Reading Assignments
Openness, Surrender & Mystery Training Year
The following books have significantly informed and shaped how we think about ‘body and mind’, and the impact of the unconscious processes of the ‘psyche’.
These works are deeply relevant to our style of depth work and process facilitation in our training, and they are contributions to both our understanding of PsychoEnergetic work, as well as is application to what unfolds moment to moment in practicum session.
The readings you will encounter will support your ability to move into an embodied presence that is grounded and contained, as well as spacious and curious – capable of being in the unknown with another.
-
Psychiatric Diagnosis by Nancy McWilliams.
-
In An Unspoken Voice by Peter Levine.
-
Radical Wholeness by Philip Shepherd.
Week 1 Readings
Week 2 Readings
Week 3 Readings
Other Recommended Reading
The particular books listed in this section were directly or indirectly influential in shaping the content for our Openness, Surrender & Mystery training year. They are highly regarded in their fields of expertise, and they are excellent sources of clinical knowledge.
Recommended Books
Supplemental Readings 1
The Mindful Therapist: A Clinician’s Guide To Mindsight & Neural Integration, by Daniel Siegel.
We return to this text this year as an essential PSEN Training resource, to deepen our appreciation for the importance of ‘practitioner’s presence‘ as one of the most crucial factors that affect a client’s healing and development. This text dives deeply into how the mind interacts with the brain, how disorders can be transformed into integration, and how to actively cultivate mindfulness in process session work.
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind and Body In the Healing of Trauma, by Bessel Van Der Kolk.
We are excited to offer this book as a new and fundamental support to our training work. This book offers a new understanding of the causes and consequences of trauma. Van Der Kolk shows how the terror and isolation a the core of trauma literally reshapes both brain and body. It offers new healing opportunities as a result of recent advances in brain science, attachment research, and body awareness to free individuals from the tyranny of the past. It will support your capacity to embrace resilience in your own humanity, and encourage you to embrace the healing power of relationships – both personally and professionally.
Recommended Books
Supplemental Readings 2
Finding Our Way: Leadership For Uncertain Times, by Margaret Wheatley.
This book by a woman who I highly regard, and who has a spiritual presence and depth that is palpable, and calming. This is a very interesting supplemental book, which consists of a collection of essays that focus on the characteristics of leadership needed for the times we find ourselves in, and the challenges that we are personally facing. Meg Wheatley stress that we must become leaders that demonstrate gentleness, decency and courage.
Self Examination in Psychoanalysis & Psychotherapy, by William Cornell.
This book is written by the man who has had the deepest influence on my own clinical skills and approach, and has been a professional and personal support to me over the past 25 years. It offers brilliant and clear insights into understanding countertransference issues, and it is deeply personal in its sharing and revealing of therapy dynamics at work. A must read for anyone looking to deeper their understanding of fundamental depth issues in therapy.