In-Person Training Retreat Dates: October 10th-15th, 2021
Track 2. The Experiential Training Course Module (Just the Retreat of the Certificate Program)
Retreat Only—Existential-Humanistic Therapy: Principles of Practice
EHI Director of Clinical Training: Nader Shabahangi, PhD, MFT
EHI now offers this program track for those primarily interested in participating in the experiential training course, “Existential-Humanistic Therapy: Principles of Practice,” the same training retreat that we offer as part of the Foundations Certificate Program. This training is focused on principles of Existential-Humanistic (E-H) therapy practice skill development.
Description
This track is an opportunity for EHI to provide our experiential training to students who are not enrolled in the Foundations Certificate program. Students may always opt into the certificate track if they so desire.
This skill-development training module 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.
Once formally accepted into the program, participants enroll to attend the experiential training residential, and may also opt to participate in video or in-person consultations with our faculty.
"The program showed me a doorway within myself into territory that I was aware of but had yet to fully conceptualize."
Requirements
Residential Course Module w/ Optional Consult
This module is held remote. The video consultation groups meet once per month for 5 months via Zoom. The consultation module will begin the following the training and consists of five 2-hour group consults. Group participants will consult on applying the training into real world client work. Two EHI instructors will be group co-leaders. The video consultation module is priced separately and if enrolled prior to the retreat is discounted for retreat attendees.
As an Experiential Retreat Training Program attendee you will be able to enroll and participate in the experiential training module. You may also choose to enroll in the optional video/in-person consult module.
*International & out-of-state program participants please note: Students are only required to attend in-person the Experiential Training, that is the only mandatory travel required for this program.
The Experiential Training
The Core of EHI Programs
The mandatory 6-day, 5-night experiential training is the heart of EHI’s programs. It allows licensed professionals and graduate students in psychology or counseling 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. All EHI’s education programs feature this experiential training.
Find out more about the Training!
Training Approach
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
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
2021 Experiential Training Dates
EHI has rescheduled the 2020 single training retreat for our programs; the training will now take place in October. Students will receive the complete training in one intensive retreat. Approximately forty-five hours of programming are scheduled in this experiential.
Dates: October 10th - 15th, 2021
The residential starts at 4pm on the first day and ends at 1:00pm on the final day.
The training is intended for licensed professionals who seek to enhance their clinical skills, and full/half time students in a masters or doctoral psychology, counseling, social work or therapeutic arts program. It is also open to medical professionals and persons who currently hold at least a master’s degree in therapeutic arts or human services.
Early Bird Discount Offers thru May 20th: $100 off with full tuition payment/$80 off with split tuition payment. Plus an additional $50 off when enrolling in optional Consult Group module. (Applicants accepted prior to May 20th are eligible!)
- 2021 Program Tuition Fee: $2,200*
- Retreat Food and Lodging Cost: $1205.00 (billed separately)
- Appx 40 hours of experiential programming and hands-on skills training at the residential Experiential Training Course retreat.
- Optional 10 hours of Video Consult with EHI Faculty: $400 [5 two-hour sessions; 1 session per month to begin in Fall following the Training Retreat]. $50.00 discount available to attendees during enrollment.
- Food and lodging for 5 nights and 6 days, billed separately from tuition. Due to contractual obligations many months in advance this fee is both non-refundable and non-transferable.
- 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.
Westerbeke Ranch as a retreat center has historic significance for our community, as it was the meeting place for many of the seminal writers in E-H theory and practice such as Rollo May and James Bugental.
*Please note: coursework and tuition may be subject to change when necessary. Text books, travel cost to Sonoma, Westerbeke food/lodging costs, application fee and Continuing Education fees (when applicable) are not included in the tuition fee.
It is the policy of EHI to make every reasonable effort to provide qualified students with disabilities with the opportunity to take full advantage of its programs.
If you have a disability, please contact us ahead of time so we can work with you arrange the programming to needs. Please contact either our Admin, Michelle or our Clinical Director, Nader, via the form below to discuss options.
How do I apply to an EHI program?
- 1. Get the EHI Program Application [WORD] Download the Application Here!
- 2. Fill out the application -select the Program track you are applying for. This is a Word doc but LibraOffice will work too. 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.
- 3. Email completed form as an attachment to the address on the application.
- 4. Submit the non-refundable $100.00 application fee via PayPal- the link is on the application.
What is the deadline for applying?
The cohort is filled on a first-come basis and when all spaces for the residential retreat are filled (max 17 cohort attendees). Applications are accepted year-round. Formal acceptance into the program and payment of deposit will hold your space in the cohort prior to tuition fee deadlines. 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 clinical team members and we try to review and respond within a 2-week period. Once accepted into your program of choice, a letter of formal acceptance will be sent to you and both Stephanie, the Clinical Training Coordinator, and Michelle, the Admin Assistant, will work with you to complete your enrollment.At this point, we anticipate holding our 2021 Experiential Retreat Training in-person at Westerbeke Ranch in Sonoma, California, October 10 – 15. This is based on a best guess that it will be safe enough to meet in person by that time. (Please keep in mind that even though we’re anticipating that it will be safe enough, there might still need to be some social distancing protocols to follow.)
However, there is the possibility that we might end up needing to cancel the in-person 2021 retreat and hold an online version of the training instead, depending upon the continued unfolding of the coronavirus pandemic and related administering of the COVID-19 vaccine. In registering for the October, 2021 in-person retreat (or 2021-2022 Certificate Program cohort), please be aware that we will make a final determination by August 1st, 2021, as to whether we will continue with our current in-person plans or shift to an online option for October 2021 instead.
If we shift to the online version, registrants will have the following options:
- 1. Take the online training intensive at the reduced rate. The online training tuition is $325 less than the in-person training (and there would, of course, be no lodging/food payment needed) and registrants would be refunded any difference they’ve already paid. The online training would begin October 10th but would most likely end the 16th instead of the 15th. For those registered for one of the Certificate Programs, there would be no fee reduction for the Consultation and Theory Course components of the program since there would be no programmatic change to those components.
- 2. Transfer their tuition to either the 2022 or 2023 Experiential Retreat Training/Certificate Program cohort. The tuition fee would be locked in, so that even if the tuition fee increases, students who paid for 2021 would not have to pay the increased difference (the lodging/food fee is not locked in). In choosing to transfer, please keep in mind that currently the 2022 experiential retreat is scheduled for May 26 – 30, which means the 2022-2023 Certificate Program cohort would begin in May 2022; and the 2023 dates have not yet been set. We traditionally hold our experiential training in May or October.
- 3. Request and receive a full tuition refund, minus the $500 deposit. Of that deposit, $450 would be credited to the student’s account so he/she/they could apply that credit to any EHI event – including future Experiential Retreat Trainings – through the end of 2023.
If we decide on August 1, 2021, that we will be shifting to an online training for 2021 (and the 2021-2022 cohort), registrants will have till August 20, 2021 to decide which option they’ll choose. Again, we are optimistic we will be gathering at Westerbeke in October of this year, but we want to be as clear as possible about the potential for the need to adapt. We greatly appreciate your understanding during this challenging time!
COVID-19 Vaccination Policy
In order to attend the in-person October 2021 Experiential Training Course, enrollees must be fully vaccinated and able to show proof of that by October 1st, 2021. (Fully vaccinated means being a minimum of 2 weeks past your 2nd shot, or only shot, depending on the vaccine received). The only exceptions are for those with medical or religious exemptions. Those with these exemptions need to show documentation proving the exemption and show proof of a negative PCR COVID-19 test no more than 72 hours before the start of the experiential. Regarding mask-wearing, social distancing and other potential safety measures, EHI will be following CDC and local guidelines at the time, but those who have not been vaccinated due to an allowable exemption should anticipate being requested to wear a mask at all times when around others.
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!
Director of Clinical Training
Nader Shabahangi, PhD, LMFT
Clinical Training Coordinator
Stephanie Weissman, PsyD