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Program Catalogue

Living Institute Psychotherapy Diploma
Catalogue of Courses, 2008 - 2009

Program Description

Living Institute Psychotherapy Diploma

This three year program offers theoretical and clinical skills training, as well as a significant personal growth element and a service component oriented toward cultural evolution.

The Living Institute is a teaching centre committed to exploring humanistic, psychodynamic, existential and mythological themes in individual, cultural and cosmological evolution. The basis for this work is the Holistic Experiential Process Method (HEP). HEP is a model for understanding systemic management and growth that is both social and personal, providing a method for facilitating the evolutionary emergence of self-organizing complexity from apparently chaotic disorder. It provides a container for transformational growth based on dialectic integration of arising dualities. The HEP view of evolution as existential self-organization is applicable to group, business and cultural life, as well as individual development.

The HEP recognizes the importance of spiritual and human values in institutional and organizational functions that serve society and culture, based on the interdependence of humans with each other and the natural world, so that our future is not compromised for the sake of short term consumer satisfaction, greed and an insensitive drive for dominance.

The HEP is also participating in the current re-emergence of spiritual models that draw on ancient cosmologies, from both eastern and western mystical traditions, where nature is seen to embody patterns of integration that link the part with the whole, so that everything is understood to be interconnected. In this view, we can see that the world is not a collection of separate 'things', but a pattern of dynamic relationships, as life unfolds in the individual, the culture and the cosmos.
The Living Institute Psychotherapy Diploma is a training in the HEP Method as applied to psychotherapy.

Program Structure: Year 1 will be focused through a theoretical overview model, drawing on humanistic, existential, transpersonal, psychodynamic, archetypal and somatic depth psychologies, as well as a number of other streams. This will include the philosophical and cultural stream of the Romantic and bohemian traditions, modernist art and literature, critical theory, culture studies, Continental Philosophy and post modernism as a way of understanding human relationship and the place of individuality in culture and cosmos. A multicultural perspective is integral to this program, as is a general orientation to culture as a contextualizing ground for the psychological and spiritual traditions in the model. The spiritual aspect of the transpersonal tradition will draw on mythology (particularly as understood by figures such as Joseph Campbell and Mircea Eliade), Vajrayana Buddhism, the shamanistic model and Western mystical traditions such as the Hermetic, Gnostic, Sufi, Rosicrucian, Kabbalistic, divine-human union mysticism and the apophatic tradition. The holistic and evolutionary paradigms, self organizing systems theory and dynamical systems theory will also be taught in this year. This includes a complex understanding of the 'norm of nature' and 'healing power of nature' as expressed in Naturphilosophie, homeopathy and naturopathy. It also includes a focus on Thomas Berry's geocentric theology with its implicit ecopsychological and ecospiritual approach to the study of earth stewardship. We will highlight the value of humanistic, qualitative and phenomenological research.

In year 2 the clinical skills aspects of these traditions will be the focus, along with basic psychotherapy skills, psychological assessment, ethics and professional relations. This will include an expressive arts component and the theme of integrating the natural world into a psychotherapy model, as well as disciplines such as tantric yoga, Chi Gong and the spiritual emergence tradition. The personal growth focus will continue. In this year, students will start clinical skills training in a video clinical skills class, where one will volunteer to be a client and another the therapist, the interaction being videotaped and then reviewed for discuss. There will also be opportunities to observe qualified HEP practitioners as they lead their groups, and to be involved in clinical debriefing sessions with them. Eligible students will also be encouraged to begin developing their own individual practice under supervision. There is a plan under way to create a Living Institute student clinic, where clients could be treated by eligible students under supervision.

In year 3 the focus will be on continuing integration of theoretical and clinical skills, and special topics such as trauma work, energy healing, sexuality, death and dying, grief, couples work, creativity, natural health care, nutrition. Students will be expected to create, in conjunction with colleagues, public workshops and presentations as part of their training, and also to orient them to the need to reach out to the public as part of generating a successful practice. There will be a marketing skills course in this year. During this year there will be an ongoing clinical discussion group where students will be expected to make case presentations for discussion, with faculty and guest presenters supervising. The personal growth focus will continue, as will supervised clinical practice.

Program Model: The Living Institute Psychotherapy Diploma is based in a number of psychological, spiritual and cultural traditions have been integrated into programs at places such as the California Institute of Integral Studies, Saybrook, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Naropa. This program also draws on the psychodynamic model of human nature, of psychotherapy and of training, particularly in its Jungian and archetypal forms as taught at Pacifica Graduate Institute. This three year diploma is designed toward providing eligibility for licensure in Ontario. Although the parameters for this have not been fully publicly defined in the ongoing legislative process, as this takes place the Living Institute will be up to date on progress and will respond accordingly. The present design is congruent with other currently existing Ontario programs.

Teaching Format: The teaching format will be 3-4 hours per week from September to May and two 6 hour one-days per month. There will be a 4 day intensive retreat in June, which will combine personal growth and other elements of the learning model.

Learning Model and Evaluation: The Living Institute supports a student centred learning model. Engaging the interest and motivation of the student in meeting the educational and personal challenges of this model is the central organizing principle of the program. Nevertheless, the goal of the program is to facilitate students in achieving a standard of knowledge and clinical skill that will enable them to confidently and competently commence practice on graduation. The curriculum is oriented toward becoming a skilled practitioner who is eligible for licensure in Ontario. An equally important goal is that of reaching a level of knowledge that will enable and encourage graduates to continue to evolve by contributing to the knowledge community from which this tradition has arisen.

Personal Growth: The personal growth aspects of this training program will start with weekly individual sessions in year 1 and expand to include group participation in years 2 and 3, including the VCS classes. There will be a 4 day summer intensive at the end of each year with a significant personal growth element.

Service and Cultural Activism: The service component will draw on the Buddhist bodhisattva model, the Christian ideal of caritas and fellowship and the Romantic bohemian model of communality. The themes of conscious development and informed understanding leading to effective action, in the larger context of think globally act locally according to your awareness interest and capacity, are the key threads in the Living Institute cultural activism work. The Living Institute is in the process of creating a web site/blog to provide students with a way to communicate about what's goin' on - with each other, and with the culture at large. The ARC (Archetypal Review of Culture) web site/blog, as well as sharing statements of personal passion, would be a way of getting the Living Institute HEP point of view out there, and inviting others to contribute.

Contact: jim@livinginstitute.org 416 515 0404

LIPD Year 1, 2008 - 2009

Courses

  1. Psychological and Spiritual Theory
  2. Philosophy, Culture and Consciousness
  3. Human Dimensions of Psychotherapy Conference
  4. Navigating the Mental Health Internet

     

Calendar of Classes

1. Psychological and Spiritual Theory
Class times from 9.00am to 4.30pm, one Saturday and one Sunday per month, from Sept, 2007 to May, 2008. (108 hr)
Sept 20: Introduction ; Jim McNamara, Caroline Mardon
Sept 21: The Arc of Life and the Axiom of Maria; David Cornfield
Oct 18: Transpersonal Psychology ; Sally Johnson
Oct 19: Humanistic Psychology; Jim McNamara
Nov 15: Transpersonal Psychology ; Sally Johnson
Nov 16: Jungian Psychology; Jim McNamara
Dec 13: The Concept of Mental Illness - a Critical Existential Overview ; Stephen Ticktin
Dec 14: The HEP Existential Perspective ; Jim McNamara
Jan 17: Archetypal Psychology; Caroline Mardon
Jan 18: Somatic Psychology ; Jim McNamara
Feb 14: Basic Principles of Psychoanalysis ; Dan Merkur
Feb15: Attachment Theory ; Fran Harwood
Mar 14: HEP Psychodynamics; Caroline Mardon
Mar 15: HEP Spirituality; Caroline Mardon, Jim McNamara
Apr 18: Ecospirituality; Dennis Patrick O’Hara
Apr 19: Prajnaparamita and Abidama; Lama Sonam Gyatso
May 9 & 10: HEP Synthesis ; Jim McNamara, Caroline Mardon

2. Philosophy, Culture and Consciousness
Fall Semester, Sept 3 - Dec 10, 2007. Thurs 6:30 - 10:30pm: Conscious Evolution in the Romantic Tradition and Continental Philosophy (60hr)
Spring Semester, Jan 7 - May 27, 2008. Thurs 6:30 - 10:30pm: Holistic Archetypal Consciousness and the Evolutionary Paradigm (76hr)
Jim McNamara, Dan Merkur, Catherine Nomura, Bruce E. Rosenberg, Lama Sonam Gyatso, Salako Kalfou, Kristin Trotter, Ronda Lobsinger

3. The Human Dimensions of Psychotherapy Conference July 18 - 20, 2008
Fri, July 18: The Culture of Psychotherapy, Psychotherapy for Our Culture; Caroline Mardon
Fri, July 18: How Psychotherapy Develops: Ontario in an International Context; Linda J. Page
Sat, July 19: Existential-Integrative Therapy: An Emerging Cross-disciplinary Paradigm; Kirk Schnieder
Sat, July 19: Somatic Psychology and the Therapeutic Relationship; Rae Johnson
Sun, July 20: Transpersonal Psychotherapy and the Integration of Spirituality; David Lukoff
Sun, July 20: From Eros to Mystical Experience: The Scope of Psychic Integration in Psychoanalysis; Dan Merkur
(32hr)

4. Navigating the Mental Health Internet
This internet based learning course can be done in your own time. It must be completed by the end of the fall semester. Faculty: David Lukoff. (8hr)

Course Descriptions

1. Psychological and Spiritual Theory

The Psychological and Spiritual Theory course draws on humanistic, existential, transpersonal, psychodynamic, archetypal and somatic depth psychologies, Vajrayana Buddhism, the shamanic tradition and ecospirituality. This will be taught in eighteen 6hr one day classes.

 

Class Descriptions
Below is a schedule of the 6 hr one day classes with a class description and faculty.

Sept 20 - Introduction: This initial class will present the major overview themes in HEP while facilitating the student's initial experiential orientation to the HEP model, as well as to the training program structure and to each other. There will be a review of the learning model as well as the service and cultural activism part of the work. Faculty: Jim McNamara, Caroline Mardon

Sept 21 - The Arc of Life: This class presents an overview of life's journey, its stages and its purpose, within a framework based on the alchemical formulation known as the Axiom of Maria: One becomes Two, Two becomes Three, and out of the Third comes the One as the Fourth.
One: at the beginning of human life there is no felt boundary between the individual and the universe. To the extent that there is awareness at all, it is an awareness of a limitless ocean of Oneness. One becomes Two: the task of the first half of life is the excruciating process of disengaging from the connected experience of Oneness (leaving paradise) and developing a sense of a separate Self that can interact with and manipulate the universe as Other. You can think of this stage as the hero's journey. Two becomes Three: the task of the second half of life is the excruciating process of re-engaging with the Oneness (paradise regained) despite existential fears of Self annihilation due to loss of boundaries. When the polarities of Oneness and Twoness are held simultaneously, it becomes a Threeness (1+2=3). You can think of this stage as the mystical journey. Jung called it the path of individuation. Out of the Third comes the One As the Fourth: the One that emerges 'out of the Third' at the end of the journey is a One that has evolved as a consequence of the journey. To distinguish the new One from the original One we give it a new name - the One as the Fourth. Observation: the effect of the human journey is to evolve the One. Conclusion: the purpose of the human journey is to evolve the One. We will examine the journey from One to One as Fourth in more detail, and consider its implications for the process of therapy. Faculty: David Cornfield.

Oct 18 & Nov 15 - Transpersonal Psychology: Transpersonal Psychology is both new and old at the same time. It is relatively new as a school of psychology, but it is old in the sense that it looks to ancient World Wisdom traditions for spiritual knowledge. The central question that this course asks is, "What is Transpersonal Psychology, and what distinguishes it from the former psychological traditions?" In this investigation, we will use academic inquiry and meditative contemplation to determine what qualities and characteristics need to be present in order for something to be considered transpersonal, and why it is part of the human condition to look beyond the personal, individual dimensions of reality to transpersonal realms of existence. In this marriage of psychology and spirituality, students will be introduced to the fundamental concepts, approaches, practices and theories that have contributed to the maturation process of transpersonal psychology as a field of study. A few of the theorists in this tradition that we will study from are: John Welwood, A. H. Almaas, Michael Washburn, Ken Wilber, Stanislov Grof, and Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. In this exploration, there will be an emphasis on the core principles of transpersonal psychology expressed as: the limitlessness of human potential, the innate desire for transformation, and the necessity for an embodied integration of psycho-spiritual experiences. Faculty: Sally Johnson

Oct 19: Humanistic Psychology - Humanistic Psychology arose as an alternative to behaviourist and psychoanalytic approaches in the 1960's, in relation to the human potential movement of the counterculture. It developed in conjunction with the existential, phenomenological and transpersonal traditions. Key features are: a valuing of subjective experience and personally derived meaning; the valuing of authenticity as a defining theme in the therapeutic relationship and as a goal of therapy; an appreciation of the body as a necessary focus in considering the whole person; a focus on the conscious capacity to develop goals and purpose through intentionality; a focus on potential rather than just limitations and pathology; an appreciation of the individual as a whole life and of the irreducible interdependence of all life, including nature; the capacity for self transcendence in the exercise of freedom of choice; the necessity for moral, democratic social institutions; an appreciation of the arts, philosophy and spirituality, as well as science, as means for developing human knowledge. Humanistic research values qualitative (as well as quantitative) models and the phenomenological method, where enquiry is conducted in relationship with the subject of enquiry rather than through objectification. Recent developments include critical psychology, derived from critical theory and post modernism. Faculty: Jim McNamara

Nov 16: Jungian Psychology - Jungian Psychology is a psychodynamic tradition that has incorporated elements from Alchemy and Gnosticism. It became a distinct tradition in the early part of the century, separating out from psychoanalysis starting in 1912. It did, however, retain a full psychodynamic model of the psyche and the working through of resistance. Jungian psychology deemphasizes the sexual aspect of libido and includes spiritual issues, extending the idea of the unconscious to include a collective aspect through which archetypal or spiritual influences can be experienced. It has a Romantic structure and character, including the Hegelian dialectic model of evolution and, in its understanding of synchronicity, the 'doctrine of correspondences' originally enunciated by Paracelsus, then Goethe. Jungians particularly value the dream as a focus of psychotherapeutic work and as a model for understanding the Mundus Imaginalis. A key focus in Jungian psychotherapy is 'individuation', the innate evolutionary tendency toward full manifestation of the whole being. Related themes are integration of the 'shadow' (forbidden and dangerous elements of identity that have been excluded in the formation of the ego), going beyond the 'persona' (the mask we wear to cope with the everyday world) and integration of the 'masculine' and 'feminine' aspects of an individual in both women and men. Faculty: Jim McNamara

Dec 13 & 14: Existential Psychology - Faculty: Stephen Ticktin, Jim McNamara
Stephen Ticktin - The Concept of Mental Illness - a Critical Existential Overview: The aim of this seminar will be to critically explore the traditional 'medical model' of psychiatry, which views unusual human behaviour and experience as so many 'signs' and 'symptoms' of 'mental illness'. We will look at the work of R. D. Laing, a controversial existential psychiatrist,
who shot to fame by challenging the conceptual foundations of his chosen profession and seeking alternative approaches to the 'treatment' of severe 'mental disorder'. Laing was very much indebted, especially in his early work, to the philosophical traditions of existentialism and phenomenology, and we will have a chance to explore some of the main existential themes
and dimensions which are so important to therapeutic work in this modality. There will be a good philosophical introduction which will hopefully put things in perspective.
Jim McNamara - The HEP Existential Perspective: In the evolutionary crisis of 20th (c) Western culture, the existential, phenomenological and humanistic traditions have provided a ground for both challenging the simplistic inhumanities of the culture, but also, through existential psychology and the arts, suggesting an authentic way through. We will look at how this translates into a psychotherapeutic model, drawing also on the Romantic tradition. It will include the existentialism of gestalt, the transpersonal aspect of existentialism, as delineated by, for example, Bugental and Heidegger, and various existential mysticisms, such as the apophatic tradition.

Jan 17: Archetypal Psychology - A development of Jung's analytic psychology, defined by James Hillman in the 1970's, archetypal psychology suggests that we are an imaginal activity. Instead of viewing the human psyche through a biochemical, sociohistorical or behaviourist lens, it develops a consciousness that attempts the uncovering of meaning through engagement with soul and the imaginal world. Archetypes and mythic figures model the poetic characteristics of thought and feeling that underlie our relationships, our moods, events in personal and cultural history, expressive possibilities, and what these mean for us. Therapy explores which archetypal figures are organizing this experience, and our relationship to them. Psychological disturbances are seen as messages from the unconscious, and the work of therapy is to provide soul with an account of itself, to enact a mythic engagement with this material, rather than cure pathology. In this way, experiences of weakness and mortification are seen as modes by which soul relativizes conscious intentionality and draws us into a deeper relationship with our being and destiny. As the ego's intentionality is deconstructed, we find the ground of being and feel a support that does not emanate from effort. We learn to live interrelated with the mystery, pierced by joy and sorrow, and each other. Faculty: Caroline Mardon

Jan18: Somatic Psychology - A bodily orientation and a psychosomatic awareness has been a part of psychotherapy since its inception approximately one hundred years ago through psychoanalysis. The humanistic, existential and transpersonal traditions have, however, been the main carriers of this orientation with their primary focus on the experience of being an embodied subject. Many specific body oriented traditions have been developed since the 1970's within a professional practice and then been offered through training in diverse centres. Methodology varies across a spectrum from simple focused body awareness, through expressive techniques, movement/dance therapy and psychodrama, to direct hands on approaches utilizing breathing, postural exercises and massage. This means both working with psychosomatic psychodynamics and facilitating alive energetic physical dynamism, so that the whole spectrum of the experiential range is available, positing this as a definition of healthy human functioning. The body is seen to reflect the psyche, and by working directly on the body the psyche is affected in a unique way, not available via verbal and interpersonal techniques. Some of the most challenging questions in body oriented psychotherapies concern touch, necessitating specific training regarding appropriate professional ethics and the particular intensification of transference and countertransference engendered. Body oriented psychotherapy must be used judiciously, and the proper application of techniques varies according to personality type and stage of therapy. Bioenergetics and core energetics, primal therapy, dramatic enactments and gestalt are the main traditions HEP draws on. Bioenergetic psychodynamic typology is fundamental to HEP. Faculty: Jim McNamara

Feb 14: Basic Principles of Psychoanalysis - Freud devised psychoanalysis as a cure for hysterical conversion symptoms and rapidly added obsessional-compulsive neurotics to his client base. After he introduced the analysis of aggression, in addition to sexuality, his followers found extended psychoanalyses effective for the treatment of character or personality. The subsequent development of ego psychology, led by Anna Freud and Heinz Hartmann, promoted increasingly mechanistic models of defense analysis. Meantime, object relations theories, which imagined the psyche to contain mental representations of bodily parts and whole persons, were offered by Melanie Klein and W. R. D. Fairbairn. The British "Middle School" or Independents developed a technique that promoted "regression" to the early infantile period prior to the pathogenic trauma. The work of Freud's friend Sandor Ferenczi, which was formative of the British Independents, was also taken up in American by Clara Thompson, Harry Stack Sullivan, and their school of "interpersonal psychiatry," who expanded the client base to include psychotics. Reactions against the dominance of ego psychology included Heinz Kohut's self-psychology in the United States, Jacques Lacan's revisions of French psychoanalysis, the spread of Kleinian theory throughout South America, and the rise of the American school of relational psychoanalysis. The various schools of psychoanalysis have all been atheistic or, at least, methodologically agnostic, with the exception of the British Independents, who accommodated liberal Christian ethico-moral concerns. Occasional analysts of all schools have been mystics; James Grotstein and Michael Eigen have both found ways to bring their patients to mystical experiences as routine components of their analytic work. Faculty: Dan Merkur

Feb15: Attachment Theory - In the 1950's, John Bowlby, a British psychoanalyst, began creating Attachment Theory, which came from a blend of psychoanalysis and ethology. Up until then, psychoanalysis had been focusing primarily on intrapsychic structures. Affected by Konrad Lorenz's work on early imprinting, Bowlby, in his work with disturbed and delinquent children who were categorised as "affectionless", began to see the importance of the quality of the early relationship with the mother in the healthy development of the child. Conversely, he recognised that early environmental deficit or trauma was instrumental in creating neurosis. His work was developed by the research of Mary Ainsworth, in her Strange Situation experiments with young children. Though Bowlby had wanted to integrate his theory with psychoanalysis, his work on the whole was not well received there initially and instead came to stand as a disciline in its own right. Later, in some ways, Attachment Theory laid the foundation for the current development of Relational Psychoanalysis. His focus on research was also carried on by early childhood psychoanalysts like Daniel Stern. More recently still, Allan Schore has brought the neurobiology of affect regulation to the attachment styles originally developed by Bowlby. Faculty: Fran Harwood

Mar 14: HEP Psychodynamics - Within every therapeutic session, as well as therapist and client, there are the shadowy unconscious contents of an imaginal field that manifests the presence of characters from personal history, the collective unconscious and archetypal energies. As delineated in Jungian and archetypal psychology, HEP psychodynamics involves an attunement to these complex and interacting factors, and multiple levels of being. Students will begin to learn perspectives from the existential and phenomenological tradition that facilitate the aim of accessing the deepest possible level of consciousness available in the therapeutic moment. We will also draw on transpersonal, mystical and shamanistic methods in this hermeneutic endeavour. Faculty: Caroline Mardon

Mar 15: HEP Spirituality - Spirituality is as fundamental to HEP as psychology is. In this integration, HEP draws on spiritual themes in the humanistic, existential and transpersonal traditions, as well as Jungian and archetypal psychology, and mythology as given by figures such as Campbell, Jung, Hillman, Eliade, Scholem, Corbin and the Eranos Conferences. HEP draws on the Romantic tradition and post modernism (including romantic irony and the mis-en-abyme of the nouveau roman tradition), relating it to divine-human union and apophatic mysticism, seeing the world in the Hegelian sense as a place of spiritual evolution, based in a model of the 'eternal return'. This also integrates the esoteric theme in surrealism and the mystical theme in existential absurdism. The crossfertilizing interrelationship between the Hermetic, Gnostic, Kabbalistic and Rosicrucian traditions is reflected in the syncretic nature of HEP spirituality. This particularly draws on the theme of the presence of the divine in the experience of individual humanness, and in the natural world. The shamanistic aspect of HEP is correlated with the deity work of Vajrayana Buddhism, the 'body of light' tradition in Sufism and related themes in other Western theurgic mysticisms. Faculty: Caroline Mardon, Jim McNamara

Apr 18: Ecospirituality - Although the cosmology of the modern era in Western society tended to either relegate spirituality to humans alone or to disassociate spirituality from the phenomenal world, the relatively recent advent of the new cosmology articulated by such authors as Thomas Berry and Sally McFague has argued that the universe has had a psychic-spiritual dimension from its beginning 13.7 billion years ago, not just a physical-material manifestation. Adopting this new epic of evolution transforms our understanding of spirituality. Providing an Earth-centred understanding of ourselves and spirituality, it reintegrates the human into a sacred universe and redefines our understanding of human and ecosystem health. Faculty: Dennis Patrick O’Hara

Apr 19: Prajnaparamita and Abidhama - Abhidhamma is a collection of the higher teachings of the Buddha forming the deeper underlying basis of the Dharma. A detailed analysis of states of consciousness and cognitive processes, its study both sharpens understanding of the daily mental processes and enhances the meditative experience. Many practitioners new and old will find an immediate rapport with this rare and precious teaching. Drawing from both Theravada and Vajrayana traditions, Sonam will give an over view of the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra, how it relates to the Abhidhamma, especially to the process of Cognition and ultimately to the direct experience of Insight meditation. Prajnaparamita is the Perfection of Wisdom or Crossing to the other shore. The "Heart Sutra" chanted throughout the world is the basis of this practice. As with the Mani mantra of Chenresi, the benefits of reciting its mantra is said to pervade the Six Realms of Existence. Faculty: Lama Sonam Gyatso

May 9 & 10: HEP Synthesis - The details of these two final classes will emerge as the year progresses. HEP is a complex, eclectic model which is continually evolving. Each of you will come to a unique synthesis of your own, over time. The HEP synthesis presented here will be a basis for entering the 2nd year clinical skills focus, and, ultimately, your point of departure in your continuing HEP (re)definition. You will be asked to make a class presentation of your own attempted synthesis in this class, based on your years work, and we will all discuss, reflect, metabolize - and celebrate. Faculty: Jim McNamara, Caroline Mardon

2. Philosophy Culture and Consciousness

Class Structure and Format
The reading packages will be usually 25 to 30 photocopied pages. I will try to provide some study guidelines to focus your reading.
The class structure will be a 2hr lecture /question/discussion period, a small break, and then its time for something completely different. I am researching interesting DVD's to use that will present the required material in a different format (e.g., biographical DVD's on Jung, Derrida, Zizek) as well as more entertaining DVD's, such as HEP rock'n'roll classics and avant guarde beat poets performing. These are more in the line of consciousness development - they come from a HEP place in philosophy and culture and evoke consciousness expansion by their nature as art. I will try and keep these to around 1hr so that we have time for some discussion and reflection.
We will have a class format similar to the HEP Foundation course in that there will be a lot of questioning and discussion encouraged. It is, however, also a little different in that there are more concrete learning goals, for example re specific language and ideas that are part of the HEP tradition philosophical and cultural background.
The main goal of this course is to expand your thinking, ideas and language in a way that will enable you to converse with each other, and with other professionals in the field, as well as enable you to begin to read more extensively and write with some reference to tradition in these fields. We will also focus this as consciousness development through the arts - literature, poetry, music and visual art, including beginning to compile your own resource base in these fields.

Class Descriptions

Fall Semester
Faculty: Jim McNamara

Conscious Evolution in the Romantic Tradition and Continental Philosophy
In the fall semester, we will address the problematic nature and the evolutionary promise of the crisis in Western cosmology, drawing on the work of Joseph Campbell and Richard Tarnas, as well as the Romantic tradition in culture and the arts, and continental philosophy.

Course Sections

Class 1 will be an introductory overview, getting to know you class.

Section 1: The Crisis in Western Cosmology
In classes 2&3 we will set the scene by surveying the field through the lenses of Rick Tarnas' (Passion of the Western Mind) and Joseph Campbell's (Creative Mythology) mythological and depth psychological perspective, highlighting the Romantic/Enlightenment, organismic/mechanistic, and religion/arts polarities in this evolutionary crisis. In class 4 we will do a historical overview of the revolutionary, paradigm shifting events of the 20th (c), the century that exploded.

Section 2: Continental Philosophy
The next three classes (6, 7 &8) will be devoted to Continental Philosophy. Drawing on David West's An Introduction to Continental Philosophy we will look at the phenomenological and existential tradiotions (Nietzsche, Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre), the Marxist/psychoanalytic Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School, the poststructuralist decentering of the subject and the break with humanism, Derrida's deconstruction of Western metaphysics and the varieties of postmodernism ( including the philosophical critique of the Enlightenment and modernism, postmodernism as a stage in Western society, the politics of 'difference' and the ethics of 'otherness'). This will be followed by a class (9) in which we look at the writings of some popular representative's of this field - Sontag, Eco, Žizek.

Section 3: The Romantic Arts, Psychology and Culture
Class 10 will be based in William's & Wadell's Chamber of Maiden Thought, which uses various authors to illustrate the literary origins of the psychoanalytic model of the mind - we will take the examples of Milton, Blake, Keats. Classes 11 & 12 will be a HEP tour of 20th (c) arts, looking particularly at the Romantic themes of the (im)mediated construction of reality and identity, the function of darkness, nothingness, downwardness and defeat in the evolution of consciousness, existential mysticism as it shows itself in the arts as part of the evolution of divine-human co-creative identity, the role of duende, daimon, demon in the (r)evolutionary themes of eros, chaos, thanatos and erotic transgression, the hip counterculture of the 20th (c) alien divine child and the chthonic theme in rock'n'roll. Class 13 will be based in Brickman's American Romantic Psychology, which shows the Jungian themes in the writings of Poe, Emerson, Dickinson, Melville, particularly tracing the triadic evolutionary spiral of unity, fragmentation, reunion in the process of individuation, enacting the Hegelian theme that "God must be all in all and each must be God" (41), the homo dei theme of HEP.

Section 4: Eros, Chaos, Thanatos - Romantic Irony and the Circuitous Return
Class 14 will be based in Abram's Natural Supernaturalism - Tradition, and Revolution in Romantic Literature and Art, where we will trace the idea of life as a journey of self-alienation and self-recovery through transgression of pre-established identity and reality boundaries, the (fortunate) fall into disunity (variously seen as sin, evil, suffering, pathology) and the self-redemption of coming to terms with this 'otherness' through dialectic integration, creating an evolved form of original unity. We will look at Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, Eliot, Lawrence as exponents of this theme of spiral circuitous return.
In class 15 we will look specifically at how the Romantic theme integrates into HEP, from early German philosophical and poetic romanticism (Schelling, Novalis, Schlegel), up through Naturphilosophie, Goethe, Nietzsche, depth psychology, existentialism, the romantic irony of the postmodern nouveau roman mis-en-abyme, Lacan's work on desire as translated into the arts by Boothby, and Hirsch's The Demon and the Angel which shows how the deep, dark, fatal duende laden challenge of the fallen demonic angel has inspired 19th and 20th (c) Western poetry, art and music, as well as the Norman O. Browne theme of the redemption of the body as an instrument of the soul, the Jungian phenomenological tradition's understanding of "poetic thanatology", and the HEP revolutionary evolution theme of passionate, spontaneous, emergent self creation, as expressed in Jackson Pollock's account of his painting style "When I am in my painting, I'm not aware of what I'm doing. It is only after a sort of 'get acquainted' period that I see what I have been about. I have no fears about making changes, destroying the image, etc because the painting has a life of its own. I try to let it come through." (Hirsch, p173)

Spring Semester
Faculty: Jim McNamara, Adjunct and Guest Faculty (see descriptions)

Holistic Archetypal Consciousness and the Evolutionary Paradigm
In the spring semester, the Philosophy, Culture and Consciousness course will take up the evolutionary themes of paradox in the complex holism of embodied, archetypal consciousness, through a study of the Jungian and archetypal traditions work on the imaginal reality of the subtle body, various Western mystical traditions and the holistic evolutionary paradigm in the scientific tradition. These themes will be pre-echoed and amplified in the HEP Spirituality one-day (Mar 9) and the final two one-days (May 3 & 4) of the Psychological and Spiritual Theory course.

Course Sections

Section 1: Holistic Archetypal Consciousness
Drawing on the works of David L. Miller (The New Polytheism), James Hillman (The Dream and the Underworld), Rafael Lopez-Pedraza ( Hermes and his Children) and Thomas Moore (Dark Eros), we will attempt a re-visioning and re-situating of Western culture's heroic mode of enlightenment consciousness in a more dark, paradoxical, dream like, underworld style. This section correlates the pagan, polytheistic perspective of ancient Greek mythology with the post modern, multi-perspectival, contextually driven, imaginal style of consciousness that emerged in late 20th (c) Western culture from a mixture of the psychodynamic, archetypal and existential absurd traditions, and Continental philosophy. The final class will draw on Sean Kelly's Individuation and the Absolute, in which the complex, evolutionary holism of Hegel and Jung will be brought into dialectic relationship with the post modern, archetypal, polytheistic perspective. This synthesis is characteristic of HEP.
Jan 7, 14, 21, 28, Feb 4

Section 2: The Imaginal Reality of the Subtle Body.
In this section we will draw on the work of Henri Corbin in the Sufi tradition, Harold Bloom's account of subtle body in the esoteric traditions of Islam, Judaism and Christianity, Marsilio Ficino, C.G. Jung and James Hillman to explore further into the reality of the mediating dimension of the imaginal world of the soul. We will continue to highlight the personified nature of the experience of this Mundus Imaginalis through the atrchetypal figures of Sophia, the Holy Spirit, Lucifer and Satan. These are the revolutionary angels of Western cultural consciousness that bring awareness of the eroticized sublime that tempts us from the depths of our dark unconscious to become something we are not yet. The existential, embodied, evolution promoting adversity of the Lucifer/Satan archetype will be dialectically situated with the fiery, complex, holistic vitality of the Sophianic/Pentecostal archetype, following the spiral thread of authenticity, individuality and freedom. The divine-human union mysticism of the beloved and apophatic traditions will be connected to the postmodern désoeuvre of George Bataille, the esoteric theme in surrealism and the de-centered no-place (nowhere/now here) of the heart of the cosmos, Homo Dei Cosmopolitos
Feb 18, 25, Mar 4, 11, 18

Section 3: Mystical Traditions
In this section we will present a class each on: the generally unacknowledged mystical theme in psychoanalysis, reviewing the work of specific analysts, such as Bion, Grotstein, Eigen (Dan Merkur, Apr 1); the emergence of the modern Western magical tradition in The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, with reference to Yeats (Bruce Rosenburg +, Apr 15); the Rosicrucian tradition, based on images from Manley P. Hall's The Secret Teaching of All Ages (Lama Sonam Gyatso, Apr 22); Qabalah as a map of consciousness (Salako Kalfou, Apr 29).

Section 4: The Holistic Evolutionary Paradigm
In this section we will present classes on: Stamps' holonomy, which relates existentialism and systems theory in a model of consciousness that is holistic and evolutionary (May 6); the self-organizing systems tradition, which highlights the naturally emergent nature of consciousness in any sentient system, using scientific language (May 13); dynamical systems theory, a scientific paradigm that highlights subtle order in apparently disordered, chaotically random systems, and how dynamic, stable identity is maintained, despite, and even through, (sometimes) catastrophic change in complex, sentient, self regulating systems (May 20). Kristin Trotter, who has conducted mental health research using this model, and Ronda Lobsinger will teach the dynamical systems theory class, relating it to self-organizing systems theory as applied to family and couples therapy. Creative destruction as an evolutionary theme in this chaotic, self-regulating model will be addressed by Catherine Nomura from her work in entrepreneurship and organizational development (March 25).

Section 5: Homo Dei Cosmopolitos
The final class (May 27) will be a summary overview of the divine-human union theme in Western cultural evolution, particularly drawing on the Rosicrucian and apophatic beloved traditions as precursors of the 20th (c) death of God/rebirth of polytheism theme, the surrealist, existential absurd and post modern traditions, romantic irony and the mis-en-abyme of the nouveau roman. This theme will be pre-echoed and amplified in the HEP Spirituality one-day (Mar 9) and the final two one-days (May 9 & 10) of the Psychological and Spiritual Theory course.

Specific Class Descriptions

Mar 25 - Creative Destruction: 'Creative destruction' is a natural force that eliminates old stultified structures that have ceased to create value, and clears the way for a commitment to innovation and evolution. As an activating change agent there is an opportunity to foster evolution through creating solutions that sidestep obstacles, create more value and contribute to the common good. Faculty: Catherine Nomura

 

Apr 1- Psychoanalysis and Mysticism: Because most psychoanalysts scorn and ignore mysticism, the mystical character of the writings of clinical psychoanalysts who were or are mystics has rarely been appreciated. Truncated, secularizing reductions of mystical theories circulate within the profession as consensus (mis)readings of eminent analysts from several major schools within psychoanalysis. The roster of psychoanalyst mystics nevertheless includes Otto Rank, Paul Federn, Erich Fromm, Marion Milner, D. W. Winnicott, Heinz Kohut, Hans W. Loewald, Wilfred R. Bion and, among living writers, James S. Grotstein, Neville Symington, and Michael Eigen. The mainstream of psychoanalytic publications on mysticism has followed Freud in treating mystical experiences as transient regressions to or manifestations of infantile solipsism. This paradigm naively perpetuates the Christian assumption that mystical union is discontinuous with the rest of life. When mystical experience is regarded as a supernatural grace that intervenes within the natural workings of the soul, or is treated instead as a mother-infant fusion fantasy that interrupts a more mature psychic organization, mystical experience is isolated as something apart from the rest of psychology that can be safely ignored for most practical purposes. The psychoanalytic mystics have consistently taken the radically different position that mystical experience is only one part of something much more central to human psychology. In this paradigm, the mystical is a line of development that commences in infancy, but changes and matures throughout life. Like every other developmental line, it is also subject to pathological vicissitudes. Appropriate clinical goals include the removal of inhibitions and correction of pathological distortions of the mystical. Faculty: Dan Merkur

Apr 15 - The Emergence of the Modern Western Magical Tradition: The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn: Throughout recorded history, there have been innumerable references to arcane and abstruse repositories of knowledge. In ancient times, the doctrines of these intuitive powers, and the concepts upon which they are based, were paramount to the development of the consciousness of those societies and their cosmologies. Somehow, over the centuries, likely as a result of the advent of the strict societal controls of the preeminent monotheistic religions of Christianity and Islam, the intuitive worlds and their teachings were ruthlessly suppressed for many centuries. During the latter part of the Nineteenth Century, many new Mystery movements, the progeny of the lineages of previous intuitive knowledge-based traditions emerged. Of all of these societies, none is more important than The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which was formed in London, in 1888. The Golden Dawn, as it is commonly referred to, attracted many luminaries of Victorian society in London at that time, the most well-known of whom, in modern times, is the illustrious Irish poet, William Butler Yeats. The Golden Dawn, although in existence for a mere twelve years, has become the single-most important link to the current of increasingly popular movements of the Mystery traditions in modern society. Faculty: Bruce E. Rosenberg

Apr 22 - Western Mysteries - The Rosicrucian Tradition: Throughout his life, the late Namgyal Rinpoche actively promoted the teachings of both East and West. In the early years in Toronto, c. 1967, Rinpoche instructed a small group of students in the Western Mysteries. At that time, he taught mainly through a set of about fifty slides of large-scale, full-colour illustrations from a very rare "King Solomon Edition" of The Secret Teachings of All Ages, by Manly P. Hall. Forty years on in 2007, to commemorate this time and teaching, Sonam Gyatso gave an introduction to Western Mystery schools and traditions, in Peterborough, including a showing of the original slides from the Manly P Hall book. This class is a repeat of that teaching. Manly P.Hall was born in Peterborough on March 18, 1901. His father was likely Edwin H. Hall, also from Peterborough, and one of the original members of the Societas Rosicruciana in Canada, of which Sonam is a Past Supreme Magus. Faculty: Lama Sonam Gyatso

April 29 - Qabalah - a Map of Consciousness: The Tree of Life (Etz haChayim) is a formulated representation or map of the flow of emanation and the structure of creation as it progresses from the Ain Sof or limitless light. It is a map of how light is transformed into matter, or consciousness is transformed into substance. We will examine the history and evolution of the various Trees from the 13th Century to the 19th century when the Tree of Life became standardized within the Western Esoteric Tradition, with its ten Sefirot and 22 paths. Once we have some understanding of the theory we will then venture into the practice of path working as a means of exploring consciousness. Gematria is the comparison of words having the same numerical value in order to gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between word and reality, between language and creation. We will gain a working knowledge of how gematria functions in two languages Hebrew and Greek, the two languages that Benjamin Franklin wanted the United States to adopt as its official languages. We will also learn of methods by which English may be transliterated into Hebrew and thereby applied to gematria. With a working knowledge of the theory we will then engage in some practical applications of gematria to provide some insights into the relationship of word and language to the structure of consciousness and the phenomenological world. The aim of this workshop is not to turn the participants into Qabalists but rather to provide the means by which they may become Qabalists, if that be their will. Faculty: Salako Kalfou

May 20 - Systems, Chaos Theory, Self-Organization, and Therapy: This lecture will introduce students to systems theory and chaos and self-organization theory as it relates to models of therapy such as family and couples therapy. The advent of systems theory in the latter half of the 20th Century revolutionized the way in which professionals approached therapy. Instead of working only with the individuals, systemic thinking allowed psychotherapists to begin to work with entire family systems. The family, once seen as the problem, became the unit of analysis and entire schools grew up devoted to treating not just the so-called "identified patient" or symptom bearer in the family, but the family as a whole. Faculty: Kristin Trotter, Ronda Lobsinger

3.Human Dimension of Psychotherapy Conference, July 18 - 20, 2008

As part of the LIPD training program, students get to participate in the creation and mounting of the annual LIPD psychotherapy conference. The 2007 conference is focused through the theme of the human dimension of psychotherapy in the traditions of humanistic, existential, psychodynamic, transpersonal and somatic psychology, which have a long history affirming the complex holism of the human experience. These 'alternatives' to manualized, outcome oriented therapies have a substantial academic and professional history, integrating all dimensions of being human. How do we bring each individual into full presence? What is the role of the personal in the professional? What is the place of spirituality and the body in a psychological tradition? How do we integrate this clinical knowledge into 21st century psychotherapy and culture?

 

Caroline Mardon, BA (Hon), Co-founder and Clinical Director Living Institute; Past President, Canadian Association for Psychodynamic Therapy
The Culture of Psychotherapy, Psychotherapy for Our Culture
Psychotherapy is situated within a cultural context, which has been a part of the humanistic, psychodynamic, existential, transpersonal and somatic traditions since their inception. What are the values that underlie this and what is their place with the cultural evolution that is taking place in Western culture?

Linda J. Page, PhD, Chair, Alliance of Psychotherapy Training Institutions; President, Adler School of Professional Studies
How Psychotherapy Develops: Ontario in an International Context
Recent legislation in Ontario sets up a regulatory body for the profession of psychotherapy. The experience of international associations and practitioners from countries including the rest of Canada suggests possible scenarios for the development of psychotherapy. These scenarios have implications for how and where psychotherapists will be educated and trained.

Kirk Schnieder, PhD, Past President (and current VP), Existential-Humanistic Institute; editor, Journal of Humanistic Psychology; faculty, Saybrook Graduate School
Existential-Integrative Therapy: An Emerging Cross-disciplinary Paradigm
We live in a fervent time for existential-humanistic therapy. Increasingly, mainstream therapeutic approaches are recognizing the value of key existential themes-holism, presence, and the significance of the personal both within the client and between client and therapist. At the same time, however, there is an equally intensive trend toward short-term, solution focused approaches. This talk will examine Existential-Integrative (EI) Psychotherapy in the light of these trends. EI therapy elucidates one way to understand and coordinate a variety of therapeutic approaches within an overarching existential context. After addressing the basics of this approach, I will touch upon the potential for EI therapy, not only to revitalize the profession, but the culture at large. I will pose urgent questions about the value of an EI oriented therapy and its accessibility to a diverse and growing clinical population.

Rae Johnson, PhD, RSW, RSMT, Chair, Somatic Psychology Department, Santa Barbara Graduate Institute; former Director, Body Psychotherapy Program, Naropa University
The Embodied Psychotherapist: Somatic Psychology and the Therapeutic Relationship
The quality of relationship between therapist and client has become an increasing focus of research into the effectiveness of psychotherapy, and the person of the therapist understood as an important agent of change in the psychotherapeutic process. Somatic psychology further understands the body of the therapist as an extraordinary instrument in perceiving, processing, and transmitting psychological and relational data. This session will explore how drawing on our own embodied experience allows the therapist to inform and shape the therapeutic relationship with greater clarity, intention, and depth.

David Lukoff, PhD, Co-President, Association for Transpersonal Psychology; APA fellow; faculty, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology
Transpersonal Psychotherapy and the Integration of Spirituality
Transpersonal psychotherapy draws upon both psychology and spiritual traditions to create a bold new vision of a psychologically-informed spirituality and a spiritually-based psychology. Perhaps the core assumption of transpersonal psychology is that individuals are essentially spiritual beings rather than simply a self or a psychological ego. This perspective has profound implications for both diagnosis and therapy. This talk will present behavioral and phenomenological factors along with good prognostic signs that can be used to distinguish healthy from unhealthy spirituality without pathologizing clients' experiences or beliefs. This presentation will address how to provide spiritually-oriented psychotherapy and support for a client's spiritual journey in recovery from mental disorders and spiritual problems.

Dan Merkur, PhD, Author, Mystical Moments and Unitive Thinking, Unconscious Wisdom, Crucified With Christ
From Eros to Mystical Experience: The Scope of Psychic Integration in Psychoanalysis
Freud described Eros as a drive to make "one out of more than one" that "combines organic substances into ever larger unities." Active physiologically, Eros produces and maintains life. Psychically, Eros manifests in sexual drives, self-preservative drives, and the synthetic function of the ego. Through the "free intercourse" of the total psyche, the personality can achieve an integrity or wholeness that unites its sexuality and self-interests with its self-knowledge, conscience, and spirituality. Fromm, Bion, and others encouraged analysts to listen to their patients in meditative states. Grotstein, Eigen, and Symington interpret their patients' productions in ways that allow patients to share their analysts' meditations, so that patients may arrive at their own moments of meditative insight and experience. The meditative goal of making unconscious Eros self-conscious is mystical; it is also psychoanalytic.

4. Navigating the Mental Health Internet

This course is designed to teach mental health professionals the search and navigation skills necessary to use the Internet as a powerful communication and information technology tool. The Internet contains over 1.7 billion Web pages, including vast archives of mental health resources. But with no bibliographic control standards, such as those which guide the print world, the Mental Health Internet is difficult to navigate. This course provides hands-on training in Internet search strategies and tools. The course begins with basic navigation training, followed by an Internet Guided tour of clinical resources available for working with patients with substance abuse, PTSD, medical illnesses, depression, and other problems. The next lesson covers search skills to obtain a wide variety of mental health information and resources. In addition, the clinical topics of online therapy, technostress, and Internet addiction are covered. At the end of the course, you will be a confident Internet searcher who can find resources necessary to stay up with developments in the mental health field. At the end of this course, you will be able to: conduct searches on the Internet for research and clinical articles; locate and participate in online seminars with other mental health colleagues; find web sites with client self-help resources; describe the likely impact of the Internet on mental health practice, including Internet addiction, technostress.
This internet based learning course is offered through the Spiritual Competency Resource Centre (www.spiritualcompetency.com). Faculty: David Lukoff. Fee: $66.75 US

LIPD Year 2, 2008-09

Courses
1. Clinical Skills Traditions
2. Clinical Skills Practice
3. Practicum
4. DSM IV Religious and Spiritual Problems

Calendar of Classes

 

1. Clinical Skill Traditions
Methodologies of various clinical skill traditions will be taught in 18 six hour, one day classes, from 9:30am to 5:00pm. (108hr)
Sept 13: HEP Psychodynamics ; Jim McNamara, Caroline Mardon
Sept 14: Meditative Psychoanalysis; Dan Merkur
Oct 11: HEP Group Methods 1; Jim McNamara
Oct 12: Transpersonal Ways of Knowing; Sally Johnson
Nov 8: Art as Communication; Sally Johnson
Nov 9: HEP Group Methods 2; David Cornfield
Dec 6: Intermodal Expressive Arts; Fran Harwood
Dec 7: Psychodrama; David Cornfield
Jan 10: Martial Arts as Self Cultivation and Therapeutic Resource; Paul McCaughey, Jan Ohm
Jan 11: Basic Massage; Wendy Birks
Feb 7: Primal Bodywork; Jim McNamara
Feb 8: Exploration of Cellular Consciousness; Fran Harwood
Mar 5 (6:30-10:30), Mar 7 (9:30am to eve): The Breath Works - Holotropic Breathwork and
Non-ordinary States of Consciousness; Kristin Trotter, Ronda Lobsinger
Mar 8: No class
Apr 2 (6:30-10:30), Apr4 (9:30-5:00): Conscious Body as Sacred Container; Ursula Carsen
Apr 5: Buddhist Meditation ; Lama Sonam Gyatso
May 2: HEP Archetypal Methods; Jim McNamara, Caroline Mardon
May 3: HEP Synthesis; Jim McNamara, Caroline Mardon

2. Clinical Skills Practice
2.1 Foundation Skills: Thurs, 6:30 - 10:30
2.1.1 Assessment & Typology: Sept 4, 11, 18, 25
(8hr theory, 8hr practice): Jim McNamara
2.1.2 Basic Therapy Skills: Oct 2, (9 no class), 16
(4hr theory, 4hr practice): Linsay Cornfield
2.1.3 Ethics & Record Keeping: Oct 25, Nov 1
(Ethics 4hr, Record Keeping 4hr): Mary Ellen Young
2.2 Video Clinical Skills: Thurs, 6:30 - 10:30, from Nov 6, '08 to May 28, '09 (92hr)
Faculty: Core and Adjunct

3. Practicum
To be arranged

4.DSM IV - Religious and Spiritual Problems
This internet based learning course can be done in your own time. It must be completed by the end of the fall semester. Faculty: David Lukoff. (8hr)

Course Descriptions

1. Clinical Skill Traditions
Methodologies from various clinical skill traditions will be taught in eighteen 6 hour, one day classes, from 9:30am to 5:00pm.

Class Descriptions
Below is a schedule of the 6 hr one day classes with a class description and faculty.

Sept 13 - HEP Psychodynamics: The HEP psychodynamic tradition draws on the original psychoanalytic basis and extends this through the Jungian model into a way of working both personally, interpersonally and transpersonally with the conscious/unconscious dialectic, including reference to the collective consciousness and psychodynamic manifestations of the imaginal world. Existentialism, gestalt and bioenergetics will also be integrated into this complex model of evocation and working through of psychological, psychosomatic and psychospiritual conflicts. The phenomenology of resistance and defences will be addressed, as will the themes of transference and countertransference, including how archetypal factors can play a role. Faculty: Jim McNamara, Caroline Mardon

Sept 14 - Meditative Psychoanalysis: When Freud introduced his technique of "free association," he remarked on its proximity to hypnagogic states and compared it with Schiller's description of states of poetic reverie. Freud employed "evenly hovering attention" as a means by which the unconscious of the patient would be able to communicate with the unconscious of the analyst, with the patient and analyst both in alternate states of meditative consciousness. In the 1950s, Erich Fromm, analyzed by Thoedor Reik, recognized the close proximity of Zen Buddhist meditation to Freud's technique of "evenly hovering attention" adding Martin Buber's practice of I-Thou encounter to his analytic listening. In the 1960s Wilfred R. Bion, influenced by Christian practices of meditation, advised analysts to cultivate states of reverie by listening to patients without memory, desire or knowledge. Otto Rank and Sandor Ferenczi had suggested that the curative moment consisted of the patient's experience (Erlebnis) of the analyst, after insight dissolved the transference and revealed the analyst as a totally unprecedented type of person. The notions that mystical experience constitutes self-actualization and is transformative were implicit in the word Erlebnis as used by Buber. Buber's abandonment of mysticism in favour of his I-Thou philosophy continued to privilege Erlebnis, shifting its content from nondualism to a Zen-like, nonjudgmental sharing - a "meeting" or "encounter." Applying Fromm's procedure, I find that if I make myself available for patients to engage in an encounter, their perceptions of my availability arouses resistance, precipitating irrational fears, depressions, rage, sexual excitement and other transferences. My interpretation of the resistance is aimed to bring the patient to be able to join me in an authentic encounter. I also use my own inevitable failures to maintain my availability for encounter as a means to identify my countertransferences, for which self-analysis is appropriate. Faculty: Dan Merkur

Oct 11, Nov 9 - HEP Group Methods: Drawing on the gestalt, encounter and bioenergetic traditions' models of human nature, individuality and phenomenology, we will explore methods for experiential evocation of intra- and inter-personal psychodynamics through dramatic enactment experiments, awareness exercises with a 'now' focus on presence, embodiment and the contact boundary, communication based on self-expression balanced with empathy and using self-responsible language, the excitement of emergence, and the holistic tendency in the experiential field. The basic theme is how direct, yet complex, reflexively focused awareness facilitates the unfolding of the potential for authentic self and other encounters. HEP group work builds an environment of connection, compassion and challenge in which it is possible to confront both deep shadow material and a person's most positive potential. Group may be a place where incomplete family issues and dynamics can constellate and be worked through in the context of interpersonal relationships. Because of the containment and depth experience in this context, existential, and transpersonal material sometimes arises. This takes people beyond the social conditioning and expectations that inhibit self and other awareness, evoking deeply visceral archetypal material. The group can also work as a buddy system to help individuals with personal habit and lifestyle changes, and support people who are going through a difficult time. Faculty: Jim McNamara, David Cornfield

Oct 12 - Transpersonal Ways of Knowing: In this class we will ask ourselves the question, "How are transpersonal ways of knowing different from more mainstream Western vehicles of inquiry?" We will look at the need to balance our more familiar, linear models of understanding the world with reflective and contemplative methods of inquiry from older World Wisdom traditions. We will address the rise in the use of processes such as mindfulness practice for stress reduction in mainstream healthcare, including the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn and others who have successfully integrated Eastern meditative practices into Western culture. This class will have an experiential component in which we explore our personal and cultural need to bring balance to the inner/outer, masculine/feminine, and individual/communal dimensions of who we are. This day will include contemplative inquiry and Council Practice (a group-based communication practice). Faculty: Sally Johnson

Nov 8 - Art as Communication: The use of art in therapy sessions and group work is an invaluable tool for by-passing the habitual patterns of the mind that talk therapy alone is unable to do. Here, there is the potential for the client to develop a direct line to the unconscious through the creation of an image, an artifact, a collage, a sculpture. What is created becomes a communication from the deeper self. As one's personal work evolves and deepens, creative expression can also reveal an archetypal realm of imagery, symbol, and identification. Personal in-searching then has the potential to open to transpersonal spaciousness and inquiry. In this class we will look at how to create the right environment to transmit the message that the use of art materials in therapy is not for the purpose of creating a piece of art, but rather for the purpose of expression, communication, and illumination. It is everyone's vehicle of exploration, not just the artistically sophisticated. Included in this will be an exploration of how art produced in the therapeutic container can contact that which our rational minds will not reveal. In this class, we will touch on the therapeutic use of symbols in the work of Carl Jung and Marion Woodman. Faculty: Sally Johnson

Dec 6 - Intermodal Expressive Arts: The use of the arts in healing goes back to ancient times. However, the discipline of Expressive Arts Therapy is relatively new to the field. Over the past 20 years, Paulo Knill, Shaun McNiff, Natalie Rogers and Steve and Ellen Levine have been pioneers in the evolving theory of this psychotherapeutic form. Winnicott, in "Playing and Reality" asserts the centrality of creativity, play and the imagination in human development. Just as our basic experience is intermodal, involving all of the senses, so Expressive Arts Therapy recognizes that the expression and transformation of experience also needs to be intermodal. Actively and physically creating out of the deepest and darkest places in the psyche restores a sense of the agency that trauma removes and allows room for regeneration. The therapist enters into the imaginative play world created within the frame of the therapeutic container, and may engage and attune with the client in aesthetic response. In this class, we will look at the role of imagination and play and explore together the therapeutic value of intermodal expression, the aesthetic response and creative destruction. Faculty: Fran Harwood

Dec 7 - Psychodrama: Psychodrama combines the power of imagination, spontaneity, dramatic flexibility, action stimulation and psychodynamic insights through animated, playful and adventurous dramatic enactments and flexible role playing. In this class, basic psychodrama methods will be taught, including the warm up, the double, role reversal, the sociogram, the empty chair, setting the scene and the use of props. Faculty: David Cornfield

Jan 10 - Martial Arts as Self-Cultivation and Therapeutic Resource: The purpose of this class will be to explore what it means to be in our bodies and relate to the world and others within a somatically-based existence. Drawing primarily from T'ai Chi Ch'uan and the Russian Martial Art Systema, Jan and Paul will utilize the unique training methods and improvisational elements of these formless martial arts to show students new ways of cultivating the self. Largely experiential, the work will be placed within philosophical, historical and cultural context throughout. As a psychotherapist, Jan will draw from her own practice to make this day relevant to students of psychotherapy. Paul will draw from his practice as a Doctor of Chinese Medicine to explain how the martial and therapeutic have been taught in tandem for millennia and how principles of holism and personal integration govern both. The teaching will be by direct experience and demonstration. Faculty: Paul McCaughey, Jan Ohm

Jan 11 - Basic Massage: Touching and being touched comprise one of the most fundamental ways of communicating with another, physically, energetically, and emotionally. When we touch another's body, we are in contact with the essence of their being - in this body is housed their history, memories, experiences, perceptions and secrets. Touch can feel like a gift, or an invasion, and requires us to be aware of our motivations for reaching out. During this session, we will explore ways to ensure that our touch is safe, respectful and therapeutic. Basic massage techniques and theory will be covered, as well as areas of the body and common conditions that may require avoidance or modification of touch. Exploring our personal reactions to touching and being touched will promote the self-awareness required to respect this most obvious, and subtle, of boundaries. Faculty: Wendy Birks +

Feb 7 - Primal Bodywork: Primal uses techniques of deep breathing, evocative music and bodywork to help people go beyond self-limiting ways of being. Primal bodywork focuses on release of psychosomatic blocks to full self awareness and self expression. This includes work with character armour, muscle tension, trigger points, postural exercises, dramatic enactment and subtle body energy work, drawing on massage, bioenergetic and tantric methods. It often involves the release of emotions long held in muscles and organs, and has the effect of bringing cathartic relief, renewed energy and psychodynamic insights. Because of the deep containment experience in this context, existential, archetypal and transpersonal material sometimes arises, providing the possibility for psychospiritual experiences. Doing this work in a group holds the benefit of being moved by the energy of other people's expression. Hearing other people speak afterwards about how they understand their experience facilitates a sense of commonality that supports each in their continued self exploration. Faculty: Jim McNamara

Feb 8 - Exploration of Cellular Consciousness: The experience and impact of birth has been known and enacted in ancient traditions, and in primal therapy, developed by Arthur Janov and others since the 1970's. What has also emerged in the second half of the twentieth century is elucidation of the world before birth. Francis Mott's exploration of foetal experience through dreams, and the primal therapy work of Frank Lake, Graham Farrant, and William Emerson, developed ways of accessing experience from the very beginning of life at conception. Tom Verny, founder of pre- and peri-natal psychology, elaborated this in his book, The Secret Life of the Unborn Child, incorporating research results. From their experience, professional and sometimes personal, Farrant and others gathered images and specific patterns of movement that correlated with client's internal experiences of the stages of embryonic and foetal development, and the nature of the traumas encountered along the way. In this class, we will investigate these stages and the obstacles to development, and explore ways of entering and facilitating this level of consciousness. Faculty: Fran Harwood

Mar 5 (6:30-10:30pm), Mar 7 (9:30am to eve) - The Breath Works - Holotropic Breathwork and Non-ordinary States of Consciousness: Based on the research and methodology of Christina Grof and Dr. Stanislav Grof, a founding father of transpersonal psychology, this course will theoretically and experientially explore the findings of more than 30 years of Grof's research and study of nonordinary states of consciousness. The theoretical aspects of the class on Mar 5 will introduce students to Grof's dimensions of consciousness, including the sensory, biographical, perinatal, and transpersonal bands of consciousness. There will be special emphasis on the perinatal band and its intricate and complex construction of consciousness. Located within the larger theoretical frameworks of Jungian, Existential, Humanistic, and Transpersonal Psychology, Grof's studies in nonordinary states of consciousness have included LSD research and work with breath, evocative music, and focused body work (Holotropic Breathwork). The experiential aspect of this class will take place on March 7 and will include a day-long workshop designed to give students an intense and profound healing experience using the Holotropic Breathwork methods developed by Grof while he was Scholar in Residence at Esalen Institute in California. Overall, the class will consist of three areas of exploration: (i) the theory that informs Holotropic Breathwork; (ii) the clinical applications, including a discussion of COEX systems; (iii) a profound experiential component. Please Note: There are contraindications to participating in a Holotropic Breathwork workshop as it can be physically demanding and, therefore, some students may not be able to share in the experiential portion of the work except as a sitter. Faculty: Kristin Trotter, Ronda Lobsinger

Mar 8 - No class

Apr 2 (6:30-10:30pm), Apr 4 (9:30am-5:00pm) - The Conscious Body as Sacred Container:
Apr 2 - About BodySoul Rythms (r): This will include a detailed discussion of The Pregnant Virgin, A Process of Psychological Transformation (Marion Woodman) Chapter 3, Psyche/Soma Awareness. This evening's introduction into the origins of BodySoul Rhythms(r), a quarter of a century after its inception, will provide students with an opportunity to learn about and share the experience of "subtle body" in their own life. What does the body as "that portion of Soul discerned by the five senses" mean to you now, how does "Body Awareness" appear in your dreams, and what are your preferred ways of nurturing and expressing your personal body-soul hunger? How do you encounter and befriend "shadow" elements? Students will be invited to pay special attention to their dreams during the following two nights, and bring with them a dream, a symbol or an image for the Saturday workshop. Apr 4 -The Dance of Three: This will involve an experiential and interactive exploration of our role as "dancer" (conscious body), "mirror" (inner/outer reflection) and "container" (conscious witness) - three crucial aspects of psychological transformation and integration on the therapeutic journey. Small group work and inner-directed movement will be followed by expressive art making, writing, personal process and group processing. Students are encouraged to work with a dream, a personal symbol and/or a meaningful image (such as a favorite line from a poem, or something from the material discussed in the Thursday evening workshop). Faculty: Ursula Carsen +

Apr 5 - Buddhist Meditation: Overview of theory and practice; in-depth Abhidhamma analysis of the meditation process and altered states; Samatha (calm and tranquillity) and Vipassana (insight) meditation; application of 40 classical subjects of the ancient Theravada school; stages of insight; Tibetan deity meditation archetypes: Mahamudra, Zen and natural mind; deep retreat work vs. practice in daily life. Faculty: Lama Sonam Gyatso

May 2 - HEP Archetypal Methods: This class will draw on the Jungian and archetypal model, and various traditions that highlight the mediating nature of the imaginal subtle body dimension (including the Sufi, shamanic and Vajrayana traditions, and Western theurgy) as they have been incorporated into the HEP psychodynamic, existential and archetypal model. This will include the use of ritual, the creation and use of an altar and methods for accessing the personal subtle body. There will also be teaching on the evocation of helpful archetypal agencies and how to manage autonomous, threatening elements of the imaginal world. The role of sacrifice and reconciliation in the process of redemption and at-one-ment will be emphasized. Methods of dream enactment will be taught, bringing elements of night dreams into the day world, and working with the waking dream nature of the everyday world. Tantric methods for psychospiritual integration, and HEP visualization techniques will be taught. Faculty: Jim McNamara, Caroline Mardon

May 3 - HEP Synthesis: This class will highlight the HEP foundational core that runs through this year's clinical training, focusing particularly on practical application of these eclectic methodologies in an integrative model. Students will present their version of this integration. Faculty: Jim McNamara, Caroline Mardon

2. Clinical Skills Practice

2.1 Foundation Skills: Thurs, 6:30 - 10:30
2.1.1 Assessment & Typology - Sept 4, 11, 18, 25
Using the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual as the basis for typology, we will extend this to include a bioenergetic based psychosomatic typology and a Jungian/archetypal based psychospiritual typology. There will also be an experiential typology based in the HEP focus of integrating spirit/matter, inner/outer, masculine/feminine experiential qualities and the Jungian focus of integrating polarized styles of perception and action (as given in the Myers-Briggs typology). Reference will be made to the DSM diagnostic system throughout, though diagnosis itself will not be taught. Students will be taught an intake and assessment system that will enable them to make a psychodynamic, psychosomatic, psychospirituL and experiential formulation of client's presenting problems that will enable them to create a provisional treatment/management plan, highlighting salient features such as psychological mindedness, commitment and transference issues, potential somatization problems, social support network, acting out tendency, suicidality risk and a prognosis. This plan would highlight client's strengths as well as potential problems and risk factors, including a review of their personal and family history. Faculty: Jim McNamara

 

2.1.2 Basic Therapy Skills - Oct 2, (9 no class), 16
This module covers some of the essential aspects of how to work with a client. Students will "get their feet wet" by building new skills and sharpening the inate counseling skills they may already possess. Topics for discussion and practice will include the role of the therapist, active listening , mirroring, paraphrasing, interviewing, open questioning, deepening the client's awareness or feelings, opening and closing a session, presenting issues, working with silence, concretizing. After discussing the topics, students will practice the skills in dyads as well observing a roleplay of the therapist /client session in front of the whole class. There will be a chance for direct feedback and discussion of alternate therapeutic possibilities from the whole group as well as the instructor. This class will have an active, hands on approach to learning through doing. Faculty: Linsay Cornfield

2.1.3 Ethics & Record Keeping - Oct 24 or 25, Oct 31 or Nov 1
Ethics: In this world of litigation and public concern over a practitioner's responsibility toward a client, the ethical principles governing the practice of psychotherapy need to be brought into sharp focus. This evening will explore those principles and engage the students in a discussion of some of the situations that may arise in the course of therapy. We will apply the ethical principles that govern our profession to some theoretical situations to become familiar with a hands-on approach to determining the parameters of our responsibility in more than just a legal and technical manner.
Record Keeping: In addition to maintaining basic factual records for our own use and for tax purposes, record keeping involves providing sufficient information that another practitioner would be able to continue a therapy with any client in the event of the therapist's absence for an extended period of time. In this evening we will explore some of the requirements for taking and maintaining notes, including some of the legal implications that will influence the way in which we establish and keep client records. Faculty: Mary Ellen Young

2.2 Video Clinical Skills: Thurs, 6:30 - 10:30, from Nov 13, '08 to May 28, '09
Continuing development of foundation section teaching, including basic therapy skills, assessment, typology, therapeutic relationship, tradition specific techniques, ethics and record keeping. To develop their individual therapy skills, students volunteer to be client and therapist, the interaction is videotaped and reviewed by faculty and class. To develop their group therapy skill, one student volunteers to be group leader, the class acts as the group, the interaction is videotaped and reviewed by faculty and class. Faculty: Core and adjunct.

3. Practicum

3.1 Group Observation and Supervised Facilitation: In this year, students will be provided with the opportunity to participate in weekly and weekend intensives groups as observers and supervised facilitators. This will include traditional HEP groups and other related experiential models. Cost: There will be a separate fee for this depending on the venue.

 

3.2 Individual Psychotherapy: In the spring semester, students will commence the supervised creation and staffing of a student clinic, and the supervised creation of a self generated practice with individual clients. Cost: The cost structure of this venture is yet to be determined.

3.3 Clinical Placement: During this year we will be negotiating placements for our students with various clinical facilities in the mental health field. Cost: Yet to be determined.

4. DSM IV - Religious and Spiritual Problems

This internet based learning course is offered through the Spiritual Competency Resource Centre (www.spiritualcompetency.com). The inclusion in the DSM IV of a new diagnostic category called "Religious or spiritual problem" marks a significant breakthrought. For the first time, there is an acknowledgment of distressing religious and spiritual experiences, including spiritual emergencies, as non-pathological problems. Spiritual emergencies are crises in which the process of growth and change becomes chaotic and overwhelming as spiritual material begins to emerge. The proposal for this new diagnostic category came from transpersonal clinicians concerned with the misdiagnosis and mistreatment of persons in the midst of spiritual emergencies. This course covers the history of pathologizing theory in the mental health field, the work of Stan and Christina Grof, John Perry, John Mack, R.D. Laing, and many other clinical approaches for working with religious and spiritual problems. Religious problems studied will include: loss or questioning of faith; changes in membership, practices and belief; new religious movements and cults; terminal and life-threatening illnesses. Spiritual problems studied will include: mystical experiences; psychic experiences; visionary experiences; meditation and spiritual practices; Kundalini awakening; near-death experiences; UFO encounters; shamanic crisis. After completing this course, students will be able to describe the main types of spiritual emergencies, make differential diagnoses between spiritual emergencies and psychopathology, and be more culturally competent in treating spiritual problems. Faculty: David Lukoff.
Cost: $66.75 U.S.

LIPD Year 3

As the Living Institute Psychotherapy Diploma has only been offered since Sept, 2007, we have not mounted a third year program as yet. The year 3 program will clearly be comparable in scope and depth to the other years, and faculty will be as highly qualified and experienced as current faculty. In year 3, the plan is to focus on continuing integration of theoretical and clinical skills, and special topics such as trauma work, energy healing, sexuality, death and dying, grief, couples work, creativity, natural health care, nutrition. Students will be expected to create, in conjunction with colleagues, public workshops and presentations as part of their clinical training, and also to orient them to the need to reach out to the public as part of generating a successful practice. There will be a marketing skills course in this year. During this year there will be an ongoing clinical discussion group where students will be expected to make case presentations for discussion, with faculty and guest presenters supervising. The personal growth focus will continue.

 

Although this particular program is still near its beginning, there is a lot of experience that goes into its creation and implementation. The training is a direct continuation of the Holistic Experiential Psychotherapy (HEP) training program of the Psychocultural Institute from the early 1990's, of which there are 12 graduates, 5 of whom are teaching in this program. The Living Institute evolved out of the Psychocultural Institute, and this program is a direct continuation of the earlier HEP tradition, although the name has become the Holistic Experiential Process Method (HEP Method) to reflect that it is now applied beyond the field of psychotherapy into, for example, life coaching and spiritual counselling. The experience of those early years informs what we do now. The Living institute co-founder and Clinical Director, Caroline Mardon, is a graduate of the early training. She is also past president of the Canadian Association for Psychodynamic Therapy, and has been actively involved in promoting the psychodynamic, humanistic, transpersonal and somatic perspectives in the ongoing process of psychotherapy regulation in Ontario. In addition, co-founder and Program Director, Jim McNamara, draws on expertise from his time as Academic Dean of the Ontario (now Canadian) College of Naturopathic Medicine, where he was responsible for designing and implementing the first two versions of their curriculum. And, our faculty is eminently qualified and experienced, as you can read in detail in their faculty bios.

Don't be daunted by the fact that this is a new program. It has been created, and is being taught, by very experienced people, who provide stability and quality.