Training Retreat
Existential-Humanistic Therapy:
Principles of Practice
A hands-on five-night experiential residential course that offers skill development training in existential therapy practice.
Next Residential: May 27 – June 1, 2027
Enrollment for 2027 Opens August 18th
When last offered in May, 2026 this course was approved for 27.25 continuing education credits*.
Two Enrollment Tracks for First Time Attendees
This residential training has multiple enrollment tracks, including the introductory Foundations Certificate Program and the modular Experiential Training Retreat Program (enrolling for the retreat only).
We ask that prospective attendees apply to the program that fits their needs best. The programs are open to both licensed therapeutic professionals and master’s/graduate students with clinical experience. International attendees are very welcome!
The next retreat is scheduled May 27 – June 1, 2027.
The application process starts August 18, 2026
EHI Clinical Training Committee: Nance Reynolds, PhD, LCSW (Chair), Kirk Schneider, PhD (acting), Nader Shabahangi, PhD, MFT (sabbatical), Stephanie Weissman, PsyD and TA’s, Chris Bradshaw, PhD, LPC, Josh Diliberto, LCMHC, NCC, RYT, Sophie Archibald, PhD, LCSW.
At the Training Retreat
During the Training
Experience how Existential-Humanistic therapy is practiced up close and personally
Come together in a facilitated and safe environment
Engage in intensive, immersive experiential learning
Gain existential psychotherapy training
EHI's Existential-Humanistic (E-H) Therapy Training
- Learn to build the therapeutic relationship using E-H skills
- Learn to work in the “here and now” with an E-H focus
A Focus on Experiential Learning
This training, which is the core of EHI’s educational programs, features a combination of relationship-building, learning of theoretical foundations, and first-hand experiences wherein theory comes to life. Learn & explore Existential-Humanistic Therapy, Existential Psychotherapy, and Existential-Integrative Therapy practices.
Instructors demonstrate their way of working with clients inviting commentary and participation.
Participants work in dyads and triads with each other, and receive direct feedback from an instructor as they work.
Experiential hands-on learning allows participants a way of personally understanding how work on themselves mirrors their ability to work with clients.
Attendees gain a deeper, more embodied sense of what existential-humanistic therapy has to offer.
Intensive
E-H Therapy
Skill Development
- identify meaning-making processes unfolding in the present moment,
- illuminate these “actual but often unrecognized” processes by cultivating intrapsychic and interpersonal presence,
- develop a safe, intimate, and healing therapeutic relationship,
- recognize and work with existential life issues which may be present but disguised, and
- recognize and work with transference and counter transference issues within an existential framework.
When & Where is the Next Training?
Westerbeke Ranch Conference & Retreat Center
May 27 – June 1, 2026
The residential starts at 3:15 pm on the first day and ends after lunch at 2:30pm on the final day. There is a separate per person lodging fee for the residential.
The Location: Westerbeke Ranch in Sonoma, CA
Westerbeke Ranch is a beautiful retreat center on acres of land in the heart of Sonoma. Built in the 1930’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 and preferred retreat destination for many of the seminal writers in Existential Humanistic theory and practice such as Rollo May and James Bugental. In addition to EHI keeping the tradition alive, an ongoing group of E-H authors, instructors and practitioners still meets there each year. This many decades later!
2 Enrollment Tracks for
the In-Person Training Retreat*
Track 1. EHI Certificate in Foundations
of Existential-Humanistic
Therapy Practice
For students looking to gain a foundation in Existential-Humanistic Therapy practice; annual experiential retreat & theory courses, and case consultation included.
Track 2. EHI Experiential
Training Course
(Participating in Just the Residential Retreat )
For new or returning attendees who want to attend the experiential training featured in the Certificate programs, no additional coursework. Consultation group optional.
Safety Policy for May, 2027 Experiential Training Retreat*
CURRENT UPDATE: EHI is an organization founded upon existential humanistic values, and we believe strongly in the importance of both personal and social responsibility. In the context of concerns about ongoing respiratory illnesses throughout the year. EHI has revised its policy from testing to masking if symptoms present themselves. Specific Covid testing protocol is no longer required. We do ask that attendees bring masks and agree to wear a mask if they experience symptoms of illness. We will have some tests on hand, just in case, but you are obviously welcome to bring your own test kit in case you start to feel sick. If somebody does feel ill and tests positive for COVID, the instructors and that student will discuss the next best steps, which might include quarantining or leaving the training.
- In the spirit of communal care, we request that if you test positive for COVID-19 in the days following your return home, you let us know so we can inform others that someone from the training has tested positive.
- All rooming is shared rooming- there are no private rooms at Westerbeke.
Questions?
Clinical Training Committee
Program Admin
Michelle V.
