Do you sometimes feel that your work could go deeper, but you don’t quite know how?
This training is designed to develop your ability to work with living process — not just content — in a way that allows new possibilities to emerge.
This experiential training helps you develop a more engaged and effective clinical process
The training is organized into two complementary courses, offered at different times. Both courses are grounded in the same experiential approach and work with the same underlying process.
Each course explores that process from a different clinical perspective, allowing therapists to deepen their understanding through contrast and integration:
- The Mindful and Proactive Edge of FOT emphasizes how to foster a ecosystem in which clients can tap into their innate ability to heal and grow.
- The Embodied & Relational Edge of FOT emphasizes how the bodily felt sense emerges in the context of interaction and how to work with the physicality of our relational patterns.
You may take either course on its own. Many therapists choose to take both, as together they offer a more complete and nuanced integration of the approach. You simply begin with the course that is available at the time you are ready to participate.
Next cohort starts February 12: The Mindful & Proactive Edge of FOT
How this works
Enrollment happens at the level of each course.
This page describes the overall training and the approach that is common to both courses: Develop clinical skills | Structure of the course | Experiential process | Measure progress | The instructor
It also describes:Time commitment & homework | Who this is for | The next cohort
Develop your clinical skills to invite, track, and support a living process
This training is not just about techniques. It helps you cultivate clinical skills to invite, track, and support a living process — in your clients and in yourself:
- A steadier, embodied presence that clients can feel
- Greater ability to notice change that emerges organically and to support it
- Greater skill in inviting movement without overriding the client’s process
- Greater ease of working somatically even with clients who are not in touch with their body
Each course is a structured to support learning through experience, reflection, and integration
- A 2.5 hour live session per month for 6 months
- Before each monthly live sessions, video and articles for self-study
- Practice integrating new approaches into your client work
- Small class: registration limited to 6-12 people who are a good fit for the course
- Between live sessions, peer group to practice what you’re learning
A deep experiential process
- Safety and connection in our small group allow you to be vulnerable in a way that fosters growth
- All our time together is experiential (conceptual learning is done through self-study of videos and articles)
- Process group integrates personal experience with therapy
- Supervision proceeds in an interactive and creative way that stimulates you to be an active participant
- You practice responding to situations moment by moment, skillfully and creatively
How you measure progress
As they get into the training, participants commonly report:
- Feeling more grounded and less pressured to “do something” in sessions
- Greater clarity about when to stay with presence and when to invite movement
- Increased ease working with somatic experience, even when it’s subtle or confusing
- A clearer internal sense of direction while staying relational and attuned
About the instructor
Serge Prengel is a therapist and a Certifying Coordinator of The International Focusing Institute. In addition to Focusing, he is also trained in Core Energetics and Somatic Experiencing.
Over the years, he has been exploring the similarities and differences between different approaches to better understand how change happens.
He has conducted over 200 interviews with therapists, Focusers, researchers, and mindfulness practitioners as part of his podcast.
He has taught internationally through workshops and professional trainings.
See bio for Serge Prengel.
Time commitment & homework
The live part of each course consists of 6 monthly online 2 1/2-hour sessions.
Experiential means that you are learning by participating and being seen, therefore:
– It is expected that you will attend every session of the course.
– We understand that life can be unpredictable, and we allow for one missed session per course (which you must make up with class recordings).
Before each session, you have a video and/or reading about the Focusing theme of the session (plan on 30 to 60 minutes of study per session for the required material, and more for optional material).
Between sessions, you have 2 study groups per month, where you practice the skills discussed at the previous session. You will be assigned to a small group in the first session of the course.
Of course, we pay utmost attention to fostering a sense of safety and connection.
The training at a glance
- Shared experiential foundation
- Two complementary courses
- Offered at different times
- Can be taken independently
- Enrollment is at the level of each course.
Who this training is for
This training is designed for clinicians interested in developing their skills in somatic, process-oriented approaches.
The course is suitable for all levels of Focusing experience, including therapists who have no prior knowledge of Focusing.
If you take these courses as well as the 2 other courses that are part of the Integrative Focusing Therapy training, you are eligible for certification by The International Focusing Institute.
Join the next cohort
Both courses contribute to training you in the clinical capacities described in this page. They do so through different perspectives, enriching your overall practice without requiring a specific order.
You simply begin with the module that is available at the time you are ready to participate. The next cohort will be exploring The Mindful and Proactive Edge of FOT, starting February 12 and continue on for 6 months.
The conceptual focus is: How to foster an ecosystem in which clients can tap into their innate ability to heal and grow.
Learn more about the upcoming training and its curriculum: The mindful & proactive edge of FOT.
More info
I recorded a 20-minute video answering common questions therapists ask about this way of working. Watch the FAQ video.
You can also read about:
– the other course: The Embodied and Relational edge of FOT
– how this is part of the Integrative Focusing Therapy training, leading to certification by The International Focusing Institute.
View specifics of The mindful & proactive edge of FOT and apply.