CTP Alumni AssociationGraduate Professional Development Forum

Winter\Spring 2004

The Graduate Professional Development Forum is a series of presentations and facilitateddiscussions led by graduates of the CTP. The Graduate Professional Development Forum is toprovide graduates of the CTP with the opportunity to share their experience and expertise withfellow graduates. This Forum is open to Faculty, Students and interested parties.

Admission to the seminar is free for members of the CTP Alumni Association. Non-members will be asked topay a nominal fee of $10.00 per session. All seminars will be held at the Centre in Group Room B.

FOCUSING ORIENTED PSYCHOTHERAPY (PART 2)FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 2004 - 7:00 – 9:00 P.M.

Why doesn’t therapy succeed more often? Why does it so often fail to make a real difference in people’s lives? In the rarercases when it does succeed, what is it that those patients and therapists do? What is it that the majority fails to do? What isthis crucial difference? What is the mechanism of change that some people activate in therapy and others just seem tohave naturally? Join us and discover the answers Gene Gendlin, a philosopher at the University of Chicago, discovered inhis research. A colleague of Carl Rogers, Gendlin observed that those who made significant progress in therapy eitherknew how to do something naturally or learned to do it in therapy. Those who did not learn this failed to make significantprogress. What Gendlin discovered he broke down into teachable steps and named Focusing (Gendlin 1978). We willdiscuss the principles of Focusing and how to use those principles in our work with clients based on the book “FocusingOriented Psychotherapy,” (Gendlin 1996)

ALF WALKER M.T.C., M.T., S.T., graduated from the Centre for Training in Psychotherapy in 2001. Concurrent withthe CTP program he completed Level II EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) training and became aTrainer with the Focusing Institute. Prior to this he completed training with the Center for Somatic Psychotherapy whilstpracticing shiatsu and massage as a Registered Massage Therapist. He is currently integrating Focusing, EMDR andpsychodynamic psychotherapy in his practice at The Centre in Toronto.

THE SUBVERSIVE NATURE OF PSYCHOTHERAPY

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2004 - 7:00 – 9:00 P.M.

As practicing therapists intensely engaged with our clients, personally immersed deep within years of our own therapies,and surrounded by friends and colleagues that insulate us from the many intrinsic ways that what we do conflicts with thesocial norms of our culture, we can easily forget the frightening and dangerous nature of what we call psychotherapy. Iwould like to explore some of the many ways that working with the dynamic unconscious necessarily subverts our senseof self, our relationships, and often our basic understanding of the world and what it means to live in it. Using caseexamples and my own experiences as a client I would like to encourage you to help me explore some of the surprising andunexpected aspects of the psychotherapeutic journey.

JOHN NEUMIN has been practicing as a psychotherapist since 1995, and is currently seeing individual clients as wellas co-leading a psychotherapy group with Leah Lucas. John is especially interested in refining his understanding oftherapeutic efficacy and analytic ambiguity. This presentation is for practicing therapists and therapists in supervisiononly.

For more information about the seminars or to register, contactLeah Lucas at 416.654.6179 e-mail:leah.lucas@sympatico.ca

THE THERAPEUTIC VALUE OF SELF-DISCLOSURE FRIDAY, MARCH 26, 2004

As analytic understanding has transformed into analytic super-ego, psychoanalysts have struggled to challenge theprohibitions against subjective engagement and self-disclosure. Today the classical analyst is a vanishing breed. Does thenew trend toward more open and direct involvement with our clients reflect real clinical insight, or is it driven more bysocial changes and different personalities being drawn to the endeavor? After a brief introduction to the topic, I wouldlike you to join me and share your experiences in self-disclosure so that we can open up some conversation on what wasonce considered taboo.

JOHN NEUMIN has been studying psychoanalytic texts since 1985, and is currently practicing clinically with both individual clientsand as a co-leader of an analytic psychotherapy group with Leah Lucas. John is constantly trying to learn how best to use hissubjective responses in the service of his clients. He is especially interested in refining his understanding of therapeutic efficacy andanalytic ambiguity. This presentation is for practicing therapists and therapists in supervision only.

IS INTUITION THE UNCONSCIOUS GOD?FRIDAY, APRIL 30, 2004 7:00–9:00 PM

From The Duino Elegies the poet Rainer Maria Rilke writes" Who, if I cried would hear me among the angelic orders?And even if one of them suddenly pressed me against his heart, I should fade in the strength of his stronger existence...Voices, voices. Hear , O my heart, as only saints have heard. So inherently hearers. Not that you could endure The Voiceof God - far from it. But hark, the suspiration, the uninterrupted news that grows out of silence." In the silence ofcontemplation one can intuit another existence. What is this part of us from which dreams arise? As therapists we spendour hours delving into a realm we term 'unconscious'. This mysterious part of our Being guides and informs ourexistence....and does it somehow invisibly unite us with the Cosmic Force beyond all Form? After twenty years ofcontemplating, listening, inquiring into my client's unconscious psychic life, I experience a link with the mysticalapprehension of oneness, a sudden indelible knowing, an angel in the room. I want to explore the parallels of this internaljourney with the mystical quest, a path trodden by poets, prophets and saints. They are human like us. I believe we all holdthe capacity to directly apprehend the universal power beyond the phenomena of physical existence ....and our Intuition isthe key.

LEAH LUCAS graduated from The CTP in 1990 and served as a Graduate Fellow from 1995 to 1999. She has been in privatepractice since 1984. Leah particularly enjoys working with couples and groups. She is currently co-facilitating a psychotherapy groupwith her CTP colleague John Neumin. Leah sits on the board of the Psychotherapy Referral Service and is President of the CTPAlumni Association..

PSYCHOTHERAPY IN COMMUNITYFRIDAY, MAY 21, 2004 7:00–9:00 PM

Left wing social experiments, New Age Spiritual Communities and Psychodynamic Therapy. How do these disparateentities connect? Well, for a start, they have all been a part of Susan Lucas' personal experience. She lived in a communein Rochdale College for two years, spent a year as a member at the Findhorn Foundation in Scotland and six years inhouse groups at Therafields. Her unthought known was that there was something valuable there. But what? Someintentional communities use psychotherapy as a tool to help their members, sometimes psychotherapy groups becomecommunities, with mixed results. Susan will reflect with us on her experiences with both.

Being a psychotherapist is a lonely business. We need regular contact with our colleagues to remain grounded andfocused. Blake and Susan will be sharing their experience of community.

BLAKE CARTER graduated from The CTP in 2000 and has been in private practice since 1997. He has recently returned toToronto after spending two years in beautiful British Columbia. He is currently studying to be a yoga teacher. His previous careersinclude restaurant management and professional acting. Along with individual psychotherapy Blake is involved with couples therapyand group therapy. He is also a member of the Executive of the CTP Alumni Association.

SUSAN LUCAS graduated from The CTP in1996, and has been in private practice as a psychotherapist since 1991. She currentlyserves on the Board of Directors of PRS. She has been a Registered Massage Therapist since 1976.

For more information about the seminars or to register, contactLeah Lucas at 416.654.6179 e-mail:leah.lucas@sympatico.ca