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WELCOME TO THE IAFOT
An Association for FOCUSING THERAPY and FOCUSING ORIENTED PSYCHOTHERAPY
The International
Association for Focusing Oriented Therapies (IAFOTS)
is open to clinicians, counselling trainees, academics,
and other persons who are interested in Focusing Therapy and developing the
therapeutic potential of the work of Eugene Gendlin,
an American philosopher and psychologist. The majority
of our Association membership is comprised of Focusing
Oriented Therapists from around the world.
Focusing Oriented Therapists are trained
in Focusing, a practice based upon Gendlin’s philosophy
of experiencing. We also work from diverse therapeutic
traditions, including existential, phenomenological, humanistic,
experiential, client-centered, psychoanalytic, solution-oriented,
brief therapy, cognitive-behavioral, and somatic therapies.
The common feature of our work as Focusing
Oriented Therapists is creating an environment that allows
and supports the experiential, meaning that whatever
model is being used, we find ways to further the client
in directly experiencing what they are talking about. The
key to successful integration of any approach into a Focusing
Therapy practice is in the ability to weave in experiential
components so that clients are directly sensing their issues
as they are experiencing them, in the moment, during
the course of a therapy session.
Clients are continually encouraged to
check their therapist’s words and suggestions with
their own feeling of what rings true for them. Through
these processes of ongoing client-therapist interaction,
a strong relational aspect is built together - one of the
hallmarks of Focusing Therapies.
Research on
psychotherapy reveals that a client's ability to speak
freshly from a direct felt-experience, (rather than from
memory or intellectualisation) made the difference in clients
getting the change they wanted from their sessions. |
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Getting
familiar with this site:
Our intention is to make this site approachable, welcoming,
and easily manageable. If you are new to Focusing, you
may want to begin by clicking on the “Overviews” page,
where you will find some basic terms like “Focusing” and “felt
sense.” Other useful introductions are found under "An
Overview for Clients" on the dropdown menu from the
Overview page. Throughout the site you will find a variety
of articles describing how Focusing Oriented Therapists
integrate experiencing into their respective therapeutic
traditions and practices. |
