Weekend Program: May Brings Us Back to Basics
The spring session of the Weekend Training Program will be held May 1st through 3rd at the Warwick Hotel in mid-town Manhattan. This weekend finds us once again at the start of the nine-block training program, studying “The Essence of Modern Group.” To avoid late fees, make sure to get your registration in by April 10.
While many therapists with considerable depth of experience come to the Center to receive training in modern group process, even the most accomplished individuals tell us they value spending a weekend concentrating on “basics” that can be quite profound.
The educational blocks are each structured to stand on their own, so students can begin the Weekend Training Program at any point in the rotation. Some will choose to earn a Certificate Completion by participating in three weekends each year, for a three-year commitment. Students are also welcome to sample our educational offerings à la carte, and it is testament to the program’s quality that people often return for on-going training, even after attaining the certificate.
We invite you to join us in May for a weekend devoted to distilling and quaffing the essence of modern group analysis. Lena Furgeri and Michael Brook will serve as the process group leaders, and the Sunday workshop will by facilitated by Sally Henry. Robert Weinstein and Rhoda Shapiro will provide supervision.
Again this weekend attendees will have the pleasure of coming together with members of the Eastern Group Psychotherapy Society (EGPS) for a Friday-night lecture. Guest speaker Bob Marshall will discuss “Suppose there were no Mirrors: Bridging and Survival.” The lecture will be held at St. Vincent’s Hospital on Friday, May 1 offering out-of-towners and local students alike opportunity to scope out dinner or drinks in Greenwich Village.
CGS Made a Strong Showing at AGPA
The Center for Group Studies was well-represented by current and former faculty and students at the 2009 Annual Meeting of the American Group Psychotherapy Association (AGPA), held this year in Chicago, Illinois February 16th to 21st.
The 2nd annual “Louis R. Ormont Lecture” was presented by Ronnie Levine, PhD, CGP, FAGPA. Her talk, “Progressing while Regressing in Relationships” spotlighted some of the challenges people confront as they learn to relate in mature ways, and explored how regressive episodes can actually be beneficial—no matter how difficult they get at the time.
Speaking of Lou
A Celebration of the Life and Work of Louis R Ormont, PhD, the Group Center’s beloved founder, was held on Saturday, January 24th at St. Paul’s Chapel on the campus of Columbia University in New York.
Hundreds of people came out on a sunny and bitterly cold day to honor Lou through a non-denominational service that featured brief speeches by two of his children and a dozen colleagues, as well as a piano & cello musical interlude whose pieces were beautifully selected and performed.
All who packed into the chapel for the event expressed appreciation for Lou’s positive influence on their lives. Some shared recollections of the troubles that brought them to Lou, and reflected on how far they had come during their journeys with him and their groups. Many found comfort from grief in the closure the day brought, as well as happy reminders of how much good remains in the wake of Lou’s passing—within ourselves and within the community that carries on his work.
Lucy Holmes, PhD, the final presenter of the day, said, “Lou Ormont was an artist, and his medium was the moment.” She recounted how Lou’s way of working helped group members realize that “telling a sad, sad story can be gratifying” but that “the real value of modern group treatment comes through being in the now, in this moment, which is here and gone like our lives.”
CGS Continues Training in St. Petersburg, Russia
Over 30 Russian mental health professionals including psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers will again welcome CGS faculty member Harold Stern to St. Petersburg, Russia for the 4th block of the Russian training program, focusing on “Transference and Countertransference Issues in Group.” Harold has deep roots with the psychoanalytic community in St. Petersburg, having lectured and taught there since the 1980s. In the words of Lena Samova, who shared in the New York training program last October, “Harold is much loved here. He is to us as Lou Ormont was for you.”
This successful training program is essentially the same as that in New York—only carried out with simultaneous translation of Russian and English, inside a well-worn mental-health day hospital. All the Russian students have also committed to go through the full three-year course of study together. This time CGS faculty members Jacqueline Fish and Ronnie Levine will have the pleasure of joining Harold for the Russian training weekend, which includes process groups, supervision and demonstration groups.
June Workshops for Fresh Growth
Before everyone heads off for summer, why not pump up your skills and meet some new people through one of the Center’s June classes. Just four weekly sessions could see you stepping into sunny days excited about a new body of learning.
Keep an eye on your email and our website for notice about these summer workshops.
Does A Discount Make a Difference to You?
Please be aware that the Center continues to offer special discount pricing on both Weekend and Local Training for new graduates and CASACs. If a financial break can help you make the decision to participate in the upcoming weekend, reach out and work it out with Gail Brown at (212) 246-5055, or by e-mail: info@groupcenter.org .
Charitable Giving is Good Karma, Hint-Hint
The Center for Group Studies is a not-for-profit organization that has no endowment at this time—though we stand ready to embrace any generous benefactor willing and able to make a substantial contribution. In the meantime, we ask those who know and value the work of the Center to consider writing us a check, no matter how small, to help sustain our programming. All donations to the Center are fully tax-deductible, truly appreciated and put to good use.
