Existential Humanistic NorthWest Blog

New Book: The Well-Lived Life

May 1, 2023 No Comments

EHNW Affililate & AHP Executive Director, Robert McGarey would like you to know about a book recently published by his mother, Gladys McGarey: The Well-Lived Life: A 102-Year-Old Doctor’s Six Secrets to Health and Happiness at Every AgeBy Gladys McGarey, MD Gladys McGarey, MD, began her medical practice at a time when women couldn’t even own their own bank accounts. Over the past sixty years, she has pioneered a new way of thinking about disease and health that has transformed the way we imagine health care and self-care around the world. The cofounder of the American Holistic Medical Association, Dr. McGarey has mentored everyone from Dr. Mark Hyman to Dr. Edith Eger and has helped hundreds of patients live happier and healthier lives. In a voice

New Seminar: Philosophical Resource for Humanistic Clinicians

October 13, 2022 No Comments

Carol Swanson will be facilitating a new seminar series, Philosophical Resource for Humanistic Clinicians. Click HERE to learn more and register.

Somatic Psychotherapy Training Institute – PNW

August 8, 2022 No Comments

Four-year training program in Contemporary Orgone (Reichian) Therapy Beginning September 14, 2022 Offered by: Daniel Schiff PhD via Zoom Year 1: Relational and somatically focused character analysis An in-depth training program for psychologists, social workers, mental health counselors, and other health professionals who desire to become fully grounded in the theoretical and procedural fundamentals which are used in somatic psychotherapy and contemporary Reichian therapy practice. These fundamentals embody an integration of the character-analytic, biophysical, and bioenergetic (orgonomic) theories and techniques developed by Wilhelm Reich and the ‘here and now’ process-oriented techniques of gestalt therapy with that which is current in the fields of emotion and attachment theory, affective neuroscience, and contemporary psychodynamic psychotherapy. The program of study is spread over four years with twenty 2-hour

Somatic Psychotherapy Training Institute – PNW

June 28, 2022 No Comments

Trainings beginning Fall 2022 The Somatic Psychotherapy Training Institute – Pacific NW, located in Portland, Oregon, was formed in 2020 to provide training in the field of somatic psychotherapy for practitioners and students in the fields of counseling and psychology, clinical social work, mental health, and other health professions. Courses offered by the institute strive to provide in depth education into the theories, processes and techniques which underlay what is increasingly current in psychotherapeutic and counseling practice – an understanding that therapy cannot just take place in the realm of verbal language but must include a focus upon the language of the body – the somatic –as a means of addressing each person from a truly bio-psychosocial perspective. The institute’s approach builds upon the character-analytic,

Lunch and Learn Facilitated by Beth Swain—“Being Silenced, Finding Voice”

March 15, 2021 No Comments

On February 12th, Beth Swain (LPC), board member and therapist in private practice, facilitated a deeply moving and vulnerable talk on “Being Silenced, Finding Voice”. Beth started the talk by speaking to the feeling of being silenced. She acknowledged having always been fascinated by this topic once she realized she had kept silent about things. Many of us carry things for decades. Beth noted that she has often wondered why she stayed silent for certain things. Many of us as therapists have often had someone in our office tell us, “I’ve never told anyone this before”. Beth noted having always felt mystified by this question of “Why now?”. A few years ago, Beth talked about seeing a woman in her practice who was weeks away

On The Theme of Vulnerability in Counseling

March 9, 2021 No Comments

I am a year and a half into practicing as a therapist, and just month’s into a Master’s degree, but I’m no stranger to therapy from the other side of the room. My father died when I was six, and I’ve spent my life leaning into the supportive space of therapists, each one offering something unique. One played chess with me as we talked about death at eight years old. Another gave me the gift of letting me spill the contents of my over-crowded mind at sixteen. Another, at nineteen, at the end of each session, would gently and sweetly ask what I’d like to leave behind for her to hold. Now, I feel such regard for my therapist, she is like an auntie–a person