Existential Dialogue between Prof Ernesto Spinelli and Dr Yaqui Martinez. Topic: Identity
2023-10-28 14:00 - 15:00 (Europe/London)
Existential Dialogues: The therapist in the mirror. Ten live dialogues between Prof Ernesto Spinelli and International Existential Therapists based on case studies illustrating key existential topics.
28 October “Identity” with Prof Ernesto Spinelli and Dr Yaqui Martinez
“Our culture has built an idol: personal identity. From an early age we are taught (in subtle ways) to build a sense of ourselves that is stable, that shows continuity with the past, and that ensures permanence in the future. However, existence is a changing and mobile flux that constantly challenges us and demands to renew our sense of identity. What or who are we really? Can we find a way to define ourselves that can remain stable in the face of the constant changes of existence? What elements do we have to define ourselves? What does it mean to be identical with ourselves? Perhaps we need to rethink Sartre’s comment: “They say we are made of clay and mud; but rather we are made of wind” Dr Yaqui Martinez
Dr Yaqui Andrés Martínez Robles is a psychologist with PsyD in Psychotherapy. He has specialities in Gestalt Therapy, Music Therapy, Transpersonal Psychology, Narrative and postmodern therapies and Social Constructionism. He is the author of four books focused on the existential perspective. Yaqui is the founder of the Circle of Studies in Existential Therapy, in Mexico City. He teaches existential-phenomenological psychology and therapy in Mexico and different countries of South America. He is the current president of the Latin American Association of Existential Psychotherapy. He works in private practice as an existential-phenomenological therapist and coach.
Professor Ernesto Spinelli was Chair of the Society for Existential Analysis between 1993 and 1999 and is a Life Member of the Society. His writings, lectures and seminars focus on the application of existential phenomenology to the arenas of therapy, supervision, psychology, and executive coaching. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society (BPS) as well as an APECS accredited executive coach and coaching supervisor. In 2000, he was the Recipient of BPS Division of Counselling Psychology Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Profession. And in 2019, Ernesto received the BPS Award for Distinguished Contribution to Practice. His most recent book, Practising Existential Therapy: The Relational World 2nd edition (Sage, 2015) has been widely praised as a major contribution to the advancement of existential theory and practice. Living up to the existential dictum that life is absurd, Ernesto is also the author of an on-going series of Private Eye novels.
Venue: Online Zoom
Read the full programme here >

UNLOCKING OUR-SELVES with Bárbara Godoy
2023-09-19 18:00 - 19:15 (Europe/London)
Experiential Group and Process Work
A playground for therapists to nurture the imagination, release inhibitions and mobilise therapeutic insights
“Supportive, thought-provoking, emancipating, grounding”

This year we will step through the looking glass to discover ourselves reflected in our encounters with our clients. The group process will be guided by the three phases of Existential Practice elaborated in the book “The relational World” by Prof Ernesto Spinelli.
Term One: Co-creating the Therapy-World
Term Two: Co-habiting the Therapy-World
Starts Tuesday 19 September 2023 – 6 pm to 7.15 pm – Book here >
Term Three: Closing Down the Therapy-World
Starts Friday 15 September 2023 – 12.30 to 1.45 pm – Book here >
Starts
Venue: Online – Zoom
Fee: £850 (the whole year) or £300 (per term)
Bárbara Godoy M.A., Adv. Dip. Exi. Psy. Existential Psychotherapist Group Leader, Counsellour, Lecturer and Supervisor, MBACP & UKCP accredited, SEA Professional Member, Director of Therapy Harley StreetBárbara’s academic contributions in London since 2008 include lecturing and researching on the theory and practice of Phenomenological Existential Therapy on Doctorate, MA and professional courses at the School of Psychotherapy and Counselling Psychology, Regent’s University and the New School of Psychotherapy and Counselling directed by Emmy van Deurzen. Bárbara has facilitated and designed therapeutic Group Work since 1997. She brought her earliest workshop: “Experiences” to large groups in The Netherlands, Italy, France, UK and Argentina. These awareness-intensive processes are a legacy of the human potential movement (HPM) of the 1960s, with techniques such as AUM Meditation Marathons, Psychodrama, Bioenergetics and Primal Feelings work.
Request a booking or book in Eventbrite >

Existential Dialogue between Prof Ernesto Spinelli and Dr Betty Cannon. Topic: Play
2023-07-08 14:00 - 15:00 (Europe/London)
Existential Dialogues: The therapist in the mirror. Ten live dialogues between Prof Ernesto Spinelli and International Existential Therapists based on case studies illustrating key existential topics.
8 July “Play” with Prof Ernesto Spinelli and Dr Betty Cannon
“Play and an attitude toward life that I call the ‘spirit of play’ lie at the heart of my approach to therapy, which is deeply and specifically grounded in the philosophy of Sartre. As Sartre describes it, play is the ‘least possessive attitude’ — an activity that ‘strips the real of its reality and thereby allows us to take ourselves less seriously. It is deeply and intimately connected with our freedom. My favourite psychoanalyst, D. W. Winnicott, who was also a paediatrician, described the process of psychotherapy itself as ‘two people playing together’ — or, where one of them is unable to play, learning to play together. I agree. I view psychotherapy as a very particular form of play that invites the client (and perhaps also the therapist) to move away from what Sartre calls the ‘spirit of seriousness’ in the direction of the ‘spirit of play’. As I see it, it would be great if the whole field of psychotherapy could become more ‘playful’ and less ‘serious’ than it sometimes appears to be. In the vignette I will be discussing with Ernesto, my client is a very ‘serious’ but nice fellow who has forgotten how to play. As we eventually discovered, he had very good reasons for forgetting, going back to his earliest childhood. His inability to play and my reaction to it led to an impasse in the therapy. It was the same impasse that he experienced with women outside of therapy, which was his reason for coming to therapy in the first place. ” Dr Betty Cannon
Betty Cannon, PhD, is a licensed psychologist who has practised and taught in Boulder, Colorado, for over 40 years. She is Professor Emerita at the Colorado School of Mines, Senior Adjunct Professor at Naropa University, and the founder of the Boulder Psychotherapy Institute, which has trained mental health professionals in Applied Existential Psychotherapy since 1989. AEP is an existential-psychodynamic approach (founded by Betty) that also has roots in Gestalt therapy, humanistic psychology (espeillustratingcially the person-centred therapy of Carl Rogers), and body-oriented psychotherapy. Betty is a member of the editorial boards of three international journals: Existential Analysis, Sartre Studies International, and Review of Existential Psychology and Psychiatry. She is the author of Sartre and Psychoanalysis and numerous articles and chapters on existential therapy.
Professor Ernesto Spinelli was Chair of the Society for Existential Analysis between 1993 and 1999 and is a Life Member of the Society. His writings, lectures and seminars focus on the application of existential phenomenology to the arenas of therapy, supervision, psychology, and executive coaching. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society (BPS) as well as an APECS accredited executive coach and coaching supervisor. In 2000, he was the Recipient of BPS Division of Counselling Psychology Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Profession. And in 2019, Ernesto received the BPS Award for Distinguished Contribution to Practice. His most recent book, Practising Existential Therapy: The Relational World 2nd edition (Sage, 2015) has been widely praised as a major contribution to the advancement of existential theory and practice. Living up to the existential dictum that life is absurd, Ernesto is also the author of an on-going series of Private Eye novels.
Venue: Online Zoom
Read the full programme here >

Existential Dialogue between Prof Ernesto Spinelli and Niki D
2023-06-24 14:00 - 15:00 (Europe/London)
Existential Dialogues: The therapist in the mirror. Ten live dialogues between Prof Ernesto Spinelli and International Existential Therapists based on case studies that illustrate key existential topics.
24 June “Sexuality” with Prof Ernesto Spinelli and Dr Niki D
Sexuality. “Sexuality can awaken us to our interrelated being. A way of knowing ourselves through someone else” (Smith-Pickard)
“Our unique or ontic expressions of ‘being sexual’ reveal aspects of ourselves and the way in which we respond to the ontological givens of relatedness, embodiment and uncertainty. The term existential sexuality describes sexuality from an embodied, relational experience, where the intersubjective nature of sexuality is emphasised, rather than reducing sexuality to drives, physiology or cultural norms.
OPEN & POLYAMOROUS RELATIONSHIPS
“We judge what we don’t understand” (unknown source)
The co-creation of a unique, open relationship can be a wonderfully empowering and uniting experience for couples who have been a closed dyad. It can also be intense, exhausting, confusing and distressing. In this discussion, I want to hone in on the specific factors and challenges that may present when one partner is requesting a move to an open or polyamorous relationship and the other is reluctant. Examining different views and assumptions about relationship styles can feel like walking a tightrope, especially when a client’s unreflected mononormative bias is in the room. It’s a theme that has tripped me up in sessions and one I would like to explore further in this dialogue.” Niki D
Niki D is an existential psychotherapist with 30 years’ experience in private practice, statutory and voluntary sectors. She works with individuals and groups, as a relationship therapist, supervisor, CPD trainer and a visiting lecturer at Regents University. She has an MA in Existential Psychotherapy, a diploma in working with GSRD clients (gender, sexual and relationship diverse) in Relationship Therapy and additional training in somatic body therapy. She is a clinical associate of Pink Therapy and has recently written a chapter on working with couples opening up their relationship – for the fourth volume in the Pink Therapy series (co-edited by Dominic Davies & Silva Nieves and due to be published in 2023).
Professor Ernesto Spinelli was Chair of the Society for Existential Analysis between 1993 and 1999 and is a Life Member of the Society. His writings, lectures and seminars focus on the application of existential phenomenology to the arenas of therapy, supervision, psychology, and executive coaching. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society (BPS) as well as an APECS accredited executive coach and coaching supervisor. In 2000, he was the Recipient of BPS Division of Counselling Psychology Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Profession. And in 2019, Ernesto received the BPS Award for Distinguished Contribution to Practice. His most recent book, Practising Existential Therapy: The Relational World 2nd edition (Sage, 2015) has been widely praised as a major contribution to the advancement of existential theory and practice. Living up to the existential dictum that life is absurd, Ernesto is also the author of an on-going series of Private Eye novels.
Venue: Online Zoom
Read the full programme here >

Existential Dialogue between Prof Ernesto Spinelli and Dr Greg Madison. Topic: Embodiment
2023-05-20 14:00 - 15:00 (Europe/London)
Existential Dialogues: The therapist in the mirror. Ten live dialogues between Prof Ernesto Spinelli and International Existential Therapists based on case studies that illustrate key existential topics.
20 May “Embodiment” with Prof Ernesto Spinelli and Dr Greg Madison
Embodiment. “Existential Psychotherapy, any therapy, all of us, so readily fall back into conceptual forms of thinking and understanding. We can get lost in theory, philosophy, and ideologies without checking to see which of these actually resonate with our felt experience of living. If we place our existence first, then words and concepts become the epi-phenomena and our bodily feelings become the guide to understanding which descriptions work and in exactly what way. We find that the body is not an enclosed subjectivity but the location of a whole system of interactions stretching far beyond the ‘individual’ as usually conceived. If we take embodiment as core to our practice, then we all become philosophers and poets in a very concrete way.” Dr Greg Madison
Dr. Greg Madison is a Chartered Psychologist, Associate Fellow of the BPS and Registered existential Psychotherapist (UKCP/EAP). He regularly lectures internationally and teaches workshops in the UK while maintaining a limited private practice online. Greg’s academic studies in psychology began in 1979 when he first learned about the work of the existential philosopher Eugene Gendlin, and he has been practising as a psychotherapist and Focusing teacher now for over thirty years. He wrote a small book called ‘The End of Belonging’, exploring the concept of “existential migration” and has edited two books on Focusing-Oriented Psychotherapy as well as co-edited a text on Existential Therapy. Having been exposed to many psychological theories and most of the various models of psychotherapy, Greg maintains a sceptical perspective regarding our current ‘knowledge’ about psychology, claims about the meaning of life, and scientific beliefs that explain existence and human functioning. Greg believes that it is crucial that we remain as open as possible to the complexity of human existence: each person teaches us something universal and also something unique about the everyday dilemmas of being human and the unanswered deeper questions of our place in the universe. In his work, Greg Madison emphasises what a person concretely experiences moment-by-moment and how in existential work it is our experience that continues to unfold and enrich our understanding of ‘self’ as living process.
Professor Ernesto Spinelli was Chair of the Society for Existential Analysis between 1993 and 1999 and is a Life Member of the Society. His writings, lectures and seminars focus on the application of existential phenomenology to the arenas of therapy, supervision, psychology, and executive coaching. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society (BPS) as well as an APECS accredited executive coach and coaching supervisor. In 2000, he was the Recipient of BPS Division of Counselling Psychology Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Profession. And in 2019, Ernesto received the BPS Award for Distinguished Contribution to Practice. His most recent book, Practising Existential Therapy: The Relational World 2nd edition (Sage, 2015) has been widely praised as a major contribution to the advancement of existential theory and practice. Living up to the existential dictum that life is absurd, Ernesto is also the author of an on-going series of Private Eye novels.
Venue: Online Zoom
Read the full programme here >

In Touch with Bárbara Godoy
2023-05-12 10:00 - 21:00 (Europe/London) | Therapy Harley Street, 10 Harley Street, London, W1G 9PF, United Kingdom
On Friday 12 May 2023, we will be “IN TOUCH”.
All-day events at our clinic: Therapy Harley Street, 10 Harley Street, London W1G 9PF,
PROGRAMME:
10 am to 12 pm
Unlocking Our-Selves with Bárbara Godoy
Fee £25 (or free for Associates members)
A playground for therapists to nurture the imagination, release inhibitions and mobilise therapeutic insights. Stepping through the looking glass to discover ourselves reflected in our encounters with our clients. This two-hour workshop will be guided by the three phases of Existential Practice elaborated in the book “The Relational World” by Prof Ernesto Spinelli.
12 pm to 1 pm
Open doors nibbles and drinks
Please reserve a space if you are interested.
3.30 pm to 5.30 pm
Returning to Senses Meditation with Bárbara Godoy
Fee £25 (all levels)
Bring Existential philosophy to practice can also be fun! Through simple exercises to sharpen our senses, we will perceive more clearly the world around and inside of us. We will increase our spacial awareness to appreciate the many opportunities to review sedimented patterns. Gradually, new ways to communicate with others will become available to us through playful creativity.
6 pm to 9 pm
Impulse and Spontaneity Workshop with Bárbara Godoy
Fee £75 (Med. and Adv.)
Therapeutic Group Work. How do we live life as it is happening? In our everydayness, we are either aiming for an outcome in the future or attached to the past. In this three-hour workshop, we will search for the experience of “present flow” by localising an impulse and following it with spontaneity.
**This is a non-profit event and all contributions will go towards financing the event itself.
Book by email: admin@therapyharleystreet.co.uk

Existential Dialogue between Prof Ernesto Spinelli and Dr Ken Bradford. Topic: Responsibility
2023-04-15 14:00 - 15:00 (Europe/London)
Existential Dialogues: The therapist in the mirror. Ten live dialogues between Prof Ernesto Spinelli and International Existential Therapists based on case studies that illustrate key existential topics.
15 April “Responsibility” with Prof Ernesto Spinelli and Dr Ken Bradford
Responsibility. “In therapy and spiritual practice, the question of responsibility is central to any quest for authenticity. In the vignette here presented, I was challenged to respond – to be responsible – to a client’s demand for validating a traumatic memory, I could neither honestly confirm nor disconfirm. In the face of my client’s agony, rage and desperate need for validation, I felt pulled toward validating her memory; both as a measure of reassurance for her and to avoid being a (transferential) target of her outrage. This presented me with the choice of reacting – out of my desire to support her and fear of her rage – or responding: relating to her unconditioned by desire or fear, but honestly out of my own vulnerable openness and attunedness. The response-ability I was able to exercise with her was informed by my understanding of authentic presence: a being grounded in relational openness. Dwelling in genuine openness catalyzes the ability to respond from luminating, unconditional awareness. ” Dr Ken Bradford
Dr Ken Bradford, PhD is a Clinical Psychologist, teacher, author and contemplative yogin integrating Buddhist and radical Existential thought and practice. On this basis, he developed an ontologically-keyed practice of Contemplative-Existential Therapy, which he formerly taught and practised in the San Francisco Bay area, including as an Adjunct Professor at John F. Kennedy University and the California Institute of Integral Studies. His publications include numerous peer-reviewed journal articles, most recently on ‘Radical Authenticity’; ‘Non-self Psychology’; and ‘Drawing from a Deeper Well: Contemplative Asian Sources of Radical Existential Thought’. His books include The I of the Other: Mindfulness-Based Diagnosis & the Question of Sanity; Listening from the Heart of Silence: Nondual Wisdom and Psychotherapy, Vol. 2 (with John Prendergast); and Opening Yourself: The Psychology and Yoga of Self-liberation (currently in press).

Professor Ernesto Spinelli was Chair of the Society for Existential Analysis between 1993 and 1999 and is a Life Member of the Society. His writings, lectures and seminars focus on the application of existential phenomenology to the arenas of therapy, supervision, psychology, and executive coaching. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society (BPS) as well as an APECS accredited executive coach and coaching supervisor. In 2000, he was the Recipient of BPS Division of Counselling Psychology Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Profession. And in 2019, Ernesto received the BPS Award for Distinguished Contribution to Practice. His most recent book, Practising Existential Therapy: The Relational World 2nd edition (Sage, 2015) has been widely praised as a major contribution to the advancement of existential theory and practice. Living up to the existential dictum that life is absurd, Ernesto is also the author of an on-going series of Private Eye novels.
Venue: Online Zoom
Read the full programme here >
Course Organised by:

UNDERSTANDING and WORKING with EATING DISORDERS with Alexia Harrison
2023-03-25 10:00 - 16:00 UTC | Therapy Harley Street, 10 Harley Street, London, W1G 9PF, United Kingdom
An enlightening and reflective workshop designed to help practitioners, professionals and curious minds to navigate the precarious world of eating disorders
This one-day workshop is designed to offer you an overview of how to assess and treat the eating disorders that are most likely to present in client work. The day will focus primarily on eating disorders including anorexia, bulimia, compulsive eating and binge eating. It will explore some of the emotional and behavioural processes involved.
You will learn how to recognise when an eating disorder may be present, how to identify what this may be, and how to treat, manage, or to support a client and yourself in your practice. We will consider how our own relationship with food and body image may affect the therapeutic alliance with clients presenting with eating disorders.
Through didactic teaching, vignettes, small group discussions and experiential work, this workshop aims to offer you the appropriate therapeutic responses for transformative and ethical clinical practice and empower you to support your clients with a confidence and a sufficient knowledge of when to signpost to other services. Local and national specialist services will also be highlighted during the day.
This course is ideal for anyone who wishes to either add another skill to their clinical practice or for anyone who has an introductory interest in looking at either their own or an other’s relationship with food.
Attendees of the course will receive a CPD certificate from Therapy Harley Street for 6 hours.
Date: Saturday 25th March 2023 10am – 4pm
Venue: Therapy Harley Street, 10 Harley Street, London W1G 9PF
Fee: £280
Alexia Harrison suffered with anorexia, bulimia and body dysmorphia from her early teens to young adulthood. Since recovering, Alexia has supported not only sufferers but families who have been ravaged by the complexities of the illness.
Alexia’s training specialised in eating disorders (ed) through the National Centre for Eating Disorders and she has worked in the field for the NHS, charitable settings and schools. She delivers workshops for both professionals and service users. She has advised wellness resorts and spas on healthy eating and nutrition in order that they may provide a holistic package to their guests. Alexia has supported theatre companies in ensuring the welfare of their cast and crew. As a recovery warrior and a media ambassador for Beat, Alexia has written articles and conducted interviews through BBC News, ITV, Capital Fm, and appeared in print media such as The Guardian and Good Housekeeping.
Alexia has a thriving practice in her hometown of Leeds and she is an associate of Therapy Harley Street, London. Alexia has supported ed sufferers in private practice for over 10 years and offered families a space to explore issues arising from eating disorders alongside the NHS at the Yorkshire Centre for Eating Disorders for over 15 years. She is qualified to practice both online and in person and offers bespoke recovery packages, supervision, psychoeducational days, talks, trainings and workshops in the UK and worldwide. Recent private packages have taken her to France, St Lucia, Monaco, the United States, Portugal and Gibraltar.

Existential Dialogue between Prof Ernesto Spinelli and Dr Katerina Zymnis. Topic: Meaning
2023-03-11 14:00 - 15:00 (Europe/London)
Existential Dialogues: The therapist in the mirror. Ten live dialogues between Prof Ernesto Spinelli and International Existential Therapists based on case studies that illustrate key existential topics.
11 March “Meaning” with Prof Ernesto Spinelli and Dr Katerina Zymnis
I will be addressing the concept of meaning within the realm of the therapeutic encounter.
“We will be exploring my client’s Athena sense of meaninglessness and her urgent need to give structure to her chaotic life. Our sessions became an invitation to delve into unknown territories that turned uncertainty into an opportunity to live life at its fullest.” Katerina Zymnis
Katerina Zymnis Georgalos, PhD, is a founding member, co-director, trainer and supervisor at the Hellenic Association for Existential Psychology, gignesthai. She works as a psychotherapist with individuals, families and groups. She teaches in post graduate programs at Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, at The American College of Greece and at the University of Thessalia. Her area of interest in research is the process and outcome of psychotherapy as well as the use of qualitative methods of data analysis. She has contributed with her writing in several books and articles related to existential therapy and psychotherapy process and outcome.
Katerina is a European Certified Psychotherapist (ECP), and an active member of HELASYTH (Hellenic Association for Systemic Therapy) and EFTA (European Association for Family Therapy). She is a member of the board of FETE (Federation for Existential Therapy in Europe), Chair of the FETE organizing committee of the 2nd European Existential Therapy Conference in Athens (2020) and Co-chair of the organizing committee of the 3rd World Existential Therapy Conference to be held in Athens (2023).
Professor Ernesto Spinelli was Chair of the Society for Existential Analysis between 1993 and 1999 and is a Life Member of the Society. His writings, lectures and seminars focus on the application of existential phenomenology to the arenas of therapy, supervision, psychology, and executive coaching. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society (BPS) as well as an APECS accredited executive coach and coaching supervisor. In 2000, he was the Recipient of BPS Division of Counselling Psychology Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Profession. And in 2019, Ernesto received the BPS Award for Distinguished Contribution to Practice. His most recent book, Practising Existential Therapy: The Relational World 2nd edition (Sage, 2015) has been widely praised as a major contribution to the advancement of existential theory and practice. Living up to the existential dictum that life is absurd, Ernesto is also the author of an on-going series of Private Eye novels.
Venue: Online Zoom
Read the full programme here >

Existential Dialogue between Prof Ernesto Spinelli and Dr Todd Dubose. Topic: Resoluteness
2023-02-25 14:00 - 15:00 (Europe/London)
Existential Dialogues: The therapist in the mirror. Ten live dialogues between Prof Ernesto Spinelli and International Existential Therapists based on case studies that illustrate key existential topics.
25 February “Resoluteness” with Prof Ernesto Spinelli and Dr Todd DuBose
Resoluteness: “I will be looking at Heidegger’s understanding of resoluteness and differentiating it in relation to other familiar categories in existential discourse, such as agency, choice, decisiveness, authenticity and releasement. I will explore the paradox of how we clear space when we are resolutely involved.” Dr Todd DuBose
Dr Todd DuBose is a world-renowned, Distinguished Full Professor at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, where for the past 15 years he has taught philosophical foundations and practices of human science psychology and has been the coordinator for the existential-hermeneutical-phenomenological orientation for therapeutic care. He holds degrees in continental and comparative philosophy of religion and existential-hermeneutical-phenomenological human science clinical psychology and integrates these approaches in caring for experiences of the impossible (no way out, boundary or limited situations), and extreme experiences (such as psychosis, nihilism, suicidal and homicidal ideation, violence, traumatic loss, existential crises of meaning, and paranormal or anomalous experiences). He was one of the co-founders of the American Association for Existential Analysis, which has been transformed into the newly formed American Institute for Daseinsanalysis under new leadership. He is the founder of The Khora Institute, which focuses on caring for people who get left out or subjugated by hegemonic practices of institutional care. He has most recently published on hope and existential survival in the COVID-19 pandemic and has also recently written a short dialogue with Miles Groth, edited by Loray Daws, called Dialogues on the Soul of Existential Therapy, published by the Society for Existential Analysis.

Professor Ernesto Spinelli was Chair of the Society for Existential Analysis between 1993 and 1999 and is a Life Member of the Society. His writings, lectures and seminars focus on the application of existential phenomenology to the arenas of therapy, supervision, psychology, and executive coaching. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society (BPS) as well as an APECS accredited executive coach and coaching supervisor. In 2000, he was the Recipient of BPS Division of Counselling Psychology Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Profession. And in 2019, Ernesto received the BPS Award for Distinguished Contribution to Practice. His most recent book, Practising Existential Therapy: The Relational World 2nd edition (Sage, 2015) has been widely praised as a major contribution to the advancement of existential theory and practice. Living up to the existential dictum that life is absurd, Ernesto is also the author of an on-going series of Private Eye novels.
Venue: Online Zoom
Read the full programme here >
Course Organised by:

ADVANCED EXISTENTIAL PSYCHOTHERAPY with Prof Ernesto Spinelli
2023-01-28 10:00 - 13:00 UTC
These Master Workshops provide the opportunity to ‘look again’ at our practise and re-view assumptions and expectations regarding being a therapist.
“Group supervision sessions seek to provide participants with a safe, yet challenging, space, to consider and address the issues that arise for them when discussing their own, or another participant’s, experience of being a therapist. They provide the opportunity to ‘look again’ at their practise and re-view their assumptions and expectations regarding being a therapist and doing therapy. Group supervision can be a valuable and enriching experience for all participants since even though the focus may be on a particular supervisee’s account, it is likely that all participants will discover broader issues and concerns that resonate with their own encounters with clients.” Prof. Ernesto Spinelli
Professor Ernesto Spinelli was Chair of the Society for Existential Analysis between 1993 and 1999 and is a Life Member of the Society. His writings, lectures and seminars focus on the application of existential phenomenology to the arenas of therapy, supervision, psychology, and executive coaching. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society (BPS) as well as an APECS accredited executive coach and coaching supervisor. In 2000, he was the Recipient of BPS Division of Counselling Psychology Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Profession. And in 2019, Ernesto received the BPS Award for Distinguished Contribution to Practice. His most recent book, Practising Existential Therapy: The Relational World 2nd edition (Sage, 2015) has been widely praised as a major contribution to the advancement of existential theory and practice. Living up to the existential dictum that life is absurd, Ernesto is also the author of an on-going series of Private Eye novels.
All dates: Saturdays 28 January, 25 February, 11 March, 15 April, 20 May, 24 June, 8 July, 28 October, 11 November and 2 December 2023
Fee: £1260 the whole year (£140 per session)
Time: Saturdays from 10am to 1pm (UK time)
Venue: Online – Zoom BOOK NOW >

BPS award for distinguished contribution “An internationally-recognised leader in existential therapy and coaching psychology, Professor Ernesto Spinelli developed and taught the first psychology undergraduate and PhD programmes to focus on counselling and psychotherapy research. He has contributed to a growing interest in, and professional appreciation of, existential therapeutic techniques. Professor Spinelli publications and textbooks are standard reading for many psychotherapy and coaching training programmes around the world. His latest book, Practising Existential Therapy: The Relational World, 2nd edition (2015), was identified as the most influential contemporary text on existential therapeutic practice.” BPS

UNLOCKING OUR-SELVES with Bárbara Godoy
2023-01-20 12:30 - 13:45 UTC
Experiential Group and Process Work
A playground for therapists to nurture the imagination, release inhibitions and mobilise therapeutic insights
“Supportive, thought-provoking, emancipating, grounding”

This year we will step through the looking glass to discover ourselves reflected in our encounters with our clients. The group process will be guided by the three phases of Existential Practice elaborated in the book “The relational World” by Prof Ernesto Spinelli.
Fridays 12.30 pm to 1.45 pm (UK time)
Term One: Co-creating the Therapy-World
20 and 27 January
3, 10, 17 and 24 February
3, 10, 17 and 24 March
Term Two: Co-habiting the Therapy-World
19 and 26 May
2, 9, 16, 23 and 30 June
7, 14 and 21 July
Term Three: Closing Down the Therapy-World
15, 22 and 29 September
6, 13, 20 and 27 October
10, 17 and 24 November and 1 December
Venue: Online – Zoom
Fee: £850 (the whole year) or £300 (per term)
Bárbara Godoy M.A., Adv. Dip. Exi. Psy. Existential Psychotherapist Group Leader, Counsellour, Lecturer and Supervisor, MBACP & UKCP accredited, SEA Professional Member, Director of Therapy Harley StreetBárbara’s academic contributions in London since 2008 include lecturing and researching on the theory and practice of Phenomenological Existential Therapy on Doctorate, MA and professional courses at the School of Psychotherapy and Counselling Psychology, Regent’s University and the New School of Psychotherapy and Counselling directed by Emmy van Deurzen. Bárbara has facilitated and designed therapeutic Group Work since 1997. She brought her earliest workshop: “Experiences” to large groups in The Netherlands, Italy, France, UK and Argentina. These awareness-intensive processes are a legacy of the human potential movement (HPM) of the 1960s, with techniques such as AUM Meditation Marathons, Psychodrama, Bioenergetics and Primal Feelings work.
Request a booking or book in Eventbrite >

ADVANCED APPLIED EXISTENTIAL SUPERVISION GROUP with Dr. Betty Cannon
2023-01-14 15:00 - 18:00 UTC
Betty Cannon, the author of Sartre and Psychoanalysis, offers a playful, active, experientially based form of supervision that is deeply and specifically grounded in the philosophy of Sartre.
This group is a place to hone skills and consider important issues of therapy from the perspective of existential philosophy. Combining the leader’s experience with the wisdom of the group fosters an active experientially oriented and interpersonally open way of doing supervision. It includes role-playing clients as well as looking at stuck points in therapy – stuck points that may belong to the therapist or supervisor as well as the client. It uses body-oriented as well as verbal interventions to get beyond words to the pre-reflective bodily-lived intentionality of all three.
Applied Existential Supervision is rooted in a psychotherapeutic approach developed and taught by Betty Cannon at the Boulder Psychotherapy Institute for more than 30 years. Thoroughly and specifically grounded in the philosophy of Sartre, Applied Existential Psychotherapy also draws inspiration from Gestalt Therapy, Rogerian person-centred therapy, body-oriented psychotherapy, and classical and contemporary psychoanalysis. Betty agrees with British object relations theorist D.W. Winnicott that psychotherapy is (or ought to be) a very special form of ‘two people playing together. When one of them, hopefully, the client, is unable to play, therapy becomes two people learning to play together.
Both Winnicott and Sartre view play as arising in what Winnicott calls the ‘transitional space’ between the subjective and objective worlds. This is the place where, phenomenologically speaking, this world becomes my world – or your world. Focusing on this transitional space allows us to move from doing therapy in what Sartre calls the ‘spirit of seriousness’ (which is the deterministic mechanistic approach of a great deal of contemporary psychotherapy) to what Betty has elsewhere called the ‘spirit of play’. It is a perspective that encourages us to recognize and support our own and our client’s freedom – in situation. And it can help open us to new more creative and authentic possibilities for living, loving, and being with each other.
Because taking this perspective makes room for the radically new and the unpredictable and relieves us of the burden of trying to ‘fix’ our clients, it is less tiring and less likely to produce therapist burnout. It can also make therapy more satisfying, joyful and exhilarating for both client and therapist. But therapy done in the spirit of play becomes at the same time less certain and predictable. We cannot know the outcome of the therapy because our client is free. For this reason, approaching therapy (and supervision) in this way can be anxiety-provoking or even terrifying. Moving from the spirit of seriousness to the spirit of play makes us aware of the lightness as well as the heaviness of being – and that can be challenging as well liberating.
Of course, no one can live with the full awareness of freedom, responsibility, and possibility all the time. The temptation to bad faith is universal for all humans, including therapists. But if the challenge to do so at least some of the time appeals, please come play with us in Applied Existential Supervision Group.
Betty Cannon, PhD, licensed psychologist, is the founder of Applied Existential Psychotherapy (AEP). Her book on Sartre and Psychoanalysis (1991) is often considered a classic in the field, as Ernesto Spinelli predicted it would be. She has published many articles and chapters on existential philosophy, psychology, and psychotherapy. Betty’s mentor, Hazel E. Barnes, translated Sartre into English and was the world’s foremost Sartre scholar until her death in 2008. Betty is Hazel’s literary executor, and her book on Sartre is dedicated to Hazel. She is currently working on a new book: In the Spirit of Play: Applied Existential Psychotherapy.
Betty is the president and founder of the Boulder Psychotherapy Institute, an emerita professor of the Colorado School of Mines, a senior adjunct professor at Naropa University, and a member of the editorial boards of three international journals: Sartre Studies International, Existential Analysis, and Review of Existential Psychology and Psychiatry. In addition to Applied Existential Psychotherapy, she has recently introduced an Applied Existential Coaching Class at the Boulder Psychotherapy Institute.
Betty has taught AEP to hundreds (if not thousands) of students over the past thirty-plus years. She has also done therapy with individuals, couples, and groups in Boulder for the past forty years, as well as presented at many professional conferences and workshops. She is particularly interested in an existential approach to relationships and groups and leads 15 to 20 groups (therapy, practice, process, and supervision) each month.

All dates: Saturdays 14 January, 4 February, 4 March, 6 May, 10 June, 1 July, 9 September, 7 October, 4 November and 16 December 2023
Fee: £1260 the whole year (£140 per session) BOOK NOW >
Time: Saturdays from 3 pm to 6 pm (UK time)
Venue: Online – Zoom
CPD by Therapy Harley Street

EXISTENTIAL DIALOGUE between Prof E. Spinelli and Dr Ken Bradford
2022-12-17 14:00 - 15:00 UTC | Online (Zoom), United Kingdom
Series of discussions, dialogues and conversations between Prof Ernesto Spinelli and International existential therapists.
Existential dialogue between Prof Ernesto Spinelli and Dr Ken Bradford. Topic: “Radical Authenticity”. Book here >

About this event
“Existential therapy is a wide ranging arena, with many perspectives and different views that also, fundamentally, share an attitude expressing a way of thinking and being with people. Representatives of the existential approach from different parts of the world have agreed to engage in an open-format discussion with me. Each of them will bring their own particular topic of interest as the focus for the discussion. From these, participants will hopefully see that existential therapy and existential thought, in general, cover a huge range of topics, viewpoints and perspectives and explore these in a way that it is different, stimulating and enjoyable.” Prof Ernesto Spinelli
Radical Authenticity
“General Existential thought recognises inauthenticity as the all too human compulsion to manage anxieties by living someone else’s life – as a theyself – rather than our own. Psychological authenticity is won by daring to live our own life through accepting our true desires and aversions. On this basis, radical Existential and Buddhist psychology recognise that a more profound authentic presence is possible. They observe there is a more basic – quite normal and innocent – split in human consciousness that divides perceived objects and others “out there” from a perceiving subject “in here.” This underlying predicament is the famous object-subject split that dominates our mind by confusing our objectivizing projections for reality as it is. Pitting self against other, us against them, conscious reason against unconscious compulsion, the everyday divided mind (self) oscillates between moments of self-infatuation and self-hatred. Everyday dualistic vision reifies the flux of experience to the extent that we identify our self as a being separate from being as such. This makes for an ontological inauthenticity that – everyday – affects our psychological well-being. The compulsive striving to defend and promote ourself as a self-grounded entity severs us from the ground and innate well-being of a more radical undivided authenticity.” Dr Ken Bradford
About Prof Ernesto Spinelli
“An internationally-recognised leader in existential therapy and coaching psychology, Professor Ernesto Spinelli developed and taught the first psychology undergraduate and PhD programmes to focus on counselling and psychotherapy research. He has contributed to a growing interest in, and professional appreciation of, existential therapeutic techniques.
Professor Spinelli publications and textbooks are standard reading for many psychotherapies and coaching training programmes around the world. His book, Practising Existential Therapy: The Relational World, 2nd edition (2015), was identified as the most influential contemporary text on existential therapeutic practice.” BPS
About Dr. Ken Bradford
Dr Ken Bradford, PhD is a Clinical Psychologist, teacher, author and contemplative yogin integrating Buddhist and radical Existential thought and practice. On this basis, he developed an ontologically-keyed practice of Contemplative-Existential Therapy, which he formerly taught and practiced in the San Francisco Bay area, including as an Adjunct Professor at John F. Kennedy University and the California Institute of Integral Studies. His publications include numerous peer-reviewed journal articles, most recently on ‘Radical Authenticity’; ‘Non-self Psychology’; and ‘Drawing from a Deeper Well: Contemplative Asian Sources of Radical Existential Thought’. His books include, The I of the Other: Mindfulness-Based Diagnosis & the Question of Sanity; Listening from the Heart of Silence: Nondual Wisdom and Psychotherapy, Vol. 2 (with John Prendergast); and Opening Yourself: The Psychology and Yoga of Self-liberation (currently in press).
(This Dialogue is part of “Existential Dialogues”. You can book each dialogue independently for £40 – book in Eventbrite or the ten dialogues for £300 book here)
PROGRAMME:
Dr MANU BAZZANO “Therapy and the Daimonic” (22 January)
Dr KATERINA ZYMNIS “Diving into the Co-Created World of the Psychotherapeutic Encounter” (19 February)
Dr TODD DUBOSE “The Power of Phenomenological Openness” (19 March)
Dr MICHAEL MONTGOMERY “Reconciling the Past” (23 April)
Dr YAQUI MARTINEZ “Challenges to Existential Therapeutic Practice”(21 May)
BÁRBARA GODOY “Brainstorming the Basis of an Existential Laboratory” (18 June)
Dr BETTY CANNON “In the Spirit of Play: Toward a Psychology of Freedom” (23 July)
Dr GREG MADISON “Is Existence the Same as Experience in Existential Therapy?” (15 October)
Dr XUEFU WANG “Zhimian: an Existential Approach as Viewed from Chinese Culture” (19 November)
Dr KEN BRADFORD “Radical Authenticity” (17 December)

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ADVANCED AFFECT-BASED SUPERVISION GROUP with Dr Manu Bazzano
2022-12-10 14:00 - 17:00 (Europe/London)
“Supervision is not ‘management’ but open exploration. It is a soulful endeavour. At the heart of group supervision is the crucial notion of affect, the modification or variation produced in a body/mind by the interaction with other bodies/minds. Affects carry important information, and it is through being affected, that therapists and supervisors can begin to unfasten the artificial separateness of client-therapist-supervisor. That’s when the client’s experience may be more genuinely accessed. Through experiential processing of clinical material and discussion, we will explore some innovative ideas from affect theory and beyond that may enliven and enrich participants’ practice. For an introduction, please refer to this free article published in Threshold, a BACP magazine: click here. My way of working is suitable for therapists of all orientations” Dr Manu Bazzano.
Dr Manu Bazzano is an author, psychotherapist/supervisor in private practice and an internationally recognised lecturer and facilitator. His background is philosophy and rock music. He studied Eastern contemplative practices since 1980 and in 2004 was ordained in the Soto and Rinzai tradition of Zen Buddhism. Among his books: Re-Visioning Existential Therapy: (Routledge,2020) Nietzsche and Psychotherapy (Routledge, 2019); Re-visioning Person-centred Therapy (2018); Zen and Therapy: Heretical Perspectives (2017) Therapy and the Counter-tradition (2016); After Mindfulness (2014); Spectre of the Stranger: towards a Phenomenology of Hospitality (Sussex, 2012); Buddha is Dead (Sussex, 2006). Website: www.manubazzano.com
All dates: Saturday 10 December 2022
Fee: £140
BOOK A PLACE >
Time: Saturdays from 2pm to 5pm (UK time)
Venue: Online – Zoom

EXISTENTIAL DIALOGUE between Prof E. Spinelli and Dr Xuefu Wang
2022-11-19 14:00 - 15:00 UTC | Online (Zoom), United Kingdom
Series of discussions, dialogues and conversations between Prof Ernesto Spinelli and International existential therapists.
Existential dialogue between Prof Ernesto Spinelli and Dr Xuefu Wang. Topic: “Zhimian: an Existential Approach as Viewed from Chinese Culture”. Book here >

About this event
“Existential therapy is a wide ranging arena, with many perspectives and different views that also, fundamentally, share an attitude expressing a way of thinking and being with people. Representatives of the existential approach from different parts of the world have agreed to engage in an open-format discussion with me. Each of them will bring their own particular topic of interest as the focus for the discussion. From these, participants will hopefully see that existential therapy and existential thought in general cover a huge range of topics, view points and perspectives and explores these in a way that it is different, stimulating and enjoyable.” Prof Ernesto Spinelli
Zhimian: an Existential Approach as Viewed from Chinese Culture
“When we talk about existential therapy we can not ignore the impact and meaning of culture. In our dialogue, I will try to explore with Ernesto those socio-cultural influences that shape people at the level of personality and general mental wellbeing.” Dr Xuefu Wang
About Prof Ernesto Spinelli
“An internationally-recognised leader in existential therapy and coaching psychology, Professor Ernesto Spinelli developed and taught the first psychology undergraduate and PhD programmes to focus on counselling and psychotherapy research. He has contributed to a growing interest in, and professional appreciation of, existential therapeutic techniques.
Professor Spinelli publications and textbooks are standard reading for many psychotherapies and coaching training programmes around the world. His book, Practising Existential Therapy: The Relational World, 2nd edition (2015), was identified as the most influential contemporary text on existential therapeutic practice.” BPS
About Dr. Xuefu Wang
Xuefu Wang, PhD,obtained degrees in the fields of theology, literature, psychology and pastoral counseling. Xuefu is the founder, as well as the Executive Director, of the ZhiMian Institute for Psychotherapy in Nanjing, China. He has taught at universities, seminaries, and psychological institutions and is an active promoter as well as a pioneering practitioner of psychotherapy in the Mainland of China. Dr. Wang developed an indigenous Chinese approach called “ZhiMian Therapy” out of his experience of psychological practice and inspiration drawn from the modern Chinese thinker and writer Lu Xun. The approach of ZhiMian resonates deeply with Western existential-humanistic psychology. Dr. Wang is also academically connected with various international institutions. He is a Visiting Scholar at Fuller Seminary Graduate School of Psychology. He is an editorial board member of several American journals, including The Journal of Humanistic Psychology. In recent years, Dr. Wang has been working with American existential psychologists to promote East-West dialogue in the field of existential psychology. He has published numerous articles as well as authored 8 books. In 2013, Dr. Wang received the Charlotte and Karl Budler Award of the Society of Humanistic Psychology of the American Psychological Association.
(This Dialogue is part of “Existential Dialogues”. You can book each dialogue independently for £40 book in Eventbrite or the ten dialogues for £300 book here)
PROGRAMME:
Dr MANU BAZZANO “Therapy and the Daimonic” (22 January)
Dr KATERINA ZYMNIS “Diving into the Co-Created World of the Psychotherapeutic Encounter” (19 February)
Dr TODD DUBOSE “The Power of Phenomenological Openness” (19 March)
Dr MICHAEL MONTGOMERY “Reconciling the Past” (23 April)
Dr YAQUI MARTINEZ “Challenges to Existential Therapeutic Practice”(21 May)
BÁRBARA GODOY “Brainstorming the Basis of an Existential Laboratory” (18 June)
Dr BETTY CANNON “In the Spirit of Play: Toward a Psychology of Freedom” (23 July)
Dr GREG MADISON “Is Existence the Same as Experience in Existential Therapy?” (15 October)
Dr XUEFU WANG “Zhimian: an Existential Approach as Viewed from Chinese Culture” (19 November)
Dr KEN BRADFORD “Radical Authenticity” (17 December)

ADVANCED AFFECT-BASED SUPERVISION GROUP with Dr Manu Bazzano
2022-11-12 14:00 - 17:00 (Europe/London)
“Supervision is not ‘management’ but open exploration. It is a soulful endeavour. At the heart of group supervision is the crucial notion of affect, the modification or variation produced in a body/mind by the interaction with other bodies/minds. Affects carry important information, and it is through being affected, that therapists and supervisors can begin to unfasten the artificial separateness of client-therapist-supervisor. That’s when the client’s experience may be more genuinely accessed. Through experiential processing of clinical material and discussion, we will explore some innovative ideas from affect theory and beyond that may enliven and enrich participants’ practice. For an introduction, please refer to this free article published in Threshold, a BACP magazine: click here. My way of working is suitable for therapists of all orientations” Dr Manu Bazzano.
Dr Manu Bazzano is an author, psychotherapist/supervisor in private practice and an internationally recognised lecturer and facilitator. His background is philosophy and rock music. He studied Eastern contemplative practices since 1980 and in 2004 was ordained in the Soto and Rinzai tradition of Zen Buddhism. Among his books: Re-Visioning Existential Therapy: (Routledge,2020) Nietzsche and Psychotherapy (Routledge, 2019); Re-visioning Person-centred Therapy (2018); Zen and Therapy: Heretical Perspectives (2017) Therapy and the Counter-tradition (2016); After Mindfulness (2014); Spectre of the Stranger: towards a Phenomenology of Hospitality (Sussex, 2012); Buddha is Dead (Sussex, 2006). Website: www.manubazzano.com
All dates: Saturday 12 November 2022
Fee: £140
BOOK A PLACE >
Time: Saturdays from 2pm to 5pm (UK time)
Venue: Online – Zoom

ADVANCED AFFECT-BASED SUPERVISION GROUP with Dr Manu Bazzano
2022-10-22 14:00 - 17:00 (Europe/London)
“Supervision is not ‘management’ but open exploration. It is a soulful endeavour. At the heart of group supervision is the crucial notion of affect, the modification or variation produced in a body/mind by the interaction with other bodies/minds. Affects carry important information, and it is through being affected, that therapists and supervisors can begin to unfasten the artificial separateness of client-therapist-supervisor. That’s when the client’s experience may be more genuinely accessed. Through experiential processing of clinical material and discussion, we will explore some innovative ideas from affect theory and beyond that may enliven and enrich participants’ practice. For an introduction, please refer to this free article published in Threshold, a BACP magazine: click here. My way of working is suitable for therapists of all orientations” Dr Manu Bazzano.
Dr Manu Bazzano is an author, psychotherapist/supervisor in private practice and an internationally recognised lecturer and facilitator. His background is philosophy and rock music. He studied Eastern contemplative practices since 1980 and in 2004 was ordained in the Soto and Rinzai tradition of Zen Buddhism. Among his books: Re-Visioning Existential Therapy: (Routledge,2020) Nietzsche and Psychotherapy (Routledge, 2019); Re-visioning Person-centred Therapy (2018); Zen and Therapy: Heretical Perspectives (2017) Therapy and the Counter-tradition (2016); After Mindfulness (2014); Spectre of the Stranger: towards a Phenomenology of Hospitality (Sussex, 2012); Buddha is Dead (Sussex, 2006). Website: www.manubazzano.com
All dates: Saturday 22 October 2022
Fee: £140
BOOK A PLACE >
Time: Saturdays from 2pm to 5pm (UK time)
Venue: Online – Zoom

EXISTENTIAL DIALOGUE between Prof E. Spinelli and Dr Greg Madison
2022-10-15 14:00 - 15:00 UTC | Online (Zoom), United Kingdom
Series of discussions, dialogues and conversations between Prof Ernesto Spinelli and International existential therapists.
EXISTENTIAL DIALOGUE between Prof E. Spinelli and Dr Greg Madison. Topic: “Is Existence the Same as Experience in Existential Therapy?”. Book here >

About this event
“Existential therapy is a wide ranging arena, with many perspectives and different views that also, fundamentally, share an attitude expressing a way of thinking and being with people. Representatives of the existential approach from different parts of the world have agreed to engage in an open-format discussion with me. Each of them will bring their own particular topic of interest as the focus for the discussion. From these, participants will hopefully see that existential therapy and existential thought in general cover a huge range of topics, view points and perspectives and explores these in a way that it is different, stimulating and enjoyable.” Prof Ernesto Spinelli
Is Existence the Same as Experience in Existential Therapy?
“I would like to discuss the experiential dimension of Existential Therapy with reference to the practice of Focusing and the work of Eugene Gendlin. It will consist of an open and spontaneous exploration of what actually happens in therapy, what actually is ’the therapeutic relationship’, what is the role of existential philosophy in practice (if anything)? How can philosophy or theory inform our interactions with clients without the therapy becoming abstract and conceptual, remaining mostly at the cognitive level? Fundamentally, we will question whether all aspects of human existence are already ‘in’ our experience and if so, can we then say that experience equates to existence and therefore all existential therapists should be primarily experiential?” Dr. Greg Madison
About Prof Ernesto Spinelli
“An internationally-recognised leader in existential therapy and coaching psychology, Professor Ernesto Spinelli developed and taught the first psychology undergraduate and PhD programmes to focus on counselling and psychotherapy research. He has contributed to a growing interest in, and professional appreciation of, existential therapeutic techniques.
Professor Spinelli publications and textbooks are standard reading for many psychotherapies and coaching training programmes around the world. His book, Practising Existential Therapy: The Relational World, 2nd edition (2015), was identified as the most influential contemporary text on existential therapeutic practice.” BPS
About Dr. Greg Madison
Dr. Greg Madison is a Chartered Psychologist and Associate Fellow of the BPS and Registered existential Psychotherapist (UKCP/EAP). He regularly lectures internationally and teaches workshops in the UK while maintaining a limited private practice online. Greg’s academic studies in psychology began in 1979, when he first learned about the work of the existential philosopher Eugene Gendlin, and he has been practicing as a psychotherapist and Focusing teacher now for over thirty years. He wrote a small book called ‘The End of Belonging’, exploring the concept of “existential migration” and has edited two books on Focusing Oriented Psychotherapy as well as co-edited a text on Existential Therapy. Having been exposed to many psychological theories and most of the various models of psychotherapy, Greg maintains a sceptical perspective regarding our current ‘knowledge’ about psychology, claims about the meaning of life, and scientific beliefs that explain existence and human functioning. Greg believes that it is crucial that we remain as open as possible to the complexity of human existence: each person teaches us something universal and also something unique about the everyday dilemmas of being human and the unanswered deeper questions of our place in the universe. In his work, Greg Madison emphasises what a person concretely experiences moment-by-moment and how in existential work it is our experience that continues to unfold and enrich our understanding of ‘self’ as living process.
(This Dialogue is part of “Existential Dialogues”. You can book each dialogue independently for £40 – book in Eventbrite or the ten dialogues for £300 book here)
PROGRAMME:
Dr MANU BAZZANO “Therapy and the Daimonic” (22 January)
Dr KATERINA ZYMNIS “Diving into the Co-Created World of the Psychotherapeutic Encounter” (19 February)
Dr TODD DUBOSE “The Power of Phenomenological Openness” (19 March)
Dr MICHAEL MONTGOMERY “Reconciling the Past” (23 April)
Dr YAQUI MARTINEZ “Challenges to Existential Therapeutic Practice”(21 May)
BÁRBARA GODOY “Brainstorming the Basis of an Existential Laboratory” (18 June)
Dr BETTY CANNON “In the Spirit of Play: Toward a Psychology of Freedom” (23 July)
Dr GREG MADISON “Is Existence the Same as Experience in Existential Therapy?” (15 October)
Dr XUEFU WANG “Zhimian: an Existential Approach as Viewed from Chinese Culture” (19 November)
Dr KEN BRADFORD “Radical Authenticity” (17 December)

ADVANCED AFFECT-BASED SUPERVISION GROUP with Dr Manu Bazzano
2022-09-17 14:00 - 17:00 (Europe/London)
“Supervision is not ‘management’ but open exploration. It is a soulful endeavour. At the heart of group supervision is the crucial notion of affect, the modification or variation produced in a body/mind by the interaction with other bodies/minds. Affects carry important information, and it is through being affected, that therapists and supervisors can begin to unfasten the artificial separateness of client-therapist-supervisor. That’s when the client’s experience may be more genuinely accessed. Through experiential processing of clinical material and discussion, we will explore some innovative ideas from affect theory and beyond that may enliven and enrich participants’ practice. For an introduction, please refer to this free article published in Threshold, a BACP magazine: click here. My way of working is suitable for therapists of all orientations” Dr Manu Bazzano.
Dr Manu Bazzano is an author, psychotherapist/supervisor in private practice and an internationally recognised lecturer and facilitator. His background is philosophy and rock music. He studied Eastern contemplative practices since 1980 and in 2004 was ordained in the Soto and Rinzai tradition of Zen Buddhism. Among his books: Re-Visioning Existential Therapy: (Routledge,2020) Nietzsche and Psychotherapy (Routledge, 2019); Re-visioning Person-centred Therapy (2018); Zen and Therapy: Heretical Perspectives (2017) Therapy and the Counter-tradition (2016); After Mindfulness (2014); Spectre of the Stranger: towards a Phenomenology of Hospitality (Sussex, 2012); Buddha is Dead (Sussex, 2006). Website: www.manubazzano.com
All dates: Saturdays 17 September 2022
Fee: £140
BOOK A PLACE >
Time: Saturdays from 2pm to 5pm (UK time)
Venue: Online – Zoom

UNLOCKING OUR-SELVES with Bárbara Godoy
2022-09-16 12:30 - 13:45 UTC | Online (Zoom), United Kingdom
Experiential Group and Process Work
A playground for therapists to nurture the imagination, release inhibitions and mobilise therapeutic insights

“Supportive, thought-provoking, emancipating, grounding”
This year’s programme is inspired by Nietzsche’s Three Metamorphoses of the Spirit (from Thus Spoke Zarathustra). A process of reflections on Self Overcoming through Self Re-Creation that can make All of LIFE more powerful.
For Nietzsche life “births” itself and the human spirit can become the fruit that carries the seed of a sweeter future. The spirit must go through three stages to be free. The first stage is the Camel who wishes to fulfil the already existing values but eventually realises that not all things should be preserved and some burdens are too much to bear. So the Camel becomes the Lion who stands against tradition and the old assumptions conquering its own territory. However, like the Camel, the Lion is a reaction to definitions handed down by others, the spirit is still dependent. Finally, the Lion becomes the Child who is a self-propelling wheel, a new beginning, an afresh perspective,
a sacred “Yes!” to life and its possibilities.
Fridays 12.30 pm to 1.45 pm – Online
Fee: £300
Dates:
16, 23 and 30 September
7, 14, 21 and 28 October
11, 18 and 25 November and 2 December
BOOK YOUR PLACE >
Bárbara Godoy M.A., Adv. Dip. Exi. Psy. Existential Psychotherapist Group Leader, Counsellour, Lecturer and Supervisor, MBACP & UKCP accredited, SEA Professional Member, Director of Therapy Harley StreetBárbara’s academic contributions in London since 2008 includes lecturing and researching on the theory and practice of Phenomenological Existential Therapy on Doctorate, MA and professional courses at the School of Psychotherapy and Counselling Psychology, Regent’s University and the New School of Psychotherapy and Counselling directed by Emmy van Deurzen. Bárbara has facilitated and designed therapeutic Group Work since 1997. She brought her earliest workshop: “Experiences” to large groups in The Netherlands, Italy, France, UK and Argentina. These awareness-intensive processes are a legacy of the human potential movement (HPM) of 1960’s, with techniques such as AUM Meditation Marathons, Psychodrama, Bioenergetics and Primal Feelings work.
Buy a ticket in Eventbrite or Request a booking

EXISTENTIAL DIALOGUE between Prof E. Spinelli and Dr Betty Cannon
2022-07-23 14:00 - 15:00 UTC | Online (Zoom), United Kingdom
Series of discussions, dialogues and conversations between Prof Ernesto Spinelli and International existential therapists.
EXISTENTIAL DIALOGUE between Prof E. Spinelli and Dr Betty Cannon. Topic: “In the Spirit of Play: Toward a Psychology of Freedom”. Book here >

“Existential therapy is a wide ranging arena, with many perspectives and different views that also, fundamentally, share an attitude expressing a way of thinking and being with people. Representatives of the existential approach from different parts of the world have agreed to engage in an open-format discussion with me. Each of them will bring their own particular topic of interest as the focus for the discussion. From these, participants will hopefully see that existential therapy and existential thought in general cover a huge range of topics, view points and perspectives and explores these in a way that it is different, stimulating and enjoyable.” Prof Ernesto Spinelli
In the Spirit of Play; Toward a Psychology of Freedom
“We will discuss British psychoanalyst D.W. Winnicott’s well-known statement, ‘Psychotherapy has to do with two people playing together,’ in the light of Jean-Paul Sartre’s philosophy of freedom. I have suggested elsewhere that when we let go of the spirit of seriousness, what we may hope to put in its place is an attitude that I like to call the ‘spirit of play’. It is a life stance in which we embrace our own and each other’s freedom. I’d like to discuss: What does playful psychotherapy look like? What kinds of interventions might we use? And how might it differ from more ‘serious’ approaches? How is it likely to be experienced, and where is it likely to end up? And what does it mean for therapist and client to ‘play together’? I wonder if this idea of psychotherapy as play has something in common with Ernesto’s contention that the therapist ought to adopt the role of the ‘fool’ and to approach therapy from an attitude of ‘un-knowing’ or letting go of preconceptions (in so far as this is possible) in order to approach with fresh eyes the experiential world of this particular client. I look forward to a playful dialogue about all this.” Dr Betty Cannon
About Prof Ernesto Spinelli
“An internationally-recognised leader in existential therapy and coaching psychology, Professor Ernesto Spinelli developed and taught the first psychology undergraduate and PhD programmes to focus on counselling and psychotherapy research. He has contributed to a growing interest in, and professional appreciation of, existential therapeutic techniques.
Professor Spinelli publications and textbooks are standard reading for many psychotherapies and coaching training programmes around the world. His book, Practising Existential Therapy: The Relational World, 2nd edition (2015), was identified as the most influential contemporary text on existential therapeutic practice.” BPS
About Dr. Betty Cannon
Betty Cannon, PhD, is a licensed psychologist who has practiced and taught in Boulder, Colorado, for over 40 years. She is Professor Emerita of the Colorado School of Mines, Senior Adjunct Professor at Naropa University, and the founder of the Boulder Psychotherapy Institute, which has trained mental health professionals in Applied Existential Psychotherapy since 1989. AEP is an existential-psychodynamic approach (founded by Betty) that also has roots in Gestalt therapy, humanistic psychology (especially the person-centered therapy of Carl Rogers), and body-oriented psychotherapy. Betty is a member of the editorial boards of three international journals: Existential Analysis, Sartre Studies International, and Review of Existential Psychology and Psychiatry. She is the author of Sartre and Psychoanalysis and numerous articles and chapters on existential therapy. Her mentor was Hazel E. Barnes, who translated Sartre into English and who was the world’s foremost Sartre scholar until her death in 2008. Betty is her literary executor, and her book on Sartre is dedicated to Hazel. The title of the present dialogue is inspired by a book Betty is currently writing: In the Spirit of Play: Applied Existential Psychotherapy
(This Dialogue is part of “Existential Dialogues”. You can book each dialogue independently for £40 – book in Eventbrite or the ten dialogues for £300 book here)
PROGRAMME:
Dr MANU BAZZANO “Therapy and the Daimonic” (22 January)
Dr KATERINA ZYMNIS “Diving into the Co-Created World of the Psychotherapeutic Encounter” (19 February)
Dr TODD DUBOSE “The Power of Phenomenological Openness” (19 March)
Dr MICHAEL MONTGOMERY “Reconciling the Past” (23 April)
Dr YAQUI MARTINEZ “Challenges to Existential Therapeutic Practice”(21 May)
BÁRBARA GODOY “Brainstorming the Basis of an Existential Laboratory” (18 June)
Dr BETTY CANNON “In the Spirit of Play: Toward a Psychology of Freedom” (23 July)
Dr GREG MADISON “Is Existence the Same as Experience in Existential Therapy?” (15 October)
Dr XUEFU WANG “Zhimian: an Existential Approach as Viewed from Chinese Culture” (19 November)
Dr KEN BRADFORD “Radical Authenticity” (17 December)

ADVANCED AFFECT-BASED SUPERVISION GROUP with Dr Manu Bazzano
2022-07-16 14:00 - 17:00 (Europe/London)
“Supervision is not ‘management’ but open exploration. It is a soulful endeavour. At the heart of group supervision is the crucial notion of affect, the modification or variation produced in a body/mind by the interaction with other bodies/minds. Affects carry important information, and it is through being affected, that therapists and supervisors can begin to unfasten the artificial separateness of client-therapist-supervisor. That’s when the client’s experience may be more genuinely accessed. Through experiential processing of clinical material and discussion, we will explore some innovative ideas from affect theory and beyond that may enliven and enrich participants’ practice. For an introduction, please refer to this free article published in Threshold, a BACP magazine: click here. My way of working is suitable for therapists of all orientations” Dr Manu Bazzano.
Dr Manu Bazzano is an author, psychotherapist/supervisor in private practice and an internationally recognised lecturer and facilitator. His background is philosophy and rock music. He studied Eastern contemplative practices since 1980 and in 2004 was ordained in the Soto and Rinzai tradition of Zen Buddhism. Among his books: Re-Visioning Existential Therapy: (Routledge,2020) Nietzsche and Psychotherapy (Routledge, 2019); Re-visioning Person-centred Therapy (2018); Zen and Therapy: Heretical Perspectives (2017) Therapy and the Counter-tradition (2016); After Mindfulness (2014); Spectre of the Stranger: towards a Phenomenology of Hospitality (Sussex, 2012); Buddha is Dead (Sussex, 2006). Website: www.manubazzano.com
All dates: Saturday 16 July 2022
Fee: £140
BOOK A PLACE >
Time: Saturdays from 2pm to 5pm (UK time)
Venue: Online – Zoom

EXISTENTIAL DIALOGUE between Prof E. Spinelli and Bárbara Godoy
2022-06-18 14:00 - 15:00 UTC | Online (Zoom), United Kingdom
Series of discussions, dialogues and conversations between Prof Ernesto Spinelli and International existential therapists.
EXISTENTIAL DIALOGUE between Prof E. Spinelli and Bárbara Godoy. Topic: “Brainstorming the Basis of an Existential Laboratory”. Book here >

“Existential therapy is a wide-ranging arena, with many perspectives and different views that also, fundamentally, share an attitude expressing a way of thinking and being with people. Representatives of the existential approach from different parts of the world have agreed to engage in an open-format discussion with me. Each of them will bring their own particular topic of interest as the focus for the discussion. From these, participants will hopefully see that existential therapy and existential thought in general cover a huge range of topics, view points and perspectives and explores these in a way that it is different, stimulating and enjoyable.” Prof Ernesto Spinelli
Brainstorming the Basis of an Existential Laboratory
“What is the most conducive environment to train Existential Therapists? There is an obvious gap between our emphasis on the importance of experience and the courses on offer. Training courses are confined, defined and defeated by government regulations, biased statutory prejudices and the inhibition of trainers whose theoretical preparation has seldom be matched with an adequate systematic and committed practice. We have to ask ourselves what level of “Existential fitness” might be required to practice this radical art? There is no lack of methodologies for such a task only a shortage of courageous education.” Bárbara Godoy
About Prof Ernesto Spinelli
“An internationally-recognised leader in existential therapy and coaching psychology, Professor Ernesto Spinelli developed and taught the first psychology undergraduate and PhD programmes to focus on counselling and psychotherapy research. He has contributed to a growing interest in, and professional appreciation of, existential therapeutic techniques.
Professor Spinelli publications and textbooks are standard reading for many psychotherapies and coaching training programmes around the world. His book, Practising Existential Therapy: The Relational World, 2nd edition (2015), was identified as the most influential contemporary text on existential therapeutic practice.” BPS
About Bårbara Godoy
Bárbara Godoy M.A., Adv. Dip. Exi. Psy, UKCP accredited Psychotherapist and Supervisor, MBACP and SEA – Director of Therapy Harley Street. Bárbara’s academic experience in London since 2008 includes lecturing and researching on the theory and practice of Phenomenological Existential Therapy on Doctorate, MA and professional courses at the School of Psychotherapy and Counselling Psychology, Regent’s University and the New School of Psychotherapy and Counselling directed by Emmy van Deurzen. Bárbara has facilitated therapeutic Group Work internationally since 1997. The question about the meaning of Being-Woman was the topic of her thesis completed in 2005 and evolved into two main Women’s Groups: “Nine muses” and “Four Seasons” which she leads in addition to her individual private practice. Currently as the clinical director of THS, Bárbara leads a team of over 20 professional practitioners in the area of Psychological services and Wellbeing consultancy. Bárbara is also founder director of THS’s Personal Development and CPD Programmes.
(This Dialogue is part of “Existential Dialogues”. You can book each dialogue independently for £40 book in Evenbrite – or the ten dialogues for £300 book here)
PROGRAMME:
Dr MANU BAZZANO “Therapy and the Daimonic” (22 January)
Dr KATERINA ZYMNIS “Diving into the Co-Created World of the Psychotherapeutic Encounter” (19 February)
Dr TODD DUBOSE “The Power of Phenomenological Openness” (19 March)
Dr MICHAEL MONTGOMERY “Reconciling the Past” (23 April)
Dr YAQUI MARTINEZ “Challenges to Existential Therapeutic Practice”(21 May)
BÁRBARA GODOY “Brainstorming the Basis of an Existential Laboratory” (18 June)
Dr BETTY CANNON “In the Spirit of Play: Toward a Psychology of Freedom” (23 July)
Dr GREG MADISON “Is Existence the Same as Experience in Existential Therapy?” (15 October)
Dr XUEFU WANG “Zhimian: an Existential Approach as Viewed from Chinese Culture” (19 November)
Dr KEN BRADFORD “Radical Authenticity” (17 December)

ADVANCED AFFECT-BASED SUPERVISION GROUP with Dr Manu Bazzano
2022-06-11 14:00 - 17:00 (Europe/London)
“Supervision is not ‘management’ but open exploration. It is a soulful endeavour. At the heart of group supervision is the crucial notion of affect, the modification or variation produced in a body/mind by the interaction with other bodies/minds. Affects carry important information, and it is through being affected, that therapists and supervisors can begin to unfasten the artificial separateness of client-therapist-supervisor. That’s when the client’s experience may be more genuinely accessed. Through experiential processing of clinical material and discussion, we will explore some innovative ideas from affect theory and beyond that may enliven and enrich participants’ practice. For an introduction, please refer to this free article published in Threshold, a BACP magazine: click here. My way of working is suitable for therapists of all orientations” Dr Manu Bazzano.
Dr Manu Bazzano is an author, psychotherapist/supervisor in private practice and an internationally recognised lecturer and facilitator. His background is philosophy and rock music. He studied Eastern contemplative practices since 1980 and in 2004 was ordained in the Soto and Rinzai tradition of Zen Buddhism. Among his books: Re-Visioning Existential Therapy: (Routledge,2020) Nietzsche and Psychotherapy (Routledge, 2019); Re-visioning Person-centred Therapy (2018); Zen and Therapy: Heretical Perspectives (2017) Therapy and the Counter-tradition (2016); After Mindfulness (2014); Spectre of the Stranger: towards a Phenomenology of Hospitality (Sussex, 2012); Buddha is Dead (Sussex, 2006). Website: www.manubazzano.com
All dates: Saturdays 11 June 2022
Fee: £140
BOOK A PLACE >
Time: Saturdays from 2pm to 5pm (UK time)
Venue: Online – Zoom

EXISTENTIAL DIALOGUE between Prof Ernesto Spinelli and Dr Yaqui Martinez
2022-05-21 14:00 - 15:00 UTC | Online (Zoom), United Kingdom
Series of discussions, dialogues and conversations between Prof Ernesto Spinelli and International existential therapists.
EXISTENTIAL DIALOGUE between Prof Ernesto Spinelli and Dr Yaqui Martinez. Topic: “Challenges to Existential Therapeutic Practice”. Book here >

“Existential therapy is a wide ranging arena, with many perspectives and different views that also, fundamentally, share an attitude expressing a way of thinking and being with people. Representatives of the existential approach from different parts of the world have agreed to engage in an open-format discussion with me. Each of them will bring their own particular topic of interest as the focus for the discussion. From these, participants will hopefully see that existential therapy and existential thought in general cover a huge range of topics, view points and perspectives and explores these in a way that it is different, stimulating and enjoyable.” Prof Ernesto Spinelli
Challenges to Existential Therapeutic Practice
“There are different levels of challenges in therapeutic practice from an Existential and Phenomenological perspective: a) at a personal level.- with our own struggles to embrace the Existential-Phenomenological worldview; b) with our clients and the therapeutic relationship.- with their needs and our need to be a “good therapist”; c) with colleagues and the wider field of psychotherapy – because there are different perspectives about what is “good practice” ;and d) with culture and current society – with their expectations and way to understand what therapy is.” Dr Yaqui Martinez
About Prof Ernesto Spinelli
“An internationally-recognised leader in existential therapy and coaching psychology, Professor Ernesto Spinelli developed and taught the first psychology undergraduate and PhD programmes to focus on counselling and psychotherapy research. He has contributed to a growing interest in, and professional appreciation of, existential therapeutic techniques.
Professor Spinelli publications and textbooks are standard reading for many psychotherapies and coaching training programmes around the world. His book, Practising Existential Therapy: The Relational World, 2nd edition (2015), was identified as the most influential contemporary text on existential therapeutic practice.” BPS
About Dr. Yaqui Martinez
Dr Yaqui Andrés Martínez Robles is a psychologist with PsyD in Psychotherapy. He has specialities in Gestalt Therapy, Music Therapy, Transpersonal Psychology, Narrative and postmodern therapies and Social Constructionism. He is author of four books focused on the existential perspective. Yaqui is the founder of the Circle of Studies in Existential Therapy, in Mexico City. He teaches existential-phenomenological psychology and therapy in Mexico and different countries of South America. He is the current president of the Latin American Association of Existential Psychotherapy. He works in private practice as an existential-phenomenological therapist and coach.
(This Dialogue is part of “Existential Dialogues”. You can book each dialogue independently for £40 or the ten dialogues for £300 book here)
PROGRAMME:
Dr MANU BAZZANO “Therapy and the Daimonic” (22 January)
Dr KATERINA ZYMNIS “Diving into the Co-Created World of the Psychotherapeutic Encounter” (19 February)
Dr TODD DUBOSE “The Power of Phenomenological Openness” (19 March)
Dr MICHAEL MONTGOMERY “Reconciling the Past” (23 April)
Dr YAQUI MARTINEZ “Challenges to Existential Therapeutic Practice”(21 May)
BÁRBARA GODOY “Brainstorming the Basis of an Existential Laboratory” (18 June)
Dr BETTY CANNON “In the Spirit of Play: Toward a Psychology of Freedom” (23 July)
Dr GREG MADISON “Is Existence the Same as Experience in Existential Therapy?” (15 October)
Dr XUEFU WANG “Zhimian: an Existential Approach as Viewed from Chinese Culture” (19 November)
Dr KEN BRADFORD “Radical Authenticity” (17 December)

ADVANCED AFFECT-BASED SUPERVISION GROUP with Dr Manu Bazzano
2022-05-14 14:00 - 17:00 (Europe/London)
“Supervision is not ‘management’ but open exploration. It is a soulful endeavour. At the heart of group supervision is the crucial notion of affect, the modification or variation produced in a body/mind by the interaction with other bodies/minds. Affects carry important information, and it is through being affected, that therapists and supervisors can begin to unfasten the artificial separateness of client-therapist-supervisor. That’s when the client’s experience may be more genuinely accessed. Through experiential processing of clinical material and discussion, we will explore some innovative ideas from affect theory and beyond that may enliven and enrich participants’ practice. For an introduction, please refer to this free article published in Threshold, a BACP magazine: click here. My way of working is suitable for therapists of all orientations” Dr Manu Bazzano.
Dr Manu Bazzano is an author, psychotherapist/supervisor in private practice and an internationally recognised lecturer and facilitator. His background is philosophy and rock music. He studied Eastern contemplative practices since 1980 and in 2004 was ordained in the Soto and Rinzai tradition of Zen Buddhism. Among his books: Re-Visioning Existential Therapy: (Routledge,2020) Nietzsche and Psychotherapy (Routledge, 2019); Re-visioning Person-centred Therapy (2018); Zen and Therapy: Heretical Perspectives (2017) Therapy and the Counter-tradition (2016); After Mindfulness (2014); Spectre of the Stranger: towards a Phenomenology of Hospitality (Sussex, 2012); Buddha is Dead (Sussex, 2006). Website: www.manubazzano.com
All dates: Saturdays 14 May 2022
Fee: £140
BOOK A PLACE >
Time: Saturdays from 2pm to 5pm (UK time)
Venue: Online – ZoomADVANCED AFFECT-BASED SUPERVISION GROUP with Dr Manu Bazzano

UNLOCKING OUR-SELVES with Bárbara Godoy
2022-05-13 12:30 - 13:45 (Europe/London)
Experiential Group and Process Work
A playground for therapists to nurture the imagination, release inhibitions and mobilise therapeutic insights

“Supportive, thought-provoking, emancipating, grounding”
This year’s programme is inspired by Nietzsche’s Three Metamorphoses of the Spirit (from Thus Spoke Zarathustra). A process of reflections on Self Overcoming through Self Re-Creation that can make All of LIFE more powerful.
For Nietzsche life “births” itself and the human spirit can become the fruit that carries the seed of a sweeter future. The spirit must go through three stages to be free. The first stage is the Camel who wishes to fulfil the already existing values but eventually realises that not all things should be preserved and some burdens are too much to bear. So the Camel becomes the Lion who stands against tradition and the old assumptions conquering its own territory. However, like the Camel, the Lion is a reaction to definitions handed down by others, the spirit is still dependent. Finally, the Lion becomes the Child who is a self-propelling wheel, a new beginning, an afresh perspective,
a sacred “Yes!” to life and its possibilities.
Fridays 12.30 pm to 1.45 pm – Online
Fee: £300
Dates:
13, 20 and 27 May
3, 10, 17 and 24 June
1, 8 and 15 July
BOOK YOUR PLACE >
Bárbara Godoy M.A., Adv. Dip. Exi. Psy. Existential Psychotherapist Group Leader, Counsellour, Lecturer and Supervisor, MBACP & UKCP accredited, SEA Professional Member, Director of Therapy Harley StreetBárbara’s academic contributions in London since 2008 includes lecturing and researching on the theory and practice of Phenomenological Existential Therapy on Doctorate, MA and professional courses at the School of Psychotherapy and Counselling Psychology, Regent’s University and the New School of Psychotherapy and Counselling directed by Emmy van Deurzen. Bárbara has facilitated and designed therapeutic Group Work since 1997. She brought her earliest workshop: “Experiences” to large groups in The Netherlands, Italy, France, UK and Argentina. These awareness-intensive processes are a legacy of the human potential movement (HPM) of 1960’s, with techniques such as AUM Meditation Marathons, Psychodrama, Bioenergetics and Primal Feelings work.
Buy a ticket in Eventbrite or Request a booking

UNLOCKING OUR-SELVES with Bárbara Godoy
2022-05-05 18:30 - 2022-07-14 20:00 UTC | Online (Zoom), United Kingdom
Experiential Group and Process Work
A playground for therapists to nurture the imagination, release inhibitions and mobilise therapeutic insights

“Supportive, thought-provoking, emancipating, grounding”
This year’s programme is inspired by Nietzsche’s Three Metamorphoses of the Spirit (from Thus Spoke Zarathustra). A process of reflections on Self Overcoming through Self Re-Creation that can make All of LIFE more powerful.
For Nietzsche life “births” itself and the human spirit can become the fruit that carries the seed of a sweeter future. The spirit must go through three stages to be free. The first stage is the Camel who wishes to fulfil the already existing values but eventually realises that not all things should be preserved and some burdens are too much to bear. So the Camel becomes the Lion who stands against tradition and the old assumptions conquering its own territory. However, like the Camel, the Lion is a reaction to definitions handed down by others, the spirit is still dependent. Finally, the Lion becomes the Child who is a self-propelling wheel, a new beginning, an afresh perspective,
a sacred “Yes!” to life and its possibilities.
Thursdays 6.30 pm to 8 pm – Online
Fee: £300 per term
Summer term
5, 12, 19 and 26 May
(no session 2), 9, 16, 23 and 30 June
7 and 14 July
Autumn term
22 and 29 September
6, 13, 20 and (no session 27) October
3, 10, 17 and 24 November and 1 December
BOOK YOUR PLACE >
Bárbara Godoy M.A., Adv. Dip. Exi. Psy. Existential Psychotherapist Group Leader, Counsellour, Lecturer and Supervisor, MBACP & UKCP accredited, SEA Professional Member, Director of Therapy Harley StreetBárbara’s academic contributions in London since 2008 includes lecturing and researching on the theory and practice of Phenomenological Existential Therapy on Doctorate, MA and professional courses at the School of Psychotherapy and Counselling Psychology, Regent’s University and the New School of Psychotherapy and Counselling directed by Emmy van Deurzen. Bárbara has facilitated and designed therapeutic Group Work since 1997. She brought her earliest workshop: “Experiences” to large groups in The Netherlands, Italy, France, UK and Argentina. These awareness-intensive processes are a legacy of the human potential movement (HPM) of 1960’s, with techniques such as AUM Meditation Marathons, Psychodrama, Bioenergetics and Primal Feelings work.
Buy a ticket in Eventbrite or Request a booking

EXISTENTIAL DIALOGUE between Prof E. Spinelli and Dr Michael Montgomery
2022-04-23 14:00 - 15:00 UTC | Online (Zoom), United Kingdom
Series of discussions, dialogues and conversations between Prof Ernesto Spinelli and International existential therapists.
EXISTENTIAL DIALOGUE between Prof E. Spinelli and Michael Montgomery. Topic: “Reconciling the Past”. Book here >

About this event
“Existential therapy is a wide ranging arena, with many perspectives and different views that also, fundamentally, share an attitude expressing a way of thinking and being with people. Representatives of the existential approach from different parts of the world have agreed to engage in an open-format discussion with me. Each of them will bring their own particular topic of interest as the focus for the discussion. From these, participants will hopefully see that existential therapy and existential thought in general cover a huge range of topics, view points and perspectives and explores these in a way that it is different, stimulating and enjoyable.” Prof Ernesto Spinelli
Reconciling the Past
“Freud once suggested that psychoanalysis’s motto was ‘What have they done to you, poor child?’, such was his anguish over actual childhood abuse. Over the years existential–phenomenological thinking has had an ever-increasing influence on my practice, even over more psychoanalytic ways of working. However, when working with clients I cannot ignore the past. Contemporary psychoanalytic thinking still holds much value for me in making sense of the impact of trauma. In society we appear to be experiencing the tragic and unfolding consequences of not adequately addressing past injustices and inequality. Given the profusion of research on the impact of past trauma on the present, where is existential thinking today in terms of reconciling the past?” Michael Montgomery
About Prof Ernesto Spinelli
“An internationally-recognised leader in existential therapy and coaching psychology, Professor Ernesto Spinelli developed and taught the first psychology undergraduate and PhD programmes to focus on counselling and psychotherapy research. He has contributed to a growing interest in, and professional appreciation of, existential therapeutic techniques.
Professor Spinelli publications and textbooks are standard reading for many psychotherapies and coaching training programmes around the world. His book, Practising Existential Therapy: The Relational World, 2nd edition (2015), was identified as the most influential contemporary text on existential therapeutic practice.” BPS
About Michael Montgomery
Dr Michael R. Montgomery is an international psychotherapist, clinical psychiatric social worker, published researcher, and regular contributor to the Society for Existential Analysis through their publications and annual conference. He has lived, worked, and researched in the UK, Malaysia, Germany and now in America. He is widely experienced within a spectrum of demanding psychosocial settings. Originally from Belfast, Northern ireland his work and message is very much informed by his experiences, past and present, of growing up during a violent armed conflict. He specialises in complex trauma and conflict resolution. His doctoral research generated a contemporary theory of the clinician’s use of silence.
(This Dialogue is part of “Existential Dialogues”. You can book each dialogue independently for £40 or the ten dialogues for £300 book here)

PROGRAMME:
Dr MANU BAZZANO “Therapy and the Daimonic” (22 January)
Dr KATERINA ZYMNIS “Diving into the Co-Created World of the Psychotherapeutic Encounter” (19 February)
Dr TODD DUBOSE “The Power of Phenomenological Openness” (19 March)
Dr MICHAEL MONTGOMERY “Reconciling the Past” (23 April)
Dr YAQUI MARTINEZ “Challenges to Existential Therapeutic Practice”(21 May)
BÁRBARA GODOY “Brainstorming the Basis of an Existential Laboratory” (18 June)
Dr BETTY CANNON “In the Spirit of Play: Toward a Psychology of Freedom” (23 July)
Dr GREG MADISON “Is Existence the Same as Experience in Existential Therapy?” (15 October)
Dr XUEFU WANG “Zhimian: an Existential Approach as Viewed from Chinese Culture” (19 November)
Dr KEN BRADFORD “Radical Authenticity” (17 December)
