University of East Anglia Diploma/MA course in Focusing and Experiential Psychotherapy

British Focusing Teachers Association

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Campbell Purton

We originally planned to run this course from September 2004, but because of various administrative problems it is only got off the ground this year (2005). We have 13 students enrolled, including people from Poland, Tanzania, Uganda and South Korea. Seven of then will be completing the MA through the writing of dissertations in the field of Focusing-oriented psychotherapy. Several are also enrolled as Focusing Institute ‘trainers-in-training’. This is an exciting venture which is creating great interest among the trainees on our full-time counselling diploma, which now also contains a Focusing unit running throughout the year. Details of how to apply for either course can be found at the UEA Centre for Counselling Studies website.

Here are more details of the course, taken from the course brochure:

University of East Anglia, Norwich

Post-graduate Diploma and MA in Focusing and Experiential Psychotherapy

This is a full-time post-graduate training programme in Focusing and Experiential Psychotherapy. It consists of two Units:

Unit One - Focusing and Experiential Psychotherapy (120 credits)
Unit Two - Dissertation (60 credits)
The course is designed for qualified counsellors and psychotherapists who wish to extend their training into the area of focusing and experiential psychotherapy. It is the first training course of its kind in the UK. There is a growing interest world-wide in this form of psychotherapy, but opportunities for training are very limited. The course will provide both experiential training and a grounding in the theory and philosophy of focusing-oriented therapy.

A basic knowledge and understanding of person-centred therapy is assumed, but the course is also open to practitioners who have trained in other traditions, and who wish to integrate the focusing/experiential dimension into their own practice.

Focusing-oriented psychotherapy

Focusing-oriented psychotherapy derives from the work of Eugene Gendlin, a close colleague of Carl Rogers. It is a form of therapy which belongs in the humanistic tradition, and more specifically within the tradition of client-centred and experiential psychotherapy. It has deep roots in both client-centred therapy and in phenomenology. The central emphasis is on the experiencing process of the client and on ways in which the therapist can help the client to relate to their experiencing of their situation. Focusing is a naturally occurring process which can be cultivated by training and then incorporated into work with clients. A central theme of focusing- oriented therapy is that any therapeutic procedure is likely to be more effective if conducted in a manner which constantly relates that procedure to the client’s immediate experiencing, that is, if the procedure is ‘focusing-oriented’. The Course is centred around Gendlin’s focusing process and its incorporation into psychotherapy, but it also gives some attention to closely-allied work in process-experiential therapy, especially that of Greenberg, Rice and Elliott.

Focusing-oriented and process-experiential therapy are quite widely practised in the USA and in some European countries such as Germany and Belgium. These forms of therapy have a strong research basis while remaining true to the humanistic tradition which emphasises the relational and holistic nature of human beings.

Aims of the Course

Unit One

To familiarise students with the distinctive thinking and procedures of focusing-oriented and experiential psychotherapy
To enable students to incorporate these procedures into their own therapy practice
To provide sufficient understanding of the philosophical background of focusing for students to ground their practice adequately in theory
To provide an historical understanding of the development of the focusing-oriented approach in relation to the development of other schools of therapy
To enable students to relate the experiential approach to the different ‘schools’ of psychotherapy as traditionally conceived
To enable students to make use of focusing in their own personal and professional development
To develop an awareness of how focusing can contribute to creative activity in general
To introduce students to issues involved at the interface between psychotherapy and spirituality

Unit Two (MA only)

To provide knowledge, skills and understanding in qualitative research
To develop skills in understanding, analysis and appropriate application of research findings to professional focusing practice
To deepen and consolidate knowledge and understanding of focusing and experiential theory and practice through carrying out research into professional practice
To encourage the view that doing research is integral to good professional practice

Course structure

Unit One
The teaching input for this part of the Course will take place over twelve weekends between September and May. The weekends will involve approximately twelve hours input, six hours each on Saturdays and Sundays. The sessions will include both theoretical input and experiential learning. Participants will be expected to work in focusing partnerships in the period between sessions (such partnerships may be conducted by telephone, if necessary).

Unit Two (MA only)
In preparation for carrying out the research and writing the dissertation there will be a research methods module taught between October and January, in twelve weekly sessions held on Fridays. Thereafter, during the second semester, students will meet regularly with an academic supervisor.

Course Content

It is envisaged that the Course will include the following topics:

Unit One
(a) Theoretical
Semester One
General focusing theory and its philosophical grounding
This part of the course provides the basic theory and philosophical underpinning of focusing-oriented psychotherapy. It covers:

the historical relationships between client-centred therapy, experiential therapy and focusing
the basic concept of the ‘felt sense’ and the ways in which it is distinguished from emotions, imagery and ordinary physical sensations
process difficulties such as ‘intellectualising’, ‘externalising’ and ‘overwhelm’
therapist procedures for engendering process steps - the concepts of ‘implying’, ‘carrying-forward’, ‘handle-words’, ‘clearing a space’.
Gendlin’s ‘six steps’ and focusing as a taught procedure
bringing Focusing into therapy sessions
the philosophical background in existentialism, phenomenology and pragmatism
the theory of the relationship between experiencing and concepts

Semester Two
Theoretical aspects of personality change and specific experiential processes
This part of the course develops focusing theory in several ways:

the theory of specific process blocks such as conflicts and the suppression of experiencing
theoretical approaches to the ‘inner critic’
experientialising of other approaches to therapy, such as Gestalt and cognitive-behavioural
the experiential theory of dreams
the relationship between focusing and meditation
experiential theories of personality change: Gendlin; Greenberg, Rice and Elliott
the self and ‘parts’ of the self; 'disidentification’
introduction to Gendlin’s A Process Model
objections to focusing-oriented psychotherapy
the research and evidential basis for focusing-oriented psychotherapy

(b) Experiential
Semester One
The central experiential processes of focusing
This part of the course covers:

experiential work in listening and ‘reflection’
initial work in focusing partnerships
work with finding a felt sense
looking at how process steps come
learning to ‘be with’ a felt sense
learning to be aware of the body sense
practice in using Gendlin's six focusing steps
practice in focusing guiding
practice in role-play

Semester Two
Experiential working with specific processes
This part of the course is designed to develop more specific skills in focusing-oriented therapy:

working with the ‘inner critic’
working with conflicts and experiential suppression
experientialised versions of the empty chair and two-chair techniques
experientialised working with cognitive-behavioural procedures
working with dreams
experimenting with the differential effects of meditation instructions compared with focusing instructions

Unit Two (MA only)

introduction to the methods of qualitative research and their use in the systematic inquiry of focusing and experiential psychotherapy practice
introduction to the methods of philosophical enquiry
key skills and processes of research design, negotiation, data collection and analysis and the writing of research reports
the ethical dilemmas of researching within the context of the therapeutic relationship
issues arising from the needs and concerns of the students as they carry out individual research projects for the dissertation.
critical analysis of literature on methodology and on current research
the personal and professional impact of doing research

Learning approaches

Unit One
Teaching methods will include

lectures and seminars
group discussion, involving issues taken from students’ own work and from the literature
reading and discussion of selected material from the literature
role-plays to illustrate applications of the principles
intensive work in focusing partnerships, and the bringing of this back to the whole group
use of audio and video demonstrations by experienced practitioners
use of audio and video recordings of practice sessions

Unit Two (MA only)
Teaching methods during the research methods module will include

reading and writing workshops,
individual presentations of research
reading and discussion of methodological or research papers
large and small group work
lectures and seminars

Students will meet with an academic supervisor during the writing of the dissertation

Focusing Institute Certification

The Focusing Institute in New York certifies Unit One of the Course as leading to their Certificate as a Focusing Trainer. This certificate will be awarded subject to satisfactory completion of the unit, and payment of the appropriate fee.

Staff

The core tutors are:

Dr Campbell Purton
Campbell is the Director of the course in Focusing and Experiential Psychotherapy. He has been a lecturer in philosophy, a therapist in private practice, and director of the UEA post-graduate diploma in counselling. He is a certifying co-ordinator for the Focusing Institute, and has published many articles on counselling and focusing. He is the author of Person-Centred Therapy: The Focusing-oriented Approach (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan 2004).

Dr Judy Moore
Judy is Director of Counselling and Director of the Centre for Counselling Studies at UEA. She is a BACP accredited practitioner and in the 1990s was a core trainer on UEA’s full-time Post-graduate Diploma in Counselling. She has a special interest in whole-body focusing, in which she has trained. She has published widely on the theory and practice of the person-centred approach. She is particularly interested in the intersection between the person-centred approach, focusing and Zen meditation, which she has practised for several years.

Dr Bridget Beauchamp
Bridget is a Senior Research Associate in the School of Education and Lifelong Learning. She has been a teacher, a counsellor and, most recently, a researcher and Director of the MA in Counselling Studies. Since taking partial retirement she is concentrating on teaching the methodology of qualitative research and its application to counselling and psychotherapy. Her research interests are in the professional development of counsellors, self and identity, and how we story our lives.

It is hoped that arrangements can be made for visiting speakers to contribute to the work of the course.

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