Advanced Certificate Program
Awarding Certification as an Existential-Humanistic Therapist
The Existential-Humanistic Institute is pleased to continue to offer our unprecedented Advanced Certificate in Existential-Humanistic Therapy Awarding Certification as an Existential-Humanistic Therapist. This program is open to students who have completed the EHI certificate program in “Foundations of Existential-Humanistic Practice”.
Introduction
The intention of this Advanced certificate program is to build on the educational foundation laid in the “Foundations” certificate program. This Advanced certificate program is a two program awarding the candidate certification as an Existential-Humanistic Therapist.
By adding this advanced level to the introductory Foundations program, EHI now offers students interested in specializing in Existential Humanistic Therapy a comprehensive and intensive three year educational program, unlike anything that presently exists in the United States. It is akin to the training programs in London headed by Emmy van Deurzen and Ernesto Spinelli respectively.
To be awarded the advanced certificate, candidates need: (a) to possess the Foundations certificate, (b) to complete the advanced program requirements, and (c) to receive EHI faculty approval. For faculty approval the candidate must demonstrate above average proficiency as an Existential-Humanistic (E-H) therapist and present a final Case Presentation at end of their curriculum.
“I gained a deeper understanding of my own context and how that has directed and influenced so much of my existence. I have always had an understanding certainly that what is experienced in the early, formative years is paramount in shaping our belief systems and personality, but somehow I have never before been able to feel this in such a palpable way.”
~ Ada
Goals and Objectives
The goals of the advanced program are to deepen and expand on the foundational learning begun in the “Foundations Certificate Program.” The theoretical, online courses will expose students to key existential philosophers, and theorists and also allow them to explore subjects of particular interest to them related to E-H therapy through independent study courses. Existential philosophical and literary themes, along selected independent study themes, will be weaved into the fabric of the experiential coursework. Additionally, the experiential coursework will include the following learning objectives:
- Learn to work with challenging “client types.”
- Learn to work with challenging clinical issues e.g., aging, sexual abuse, addiction, etc.
- Deepen an understanding of how to use the therapeutic relationship and the therapeutic encounter as a “living laboratory.”
- Expand a focus on the person of the therapist by exploring the impact of one’s context on meaning making, relational strategies, attachment styles and protective patterns.
- Learn how to work with clients presenting with specific existential issues like freedom, separateness, death etc., which may be present but hidden from consciousness.
- Learn and practice ways to integrate different treatment interventions like cognitive-behavioral or trauma treatment with the principles of E-H Therapy.
Advanced Certificate Program Requirements
- Complete the requirements for a Certificate in the Foundations of Existential-Humanistic Therapy (one 6-day Experiential Training Retreat, one 10-hour Consultation Group and the Foundations Theory Course)
- Complete Two 6-day Experiential Training Retreats
- Complete the Advanced Theory Course (2 advanced papers; Part I & Part II)
- Complete a minimum of 20 hours of group or individual consultation (or combination) with an EHI faculty, in person, by phone or Zoom.
- Present a case study, both verbally and in written form to EHI faculty for the final evaluation.
Flexibility of 2 to 3 Year Completion Time
The Advanced program has an individualized schedule and curriculum. Students in the Advanced program can structure the timing of their involvement to suit their needs. Students take the program modules at their own pace. This arrangement allows participants’ to budget their costs and time commitments. Students work with the Clinical Co Directors each year on their annual curriculum goals.
Sample Advanced Certificate Program Curriculum (2 to 3 years)Advanced Certificate Requirements: Year 1-2
Advanced Certificate Requirements: Year 2-3
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The Experiential Training Course
The mandatory 6-day, 5-night experiential residential is the core of EHI’s training each year. They allow licensed professionals and graduate students in psychology or counseling to come together in a safe environment, get to know one another intimately, and experience how E-H therapy is practiced up close and personally.
EHI Faculty, all noted leaders in the field, emphasize the key ingredients of the E-H approach, including empathy, acceptance, and genuineness, to model how trainees can create safe, collaborative and life-changing therapeutic encounters. They demonstrate how the therapeutic relationship, in and of itself is a vehicle for healing and change and how therapeutic “presence” cultivates sensitivity and appropriate responsiveness to clients emotions, relational patterns and inner worlds.These two essential principles: building the therapeutic relationship and working in the “here and now” are the foundational blocks of E-H therapy and EHI training.
The experiential residential training involves a combination of relationship-building, learning of theoretical foundations, and first-hand experiences wherein theory comes to life. At times, this may involve faculty members demonstrating their way of working with clients and inviting commentary; at other times, participants work in dyads with each other, and receive direct feedback from a faculty member as they work.
Through these various ways of learning, participants begin to drop into a deeper, more embodied sense of what E-H therapy has to offer. The experiential training also provides participants a way of deeply understanding how work on themselves mirrors their ability to work with clients.
2025 Experiential Training Course Dates
Residential Training at Westerbeke Ranch: May 22-27, 2025
The Experiential starts at 3 pm on the first day and ends at 2:15pm on the final day.
For the residential experiential training course description please visit the Course Description page.
When planning travel to Westerbeke Ranch please note that EHI does not provide transportation up to Westerbeke Ranch, though we do encourage shuttle sharing and initiate it with an email to all attendees prior to the retreat.
Tuition Fees
This is a program that requires 2 years of participation. Tuition Fee: $5,940 (2024-2026 fee)
$5,900.00.(2022-2024 fee current ADV students)
Breakdown of Advanced Program fees for 1 year of participation*: $2970.00/yr
- Enroll in online Theory Course Module (Part I or Part 2-one each year): $325**- a $25 combo discount when enrolling in the full year’s modules.
- Enroll in Experiential Training Course Module: $2,290 in 2023***
- Enroll in Consultation Module A: Five 2-Hour Group Consults; $425- a $25 combo discount when enrolling in full year’s modules- or-
- Enroll in Consultation Module B: 10 hours Individual Consults (in-person, phone or Skype). Extra tuition fee on top of the consultation module.
*Please note: coursework and tuition may be subject to change between years when necessary. Text books, Travel/Lodging costs, and Continuing Education fees (when available) are not included in tuition fees.
Separate: Food and Lodging at Training Retreat
Our annual 6-day experiential trainings are held at a beautiful retreat center, Westerbeke Ranch in Sonoma County, 45 minutes north of San Francisco. This covers the 6 days of meals, meeting rooms and 5 nights lodging. This is billed separately from tuition. Due to contractual obligation this fee is both non-refundable and non-transferable.
- 2025 Cost: $1,215. Lodging on site is mandatory for group cohesion. Includes cabin-style shared lodging of a few people/cabin and superb family-style meals (plus a pool and hot tub). There are no single rooms.
Application to Program
This program is available to those who have previously completed EHI’s Foundations Certificate program. Foundations Certificate Holders: Please email either Nader, Nance, or Michelle about joining EHI’s Advanced Certificate program.
Contact Us
If you have any questions or need further assistance, please feel free to contact us. We look forward to talking with you more about the progra
Nance Reynolds, PhD, LCSW
Co-Director of Clinical Training, Core Instructor
Kirk Schneider
Co-Director of Clinical Training (Acting), Core Instructor
Nader Shabahangi, PhD, MFT
Co-Director of Clinical Training (Sabbatical), Core Instructor