Saturday, July 7, 2012

About CTP

Periodically I get an email from someone who in their search for a training program in psychotherapy has googled the CTP -- the Centre for Training in Psychotherapy. Along with links to that program they see my blog on Therafields. Reading some of it, they wonder and then write to me asking about the quality and nature of CTP's program. I have no hesitation in responding with my belief that the CTP program is one of the truly good things to have come out of Therafields. It integrates academic, practical, and emotional preparation for therapeutic practice. The teachers are themselves seasoned workers, people who have given considerable portions of their adult lives to understanding and working in the area of psychotherapy.

3 comments:

  1. Good comments. I agree with what you say about Therafields and the quality of therapists. However, I see many good things that have happened with many people that I came into contact with in the community. There are several statements in the book Therafields that describe the connections that people have made in this community. Most of my friends are people whom I met in Therafields. There is a great statement 229 - 30 about this:
    A Hypno 1 therapist and former monk assessed Therafields in similar terms: "A great strength was that people were prepared to talk about themselves as intimately as possible. We had been given freedom to discuss things that normally aren't discussed by people - to open up areas - talk about emotions, feelings, thoughts, which are tremendously important. We were taught to look below the surface to try to analyze. That was very important. We were taught to look below the surface to try to analyze, look for deeper causes. We had a sense of dreams and the depth of dreams. We had a sense of community. We were real people, probing, looking, ecploring. It gave you a sense of solidarity, a sense of having friends. Even now I find that the people I have beeninvolved with - that we have a certain level of humour and pleasure that most people don't have. I find that I laugh more deeply. There is just a level of sharing that you don't find elsewhere. I don't know of anyone else that I have as a friend that I can say I have the same level of sharing that I have with people that I went through with in Therafields. We really did have a type of culture. That's a real strength."
    I find that I have many of the same thoughts. I know that there were problems in the community. There are always problems in any community. I have read the book, Therafields, three times. I was never going to read it becasue I was very angry with how the community ended. But one of my daughters gave me the books as a Christmas gift. I thought that I should at least read it. I liked it. I thought it was a well written book. Then, a few weeks after I had finished the book,something told me that I should read it again. So, I began again. I began to think that was perhaps a play in this book. I was beginning to learn about many things in this community, some good,some not so good. I made notes. After this reading I decided that I needed to read it again because of what I was learning about this community. The third time through was most engaging. Some people I liked, and some I disliked even more. But I was learning about the strengths of this community and where it could have gone. I had become a very skilled carpenter when I was involved with Therafields. I treasure this. I treasure Lea Hindley-Smith because of what she once did for me and my wonderful wife, Susan. I was in a learning group and we were on a week marathon up at the farm. During one of the group sessions, a Hypno 1 therapist began to attack my relationship with the woman who has now been my wife for the last 40 years. As this man spoke, Lea rose to her feel, pointed at this man and said that he could not use these words about me and Susan, that I was trying to move in new directions in my life, that I had fallen in love with this woman, and he was not to speak of it again. I treasure this statement from Lea. I have learned much through my time in Therafields. I wish it had gone on. Cheers.

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    1. Sorry, the comment below was meant as a reply to this.

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  2. I think this comment highlights some of the real problems with Therafields and how many of the "therapists" were mostly just projecting their own issues. Imagine if Lea hadn't been there to interrupt this person who had decided that your relationship with your wife was harmful. Who knows what the outcome would have been if this person had been your personal therapist? There were many people who had this exact experience, with a "therapist" who pressured them to abandon relationships with their spouses, children, parents, etc. for reasons that had more to do with the therapist than the client. I wouldn't argue that there were many people who were helped in Therafields, but also so many who were harmed.

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