringena, Barbara Dickinson, Anna Boukydis, Tine Swyngedouw, Gerke Verthriest, Annat Gal-on, Harriet Teeuw, Liz Baring, Leonie Stewart, Mia Maes, Derek Mc Donnell, Monika Lindner and Laura Bavalics
And what would this conference be without the marvelous ongoing volunteer support team of TIFI:
Till Krapoth, Elaine Goggin, Gaby Riveros, Salwa Zenhom, Reethah Desai, Lilach Shahar, Danielle McShine, Ozlem Mavis, Beverly Calderon and Robert Copperwhite.
And, of course, the TIFI staff and consultants:
Catherine Torpey, Elizabeth Cantor, Melanie Korpi, Rita Kirsch, Renee La Roi, Sandra ten Zijthoff and Kim Siegel
The CF participants graciously shared their feedback from the conference, and we're thrilled to share some quotes throughout this article and below showcasing just some of what they felt, learned and discovered.
"… and even more at home in this thriving community, presentation after presentation, gathering after gathering."
"A new way of interaction with them. It is doorway full of passion with all of the participants."
"It all felt full of vitality, a solid core full of trust."
"A warm family with many different flavour and spices of the work and being with children."
"Coming home to yourself in a very light and smiling way."
"The atmosphere felt accepting, patient, light, tender, full of confidence and liability."
"And realizing that being with and holding with others is more essential than fixing."
"Looking forward and wanting to hear and share more in small groups about our work."
"A global approach of stepping into the legacy of Gene and Mary."
"Giving and receiving is in balance and so well hosted and held by the whole team."
If you were not able to attend the conference, there is still time to sign up and watch the recordings.
Click here for more information.
Laura Bavalics, René Veugelers, Joke van Hoeck and Harriet Teeuw
News From the Board
Reviewing the Past Year
At its February meeting, the TIFI Board invited new Coordinators, Matheus Cautiero (Brazil) and Naty Calviño (Argentina), to introduce themselves and receive our thanks and congratulations. (Matheus was announced as a Coordinator in our February 2023 newsletter and Naty in our November 2022 newsletter.)
Executive Director Catherine Torpey listed for us the Institute's many accomplishments in 2022. Among them, some highlights include:
- The development of the Thinking at the Edge (TAE) Proficiency Award
- The first Thinking at the Edge (TAE) Academy
- Announcement by the Gendlin Research Center of the first Gendlin Grant in Philosophy (to be awarded in 2023)
- The Board's finalization of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion statement
- The finalization by the International Leadership Council (ILC's) Process for Naming Coordinators (see the article in this newsletter from the ILC for more about this)
- Offering the first hybrid Weeklong
- Opening the new online bookstore (store.focusing.org)
- Continuing improvements to the TIFI website that make it easier to navigate and more useful
- More benefits to members, including making all Folios free online for members
- The implementation "Equity in Membership," which has made membership in TIFI more accessible to people all over the world
In addition, TIFI’s offerings for the year included monthly Focusing Highlights, special courses, and conferences. Our Membership Committee and committed volunteers continued to offer free monthly Roundtables, Cafecitos and Mesas Redondas for members, Hello Hello gatherings and more.
The Board and staff look forward to another productive year in 2023, which began with the appointment of the first ever Board Advisory Member, Coordinator Patrick Duffy from Ireland. The Board is excited to implement this new role with such an experienced and knowledgeable person as Patrick. Read more about him below, and read about the newly-created Board Advisory Member role on our page at focusing.org/board. The Board continued its discussion of strategic directions for 2023 at its March meeting.
The TIFI Board Welcomes Patrick Duffyas the first Board Advisory Member
Patrick Duffy of Ireland first joined TIFI as a Focusing Trainer and Coordinator in 2003. He is an ordained priest and member of a religious community called the Congregation of the Passion in the Catholic Church, and is currently assistant leader of the Belfast community. Patrick holds several diplomas in theology and philosophy as well as in counseling, and is currently a counselor for Daneo Human and Spiritual Services and Cancer Lifeline. The Board created the Board Advisory Member position to make service on the Board more accessible, and we're delighted to have Patrick as the first person to fulfill this role. Welcome, Patrick!
ILC Finalizes Processes for Naming Coordinators
The International Leadership Council recently announced that after a five-year Pilot Program, TIFI has now finalized the new Process for Naming Coordinators.
The link to read what this process entails can be found here or by going to focusing.org to Membership - Certification - Coordinator & Trainer Resources.
The ILC also held two meetings on March 19 for all Coordinators and Coordinators-in-Training. The purpose was to invite any questions or reflections on the finalization of the Process for Naming Coordinators, and to discuss any issues of importance to Coordinators (who have the power to certify students through TIFI).
The conversation was wide ranging. Appreciation was expressed for the new process - both the outcome and the way in which it was developed slowly over a number of years with lots of opportunities for input. Other topics included some technical questions about such things as how to pay for memberships; questions about how to make Focusing, felt sensing and Eugene Gendlin better known and understood; and questions about the Board's having asked Coordinators for feedback on whether to use "Experiential Focusing" rather than "Focusing" on focusing.org.
Thirty-three Coordinators and CiTs attended and 17 countries were represented (Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China (mainland), France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russia, Switzerland, Taiwan, USA). Translation was available into Italian, Spanish, French and Chinese.
The intention is for the ILC to have such meetings about twice a year, to create regular opportunities for Coordinators and CiTs to get to know one another and to be more connected with the ILC.
We are happy to congratulate the following three new Coordinators, three new Coordinators-in-Training (CiT), and Certified Focusing Professionals (including Trainers and Focusing-Oriented Therapists). Congratulations to each of them on their achievement. We wish them all the very best in their ongoing endeavors!
New Coordinators
Rosa Catoio, Italy / Italiana
Mentoring Coordinator: Bruna Blandino
Supported by Laura Talamoni
Rosa is also a Wholebody Focusing Trainer and a Life Coach. She has dedicated many years to personal development and spiritual research acquiring many different skills that contributed to enriching her personal and professional life. Focusing, however, has become the central hub around which other skills revolve. She believes strongly in cooperation among Focusers, and enjoys participating in events that stimulate cooperation and continue to spread Focusing. "We are all connected and Focusing is reminding us."
Yasushi Kuba, Japan / 日本
Mentoring Coordinators: Mako Hikasa, Teruyuki Chikada and Naomi Horio
Yasushi is a psychotherapist and considers Focusing and Gendlin's philosophy to be the basis of his practice. He currently teaches psychology (especially humanistic psychology) at Taisho University in Japan. He is also interested in teaching a wide range of undergraduate students about how they can speak from their feelings and how to use the knowledge and concepts they have learned.
Xue Li (Neva), China / 中國人
Mentoring Coordinator: Akira Ikemi
Supported by Li Ming and Ruth Hirsch
Neva started to learn Focusing in 2015 in China. Neva has also studied with Robert Lee since 2019. She coordinated the China Groups for Domain Focusing and has been a translator in Robert's workshop since 2019. "Focusing changed my life and accompanied me at each key time (even when I was pregnant)." She hopes all the people in China and all around the world could have the chance to deeply connect with Focusing.
New Coordinators-in-Training
Mohamed Altawil, United Kingdom
Mentoring Coordinator: Rob Foxcroft
Supported by Pat Omidian and Nina Joy Lawrence
Alejandro Juroczko, Argentina
Mentoring Coordinator: Florentina Sassoli
Supported by Suzanne Noel and Guilherme Tostes
Heazel Martínez, El Salvador
Mentoring Coordinator: Beatrice Blake
Supported by Analia Zaccai and Cecilia Burgos
New Certified Focusing Professionals
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Angels Ambrosio, Spain Karen Carmeli, Japan Merche Coll Andres, Spain Lucia Comar, Italy Marie Connors, Australia Yu Dai, China Iván Esteban, Spain Ana María Fuentes Casañas, Spain Francisca García-Fernández, Spain Thaís Gomes, Brazil Liliana Hernández Mendoza, Mexico Jiroyuki Kokubo, Japan Ana Paula Lanza, Argentina |
Mari Carmen Lopez, Spain Nicoletta Luciano, Italy Francesca Malerba, Italy Hiroshi Obara, Japan Sílvia Oliver, Spain Ana Paula Salmerón Minguez, Spain Hiroshi Sato, Japan Savyon Shenhar, Israel Kaori Shimizu, Japan Miki Sugawara, Japan Tetsumasa Takeda, Japan Jinyan Tang, China Stella Maris Zandarin, ArgentinaCoordinator: Monica Perez Iturraspe |
