Next In-Person Training Retreat: May 22 - May 27, 2025!

Programs Update: Enrollment has opened for 2025.

The May 2024 retreat was approved for 29.5 continuing education credits*.

Track 1. The Certificate Program

EHI Certificate in the Foundations
of Existential-Humanistic Practice

EHI Co Directors of Clinical Training: Nance Reynolds, PhD, LCSW and Kirk Schneider, PhD (acting) Nader Shabahangi, PhD, MFT (sabbatical)

The Existential-Humanistic Institute is pleased to continue to offer this unprecedented existential-humanistic program leading to a Certificate in the Foundations of Existential-Humanistic Practice.

Why Do Therapists Attend This Training Retreat?

“The retreat is an opportunity to be part of a community where we can think together using the themes of E-H. We can apply theories to cases, watch the work of our mentors and each other. By living together we experience an intimacy that creates an environment that reduces barriers and the ensuing connections foster a greater capacity for learning."

 

Leading therapy researcher Bruce Wampold suggests that “an understanding of the principles of existential therapy is needed by all therapists, as it adds a perspective that might … form the basis for all effective treatments” (Wampold cited in PsycCritiques, February 6, 2008, p.6).

Wampold’s findings along with others place E-H therapy not on the fringe but squarely at the center of psychological theory and practice as the field formulates new assumptions about what constitutes the core of practice. The intention of the certificate program coursework is to provide students with such a foundational core by integrating both theory and practice into each course.

Program Description

The theoretical portion of the program focuses on existential-humanistic therapy in general and on three of its founders, Rollo May, James Bugental, and Irvin Yalom, in particular. An overarching assumption of existential-humanistic therapy is that it is the client’s in-the-moment experiencing that forms both the underlying and actual process in therapy. This assumption anchors the existential therapist in the principles of practice that focus on experience over explanation and process over content.

The skill-development portion focuses on learning to: 

(a) identify meaning-making processes unfolding in the present moment, 

(b) illuminate these “actual but often unrecognized” processes by cultivating intrapsychic and interpersonal presence, 

(c) develop a safe and intimate therapeutic relationship, 

(d) recognize and work with existential life issues which may be present but disguised, and 

(e) recognize and work with transference and counter transference issues within an existential framework

By gaining competency in these fundamental principles, the student will have a solid core of practice and have a foundation from which additional modalities such as a cognitive-behavioral approach can be employed. The program is intended as a mentoring experience that emphasizes the development of the trainee as a whole person, appreciating that psychotherapy is an art as much as a science.

"I was inspired to attend the retreat after reading an article in the Atlantic about Existential Therapy. I realised it was a branch of therapy that expertly cultivates awareness, presence and connection. These are the mainstays of effective coaching and the areas of my life I wanted to improve the most. I was not disappointed I came away from training with a renewed sense of the value and healing power of deep human connection.

Certificate Requirements

Average Length of Time to Complete : One Year w/ Appx Fifty Hours of Experiential Training & Consultation Groups in Combination with Two 15-page Papers on E-H Therapy

The Foundations Program Has Three Modules (click each for details)

We have designed this program to be 1 year long. This gives students 10 months of facilitator partnership for the required papers. If a student cannot complete in this time all foundations students will have a maximum of 2 years from the start of the training to complete the requirements for this certificate. 

This is the annual experiential training historically held as a residential retreat at Westerbeke Ranch in Sonoma, CA. In-person participation in an experiential retreat is a requirement of this Certificate program. There is an experiential evaluation on the final day of the training. This module is the only module with in-person requirements all other portions are completed remotely. 

*2024 Continuing Education: 29.25 CEs were approved. CE Fee: $115. For more information about the course or to discuss disability arrangements please contact Michelle through the form below.

The Existential-Humanistic Institute (EHI) collaborates with the Society for Humanistic Psychology (Division 32 of the American Psychological Association) to provide APA Continuing Education credit at approved EHI events.

APA Division 32, Society for Humanistic Psychology is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. APA Division 32, Society for Humanistic Psychology maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

This is a self-directed  theory course with readings and 2 papers due to meet the requirement. Students will be paired with an instructor as facilitator after the experiential training. This is 100% remote.

This module is held remotely via Zoom. A video consultation group is 10 hours of sessions and meets approximately once per month- full attendance is required to meet the Foundations certificate requirement. Two EHI instructors will be group co-leaders. Depending on the facilitators preference it will be either a 2-hour session or one 2.5 hour session per month for 10-hours of consultation total. These are scheduled according to the group leader availability. Expect that it will be during the business day, weekdays; Pacific time. Participants should be seeing clients (in a therapeutic setting) or have prior experience to join a group. The first offering of video consultation groups for a Foundations cohort will be in the fall following the retreat. If a student is unable to make one of these groups due to a personal scheduling conflict they will be able to have credit to join a group that fits their schedule in the future. We cannot guarantee we will offer a group that meets everyone’s schedule.

*International & out-of-state program participants: Students are only required to attend in-person the Experiential Training, that is the only mandatory travel required for this program. The other requirements are completed by you remotely and are facilitated by EHI’s instructors.

Having the opportunity to attend the EHI experiential was such a gift!! Not only do I feel like I learned skills that have helped me in working more effectively with my clients- I feel it has changed me in the way I look at and appreciate more fully myself. Thanks again for the opportunity to be a part of EHI!!

Training Retreat at Westerbeke

2024 Training Cohort at Westerbeke Ranch in May 2024

Experiential Training Course:
“Existential-Humanistic Therapy: Principles of Practice”

The 5-night training course, historically held as a residential retreat, is the heart of EHI’s programs. It allows licensed professionals and graduate students in psychology, counseling and therapy programs to come together in a safe environment, get to know one another, and experience how E-H therapy is practiced up close and personally. 

Kirk Schneider Introduces the Experiential Training Course

EHI instructors, 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.

2025 Experiential Training Course Module Dates

Dates: May 22 - 27, 2025

The residential starts at 3:30pm on the first day and ends 2:00 pm(after lunch) on the final day. Approximately forty-five hours of programming are scheduled for this experiential. Anticipate learning schedule to be  9am – 9 pm; with many short breaks in addition to lunch and dinner breaks.

Westerbeke Ranch is a beautiful retreat center on acres of land in the heart of Sonoma. Built in the 30’s, the Ranch is a contemplative environment, nourishing to both body and soul. 

Westerbeke as a retreat center has historic significance for our community, as it was the meeting place for many of the seminal writers in Existential Humanistic theory and practice such as Rollo May and James Bugental.

See this short video of Westerbeke Ranch from YouTube

poolside at Westerbeke Ranch the retreat center for EHI's Existential therapy training

Tabs with Info on Enrolling, Fees, Safety, Eligibility & Travel

*Continuing Education Info

The 2024 training was approved for 29.5 CEs. We will be submitting a course proposal for 2025 also. Please contact us through the form below for more info regarding the course or to request disability accommodations. 

APA Division 32, Society for Humanistic Psychology is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. APA Division 32, Society for Humanistic Psychology maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

*These continuing education credits are accepted by most licensing boards across the US. 

  
APA Approved Sponsor logo

Contact Us

If you have any questions or need further assistance, please reach out to us. We look forward to talking with you more about the program!

Clinical Training Co Directors

Nance Reynolds, PhD, LCSW

Kirk Schneider, PhD (Acting)

Nader Shabahangi, PhD, LMFT (Sabbatical)

 

Clinical Training Coordinator

Stephanie Weissman, PsyD

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2025 Experiential
Training Flyer

Attendees Share Their Experiences

The residential training has multiple enrollment tracks including the introductory Foundations Certificate Program and the modular Experiential Training Retreat Program  (just the retreat module). We ask that prospective attendees apply to the program that fits their needs best.  The programs are open to both licensed therapeutic professionals and graduate students. International attendees are very welcome!