The Power of Presence, Possibility, and the Paradoxical Theory of Change in Therapy

Instructor
Dr. Lynne Jacobs, Ph.D.

1-day in-person Seminar
5 CEs for qualifying professionals
Lunch and refreshments included

Registration Fee
Early Bird, Extended through Dec 3!: 
$250 licensed / $175 unlicensed & students

Late Registration, Dec 4 –13:
$275 licensed / $200 unlicensed & students

In the intricate dance of therapeutic relationship, transformation emerges not from our efforts to change our clients, but paradoxically, from our capacity to fully meet them where they are. This experiential workshop explores the profound intersection of relational psychoanalytic understanding and gestalt principles, examining how our authentic presence becomes the crucible for healing.

At the heart of this exploration lies the paradoxical theory of change—the revolutionary understanding that change occurs when one becomes what one is, not when one tries to become what one is not. This workshop invites clinicians to deepen their appreciation of how our willingness to inhabit the present moment with our clients, including our own countertransferential responses, creates the fertile ground from which genuine transformation can emerge.

Through a blend of didactic presentation, group discussion, experiential exercises, and potential demonstration work, participants will explore how countertransference serves not merely as diagnostic information, but as a living dimension of the therapeutic encounter that, when skillfully engaged, deepens intimacy and facilitates growth. We will investigate how our own emotional responses, bodily sensations, and relational pulls provide essential data about the client's internal world and relational patterns. Dr. Lynne Jacobs will guide participants through an immersive gestalt experience that illuminates the subtle interplay between therapist presence and client possibility. We will examine how our capacity to stay present with difficult material—both the client's and our own—opens pathways that our interpretive minds alone cannot access.

For Schedule and More Details, visit https://thealamopsychotherapy.com/courses/lynnejacobspresence.

Instructor Credentials

Lynne Jacobs, Ph.D., has long been interested in the relational dimension of psychotherapy, and in integrating humanistic theories with contemporary psychoanalytic theories. She is also interested in what it means to practice as a white therapist in culturally diverse environments. Both a gestalt therapist and a psychoanalyst, she is a co-founder of the Pacific Gestalt Therapy Institute and training and faculty analyst at the Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis (ICP) in Los Angeles. She teaches at ICP, and teaches gestalt therapists locally, nationally, and internationally. She has published two books (with Rich Hycner) as well as numerous articles in both gestalt and psychoanalytic journals.