Why Focusing Oriented Therapy?
If you don't go within, you go without (author unknown)
Whatever approach we, as counsellors, take to our work, we all have one thing in common: we want our clients to succeed. The clients who fail to feel better, who don’t experience the results they seek, who become stuck, discouraged, or drop out – these are the clients that trigger us to work too hard, experience our own self-doubt and discouragement, and put us at risk of eventual burnout. We know it’s not the client’s fault, it’s we who are missing something… but what is it? For thousands of counsellors in North America and overseas, the answer is Focusing Oriented Therapy.
Focusing Oriented Therapy arose from Eugene Gendlin’s research that sought to answer the question – why are some clients successful in counselling, while others are not? What he found was that the counsellor’s modality wasn’t the definitive difference; rather it was something the clients themselves were doing. They had a way of checking inside, of listening to an internal voice that was distinctly different from the more familiar conscious ‘thinking brain.’ As a result of his research Gendlin developed a series of steps that counsellors can use to teach their clients how to tune in to this individual inner voice. That personal, unconscious voice is what takes a client past their thinking brain and down into the core of their issues. The method allows clients to consistently go to the edge of the unknown and tap into what needs to happen next so that the healing process can start its forward movement.
FOT is a way of working with the body that creates a bridge for the client, between the conscious and the unconscious, without external techniques or gimmicks. Focusing is particularly valuable when working with trauma, as the client’s body takes the lead. What comes up, and the pace at which it happens, is managed by the very system that has been avoiding the overwhelm. The client’s body is designed to heal and it knows what it needs – our job is to create and hold the safe space and accompany, not drive, the journey.
The power of the Focusing approach can be very profound, and the result is a genuine healing of the original wounds, not a band-aid solution for observable symptoms. Over and over again we hear the client’s relief and amazement at the power of their experience with Focusing Oriented Therapy:
This list could go on and on… and what is perhaps more important is that the positive effects endure. Whatever issues your clients bring, and whatever modality you work in, Focusing Oriented Therapy is a powerful, effective, and valuable tool that can be smoothly incorporated into what you’re already doing. The weight of the work lightens as the focus transfers off of you and onto your client’s body… and genuine healing begins its forward movement.
For workshop details, including costs and schedule: Click on the three buttons below.
For registration or further questions: Email [email protected], or call 604-655-1118.
Focusing Oriented Therapy arose from Eugene Gendlin’s research that sought to answer the question – why are some clients successful in counselling, while others are not? What he found was that the counsellor’s modality wasn’t the definitive difference; rather it was something the clients themselves were doing. They had a way of checking inside, of listening to an internal voice that was distinctly different from the more familiar conscious ‘thinking brain.’ As a result of his research Gendlin developed a series of steps that counsellors can use to teach their clients how to tune in to this individual inner voice. That personal, unconscious voice is what takes a client past their thinking brain and down into the core of their issues. The method allows clients to consistently go to the edge of the unknown and tap into what needs to happen next so that the healing process can start its forward movement.
FOT is a way of working with the body that creates a bridge for the client, between the conscious and the unconscious, without external techniques or gimmicks. Focusing is particularly valuable when working with trauma, as the client’s body takes the lead. What comes up, and the pace at which it happens, is managed by the very system that has been avoiding the overwhelm. The client’s body is designed to heal and it knows what it needs – our job is to create and hold the safe space and accompany, not drive, the journey.
The power of the Focusing approach can be very profound, and the result is a genuine healing of the original wounds, not a band-aid solution for observable symptoms. Over and over again we hear the client’s relief and amazement at the power of their experience with Focusing Oriented Therapy:
- “I knew it, I knew there was an answer, a reason… that I wasn’t just this mental patient for the rest of my life! Thank you…”
- “This really works, it’s incredible!”
- “Oh my god, who knew?”
- “I didn’t know all this was here!”
- “I thought I had dealt with all that, I didn’t know it was still affecting me.”
- “Wow they really should teach this in schools!”
- “I feel so different, lighter, I can breathe better…”
- “It’s like it’s just lifted, [anger, anxiety, depression] I can’t believe how different I feel. Is this what normal people feel like?”
This list could go on and on… and what is perhaps more important is that the positive effects endure. Whatever issues your clients bring, and whatever modality you work in, Focusing Oriented Therapy is a powerful, effective, and valuable tool that can be smoothly incorporated into what you’re already doing. The weight of the work lightens as the focus transfers off of you and onto your client’s body… and genuine healing begins its forward movement.
For workshop details, including costs and schedule: Click on the three buttons below.
For registration or further questions: Email [email protected], or call 604-655-1118.