Carrying Gene’s Work Forward in Academia: Sharing Experiences & Possibilities

Friday September 6, 2019 from 9:00 to 11:00 am EDT

Times worldwide: convert to your time zone

The TIFI Membership Committee is pleased to offer this series of Focusing Roundtables designed especially for members of the Institute. If you are not a member, please join at https://focusing.org/page/join-or-renew, then return to this page to register. This program will afford members a valuable opportunity to engage in casual peer-to-peer conversation with other members who share Focusing-related interests.

Gendlin’s philosophical thinking and praxis was born and developed in the academic environment. He received his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Chicago and taught there from 1964 to 1995. Over the years faculty members, researchers and philosophers all over the world have found innovative ways to introduce Gendlin’s theory into their courses, research projects, psychological and therapeutic models, and philosophical explorations in academia and beyond. Yet these efforts tend to have been done in relative isolation from other academics who also value what Gene brought into the world. As a consequence Gendlin’s work continues to be less than universally known in academic settings.

By coming together in this Roundtable, we hope to begin a rich conversation in which we can learn about the relevant work of academic colleagues in other parts of the world. Through our mutual sharing we hope to spread knowledge of what is already being done in academia, stimulate fresh thinking about ways to advance Gendlin’s theory and praxis, and explore possibilities for support and collaboration with academic colleagues beyond our local institutions and communities.

In this Roundtable, we will get to know one another and share our experiences, successes and challenges in bringing aspects of Gendlin’s work into the University setting. Some questions we might explore together are:

• In what ways have you brought Gendlin’s theory and/or praxis into your courses, research or other aspects of your work at the university level?
• What direction(s) do you see as most important for your work that would result in greater knowledge of and research on Gendlin’s work in your area?
• What support would help you to succeed carrying your work forward?
• How might an international network be of value to you?

Other questions may emerge from our mutual exploration during the Roundtable.

Who might be particularly interested in attending this Roundtable?  This Roundtable is specifically designed for members who are already bringing—or hoping to bring-- Focusing, TAE, the Philosophy of the Implicit or other aspects of Gendlin’s work into their teaching, research or other aspects of their work in higher education.

CONNECTION>CONVERSATION>COMMUNITY

What to expect from Focusing Roundtables:  Each Focusing Roundtable 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:

Beth Mahler, is a Certifying Coordinator in New Jersey, USA, and has been a Licensed Clinical Social Worker for over 20 years. She has taught in the undergraduate Sociology Departments at William Paterson University and County College of Morris in New Jersey, USA. She writes, “In my life’s work, I am invested in studying and enriching human potential for social emotional wellness and growth. As an octopus stretches in eight directions while swimming through the sea, I too find myself stretching to meet and share ideas while collaborating with other professionals in Academia who are invested in carrying Gene’s work forward in uniquely valuable ways.”

João Carlos Messias, is a professor and researcher at the Pontifical Catholic University of Campinas’ Postgraduate Program in Psychology, where he leads the group "Psychology and Work: Experiential Approach". He had the opportunity to participate in the TAE workshop with Gene Gendlin and today, seeks to apply his theory in the context of work relations in general and to create dialogues with Jost and Banashi’s System Justification Theory and Savickas’ Life Design, for instance. Prof. Messias is now guiding undergraduate, masters and doctoral students in research projects about Work-Family Relations, Career Choices, Meaning of Work, Leadership and Truck Drivers’ Work Quality of Life.

Salvador Moreno-López is a professor at Universidad Iberoamericana-León, México, in the Clinical Psychotherapy Masters program, where he promotes the learning of modes of interaction based on the Philosophy of the Implicit. He has worked in the academic field more than 25 years. In 2004, he introduced Gendlin’s philosophy into a new Psychotherapy Masters Program at ITESO University, in Guadalajara, and coordinated the program for six years. Later he researched suicide from an experiential perspective. He has facilitated developing competencies in human interaction from an experiential and person-centered perspective to graduate students in several Human Development Programs. A Certifying Coordinator in Mexico, he is a psychotherapist and workshop facilitator. His interests include relating the Philosophy of the Implicit and Focusing to everyday life and health care and crossing Focusing with Mindfulness and neurosciences.