We hope the following information will guide you through the application process. If you have further questions not answered above or need additional assistance, please reach out via the contact form below.

How do I apply to attend this retreat?

• The EHI Clinical Team is on a break from June 30th-August 15th. We are accepting applications as they come in but will be reviewing them after August 15th. Check with Michelle if you have questions.
• 1. Get the EHI Program Application [WORD]
  Download the 2026-2027 Application Here! 
• Fill out the application -select the Program track you are applying for. This is a Word doc but LibraOffice will work too or you can upload to Google docs and download as a Word doc. Please Save the application to your computer to send as an attachment. Please do not send scanned images. Contact Michelle if you need assistance regarding the application.
• Emailcompleted form as an attachment to the address on the application.
• Submit the one-time non-refundable $100.00 application fee via PayPal – the link is on the application.

What is the deadline for applying?

Applications are accepted beginning August 15 of the current year for the following year’s cohort until all spaces are filled. Applicants are considered in the order in which applications are received. Apply as soon as possible to secure a position in the program and to have the most payment plan options!

What happens after I apply?

Once received, your application will be reviewed by EHI’s admissions team and responded to within a 4- to 6-week period. Once accepted into the program, a letter of formal acceptance will be sent to you and then an admissions team member along with Michelle, the Program Administrator, will work with you to complete your enrollment.

How do I complete enrollment?

Once accepted, you can begin the enrollment process: you will need to complete and sign an Enrollment Agreement form detailing payment options and schedule. Once EHI receives that form, along with your tuition deposit, your spot in the cohort is held – conditional upon EHI receiving tuition balance and lodging payments by relevant deadlines. Tuition fees and lodging/food costs are invoiced and you can pay these online securely. Michelle will assist you in your enrollment and can answer enrollment questions.

• 2026 Retreat Tuition Fee: $2,320 
•  
• 2026 Early Bird Discounts Available For Applicants THRU 12/15/2025

  Full Tuition Payment Option: $250 Early Bird Discount
  Split Tuition Payment Option: $100 Early Bird Discount

• Consult/Retreat Enrollment Combo Discount: Receive another $50 off tuition when simultaneously enrolling in a future 10 hour consultation group (This is $50 off the additional $450 tuition for the 10-hr consultation group.)

• • Appx 45 hours of experiential programming and hands-on skills training at the residential Experiential Training Course retreat.
  • Optional 10 hours of Video Consultation Group with EHI Faculty: $400 after the $50 discount available to attendees when paying both retreat and consultation tuition during initial enrollment. 
  • Food and lodging for 5 nights and 6 days, billed separately from tuition.  
  • We hold our retreats at a beautiful conference center, Westerbeke Ranch, in the heart of Sonoma County. The cost includes modern, cabin-style shared lodging, superb family style meals and the use of all the facilities at Westerbeke such as the pool, hot tub and walking trails.

2026 Retreat Food/Lodging Cost: $1,215 (billed separately in March 2026)

The food and lodging cost is billed separately from tuition, and is due April 1, 2026. Due to contractual obligations many months in advance, this fee is both non-refundable and non-transferable (please see “Refund Info & Coronavirus Caveat” info tab for specific refundability options for lodging cost and tuition fees

The certificate program is open to licensed professionals seeking to enhance their clinical skills, and to full- or half-time students in a master’s or doctoral psychology, counseling, social work or therapeutic arts program who have begun their practicum or internship. It is also open to medical/health care professionals, and persons who currently hold at least a master’s degree in health or human services. International practitioners and master’s and doctoral students in therapeutic programs listed above are also welcome!

Past enrollees have included domestic and international clinicians including: psychologists, LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCs, ministers and chaplains, medical counselors, psychiatric nurse practitioners, psychiatrists, doctors, nurse practitioners, music/art/movement therapists, higher education faculty, and more! 

If you have questions about whether this program might be a good fit for you, please reach out.

This training is an experiential, intensive experience. By enrolling, a student is voluntarily agreeing to participate in a training on existential-humanistic approaches to psychotherapy hosted and organized by Existential-Humanistic Institute, a California Benefit Corporation (EHI), and should be aware that professional training in E-H therapy involves a direct focus on personal development. In participating in the Experiential Training Retreat, a person might experience strong and difficult emotions, and challenging personal psychological and/or psychosomatic material might be evoked.

In particular, role play is used in this training and due to the nature and intention of the training, a number of the role plays involve one individual playing a therapist and another playing a client. Participants can role-play a client or choose to bring in personal material, but either way – and whether role-playing the “client” or the “therapist” – these role plays are not actual therapy sessions and are for training purposes only. 

In order to attend the training, each enrollee needs to sign a waiver (release of liability) that highlights the experiential and challenging nature of this training, and that emphasizes that enrollees are agreeing to voluntarily participate in it with full knowledge of the risks involved: enrollees take responsibility for choosing to participate in a training that can be deeply personal and stirring. 

The full waiver is provided at the same time as the acceptance and enrollment documents so the accepted applicant can review before enrolling.

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 COVID-19, our intention is to address the issue in a way that values independence and interdependence and balances both freedom and responsibility. In that light, our safety protocols are listed below:

• In order to attend the May 2026 Experiential Training Retreat, you will need to bring three COVID-19 “at-home” antigen test kits with you to the training. You will need to take one test on the first day, shortly after arrival at Westerbeke Ranch, and another on the third day. The result of these tests will be recorded with our staff each morning.
• The third test kit is to be used in the event you start to experience symptoms of illness after the first two tests have been taken. 
• If you start to experience symptoms of illness at any time during the training, we ask that you take an “at-home” antigen test and report your results to our staff.
• If you test positive for COVID-19 at any time during the training, you will obviously no longer be able to participate in the training and we will discuss with you at that point the next best steps.
• Masks are not required, yet you are certainly free to wear one as we support personal choices made regarding mask-wearing.   
• These protocols might change depending upon COVID-related conditions and CDC and local COVID-related guidelines around the time of the Experiential.  
• In the spirit of communal care, we request that if you test positive for COVID-19 in the days following your return home, that 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.

Getting up to Sonoma from San Francisco or SFO/OAK: When planning travel to Westerbeke Ranch please note that EHI does not provide transportation up to Westerbeke Ranch. We do encourage both carpooling & shuttle sharing and we will initiate the process with an email to all attendees prior to the retreat and facilitate connecting people to share shuttles. Avg shuttle cost each way is appx 65.00. 

Planning Your Visit to the Bay Area for the Retreat: We start at 4:00 pm the first day so we recommend pre-planning travel up to Westerbeke. We suggest that if you are flying during these times, purchase a refundable and transferable ticket. We also suggest that if you can arrive to the area a day early, you bypass the risk of being late or missing a ride due to a late arrival or a canceled flight. Arriving early helps give the best advantage for carpooling opportunities as picking up at an airport on starting day of the retreat can be difficult for carpool drivers. Also there is less risk of late or canceled flights which are on the rise. We ask that everyone is on time to prevent interruption to the training. On the day of the retreat, if you are driving up from places south of Sonoma (San Francisco or Oakland) or one of these airports, you will want to start travelling by 1:30pm to negotiate traffic. Staying north of San Francisco the night before has worked well for attendees. If you will be staying in the area the night before make your reservations early as possible. Our final training session on the 15th ends at 12:15 pm and we will have lunch together from 12:30-2:30pm; leaving at the latest by 3pm (some people will need to leave during lunch to catch their flight). Historically we encourage carpooling and we can initiate and facilitate this for those who would like to connect with someone else for the drive up and back.