Jungian Social Group Work Training

The Center for Transpersonal Therapy provides a unique method of group training that focuses on the development of personal and professional self in the context of participation in an ongoing group.

Using psychoanalytic and psychodynamic theories as the basis for the work, individuals are challenged to examine themselves in the context of a small, intimate social group. The techniques and methods learned in group serve to promote the development of individual consciousness combined with strong group leadership in the training participants.

The group seeks to improve trainees’ understanding of their own unique transference as well as group dynamics in order to help them become more effective group workers in their respective and diverse work environments, as well as personal lives.

Training, Not Therapy

The Training Program, while it may be therapeutic for participants, is not designed to serve as therapy. Unlike group therapy, where the aim of insight and revelation are in service of personal healing, our goal is in service of training and supporting one another in the development of a more conscious professional and personal self.

Unlike most social contexts, group members’ interactions are discussed and processed in an effort to raise consciousness about self and other — exploring both individual and collective psychology simultaneously.

How the Group Works

Trainees come to better understand themselves and their unique transferences through interactions with other group members in a safe and non-judgmental environment. We study how ego and archetypal complexes form in the group, and how to relate to these complexes both in ourselves and others in a transpersonal manner.

Members consistently have the opportunity to observe both themselves and others within larger group patterns. The group supervisor demonstrates group work interventions which aim to resolve resistances and foster progressive emotional communication and intimacy amongst group members.

Areas of Focus

• Jungian concepts — psychological types, persona and shadow, anima and animus, archetypes, individuation, and ego complexes, among others
• Transference and countertransference reactions amongst group members
• Recapitulation of group content to address both ego and unconscious complexes that form in individual participants and the group as a whole
• Facilitator practice — each member has the opportunity to serve as group facilitator, building skills in tracking process and content, and working with conscious and unconscious elements in group interactions and resistances
• Creativity and divination as tools to amplify material in group, along with individual members’ contracts and intentions
• Communication and participation that promotes intimacy and increased learning within the group

Meeting Schedule

Weekly Sessions

Each training group meets once a week for two hours, generally spanning from the week of Labor Day to the week of Memorial Day. Specific dates and times are negotiated between the group and its supervisor.

Annual Retreat

Once per training year, the group meets for a longer weekend retreat, generally Friday afternoon through Sunday afternoon. The theme of the intensive weekend emerges from content produced in the ongoing group process.

Training Supervisors

Heidi Gordon, MS, LCSW
Nick Tsandes, LCSW
Wil Dredge, LCSW

For more information, please contact Heidi Gordon or Nick Tsandes at (801) 596-0147, or at [email protected] or [email protected].