EHI 9th Annual Conference Scheduled Topics and Events

The EHI 9th Annual Conference, ‘Always Going Home’: Human Evolution and Digital Revolution will take place November 12, 2016 at AgeSong University in San Francisco.

This year's conference will be a dynamic, interactive group discussion hosted by EHI's Nader Shabahangi, PhD, Kirk Schneider, PhD, Sonja Saltman, MA, MFT, Orah Krug, PhD, Mary Madrigal, PhD, Troy Piwowarski, PsyD, and Suzan Bollich, PhD.

Erv Polster 2016 Keynote Presenter

Conference Topics

• Nader Shabahangi, PhD:
  What makes us human beings feel alive, content, loved? If it is connection (to oneself, one another), what is this ‘connection’, what is it made of, how does it smell and feel? Does this need for connection to feel alive, happy, loved get satisfied digitally? Humanly? Both?
• Kirk Schneider, PhD:
  How to cultivate a sense of awe as both a counterpoint to and complement of high tech. Highlighting some points from a book I'm working on tentative title of the book is "The Spirituality of Awe: Challenges to the Robotic Revolution."
• Sonja Saltman, MA, MFT:
  How we use technology in creative and innovative ways.
• Mary Madrigal, PhD:
  Exploring the breakdown of and in the human relationship as it relates to the use of technology over conversation and how the use of technology offers a false sense of relationship and knowing a person via social media.
• Troy Piwowarski, PsyD:
  The specific ways people reconcile the increasing speed associated with the digital age (faster communications, faster ways of getting products, etc.) with the intention of going slower when it comes to our interpersonal work as existential therapists and relational beings.

Cocktail Party and Book Signing to follow conference. Join us from 5pm-6:30pm for book signings, libations and nibbles!

These EHI authors will be on hand to sign their books!

• Dr Orah Krug & Dr Kirk Schneider will be signing the recently published Supervision Essentials of Existential-Humanistic Therapy.
• Dr Mary Madrigal will be signing her recent books Enough: You are Enough and Spirit of the Female Warrior.
• Dr Kirk J Schneider will be signing his latest book, The Polarized Mind, and Awakening to Awe.
• Dr Nader Shabahangi will be signing his recent book Ambiguity of Suffering, and Elders Today, Deeper into the Soul, and Encounters of the Real Kind.

*There will be copies of the above books available.

EHI 9: " 'Always Going Home': Human Evolution and the Digital Revolution"

Exploring the Intersection of the Digital Age and the E-H Therapeutic Perspective

DATE
November 12th, 2016
Saturday 10:00am - 5:00pm
Cocktail Party & Book Signing: 5:00pm - 6:30pm

LOCATION
AgeSong University
350 University Street
San Francisco, CA 94102


COST
Professionals: $100
Students: $50
Find out More and Register Online >> 

Questions?
Contact EHI's Conference Chair, Dr Mary Madrigal at 2016Conf@ehinstitute.org.

Join Us Nov 12th EHI Conference and Cocktail Reception & Book Signing

The Existential-Humanistic Institute Presents:

‘ALWAYS GOING HOME’: HUMAN EVOLUTION AND DIGITAL REVOLUTION

Existential Therapists Explore Concerns of the Modern World

The German poet Novalis, when asked where he thinks the human being is going, answered that ‘we are always going home’. Artists and thinkers from many different cultures have expressed similarly that in our seeking a ‘home’ we are searching for a place where we belong. This search relates to our need to feel connected, both in terms of relationships to other people and in terms of a need to contribute to our humanity.

As existential thinkers and therapists we ask ourselves how the digital revolution helps and hinders our need to find ‘home’. Is the digital revolution contributing to our human evolution to be more at home in this world or does it prevent us from being truly in relationship with others, from experiencing a sense of awe and wonder? Do we feel there are more opportunities to connect through the many digital means afforded us today?

On this day of our gathering, we will try to explore and find answers to these questions and more. Our hope is to understand more deeply for what we humans long as we are ‘on our way home’.

 Exploring the Intersection of the Digital Age and the E-H Therapeutic Perspective

This 9th Annual conference will be a dynamic, interactive group discussion hosted by EHI's Nader Shabahangi, PhD, Kirk Schneider, PhD, Sonja Saltman, MA, MFT, Orah Krug, PhD, Mary Madrigal, PhD, Troy Piwowarski, PsyD, and Suzan Bollich, PhD.

DATE November 12th, 2016  Saturday 10:00am - 5:00pm Cocktail Party & Book Signing: 5:00pm - 6:30pm LOCATION AgeSong University  350 University Street San Francisco, CA 94102

Join us after the Conference!
Cocktail Reception & Book Signing* 5:00pm  - 6:30pm

These EHI authors will be on hand to sign their books!

Dr Orah Krug & Dr Kirk Schneider will be signing the recently published Supervision Essentials of Existential-Humanistic Therapy.

Dr Mary Madrigal will be signing her recent books Enough: You are Enough and Spirit of the Female Warrior.

Dr Kirk Schneider will be signing his latest book, The Polarized Mind, and Awakening to Awe.

Dr Nader Shabahangi will be signing his recent book Ambiguity of Suffering, and Elders Today, Deeper into the Soul, and Ecounters of the Real Kind.

*There will be copies of the above books available

Find out more about EHI's 9th Annual Conference>> 

Register Today >>

Special thanks to our sponsor AgeSong

EHI 2014/15 Cohorts Final Experiential of Curriculum Year at Westerbeke

The EHI Cohorts for the Foundations Certificate Program, the Advanced Certificate Program and the Modular Training Program attended the second and final Experiential of the 2014/2015 Curriculum.Year this March.

Experiential II had the students building on their practical work from Experiential I. Many of the students and attendees are continuing their work together in the Video Consult Group and in the Consult with Master Therapists Group; both held monthly.

Interested in doing case consultation from an E-H perspective?
Find out more about the Consult Group with E-H Master Therapists here on our Events page: the http://ehinstitute.org/events.html

Here are the attendees at experiential leaders and teachers in training working with the group in triads:

Interested in the EHI Experientials?

Experiential Retreat Details

The four day experiential residentials are the core of EHI's training. They allow participants who are graduate students in psychology or counseling and licensed professionals to come together in a safe environment, get to know one another intimately, and experience how E-H therapy is practiced up close and personally. Each of the two experiential residentials involves a combination of relationship-building, learning of theoretical foundations, and first-hand experiences wherein theory comes to life. At times, this may involve faculty members demonstrating their way of working with clients and inviting commentary; at other times, participants work in dyads with each other, and receive direct feedback from a faculty member as they work. Through these various ways of learning, participants begin to drop into a deeper, more embodied sense of what E-H therapy has to offer. The experiential training also provide participants a way of deeply understanding how work on themselves mirrors their ability to work with clients.

EHI Offers Two Programs Where Eligible Student Engage in the Experiential Retreats

Certificate in the Foundations of Existential-Humanistic Practice: The intention of the certificate program coursework is to provide students with such a foundational core by integrating both theory and practice into each course. By gaining competency in these fundamental principles, the student will have a solid core of practice and have a foundation from which additional modalities such as a cognitive-behavioral approach can be employed. The program is intended as a mentoring experience that emphasizes the development of the trainee as a whole person, appreciating that psychotherapy is an art as much as a science.

EHI Modular Training Program: This individualized training program is for those primarily interested in the experiential trainings that we offer. Once accepted into the program, participants may sign up to attend the two experientials, and may also opt to participate in video consultations with our faculty

EHI's Orah Krug and Troy Piwowarski are Contributing Authors to The Handbook of Humanistic Psychology

EHI and The Handbook of Humanistic Psychology - EHI Contributor Profiles

The Handbook of Humanistic Psychology

Theory, Research, and Practice Second Edition

Edited by Kirk J Scheider, J Fraser Pierson and James T Bugental

Sage Publications, 2014



This post features the contribution of Orah Krug, EHI's Clinical Director and Troy Piwowarski, Student Outreach Coordinator with Editor J Frasier Pierson and Jeffrey G Sharp, a presenter at EHI:7 conference.

Chapter 41 

Cultivating Psychotherapist Artistry: Model Existential-Humanistic Training Programs
J Pierson, Orah Krug, Jeffrey Sharp and Troy Piwowarski

This chapter presents the reader with a perspective on what it means to cultivate therapeutic artistry from an existential-humanistic (E-H) lens.  At the heart of E-H therapy training is attending to the therapist-student as a genuine person who is the instrument of the therapy.  This chapter demonstrates two training models that illustrate how the person of the therapist is woven into the fabric of the learning experience.  The first model is based on Jim Bugental's Art of the Psychotherapist training, a model that emphasized students' learning of how to cultivate presence to the subjective world of themselves and their clients.  The second model is the Existential Humanistic Institute's certificate training program, which trains small groups of students and practicing therapists through a combination of theoretical learning and first-hand practice at experiential retreats.  Each of these models are illustrated not only by the theory behind their implementation, but by direct student feedback about what was most poignant.

This Chapter was chosen as one of the sample chapters for the Handbook - You can read Chaper 41, Cultivating Psychotherapist Artistry: Model Existential-Humanistic Training Programs here in PDF form. In this chapter EHI's certificate programs are included as one of the models of training programs highlighted in the article.

Orah T. Krug, Ph.D., is a licensed psychotherapist with a private practice in Oakland, and Sausalito, CA. She is a faculty member of Saybrook University, an editor for the Journal of Humanistic Psychology, and the clinical training director of the Existential-Humanistic Institute of San Francisco. EHI has recently launched a new Modular Training program and three certificate programs, one in partnership with Saybrook University that offers a Certificate in the Foundations of Existential-Humanistic Practice. Dr. Krug co-authored a textbook with Dr. Kirk Schneider entitled, Existential-Humanistic Therapy, part of a monograph series for the American Psychological Association and is  is a co-author of the above chapter in the second edition of The Handbook of Humanistic Psychology entitled "Cultivating Psychotherapist Artistry: Model Existential-Humanistic Training Programs."  She has produced two videos entitled, Conversations with Jim and "Joe" A Demonstration of the Consultation Process, with James Bugental. Her current research focuses on the relationship between existential meaning-making processes and therapeutic change. Dr. Krug may be reached at info[at}ehinstitute.org Attention: Orah Krug.

Read Orah's Presentation at DIV32 6th Annual APA Conference 2013:

The Renewal of Humanism: Lessons from an Existential-Humanistic Training Program - PDF

Troy Piwowarski, Psy.D. Candidate, LLP is an Existential-Humanistic psychotherapist currently complete his doctorate in clinical psychology at the Michigan School of Professional Psychology in Detroit. He had previously been working with elders at AgeSong, an assisted living community with E-H roots in the Bay Area.  As a doctoral student, Troy is passionately exploring what the E-H perspective has to offer, and is investigating through his dissertation how phenomenologically-minded therapists attune to their clients as persons-in-context.  He has published one article on Terror Management Theory entitled "The Effects of Mortality Salience and Belief in Afterlife on the Manifestation of Homonegativity," is a co-author of the above chapter in the second edition of The Handbook of Humanistic Psychology entitled "Cultivating Psychotherapist Artistry: Model Existential-Humanistic Training Programs" and has assisted in editing two books by EHI President Nader Shabahangi.
Troy has been collaborating with the student outreach team as EHI launches its newest training program this year. He currently acts as student outreach coordinator for EHI, and is available to discuss questions regarding the certificate tracks and training programs.