One-Year Online
Advanced Focusing Course
How to Use Focusing in Therapeutic Conversations
and work with Your Felt Sense of the Client/Focuser and of the Relationship


Taught by Charlotte Howorth, LCSW
Longtime certification teacher for the Focusing Institute
  
Mary Hendricks, Eugene Gendlin’s wife and former teacher of TFI’s certification course, and director of TFI, handed the role of teaching and responsibility for certifying focusing professionals for the Institute to Charlotte several years ago. Charlotte led the Institute’s certification program for over 12 years and has a wealth of experience as a focusing teacher and continues 27 years working as a focusing oriented therapist.

For therapists, coaches, body workers and anyone who wants to bring focusing more seamlessly into their conversations who are already certified, or who have trained in the fundamentals of focusing.


Gene Gendlin was a psychotherapist and most of his focusing work was within the faster more improvisational style of therapeutic conversations.
This 1- year course teaches you how to:

  • Bring the skills you have already learnt on other courses, such as resonant reflection of ‘somethings’, finding the right distance, Clearing a Space, the focusing attitude, reminders/invitation, the Critic and parts work seamlessly into a the faster more improvisational style of a therapeutic conversation. 

  • Several classes will focus on how to tap into, and work with, your felt sense of both the relationship, and of the client/focuser, so that you can, “Be the interaction that makes it better” (Gene Gendlin). 

  • As part of learning how to work with the felt sense of the relationship Lynn Preston will be a guest teacher and her topic will be how to develop the therapeutic relationship, whether that be in a dyad of group.

  • We will also study and practice how each of us is trying to make a deeper point, one that we are often initially not even aware of.  We will learn how to listen for the signs of this deeper point and how to facilitate its emergence as we work with focusing’s organic forward movement.

  • Students will study and practice how to notice and work with a client's, or focuser’s, forward growing edge, as well as the undertow, or trailing edge that comes with it.

  • In most stuck places there can be several threads and one of these is often a younger place, or flash back. Students will learn how to identify and unpack these places allowing their forward edge to flow and grow.

  • We will have a class with Isabel Adon on working with focusing and grief and trauma.

  • Students can be qualified for certification as Focusing Oriented Therapist or Focusing Professionals (if not already certified).

  • Students also have the option of being certified as focusing teachers and trainers.

Course Format


  • One 50 min initial focusing session with Charlotte.

  • Nine 4-hour classes once a month at 10 am EDT on Sundays. Classes include practice sessions with a coach. Charlotte Howorth will teach most of these classes.

  • Eight 2.5-hour meetings once a month with 2 or 3 other students and a coach to practice what you have learnt in class in the faster pace of a conversation.

  • Weekly or bi-weekly focusing partnership with a student from class.

  • Homework each month made up of readings, video demos and audios (approx 1-2.5 hrs a month).

  • Three optional one hour integration meetings where students can ask questions and discuss cases and class materials to be held on Sundays.

  • Five 4 hour practice classes towards the end of the course where students practice their skills with each other and receive supportive feedback.

  • Six 45 or 50 min sessions with a certified focusing supervisor to be paid in addition to the course fees (we have a list of experienced supervisors who work on a sliding scale).

  • One individual 50 min session towards the end of your second year with Charlotte to get feedback on your final video taped session with a client.

  • Access to a video library of 20 plus clinical sessions with color coded transcripts to view and work from.

Schedule

1. Jan 14, 2024
Introduction to working with forward movement and the deeper point

2. Feb 11, 2024
Working with younger places, The Deeper Point, and Critic

3. March 3, 2024
‘The Deeper Point’

4. April 7, 2024
Isabel Adon ‘Working with Grief and Trauma

5. May 5, 2024
Conflicts and Dilemmas (organizing principles)

6. June 23, 2024
Focusing conversations

7. July 14, 2024
Expressive relating the ‘You’ and the ‘I’

AUG OFF

8. Sept 8, 2024
Expressive relating the ‘us’.

9. Oct 6, 2024
Lynn Preston The ‘we’ and the development of the dyad.

Nov 2024
Practice Sessions weekends Nov 2nd & 3rd, Nov 16th & 17th

10. Dec 1, 2024
Practice Day

11. Jan 12, 2024
Final Class

Attendance

All training and supervision sessions are required.
If you miss a practice session either in class or with your monthly small group,
you will need to do a make-up session with a coach for a fee.




Course Completion and Certification

  1. Completion of the requirements does not automatically lead to certification. Charlotte Howorth and the Trainee must agree on readiness.
  2. 6 Individual supervision sessions with a certified focusing professional to be paid for separately (list of practitioners with a sliding scale for fees will be provided.)
  3. Upon recommendation for certification, the student is required to pay an additional one-time certification fee to the Focusing Institute.
  4. Attendance at the annual Advanced Certification Program is encouraged (but not required) and tuition to the Weeklong includes the above-referenced certification fee. If students are unable to attend the Weeklong, the certification fee may be applied to the Weeklong tuition for up to two years following certification.
  5. Completed payments for the course.


Certification Titles

If you are a psychotherapist licensed in your country then you will be given the title of certified ‘Focusing Oriented Psychotherapist’, and if not then you will earn the title of certified ‘Focusing Professional’. If you decide to also complete the teaching project and it meets the standards required, then you will receive the additional certification title of certified ‘Focusing Teacher/Trainer’.



Program Instructor:

CHARLOTTE HOWORTH, LCSW (www.howortherapy.com)


  • The International Focusing Institute’s teacher and trainer for their 2-year certification program for over 12 years.
  • Facilitated numerous focusing retreats and workshops internationally.
  • Teaches and supervises psychotherapists in how to use Focusing in their practice internationally.
  • Is on the faculty of The Relational Focusing-Oriented Psychotherapy program headed by Lynn Preston in New York City, where she teaches and supervises psychotherapists taking the program.
  • Has 27 years’ experience teaching, counseling, supervising and writing.
  • Lecturer in Social Work, Columbia University, NY.
  • Clinical Consultant, CHDFS (Center for Human Development and Family Services)
  • Private Practice for adults, children, couples and families in NY.

REGISTRATION
To register or arrange a time to speak with Charlotte email ch(@)howortherapy.com Please remove the brackets when pasting the email address

FEES

$2,980 US Paid in full by Feb 2024
Options:
2 installments of $1,540 US
4 installments of $775
8 installments of $395
Payment We accept payments by check, ACH transfers, PayPal, Venmo and Credit Cards (3.65% fee). We encourage no fee services. Transaction fees are not included in the course fees and are the responsibility of the student.
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Certification
Fee to be paid to The Focusing Institute.
(if you do not already have it) US $500, Europe $375, South America (and developing countries) $250.
Requires an additional 6 sessions with a certified Focusing professional (fee not included in this course).
EARN UP TO 41 CEUs
Please call or email with further questions.

TESTIMONIALS
 

I have done several trainings and this program is the one I have gained the most from.
Beata Dana, Psychotherapist, Switzerland

I truly cannot put into words what this course has and continues to mean to me. For myself, I can just begin to feel, to taste, to sense that something that is beyond all words and concepts - in this course, I have had brushes with something immense and vast and I am grateful for this. For me as a therapist, this course has illumined this subtle but powerful “felt sense” that is present and available to both me and the client that has only deepened my reverence for the beauty of being and interaction. As I close, what comes to me is the last few lines of an E.E. Cummings poem “now the ears of my ears awake and now the eyes of my eyes are opened.” 
Jeff Evans, Psychotherapist

Charlotte is a masterful therapist, coach and teacher. Charlotte offers a fabulous course on Focusing for coaches and therapists where she teaches a nuanced approach to supporting clients in accessing their own wisdom. And working with her 1:1 is truly transformational.
Heather Corcoran, Coach supporting mission-driven leaders

I highly recommend Charlotte’s 2- year Focusing Certification Course. Charlotte’s Course provides a thoughtful and rich curriculum wit a structure that enables individual, small and large group learning and growth. She fully embodies a focusing attitude and is an expert at the art of Focusing. She is a powerful listener with a compassionate quality; she reflects thoughts and feelings of others with gentle provocations that lead to deeper self understanding and insight. Charlotte creates the space for learners to grow and develop, enabling forward movement in each interaction and her very being and presence. She creates a connection and space fostering learning within individuals and groups…..I am forever grateful for the profound experience of Charlotte’s class, and I feel empowered by what might be as I continue with the never ending practice of focusing.
Jeanie Fay-Snow, Leadership Coach
 
I cherished every part of my training. I liked the structure of the course, from simple listening to more complex interactive Focusing conversation, each stage has corresponding teaching materials and targeted exercises which really built competence and confidence for me. Charlotte's feedback and constructive advice during sessions and practices have been invaluable. Thank you so much for this course, platform and community, which have made my dream come true.
Sicong Cao, Psychotherapist, China
 
I want to say that my expectations from the course were not only fulfilled, but also exceeded itself. I got much more than I expected. I thought that the course will mainly contain some demonstration video materials and discussions of these materials. I didn’t really believe that focusing can be done online. But despite my doubts, I got so many hours of focusing practice. Not because I was active and immediately took two focusing partners, but because this course was designed this way. This course can be called practice-oriented for sure. The theoretical part is presented in the course in a very balanced way, it complements and guides the practice in the right direction. But still practice, as it seems to me, is having as a leading position. And this is really great. So, I may say that practice worked well for me. And of course, I’m really happy to know so many wonderful people.
Maria Vetuzhskih, Psychotherapist, Russia

Charlotte is a very empathic and skilled teacher who has honed a rich and organized training program. She skillfully weaves the theory and application of focusing through a step by step process of live and video demonstrations, selected readings, focusing partnerships and individual and group coaching. I had the pleasure of seeing incredible growth in the international group of students of all orientations, who now have a skill base to bring to their personal and professional lives, be it as a psychotherapist, coach, or bodyworker.
Jude Cobb PhD, Psychologist in Private Practice
 
The course exceeded my expectations, and my inner world has shifted, and I have grown so much through the process and the two-year program.  I loved the combination of guest teachers, the online platform, weekly partnerships, monthly small group sessions, didactic sections and demonstrations. All guest teachers were incredible.  I feel very lucky that I was able to do this course with Charlotte. Her many years of experience, both in teaching this course and in her work brought such depth and insight into the process and the way she was able to be so present with each student and teach to everyone individually was wonderful.
Christina Hatgis, Acupuncturist and Yoga therapist

Charlotte’s teaching was excellent. I loved the range of guest teachers who are innovators and masters of their craft—this was a huge highlight. Getting to practice with a variety of other participants was also very helpful. The reading and video materials invaluable and convenience of the online course was a big plus.  
Simon Spire, Contemplative teacher and human development facilitator
 
This course with Charlotte changed my life on both a personal and professional level.

Charlotte’s course felt to me like a discovery, where I am invited to not only discover the different ingredients of Focusing, but a discovery process of my inner most intimate self. 
It kept unfolding from one class to another in an organic way, allowing me not only to learn but to experience it as a very authentic process. 

As an architect, my original purpose was to strengthen my listening skills and get my clients, their needs and wishes, so that will allow them to feel aligned with their space.
However, this course has showed me that I can and need to give more to the world. That I can be more than an architect but also a facilitator. 

Charlotte’s class is very rich and her way of being is felt through it. Her presence showed me how I can bring everything that I am out there, as she does. She has her very unique way to create a learning environment where we feel safe, heard and united. 
It’s the best gift I offered my self! I encourage you to offer that to yourself as well, no matter for what reason, if for personal or professional growing - I assure you will grow in ways you even don’t know you can! 
Daphna Daily, Architect

As a result of Charlotte's 2 year Focusing training, I listen differently to my clients, and myself, and I respond differently, as well. I have come to trust much more (still a work in progress!) in the unfolding and forward movement that comes in the body. Focusing is now embedded in all of my work - for me, it is a way of being and working, rather than a technique or modality. Charlotte is a fantastic teacher
Linda Furness, Leadership Coach

Charlotte is a masterful teacher and psychotherapist. I have been a professional coach for over a decade and enrolled in Charlotte's 2-year Focusing Training to further my coaching skills. Charlotte's teaching is deeply experiential, emphasizes practice and individualized feedback, and creates a rich learning container for becoming a more masterful coach/therapist …. If you have the chance to experience Charlotte's work, you will find a lovely mix of insight, empathy, and skillfulness.
Derick Deal, Coach Helping High Performers and Entrepreneurs