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Summer 2022

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 
Advanced and Certification Weeklong:
Work-Study Opportunities

October 16 - 21
Online & In Person Options in Dublin Ireland and Madison CT (US)

There are many Work-Study Opportunities
for our upcoming Weeklong including:
 
  • Zoom host: Back-up to support main Zoom host (minimum 2 workshops)
     
  • Living Rooms: Take responsibility for 3 of the Living Rooms. We will provide the Zoom; the volunteer must be familiar with hosting on Zoom and able to act as a warm and inviting host to whatever participants show up. We can specify certain Living Rooms as Spanish and others as English but we cannot provide translation.
     
  • Salas de Estar: Toma responsibilidad para 3 de las Salas de estar. Usarás nuestra cuenta de Zoom; el voluntario debe ser muy cómodo actuando como anfitrion de Zoom, y capaz de ser anfitrion acogedor a cualquier participante que venga. No se puede ofrecer traducción en las Salas de estar, pero podemos etiquar ciertas cuantas como de habla español.
     
  • Bilingual (Spanish/English) written or spoken support You must be fluent in English and Spanish. We have interpreters for the online workshops, but we sometimes need to support them with things like translating specific questions or documents.
     
  • In person helper at Mercy by the Sea, Connecticut, USA
     
  • In person helper at Dominican Retreat Centre, Dublin, Ireland
     
  • Photographer Mercy by the Sea, Connecticut, USA: use your own digital camera (or high quality phone) for event photos
     
  • Photographer Dublin, Ireland: use your own digital camera (or high quality phone) for event photos
To apply for or ask questions about workstudy please email:
[email protected]
 


 


 



Welcoming New Board Member, Veronica Toescu

It is our pleasure to welcome our newest Board member, Veronica Toescu.

Veronica first learned Focusing with the team at London Focusing, which has now become the base for her professional practice, supporting new students to become Focusing-Oriented Therapists.

Her partnerships are central to her practice of Focusing. Some of them are longstanding, and others more recent. She has benefitted from several workshops offered by The International Focusing Institute and made very special connections with people from all over the world.

 



Reflections from the Board

At our July meeting, the Board heard wonderful reports from Vice President Evelyn Fendler-Lee and Executive Director Catherine Torpey about the 2022 International Focusing Conference, held in June in Ardèche, France. According to their informal report to us, the conference included a long overdue and well-received Coordinators' gathering. Among other things, the Coordinators there indicated that the Pilot Program for naming Coordinators has been successful and that it's time to convert it into the normal process, retiring the old system. Much appreciation goes to the French Focusing community for organizing such a successful conference.

We also welcomed Rob Parker to our July meeting. A long-time Focuser, former Board member, and friend to Gene Gendlin, Rob discussed the issues surrounding the word “Focusing,” as it has a public meaning which we cannot overcome. For example, automated translation services such as Google Translate do not recognize the word’s special meaning above the common public meaning, and therefore translates incorrectly for our purposes. Rob remembered that in the early days, Gene often used the term “Experiential Focusing” to refer to his work. The Board will continue to discuss this issue at the next Board meeting.

Finally, the TIFI Board is delighted to welcome Veronica Toescu as the newest Board member. Based in Birmingham, UK, Veronica says, “Although my surname is Romanian in origin, I am from La Paz, Bolivia but have settled to live in UK. I speak Spanish, English and Romanian fluently. I learned Focusing with the team at London Focusing Institute, which has now become the base for my professional practice of Focusing, supporting new students to become Focusing Oriented Therapists.” We are delighted to have her with us.

 



Welcoming New ILC Member, Guilherme Tostes

We are delighted to have Guilherme join TIFI's International Leadership Council. Guilherme is a Professor and Internship Supervisor at the Faculty of Medical Sciences of Minas Gerais, where he coordinates two Lato Sensu postgraduate courses: one called Phenomenological Existential Humanist Psychotherapy and the other called PCA and FOT and Psychopathology, Phenomenology and Mental Health.

Through the phenomenological method, he researches the living experience of people who have mood swings and people who self-harm. He is also dedicated to Focusing-Oriented Psychotherapy. He worked in the psychology department of a psychiatric hospital for 13 years, where he was also the manager.

Founder of Instituto Sapientia Cordis and Focusing Brasil, he also manages an NGO that provides psychotherapeutic care for people who are unable to pay.

 



ILC Reports on Special Meetings

TIFI's International Leadership Council (ILC) led a series of meetings with TIFI's Coordinators and Coordinators-in-Training during May and June. In the May meetings, they reported back what they had heard in last year's meetings. Between March and June of 2021, the ILC asked all Coordinators to respond to the questions:

  • How would you describe what you do as a Coordinator?
  • How has the role of a Coordinator changed, and what would be desirable changes in the future?
  • What should stay the same?
  • What do you imagine as the ideal relationship between TIFI and Coordinators?

The meetings had consisted of 11 one-hour Zoom calls in English, Spanish, Chinese, German and in writing they got responses from Japanese Coordinators. Fifty-four Coordinators and CiTs participated from 23 different countries.

They gave a PowerPoint presentation summarizing what they heard. The responses fell into a few broad topics:

  • Quality assurance in Coordinators
  • The challenge of diversity of approaches
  • The name “Coordinator” Relationship to laws and institutions in countries (for FOTs)
  • The roles and responsibilities of Coordinators
  • The relationship between Coordinators and TIFI

The last two had by far the highest number of comments, and so those two topics were further divided. The ILC reported back as accurately as possible all that they had heard.

In June, the Coordinators and CiTs were asked to comment further on two of the topics: Quality assurance and the challenge of diversity. The ILC is now taking in all that has been said and will report back further.

What the ILC has noticed is that the conversations themselves are of great value, regardless of any particular outcome. And this has to do with the challenge of diversity. With so many languages spoken and such a variety of cultures, there is tremendous value in simply talking to each other. Many times the Coordinators are somewhat isolated if they aren't comfortable in English, and the ILC takes very seriously the need for making it possible for all to participate.

The ILC always invites you to check out their page at focusing.org/ilc and to write them at [email protected] with any questions or comments you might have.

 



Thank You To Roberto Larios


 

We want to extend our wholehearted appreciation to Roberto Larios for his six years of service on the International Leadership Council. Roberto was always a wise and warm presence, and for the last year and a half acted as "Prime Mover" (chair) of meetings. This meant that in addition to the ILC meetings twice a month, he also met with the Executive Director twice a month to prepare for the ILC meetings. Thank you, Roberto, for your dedication and your leadership.


Conférence Internationale de Focusing
à Vogüé en Ardèche

Une célébration, des retrouvailles bien appréciées …
Par Michèle Jodoin, Coordonnatrice en formation (Canada)

Le focusing est un trésor, un cadeau reçu il y a 14 ans et que j’ai tout de suite partagé avec Joie. Au mois de juin 2022, j’ai eu le bonheur de participer pour la première fois, à une conférence internationale de Focusing. Celle-ci a été organisée par Bernadette Lamboy et son équipe au Domaine Lou Capitelle, dans le sud de la France. Le choix de ce petit village médiéval pittoresque, au bord de la rivière Ardèche et, protégé d’une immense façade de rock, a porté notre groupe par sa beauté et sa force et nous a transmis une très belle énergie tout au long de la conférence.

Cette magnifique expérience m’a donné l’élan de partager ce qui en est ressorti, ce qui est vivant pour moi et pour plusieurs d’entre nous; que ce soit la célébration d’ouverture, les retrouvailles ou l’impressionnant choix d’ateliers.

Dès le départ, la présentation de chaque pays à la soirée d’ouverte a fait émerger le ressenti profond de faire partie d’une remarquable communauté. La danse‘’Carrying forward’’ en l’honneur des mouvements du focusing, de l’accueil de ce qui émerge, de ce qui est vivant, fut une douce exploration profondément humaine, d’une grande intensité.

J’ai eu l’occasion de discuter et de partager avec plusieurs d’entre vous et j’ai entendu et ressenti ce qui vous avaient touchés, ce qui était le plus important, ce qui a fait la différence. Avec plaisir, on m’a parlé des ateliers, des connexions, des surprises ...
 

 

 
Michèle Jodoin, Canada
Passionné du Focusing

Michèle Jodoin est une Coordonnatrice en Formation pour TIFI, une formatrice certifiée en focusing relationnel. Elle est coach de vie, elle a très à cœur le développement de la relation à soi et à l’autre. www.michelejodoin.ca


 

AnchorMilestones

We are happy to congratulate the following new Certified Focusing Professionals (including Trainers and Focusing-Oriented Therapists) and Proficiency in Partnership Awards (PFP). Congratulations to each of them on their achievement. We wish them all the very best in their ongoing endeavors!



AnchorNew Certified Focusing Professionals

Isabel Alfonso, Australia
Coordinator: Jane Quayle

Millie Baker, UK
Coordinators: Greg Madison and Frank Bock

Zouhour Barrouta-Graham, UK
Coordinators: Greg Madison and Frank Bock

Gabriella Bath, Canada
Coordinator: Donna Steadman

Romy Bergman, Israel
Coordinator: Liora Bar Natan

Maria Paula Calafiore, Uruguay
Coordinators: Analia Zaccao and Carolina Preve

Liraz Cohen-Biton, Israel
Coordinator: Yarden Kerem

Antonietta Colaiacovo, Italy
Coordinator: Olga Pasquini

Roberta Columbano, Italy
Coordinator: Bruna Blandino

Stefania Conversi, Italy
Coordinator: Patrizia Bonaca

Lilu Einstein, Israel
Coordinator: Liora Bar Natan

Myriam El Kettani, Morocco
Coordinator: Marine de Freminville

Paula Gamble-Grant, USA
Coordinators: Ann Weiser Cornell and Peter Gill

Stuart Garber, USA
Coordinators: Charlotte Howorth

Danny Gehlen, Germany
Coordinator: Astrid Schillings

Guöbjörg R. Jóhannesdóttir, Iceland
Coordinator: Birte Robbins

Jacek Kaleta, Poland
Coordinators: Ann Weiser Cornell and Barbara McGavin

Dinette Kooiman, Belgium
Coordinators: René Veugelers and Harriet Teeuw

Daniella Lahat, Israel
Coordinator: Yarden Kerem

Ifat Levi, Israel
Coordinator: Chen Ein Habar

Victoria Mantzoros-Cleveland, USA
Coordinators: Jeffrey Morrison and Dawn Flynn (CiT)

Mitsiko Miller, Canada
Coordinator: Gina Cenciose

Federico Morgante, Italy
Coordinator: Patrizia Bonaca

Patrizia Romano, Italy
Coordinators: Bruna Blandino & Rosa Catoio (CiT)

Cristina Santolin, Australia
Coordinator: Jane Quayle

Martin Schäffner, Germany
Coordinators: Nina Joy Lawrence and Sandy Jahmi Burg (CiT)

Laura Storey, Canada
Coordinators: Ann Weiser Cornell and Fiona Parr

Francesca Tamanini, Italy
Coordinator: Patrizia Bonaca

Marilisa Tamburriello, Italy
Coordinator: Patrizia Bonaca

Kate Tremblay, USA
Coordinator: Ann Weiser Cornell

Suk Yu, Linda Tsang, Hong Kong, China
Coordinator: Karen Whalen

Laura Tshilumba, Canada
Coordinator: Gina Cenciose

Zhang Ying Fei, France
Coordinator: Xu Jun

Philipp Zimmermann, Austria
Coordinator: Ruth Sar Shalom
Proficiency in Focusing Partnership Awards (PFP)

Léon Beckx
Bob Devlin
Ching Yuen Fong
Francis Fung
Cassell Gross
Wei Gu
Hong Li Claudia Hui
Karien Kiewied

Daniela Lauritsen
Kwok To Leung
Dorethé Mommersteeg
Menchu Mozo
Shannon Riley
Mark South
Michiel Westra



The International Focusing Institute | 15 N. Mill St., Suite 210, Nyack, NY 10960