SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE
Jeffrey Cornelius-White
Jeffrey Cornelius-White, PsyD, LPC, Professor of Counseling and Program Coordinator of Counseling at Missouri State University (education.missouristate.edu/counseling), has established the conference international Scientific Committee. Dr. Cornelius-White has been a lecturer in project management and mentoring in computer science at the University of Vienna, and educational and clinical psychology at National Research University Higher School of Economics in Moscow, Russia. He is also currently a doctoral faculty member at the University of Missouri in education leadership and analysis. Jeff is Co-Editor of Person-Centered and Experiential Psychotherapies, former editor of The Person-Centered Journal, and former chair of the board of the World Association for Person-Centered and Experiential Psychotherapy and Counseling. He is co-author or co-editor of 8 books, including Carl Rogers’ The China Diary (PCCS Books, Create Space), Person-Centered Approaches for Counselors (Sage), the Interdisciplinary Handbook of the Person-Centered Approach (Springer) and Interdisciplinary Applications of the Person-Centered Approach (Springer) in addition to over 100 book chapters and articles. Dr. Cornelius-White received his original training in the person-centered approach from the Chicago Counseling Center founded by Carl Rogers. You can reach him at: jcornelius-white@missouristate.edu
The Scientific Committee members include: Neils Bagge, Denmark, Michael Behr, Germany, Art Bohart, USA, Francisco Cavalcante, Brazil, Jeffrey Cornelius-White, USA (Chair), Leslie Greenberg, Canada, Paul Greenman, Canada, Yasuko Kanamori, Japan & USA, Wolfgang W. Keil, Austria, Veniamin Kolpachnikov, Russia, Martin Lange, Argentina, Germain Lietaer, Belgium, Tricia McCann, Australia, Anna Karynne Melo, Brazil, Salvador Moreno, Mexico, David Murphy, UK, Georgeta Niculescu, Romania, Maureen O’Hara, USA, Jean-Marc Randin, Switzerland, Daniela Roes, Czech Republic, Yasuhiro Suetake, Japan, Gerhard Stumm, Austria, Marcia Tassanari, Brazil, Ladislav Timulak, Ireland, Slovakia, Greet Vanaerschot, Belgium, Margaret Warner, USA, Jeanne Watson, Canada, and Alberto Zucconi, Italy.
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
Lifetime Achievement Award
Eugene Gendlin
Dr. Eugene Gendlin, founder of Focusing Oriented Therapy (focusing.org), will receive a lifetime achievement award. Dr. Gendlin was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1926. He and his family immigrated to the United States to escape the Nazis while Dr. Gendlin was still a child. He studied under Carl Rogers during the 1950s and received a Ph.D in philosophy from the University of Chicago. Dr. Gendlin’s theories impacted Rogers’ own beliefs and played a role in Rogers’ view of psychotherapy. After graduation, Dr. Gendlin became a professor of philosophy and psychology at the University of Chicago, where he worked until 1995. Dr. Gendlin founded The Focusing Institute in 1986 to facilitate training and education in Focusing to academic and professional communities and to share the practice with the public. He has been honored by the American Psychological Association (APA) four times, and he was the first recipient of the APA's Distinguished Professional Psychologist of the Year award. In 2007 Dr. Gendlin was honored with the Viktor Frankl Award of the City of Vienna for outstanding achievements in the field of meaning-oriented humanistic psychotherapy. Dr. Gendlin was a founder of the journal, Psychotherapy: Theory Research and Practice, and the author of several books, including Experiencing and the Creation of Meaning (1962), and Focusing (1978), which has been translated into 17 languages.
Our Planning Committee has been in consistent contact with the New York based Focusing Institute and we have made regular visits to sit with Dr. Gendlin at his home and discuss the conference. Dr. Gendlin is very excited about the coming conference and we are hoping that his health will remain in a state that he can attend and receive this award in person. At our last face-to-face meeting Dr. Gendlin seemed inspired by the chance to come and receive this award and have, as he stated, a “scientific” engagement with the conference participants. To help honor Dr. Gendlin, two of his colleagues, Lynn Preston and Dr. Kevin Krycka will speak about his life and work, especially in relation to Carl Rogers and the connection between Focusing Oriented Therapy and the Person-Centered Approach.
Kevin Crycka
Lynn Preston, MA, MS, LP, is a focusing-oriented relational psychoanalyst, teacher and supervisor. She is a graduate of the PPSC Advanced Self Psychology program, a faculty member of the Institute of Contemporary Psychotherapy (ICP) and the founding Director of the Experiential Psychotherapy Project (EPP). Lynn has written and presented internationally on the integration of focusing and relational psychoanalysis. She also has an abiding interest in experiential teaching and integrative processes.
Dr. Kevin C. Krycka is Director of the Graduate program in Existential-Phenomenological Psychology and Professor of Psychology at Seattle University. His is also a psychotherapist specializing in working with embodiment in therapy. Kevin is an active in utilizing the philosophical and psychological works of Eugene Gendlin, particularly his ‘Process Model,’ to strengthen research, the training & supervision of therapists, peace work in the Mideast, and gay studies. Kevin is on the Board of Trustees of the Focusing Institute.
Natalie Rogers in Memoriam 1928 to 2015
Natalie Rogers
Sue Ann Herron
Dr. Natalie Rogers (nrogers.com) was a strong supporter of this conference. To honor her life and work, her colleague and official biographer, Dr. Sue Ann Herron will present "Natalie Rogers's Life and Work: An Experiential Psychology of Self-Realization Beyond Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers." This is a historical and biographical study of the psychotherapist Natalie Rogers, her work in person-centered expressive arts therapy, and her place in psychology. The study answers the question, “Why is it important for psychology to have a scholarly biography of Natalie Rogers’s life?” Pivotal life events from 1956-1996 are explored: her early married life and ensuing crisis in her marriage, Abraham Maslow’s early influence on Natalie’s life choices, her Masters work at Brandeis, her early feminist influences, the workshops on the person-centered approach with her father, Carl Rogers and her changing relationship with him, and the development of her unique approach to person-centered expressive arts therapy.
Historical and biographical research methods provide the opportunity to explore the entire realm of Natalie’s lived experiences. The presentation draws from a total of 61 hours of archival material consisting of 25 interviews previously collected with Natalie Rogers, including one digital video interview, plus 19 interviews with Natalie’s colleagues, family, and friends. Additional data comes from Carl Rogers’s archival documents from the Library of Congress and a substantial collection of books, articles, photographs, letters, art journals, artwork, and other ephemera from Natalie Rogers’s own personal archives. Sue Ann’s presentation includes photos of Carl, Natalie and images of the expressive arts work as it is experienced.
Dr. Herron recently co-authored chapters in the following publications:
"Cutting-edge person-centred expressive arts." In C. Lago & D. Churara, eds. Person Centred Counselling and Psychotherapy Handbook: Origins, Developments and Contemporary Applications. Maidenhead, UK: Open University/ McGraw-Hill, 2016.
"Person-Centred Expressive Arts Therapy: An experiential psychology of self-realization." In P. Wilkins, Person-Centred and experiential therapies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc., 2016: 89-103.
HIGHLIGHTED SPEAKERS
We will have several invited speakers, honorees, and facilitators. Some are listed below. More will be announced, as they are confirmed. Additionally, the scientific committee invites paper presentations, workshops, panel discussions, and pecha kucha.
Jobst Finke
Jobst Finke, Dr. med., Consultant Psychiatrist-Neurologist, specialized in Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy with a focus on PCT and psychodynamic psychotherapy; trainer and supervisor at the German Association for PCT (GwG) and the Medical Society for PCT (AeGG); research on effectiveness of in-patient psychotherapy including a comparison of PCT with other methods (at the University-Hospital Essen, Department of Psychiatry), moreover on psychotherapeutic relationship, anxiety, depression and borderline personality disorders. Special focus on imaginative psychotherapy and dream work. Books (in German): Empathy and Interaction (Thieme 1994), Relationship and Intervention (Thieme 1999), Person-Centered Psychotherapy (Thieme 2004), Dreams, Fairy Tales, Imaginations (Reinhardt 2013).
Sue Johnson
Teleconference presenter Sue Johnson EdD. (drsuejohnson.com) is the leading developer of Emotionally Focused Therapy (or EFT). She is a Professor Emeritus of Clinical Psychology at the University of Ottawa, Distinguished Research Professor in the Marital & Family Therapy Program at Alliant University in San Diego, Director of the International Centre for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy (ICEEFT) and Director of the Ottawa Couple and Family Institute Inc.
Sue received her doctorate in Counseling Psychology from the University of British Columbia in 1984. She is a registered psychologist in the province of Ontario, Canada, and a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, the Journal of Couple and Relationship Therapy and the Journal of Family Psychology.
Dr. Johnson has received a variety of awards acknowledging her development of EFT and her significant contribution to the field of couple and family therapy and adult attachment. Her numerous honors include the Outstanding Contribution to the Field of Couple and Family Therapy Award from the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. She is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association.
Sue has numerous publications in the field of couple therapy. Her most recent publication, Soothing the Threatened Brain: Leveraging Contact Comfort through Emotionally Focused Therapy (PLOS ONE) included a brain scan study showing how contact with a loving partner mitigates threat and fear responses. Sue’s most recent book, Love Sense: The Revolutionary New Science in Romantic Relationships, outlines the new understanding of why and how we love based on scientific evidence and cutting-edge research. Sue is also the author of the bestseller, Hold Me Tight: Seven Conversations for a Lifetime of Love.
Howard Kirschenbaum
Howard Kirschenbaum (howardkirschenbaum.com), Carl Rogers Biographer, will give a presentation. Dr. Kirschenbaum is Professor Emeritus and former chair of the Department of Counseling and Human Development at the Warner Graduate School of Education and Human Development, University of Rochester (New York). Among his 25 books on education, psychology and history are The Life and Work of Carl Rogers, The Carl Rogers Reader, Carl Rogers: Dialogues, and the best-selling DVD “Carl Rogers and the Person-Centered Approach”. Dr. Kirschenbaum has given workshops and presentations throughout North America and in many countries around the world.
William R. Miller
William R. (Bill) Miller, Ph.D. (williamrmiller.net) will be a keynote speaker this year. He is the original developer of motivational interviewing (MI), a well-researched counseling method grounded in the work of Carl Rogers. First applied in treating addictions, MI is now widely used as an evidence-based treatment in healthcare across the United States and in many other nations. Dr. Miller is Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of New Mexico where he served as Director of Clinical Training and co-founder of the Center on Alcoholism, Substance Abuse and Addictions (CASAA). His publications encompass more than 50 books and 400 articles and chapters. Fundamentally interested in the psychology of change, he has served as a consultant to many organizations including the United States Senate, the World Health Organization, the National Academy of Sciences, and the National Institutes of Health. He also maintains an active interest in the integration of spirituality and psychology.
Virginia Moreira
Virginia Moreira is an invited speaker. She has a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (PUC, São Paulo) and a Post-Doctorate in Medical Anthropology (Harvard University, USA). She is a Full Professor of the Post-Graduate Program in Psychology at the Universidade de Fortaleza – UNIFOR, Brazil), where she coordinates APHETO – Laboratório de Psicopatologia e Clínica Humanista Fenomenológica (apheto.com.br). She is a former Fulbright Visiting Professor (2003-2004) and Affiliated Faculty (2004-2011) at the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine of Harvard Medical School. She is a Doctoral Advisor Professor in Co-Tuterage in international collaboration (Universidade de Fortaleza / Université Paris-Diderot – Paris VII). She is a Professor of Productivity in Research in CNPQ - The National Committee of Scientific and Technological Development in Brazil (PQ – 2).
Virginia trained in the Person Centered Approach with John Keith Wood (La Jolla, USA) and Rachel Rosenberg (USP, São Paulo). She participated in training workshops with Maureen O'Hara, Maria Bowen and Carl Rogers during the 1980s in Brazil. She was chair of the XII Forum for Person Centered Approach in 2013, in Cumbuco, Brazil.
Virginia’s research in clinical phenomenology - psychotherapy and psychopathology - seeks to develop the thought of Carl Rogers, using the phenomenology of Merleau-Ponty as a lens to understand lived experience. She has been a psychotherapist for individuals, couples and groups in Fortaleza, Brazil, since 1981. Since 2005, she has coordinated a tutorial program of Humanistic-Phenomenological Psychotherapy.
Virginia has published seven books in Chile, France and Brazil and over 80 articles in scientific journals.
Yoshihiko Morotomi
Yoshihiko Morotomi, Ph.D. (morotomi.net) will be a speaker this year. He is a Japanese colleague interested in the field of meaning-oriented humanistic counseling and psychotherapy. He is professor at Meiji University and president of the Japan Transpersonal Association. He was honored by The Japanese Association of Counseling Science in 1997.
His publications encompass more than 200 books as author and editor, including V. E. Frankl: Life Theory and Practice (1996), Psychology of Emptiness (1997), Carl R. Rogers: Life ,Theory and Practice (1997), Meaning of Life (2005), An Introduction to the Philosophy of the Implicit of Eugene T. Gendlin (2009), and Psychology of Resignation (2012) (only in Japanese).
William Stiles
William B. Stiles (users.miamioh.edu/stileswb) is Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, USA, and Adjunct Professor of Psychology at Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina, USA. He has been President of Division 29 (Psychotherapy) of the American Psychological Association and of the Society for Psychotherapy Research. He has served as Editor of Psychotherapy Research and Person-Centered and Experiential Psychotherapies. He has published more than 300 journal articles and book chapters, most dealing with psychotherapy, verbal interaction, and research methods.