Dr. Misty Anne Winzenried, Dean of the Graduate School, explains the importance and impact of this new program: 鈥淭his Certificate will provide participants a rich and robust year of thinking about how we read scripture, how we interpret scripture, and how we engage our world and communities. Our teachers are also practitioners, and they are committed to providing deeply contextual understandings of the Bible and its relevance in today’s society.鈥�

Examining the literary forms, themes, and history of the Bible alongside social justice perspectives, students will discover and apply insights to their lives, ministry, and vocation. With the School鈥檚 signature emphasis on the integration of theology and psychology, learners in the Certificate in Scripture & Society program will strengthen their listening skills and develop a therapeutic presence to foster change in society. With plans for additional certificates in the future, 天美视频 is excited to create this opportunity for students who may not be seeking a full master鈥檚 degree to develop and expand appreciation and application for the relevance of the Bible while learning skills and understandings to empower transformation and service in today鈥檚 world.

Applications are open and seats are limited. The early bird application deadline is November 1, 2024 and applications close on December 1, 2024. For more information on our programs, please contact 天美视频 Admissions at admissions@theseattleschool.edu.

The post 天美视频 Announces New Certificate in Scripture & Society appeared first on 天美视频 of Theology & Psychology.

Here, Dr. Barsness takes a deep-dive into the origins and elements of Relationally Focused Psychodynamic Therapy, its core foundations, its connection to interpersonal neurobiology, and the specific practices of relationally focused therapists.

is a method of treatment grounded in depth psychology (particularly contemporary relational psychoanalysis), interpersonal neurobiology, the dialogical philosophy of , and the sacredness of the person and of the therapeutic act.

RFPT is also an evidenced-based psychotherapy modality focused on transformational change through relationship. We hold to an understanding that we are conceived in relationship, formed in relationship, harmed in relationship, and transformed through relationship. The treatment method is designed to deepen a psychotherapist鈥檚 capacity to work directly within the therapeutic relationship as the primary means of change and to develop theoretical and practical skills in the delivery of a relationally-focused treatment.

Origins of Relationally-Focused Psychodynamic Therapy

Relationally Focused Psychodynamic Therapy is as much a meta-theory or method as it is a model, evolving from a wide range of psychoanalytic ideas and theories while offering structure and flexibility in practice.

Relational Psychoanalysis is a movement that began in the 1980s. At that time, a group of psychoanalysts from the NYU post-doctoral program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis ¹ launched what they termed a 鈥渞adical alternative鈥� to the one-person drive theory posited by earlier theoreticians (Freud, Klein, Winnicott, Kernberg, Kohut) to a two-person psychology that emphasized the dyadic, dynamic flow of the therapeutic relationship.

With the understanding that we are shaped interpersonally and that psychopathology is characterized by maladaptive, relational configurations, fundamental to relational psychoanalysis is the power of working 鈥� that is directly within the experience of the therapist/patient relationship. Relational psychoanalyst鈥檚 basic premise is that human beings are born with a primary need of relatedness and that relatedness is necessary for survival. Relatedness is the primary organizer of mental life. RFPT practices are based on relational psychoanalytic theories and on a qualitative research study conducted in 2017 that resulted in seven core disciplines. ² These seven disciplines are representative of common practices among relational analysts in conducting a psychodynamic treatment.

The Connection Between RFPT and Interpersonal Neurobiology

Working from a relationally psychodynamic perspective is also informed by research that explores the effect that relationships (including therapeutic) has on the brain and affect regulation. Researcher Alan Schore states that 鈥渞egulation theory dictates that in 鈥榟eightened鈥� affective moments, the patient鈥檚 unconscious internal working model of attachment, whether secure or insecure, is reactivated in right-lateralized implicitly-procedural memory and re-enacted in the psychotherapeutic relationships.鈥� ³

Disruptions to the continuity, presence, and availability of primary caregivers plays a central role in psychoneuropathogenesis. Thus, interpersonal relations are the building blocks of the mind, determining our attitudes, perceptions, reactions, our feelings, essentially what we might call 鈥渙ur-selves.鈥� Affective states between the right-brains of the patient and the therapist are best described as intersubjectivity. Right brain processes are reciprocally activated within the therapeutic alliance, are most often unconscious and are 鈥渇elt鈥� before they are thought.

Working from this perspective creates relational conflict/dissonance and it is the working through of the inevitable ruptures, interlocks, and enactments that shifts the chemistry of the brain. Alan Schore says, 鈥淓motions are deepened in intensity and sustained in time when they are intersubjectively shared [occurring] in moments of deep contact.鈥� ⁴ Strachey鈥檚 translation of Freud鈥檚 die seele (soul) to mind, removed the essence of Freud鈥檚 intent. The translation sucked the 鈥渟oul鈥� out of psychology, replacing it with an emphasis on the intellect/the mind.

What has been lost is an understanding of the soul as the spirit of life, the energy that animates us toward the other, the fervor in which we approach our lives. Jungian analyst James Hillman 4 describes the soul as that aspect of the human person which makes meaning possible, [deepens] events into experiences, is communicated in love, and has a religious concern. Perhaps Hillmans鈥� reference to religious concerns is a nod to the steadfast discernment of the soul as the central moral force embedded deep within a person. Though religion has done its own violence to the meaning of the soul, ultimately both psychodynamic therapy and religion have a shared teleology. Psychodynamic therapies, laboring in the realm of the soul, (whether it is acknowledged or not), are always bumping up against the sacred. Both seek meaning, depth, and purpose. Both in their own forms of confession, forgiveness, and reconciliation, seek to transform the barriers blocking a vital life of love and care for oneself and of the other.

Interpersonal neurobiology can now 鈥渢rack鈥� the power of the human connection and the transformation that occurs when two lives intersect with the other. This intersection is transacted 鈥漺hen people enter dynamic solidarity with one another鈥nd this deep bonding is contained neither in one, nor the other, nor in the sum of both, but becomes present between them鈥hrough directness and wholeness, will and grace, and the presence of mutuality.鈥� ⁵ , a well-known systematic theologian, refers to this meeting as the 鈥渋ntimate indwelling and complete interpenetration of the persons in one another鈥nd that by their eternal love, the divine person exists so intimately with one another, for one another and in one another that they constitute themselves in their unique, incomparable and complete unity.鈥� ⁶

Practices of a Relationally Focused Therapist

In these deep moments of psychological contact, we are on the threshold of the sacred. Relational psychoanalysis, current research conducted in interpersonal neurobiology, the sacred texts of religion and the philosophy of Martin Buber, direct the RFPT mind towards the potency of assisting our patients towards health and well-being. Each advances the notion of therapeutic change through the act of authenticity. By paying attention to affective states, unconscious arousals, and replications within the therapeutic encounter, the patient’s internal world is reexperienced and reimagined.

No two therapists work in the same fashion and, given the uniqueness of each relationship and the working through of what happens in that relationship, it must be so. These are universal practices that can serve as a helpful 鈥渕ap鈥� for conducting our practices while acknowledging and appreciating the intuitive, organic nature of our work, including:

• How we position ourselves (therapeutic intent and therapeutic stance)
• How we reflect (deep listening)
• Attending to the there and then/here and now (patterning/linking)
• How we engage (repetition/working through and courageous speech/disciplined spontaneity)

These primary influencers of relationally-focused psychodynamic work are intended to deepen a psychotherapist鈥檚 capacity to work directly within the therapeutic dyad, understanding the therapeutic relationship as the primary instrument towards change.

Learn more about the Relationally-Focused Psychodynamic Therapy Post-Graduate Certificate here.

References

The post What is Relationally Focused Psychodynamic Therapy? appeared first on 天美视频 of Theology & Psychology.

The first phase of the program included a high volume of original survey and research material, including a 25-page research report. Once completed, Resilient Leaders Project expanded to provide in-person training to clergy and ministry leaders under the same name.

After the launch of the training, a desire was born to create a shareable component of the program to make the research more accessible. 鈥淎s those ideas started to unfold we realized we needed to differentiate our flagship training from the other parts of the project,鈥� says Kate Davis, Director of Resilient Leaders Project.

This led to the name Certificate in Resilient Service, a continuing education training that highlights the service aspect of ministry leaders. The training consists of three, multi-day learning modules over the course of seven months, all of which are in-person.

Resilience is not for us, it鈥檚 to give back to our community, to serve God and neighbor. The certificate is for practitioners and alumni who would like us to walk alongside them in the midst of their service.

The renaming of the training, which places a greater emphasis on service, comes at a time when our cultural climate is growing increasingly fragmented. Intersectionality enters all conversations, often to a polarizing effect. Davis sees this fragmentation not with despair, however, but with hope. 鈥淲hen pieces are fragmented, they鈥檙e movable. How can we resource leaders to generatively impact their communities and make our culture more livable for the future?鈥� The desire is for ministry leaders to come through the certificate having experienced healing, and to use this healing for the transformation of their communities.

To date, the two primary functions of Resilient Leaders Project are the flagship training and creating new avenues to share the wealth of research the team has accumulated thus far, such as an online resource library.

A question the team, which includes Kate Davis and Andrea Sielaff, Researcher, often asks themselves is: 鈥淲here is resilience needed most, and can we go there?鈥� Not in a physical sense, but in a way that makes their findings available to all. 鈥淣ot everyone can come to Seattle to participate in the training, and not everyone needs to,鈥� acknowledges Kate. She envisions the future of Resilient Leaders Project to include online trainings, weekend workshops, and a possible podcast so that ministry leaders can resource themselves, without the need to travel.

Applications for the 2020 cohort of the Certificate in Resilient Service open in February 2020. To learn more about the certificate, please visit our program page.

The post Resilient Leaders Project Names Training Program Certificate in Resilient Service appeared first on 天美视频 of Theology & Psychology.