Children & Focusing Academy

Children & Focusing Academy
October 23 - November 14 2025

Main class will be held on 4 consecutive Fridays
Optional Welcome and Optional Felt-Sensing Sessions on Thursdays

Orientation (optional) - Thursday October 23
Main Class (live attendance required) - Fridays - October 24, October 31, November 7, November 14 (registrants attend all four sessions live)
Guided Felt-Sensing Exercises and Discussions (optional) - Wednesdays - October 30, November 6, November 13

The Children & Focusing Academy is a chance to learn about the world of Children & Focusing or to re-charge your Focusing practice!

Focusing is an experiential, embodied and evidence-based practice of self-reflection that was developed by Eugene Gendlin. During Focusing, your attention will open up to multiple layers and aspects of living. It’s called Focusing because it requires a special kind of “focus” to notice what is not yet clear; what is fuzzy and vague and seems to carry some kind of implicit meaning.  This fuzzy dimension of experience is called the “felt sense.”  Focusing on the felt sense allows an in-depth clarification process to happen.

This online Children & Focusing Academy will allow you to immerse yourself in one introductory Children & Focusing Main Class, as well as experience other teachers through stand-alone Guided Felt Sensing sessions offered by teachers from around the world.  This event is oriented toward beginners as well as experienced Focusers who would enjoy a chance to learn more about doing Focusing with children, with your inner child, or simply finding new options in your practice.  Whether you are beginner, a seasoned Focuser, or even a Focusing teacher, this Academy is for you!

ABOUT CHILDREN & FOCUSING
The techniques used to introduce Focusing to children are just as useful with adults. To introduce Focusing to children, methods are more indirect and playful.  This gentle way is essential for working with young people, and invaluable for working with adults -- including ourselves!  Getting back in touch with our own inner child can allow new perspectives to emerge which are organically our own. 

It was Marta Stapert of the Netherlands who developed the use of Focusing with children.  She wrote Focusing with Children: The art of communicating with children at school and at home (in her native Dutch, but it was later translated into several languages).  Marta also educated the next generation of teachers, and our three Main Class Teachers all learned directly from her and have carried her work forward.

HOW THE ACADEMY WORKS
You’ll choose one of the three Main Class teachers to study with.  Each Main Class is a 12-hour Introductory course in Focusing.  Each teacher's class is 3 hours long and begins at a different time of day.  (Be sure to check the "your time here" links in the descriptions to see which class best fits your schedule in your time zone.)

You'll also have the chance to attend Guided Felt-Sensing sessions with other wonderful teachers from around the world.  The schedule is designed so that no matter your time zone, you should be able to attend one Main Class for four days, and at least one Guided Felt-Sensing session.  There is an optional Opening session on Thursday October 23. 

You’ll have recordings of everything available to you through April 14, 2026.  So, even though you'll choose one teacher's class to attend live, you'll have the recordings of all the Main Classes.

THIS IS A LIVE ATTENDANCE COURSE
Please note that if you sign up, you are expected to attend your Main Class each day for all four Fridays.   All else on the schedule is optional.

This is an extraordinary chance – don’t miss it!  Read details below.

The heart of the Children & Focusing Academy will be your  “Main Class.” The Main Class is a 12-hour Introductory Course in Children & Focusing. When you register, you will choose to work with one of the three Main Classes (René & Harriët, Laura or Leonie ). Note the time of their class, as not all might be doable for you in your time zone!

You will be with your teacher for four days of the Academy, 3 hours each Friday. Live attendance is required.

Attending Live
The Main Classes are intended as live experiences, so please block out the time for those in your schedule.  Classes will be recorded, and made available as soon as possible, however you are expected to be fully present. We ask that you have your camera on as much as possible.  If you know that it is impossible for you to attend any part of the 12 hours (3 hours a day for 4 Fridays), please discuss this with your teacher in advance. If a last minute emergency comes up, then please be sure to watch the missed session before attending the next session.

MAIN CLASS TEACHERS

Harriët Teeuw and René Veugelers (Netherlands) Main Teacher(s) #1

Fridays 8:00am - 11:00am NY Time  Your time here- (afternoon in Europe & Africa / evening in Asia, late night in eastern Australia)

MAIN CLASS: Dynamic Expressive Focusing: A Down to Earth approach to Being with Children and Your Inner Child

In this Introduction to Dynamic Expressive Focusing, we will explore creative expression and non-verbal communication, to achieve foundational listening skills of Children’s Focusing. The primary aim is to foster authentic connection and open communication through simple, structured exercises that support reconnection with yourself. You'll also learn how to bring this authenticity into your daily life, whether in your role as a parent, grandparent or professional.

This workshop invites you to engage in hands-on activities that provide a direct experience of the tools, techniques, and the inherently gentle, playful approach of Dynamic Expressive Focusing. All activities will take place in a safe environment, with clear boundaries that honor privacy and vulnerability.

What you’ll learn:
    • How to integrate an experiential dimension into your everyday life and professional practice.
    • Techniques to build greater resilience and improve self-care.
    • A deeper understanding of personal, bodily-felt experiences from both theoretical and practical perspectives.
Join us for an enriching experience that equips you with practical skills for fostering meaningful connections in both personal and professional contexts.
 

Harriët Teeuw is a Focusing Coordinator, Focusing-Oriented Therapist (FOT), and Art Therapist based in the Netherlands. She works with children, parents, and adults in her private practice. Since discovering Focusing in 2000, she has been inspired to live a more authentic life and has seamlessly integrated this approach into her professional work. Harriet brings a wealth of experience to her teaching, including leading Children & Focusing programs and the Focusing International Online Certification Program for Focusing Practitioners and Trainers. In collaboration with René Veugelers, she co-developed Dynamic Expressive Focusing, a unique approach for being with children, designed for parents and professionals. https://www.childrenfocusing.org/  https://www.deruimte-info.nl/

Rene Veugelers is a Coordinator, Focusing-Oriented Therapist (FOT), art therapist, psychiatric nurse and group social worker and is trained in Emerging Body Language (EBL). He teaches Children & Focusing internationally and works in the Netherlands with parents, children and adolescents. His work emphasizes the non-verbal world and inner-child wanting by integrating experiential Listening and Focusing skills. He utilizes a Dynamic Expressive approach using symbols and art materials to help deepen bodily awareness to support the individual's process. More info at: www.childrenfocusing.org

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Laura Bavalics (Hungary) Main Teacher #2

Fridays 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm NY time  Your time here (daytime in the Americas / evening in Europe & Africa / wee hours in Asia & Oceania)

MAIN CLASS: There is a Story Inside Me
Every child carries a rich inner world—of feelings, stories, and wisdom waiting to be heard. Focusing offers a gentle, respectful way to create a space for children to naturally connect with and let that depth unfold. 

Whether you're a parent, grandparent, educator, therapist—or anyone who wants to connect with children more deeply—this workshop will help you bring Focusing into your unique relationship with children.  

As you learn to listen to children, you may find yourself connecting with your inner child experiences—and discovering fresh ways to care for and support that younger part of you.

Throughout the interactive classes, you will have a chance to participate in group exercises, collaborate in small groups, and have opportunities to share, discuss, and learn from each other’s experiences.

The class will also include videos, and guest speakers from a Hungarian preschool/kindergarten, as they share their experiences as parents, preschool-kindergarten teachers, preschool-kindergarten teachers-in training.

During the workshop you will learn:

• Attune to your own felt sense as you support children
• Listen to children in ways that cultivate trust, safety, and self-awareness
• Hands on ideas for how to include Focusing in your work or connection with children  
• Adapt Focusing to diverse roles, ages, and settings
• Nurture and honor your own inner child throughout the process
• Encourage children to listen to themselves and ways to express their inner world

Whether you're new to Focusing or seeking fresh ways to integrate it into your work or family life, you’re warmly welcome.

Laura Bavalics is an early childhood educator, play mentor, and drama teacher. She is a Certified Focusing Professional and a Focusing-oriented educator, who has been working with young children, parents, and professionals for over twenty-five years. She is a professional director of the Pendula inclusive kindergarten program for children in foster care and with special needs at the Világszép Foundation in Hungary. She is also teaching at ELTE University, Hungary, in their College of Education. Laura is a member of the Children's Focusing Advisory Group and was until recently a member of the International Leadership Council of The International Focusing Institute.

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Leonie Stewart (Australia) Main Teacher #3  Fridays 

6:00 pm - 9:00 pm NY time -  Your time here (evening in the Americas / wee hours in Europe & Africa / Saturday mornings in Asia & Oceania - this class is the best choice for Down Under)

MAIN CLASS: Helping Children Get To Their "Big Self" with Focusing
Hello Hello!
Join Leonie to explore and discover felt sensing, the skill most basic to Focusing.  Leonie will blend felt sensing with simple neuroscience and Parts Theory, helping children you work with to step into their "Big Self" and be present with any part of them that is bothered, enabling them to soothe themselves and prevent their reactive part from taking control. The gift of the Pause will help them to shift from reaction to response. 

Viktor Frankl said: “Between stimulus and response (reaction) there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and freedom.” 

Her class will include: 

• Psychological education and neuroscience throughout
• A way to cultivate self-compassion
• Unfolding your Big SELF and helping children do the same
• Clearing a space as a standalone practice
• Getting bigger than what’s bothering you (for you and the kids you work with)
• Unfolding a nurturing, protective, and wise figure
• Creating an image of a container
• Creating an image of your peaceful place
• Creating an image of a protective boundary (7 to 10 all use felt sensing)
• Using focusing for memory reconsolidation (this will blow your mind)
• Using time-outs, saying sorry, and repairing

Leonie looks forward to helping enhance your ability to support the emotional well-being of the children in your life.

Leonie Stewart is based in Sydney, Australia, providing counselling, coaching & Focusing sessions. She enjoys working with couples, parents, children, and individuals. Everything is relational, and Leonie believes we are all meant to belong and connect, to love ourselves and love others, and so to find meaning. She finds purpose in helping others find their own way forward to a happier and more hopeful life full of possibilities. 

Leonie has designed a way for people of all ages to experience, in a Focusing (felt-sensing) way, what it feels like to be standing in their Big Self or Wise Adult Self. She does not show people something they do not know. Leonie helps people make the implicit, explicit. She does this by combining Focusing, Basic neuroscience and Parts theory. Leonie knows how much this has helped her walk in her world and wants others to know as well.

Read Schedule

We’ve arranged the schedule so that no matter what time zone you live in, there is at least one Main Class that is at a reasonable hour for you (be sure to check the "your time here" link!), and at least one Guided Felt Sensing Session that is at a reasonable hour for you. You are expected to attend your Main Class live. Sessions other than the Main Class are optional.  All sessions will be recorded, so you will not lose out on the sessions taking place at other hours. Schedule Coming 

We have a wonderful variety of additional teachers. These sessions are optional, will also be recorded, and do not have to be selected in advance.

These sessions are "stand-alone," meaning you can attend one without attending the others.  Each is one hour, and they are intended to give you a very simple, basic felt sensing experience. If you are new to Focusing, these sessions give you extra chances to understand what it means to tune into the felt sense.  If you are experienced in Focusing, it's a chance for a simple felt sensing session which is sure to be fresh because the felt sense is always fresh!  These sessions are also opportunities to meet 3 extraordinary teachers, as well as meeting others in the Academy who are in a different Main Class.

Tom Larkin (Ireland) Thursday October 30
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm NY time  Your time here

Tom found the book Focusing over 30 years ago. He was attracted to it because, at the time, he saw it a cross between meditation and psychology. (He did a degree in psychology and was a long-time meditator). Not long afterward, he found a woman who offered workshops on how to do it, but she left the country, leaving Tom without a teacher.  That was, until 2003, when he discovered that his new therapist, Sister Mairead O’Brien, was also a Focusing professional. Then his life changed. Sr. O'Brien taught him Focusing and was his mentor until she died in 2015. René Veugelers became his new mentor and Tom became a Focusing Coordinator in 2019.

Over that time, Tom brought Focusing into his work as a special education teacher and as a therapist and led many workshops and courses in Focusing. In the early stages of the Covid pandemic, he helped establish weekly online gatherings for Focusers in Ireland and he participated in the formation of the Irish Focusing Network. In 2019, he was invited to join the team for the 2020 Focusing Weeklong, as a "Collaborating Coordinator," and then to join the Core Team for the next three Weeklongs. Last year, 2023, Tom was invited to join TIFI’s Membership Committee. He also serves on the TIFI Board of Directors.

Joe Colletti (US) Thursday November 6
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm NY time Your time here

Joe Colletti is a certified Focusing Professional and has been practicing Focusing for more than fifteen years. He is the Board of Directors President of the BioSpiritual Institute and serves that organization as one of its primary Focusing training program developers, Master instructors and Focusing coaches. He is also the webmaster for the BioSpiritual Institute’s website as well as four other Focusing education websites, including www.focusingwithchildren.com. He has offered Focusing education programs for a variety of organizations including The International Focusing Institute, Spiritual Directors International and the BioSpiritual Institute.

In addition, Joe has been a spiritual director for more than twenty years. As an advocate of BioSpiritual Focusing as a spiritual practice, he has led many programs focused on integrating BioSpiritual Focusing in spiritual direction interaction. He also offered public programs on navigating loss and grief for bereaved individuals as well as co-teaching a Hartford International University course for chaplains on the dynamics of companioning those who are grieving.

Lilach Benjaminy (Israel) Thursday November 13
7:00 am - 8:00am NY time  Your time here

Lilach  is a therapist, Focusing teacher, and Systemic Constellations facilitator with 25 years of dedicated support for families and guidance for therapists. She conducts study groups and seminars for professionals and parents, aiming to contribute to support a healthier society.

Residing in a rural area with her partner and five children (plus two more of the heart), Lilach holds a Master of Music degree, and her diverse journey includes seven years as a software engineer, nineteen years of being a homeschooling mom, and twenty-nine years of chopping salad for family dinners.

Beyond her qualifications and experience as a doula, breastfeeding consultant, Birth-Oriented Therapy senior facilitator and instructor, Lilach is a passionate women's advocate.

She believes in life – and implicitly trusts its wisdom, power, and flow.

LANGUAGE
The Academy will be in English.  You will need to be proficient in English to participate fully in the Academy.

- Zoom host(s)  We are looking for a zoom saavy people who are comfortable creating and putting people in breakout rooms. 
- Administrative computer work (after the conference with attendance lists)

Please email [email protected] if you are interested. Please write Workstudy - Children Focusing Academy in the subject line.