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Professional training

There are three levels of professional BFA certification: Focusing Practitioner, Focusing Teacher and Focusing Mentor. Training at these levels is a rich and rewarding experience as trainees are encouraged to learn at their own pace and in their own way and are individually supported in finding their own unique ways of sharing Focusing.


BFA Focusing Practitioner training

Certified Focusing Practitioners are qualified to teach Focusing and listening on a one to one basis and offer guided Focusing sessions to individuals. Some Practitioners bring Focusing into their existing field of work such as therapy, coaching or bodywork.

The prerequisites for Practitioner training are attendance of a complete BFA Certificate in Focusing Skills (or an equivalent foundation training) and around 12 months Focusing partnership experience.

Practitioner training courses are run by BFA Mentors and take at least one year to complete. Courses typically consist of a combination of group learning, one to one mentoring, self-directed study and practice hours with people new to Focusing. Trainees will also choose a supporting mentor to accompany their learning. 

Prospective trainees are advised to contact Mentors directly to request details of their training programmes.


BFA Focusing Teacher training

Certified Focusing Teachers are qualified to teach Focusing to groups. They offer introductory Focusing workshops, Focusing Skills courses and often also workshops, webinars or courses on specific themes.

The prerequisites for Teacher training are completion of a BFA Practitioner training and ongoing personal Focusing practice.

Teacher training courses are run by BFA Mentors and take at least one further year to complete. Courses typically consist of a combination of group learning, one to one mentoring, assisting in workshop facilitation, designing and piloting their own Focusing courses. Trainees will also choose a supporting mentor to accompany their learning.

Prospective trainees are advised to contact Mentors directly to request details of their training programmes.


BFA Focusing Mentor training

Certified Focusing Mentors are authorised by the BFA to run BFA Practitioner and Teacher training courses. The main prerequisites for Mentor training are to have substantial experience of teaching Focusing to individuals and groups and to be actively engaged in BFA activities. The training includes designing and piloting a Practitioner training programme with the support of two experienced Mentors.

See below for contact details of BFA Mentors offering professional training.


Click here to see an overview of BFA certification

Click here to see how the BFA and TIFI certification processes compare


Focusing Oriented Therapist (FOT) training

If you are interested in training to be a Focusing Oriented Therapist (FOT), please view a list of training here  (the BFA does not currently offer certification in FOT). 

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BFA Mentors who offer BFA Practitioner and BFA Teacher training:

  • Dublin

    Fiona O’Meara 

    I came to Focusing through deep suffering. I have a chronic illness but Focusing has taught me how to work with the symptoms in ways that have resulted in dramatic improvement. I am an Inner Relationship Focusing Practitioner and Trainer, who certified under Ann Weiser Cornell and Barbara McGavin.

  • Breda

    René Veugelers 

    heis an international Children Focusing coordinator, FOT, Art therapist, Psychiatric nurse trained in Emerging Body Language (EBL). He lives in the Netherlands, where he works with parents, toddlers, children and adolescents, emphasizing the non-verbal world and (early) inner child experiences

  • Rob Foxcroft 

    Meeting focusing was a homecoming: ‘These are my people. I knew this all my life. Now I have friends in this inner world.’ Focusing and listening have carried my life forward for many years. It has been a joy and a privilege to share focusing with others, and to listen to their inward explorations.

  • Bradford

    Celia Dawson 

    I am a Certifying Co-ordinator with the International Focusing Institute. I train therapists in working with complex trauma and we incorporate Focusing in our work together with many other modalities. I am a Director of the Complex Trauma Institute.

  • Unnamed Road, Drummin, Co. Galway, Ireland

    Marta Fabregat 

    Focusing for me is like a tree with branches pointing at the universe. A way of coming home, a door opening up to the possibility of Love emerging towards us when we most needed. I offer Focusing alone or as a companion in the process of inquiry as an NVC Trainer and Plant Healing Practitioner.

  • South West

    Barbara McGavin 

    My greatest joy is exploring the frontiers of the Focusing process – what it is and how it can be applied in daily life. Since 1991, Ann Weiser Cornell and I have been developing Inner Relationship Focusing to help people learn Focusing more easily. Since 1994, we have been exploring…

  • Stroud

    Peter Gill 

    I came across Focusing on a retreat in 2003, and since then I have not looked back. It has made a huge difference to my life. For me it is much more than a therapeutic tool: it connects to a whole approach to living that brings wisdom and compassion to all that life bring us.

  • Bedfordshire, UK

    Kay Hoffmann 

    I love sharing focusing and find it hugely enriching to do so. What a privilege it is to meet people on such an authentic level and to introduce them to this soothing, enlivening, creative way of being with their own inner world!

  • London

    Peter Afford 

    Focusing changed my life! After years of meditation and personal growth workshops, Focusing showed me how to have a fruitful relationship with my feelings and bodily intuition. I discovered that I too had feelings, that the unwanted ones shifted when I paid attention to them, and that all my feelings…

  • Liverton

    Fiona Parr 

    Focusing has given me so much and I enjoy sharing its riches and gifts with others. I teach Focusing from my home on the edge of Dartmoor in Devon, and online. I enjoy working with people in individual sessions and teaching small groups.

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Supporting mentors

  • London

    Renee La Roi 

    I am a long time Focuser – raised in Canada and the U.S. – living in London Uk. I did my Focusing certification guided by Dr. Greg Madison.

  • St Werburghs, Bristol, UK

    Isla Macdonald 

    I have practiced Focusing for over 18years and since qualified as a psychotherapeutic counsellor with Re-vision

  • Leipzig

    Amona Buechler 

    Amona has been offering courses, workshops, and sessions online & offline since 1998. She is a Certified Focusing Trainer/Coordinator in Training and a Certified Feldenkrais Assistant Trainer. Of German origin, she lived in Chicago 1998-2015, traveled the world until 2021, and now lives in Germa

  • Bradford

    Celia Dawson 

    I am a Certifying Co-ordinator with the International Focusing Institute. I train therapists in working with complex trauma and we incorporate Focusing in our work together with many other modalities. I am a Director of the Complex Trauma Institute.

  • Edinburgh

    Marion Stumpe 

    Focusing has beautifully enriched my life. I see every moment as an opportunity to engage and connect with life in its fullest and have a heartfelt wish to bring this wonderful gift to others. I am here for you for when you are ready to connect to your body’s innate knowing, aliveness and wholeness.

  • Glasgow

    Srikanth Narayanan 

    Srikanth Narayanan

  • Kennet

    Addie Van Der Kooy 

    I have been fortunate to work closely for many years with Kevin McEvenue, the founder of Wholebody Focusing (WBF). First as his client and later as co-presenter of many WBF workshops and retreats in the UK. We also produced the WBF workbook “Focusing With Your Whole Body”. I am registered…

  • Cambridge

    Simon McKibbin 

    I met Gene Gendlin, the founder of Focusing in 2008 and I was so moved by this meeting, it endeared me to want to embrace this precious approach. I am inspired to share the magic of Focusing so the fresh edge of all that knows it’s rightness in you can show itself in its fulness and more.

  • Calstock

    John Threadgold 

    Hi. I am John Threadgold. I am a focusing teacher, therapist and supervisor and specialist in Trauma. I am also accredited for counselling and psychotherapy by the BACP.

  • Southampton

    Elizabeth Smith 

    I qualified as a Person-Centred Counsellor in 1996 and since then have worked in private practice in Harrow. I am a Senior Accredited member of British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy and also a member of Association of Christian Counsellors. I first discovered Focusing through witnessing a demonstration given by…

  • East Sussex, UK

    Amanda Raine 

    I struggled for over twenty years with depression, CPTST, eating disorders and addictions, and it was Focusing that brought the deep empathic listening and longed for change.  Sharing this life changing process continues to inspire and touch me as I witness people’s unique journeys unfolding.

  • Stanmore HA7, UK

    Paula Newman 

    I find Focusing enriching and healing. It supports empathic and accepting listening, which is in tune with my person-centred therapy approach. I value Focusing as a way of coping with physical ailments, and include this as a topic in my Focusing Skills Training.

  • Ashburton

    Susan Jordan 

    After years of meditation and psychotherapy, it was Focusing that finally taught me how to go about making a friendly relationship with everything in me. There’s always something special about sensing deeply into that open, accepting Focusing place, and I love helping others to discover it.

  • Bedfordshire, UK

    Kay Hoffmann 

    I love sharing focusing and find it hugely enriching to do so. What a privilege it is to meet people on such an authentic level and to introduce them to this soothing, enlivening, creative way of being with their own inner world!

  • Bristol

    Gordon Adam 

    Focusing has been an integral and transformative part of my life for the last 17 years: I Focus several times each week; facilitate a monthly Focusing group; run regular 5-day Focusing Retreats in Dartmoor; offer ‘Focusing with Poetry’ workshops; and I have been editing the BFA newsletter since 2016

  • Liverton

    Fiona Parr 

    Focusing has given me so much and I enjoy sharing its riches and gifts with others. I teach Focusing from my home on the edge of Dartmoor in Devon, and online. I enjoy working with people in individual sessions and teaching small groups.

If you want to narrow down your search, for example by location, you may visit our Focusing professionals directory.