Directory of Institutions in the United States and Canada

The Directory of Person-Centered and Experiential Counseling and Psychotherapy University Programs, Courses and Faculty - and Other Certification Programs - in the United States and Canada*
Edited by Howard Kirschenbaum

*Due to practical reasons, Mexico was not included in the data collection for this initial directory, which focused on English-speaking North America, and was edited independently from the broad project entitled Directory of Educational Institutions. To submit entries for Mexican person-centered educational institutions, visit the section Mexico and Central America in the link above.
 

Table of Contents
      1.   Purpose of the Directory
      2.   Definitions of Person-Centered and Experiential
      3.   Categories and Criteria for Inclusion
      4.   Process for Building the Directory
      5.   Directory Overview by Region
             A.  University Faculty
             B.  University Courses
             C.  University Programs
             D.  Institutes
      6.   Full Directory Listings
             A.  University Faculty
             B.  University Courses
             C.  University Programs
             D.  Institutes
      7.   Submission Forms for New Entries

      8.   Additional Directory Category: Non-Academic, Non-Credential Offering Institutions
 

1. Purpose of the Directory

This directory is intended to achieve several goals:

• To help inform students and potential students who are asking, “Where can I go to be trained in person-centered and experiential counseling and psychotherapy and receive a degree, license to practice, course credit, or other professional credential?”

There are many other places and individuals not included in this directory that offer training and learning experiences in person-centered and experiential counseling and psychotherapy.  To keep this initial project within achievable parameters, this directory only includes higher education institutions and/or those that lead to a professional credential or degree. 

• To facilitate networking among professionals who may benefit from knowing and communicating with their colleagues across the United States and Canada.

There are graduate programs, institutes and training centers around the world—many more than in the U.S. and Canada — that offer degrees and credentials in person-centered and experiential counseling and psychotherapy.  Again, to keep this project within achievable parameters for now, the scope is limited to these two countries.

• To demonstrate to professionals beyond the person-centered and experiential communities the vitality of the person-centered approach. 

In Europe and other parts of the world, the person-centered approach is one of the leading approaches to counseling and psychotherapy, with numerous person-centered degree programs and institutes, professional associations numbering in the thousands, government and insurance company recognition and reimbursement, and similar indicators of influence. It is hoped that this directory will contribute to both recognizing and expanding the vitality of the person-centered approach in the U.S. and Canada.

2. Definitions of Person-Centered and Experiential

The “client-centered” or “person-centered” approach to counseling and psychotherapy, as originally developed by Carl Rogers (1902-1987) (e.g., Rogers 1951, 1961; Kirschenbaum and Henderson, 1989), may be characterized by:

•  A trust in the client’s “self-actualizing tendency,” that is, the client’s motivation to grow and mature toward health, satisfaction and positive relationships when provided with a supportive environment

• A reliance on the therapeutic relationship, characterized by the core conditions of congruence, empathy and unconditional positive regard, for therapeutic progress

• A continuing focus on the client’s inner experience, hence…

• An absence of directive techniques or perspectives introduced by the therapist, such as questions, interpretation, advice, coaching, and the like (except for relatively rare expressions of counselor congruence)

• An avoidance of diagnosis, treatment plans and other therapist-centered methods that reflect the medical model’s view of mental illness

• A view of the client as a whole person in process of “becoming,” that is, becoming a more fully-functioning person. Therefore counseling focuses not simply on a presenting problem but on more holistic change, so the client can continue to grow and exercise self-direction beyond the therapeutic relationship.

One might say these characteristics describe “traditional”, “classic”, or “orthodox” client-centered/person-centered counseling and psychotherapy. Some would prefer to call it simply the “client-centered” approach. Many practitioners and educators practice and teach this approach and a considerable amount of empirical research supports it.

For many other practitioners and educators, there is more than a single person-centered approach.  They believe it is possible to introduce certain techniques to further client self-exploration while still remaining essentially person-centered. Thus Virginia Axline (1950) and others (e.g., Landreth, 1991) developed “child-centered play therapy”, in which the child and therapist utilize toys and play in the context of a therapeutic relationship.  Similarly, Natalie Rogers (1993), Carl Rogers’ daughter, developed “person-centered expressive therapy” which engages clients and group members in the creative arts and employs empathic listening to help them explore the meaning of their creative expression and its implication for their lives. Eugene Gendlin (1978, 1996) developed “focusing” and “focusing-oriented, experiential psychotherapy” as a method for helping clients tune in to their “inner experiencing” in greater depth, while continuing to use empathic listening as a primary method for furthering that exploration. Leslie Greenberg, Robert Elliott and others developed “process-experiential”, then “emotion-focused therapy” (Greenberg, Rice & Elliott, 1993; Elliott & Greenberg, 2001), which combined the client-centered approach with Gestalt and other techniques to facilitate the therapeutic process.  All of these approaches have identified themselves as person-centered and have significant followings around the world.  Their proponents would argue that they remain essentially person-centered, with a major emphasis on the core conditions, including a predominant use of empathic listening, and a focus on the client’s inner experiencing.

There is some controversy in the person-centered world today as to whether “client-centered/person-centered” should be used exclusively to describe Rogers’ traditional or classic approach to counseling and psychotherapy, or whether there is room for “many tribes” in the person-centered nation (Warner, 2000).  This Directory does not attempt to settle this controversy, but it does take an inclusive approach. A variety of person-centered and experiential approaches are included. Our goal is to give users of the directory—prospective students, faculty, and researchers—enough information to make an initially informed choice of which programs or individuals they may wish to contact for further information.

One final distinction.  The term “experiential” in this context is not meant to include all experiential and humanistic approaches.  With all respect to our colleagues in gestalt, existential and other humanistic traditions, these approaches are not the focus of this directory, although programs, courses, and faculty who teach and use these approaches as a part of their work may be included (see criteria for inclusion below).

References:
Axline, V. (1947). Play therapy.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Elliott, R., & Greenberg, L. (2001). Process-experiential psychotherapy. In D.J. Cain & JU. Seeman (Eds.), Humanistic psychotherapies: Handbook of research and practice (pp. 279-306). Washington, DC: American Psychological Assn.
Gendlin, E.T. (1978).  Focusing. New York: Everest House. (2nd edition, New York: Bantam, 1982).
Gendlin, E.T. (1996). Focusing-oriented psychotherapy: A manual of the experiential method. New York: Guilford Press.
Greenberg, L., Rice, L., & Elliott, R. (1993). Facilitating emotional change: The moment-by-moment process. New York: Guilford.
Kirschenbaum, H., & Henderson,V. (Eds.) (1989).  The Carl Rogers reader. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Landreth, G. (1991).  Play therapy: The art of the relationship. Muncie, IN: Accelerated Development.
Rogers, C.R.  (1951). Client-centered therapy: Its current practice, implications, and theory. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1951.
Rogers, C.R. (1961).  On becoming a person: A therapist’s view of psychotherapy.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Rogers, N. (1993).  The creative connection: Expressive arts as healing. Palo Alto, CA: Science and Behavior Books.
Warner, M. (2000). Person-centered psychotherapy: One nation, many tribes. Person-Centered Journal, 7, 28-39.

3. Categories and Criteria for Inclusion

Based on the descriptions above, the Directory classifies person-centered and experiential orientations as being:

• Classical Person-Centered or Client-Centered

• Focusing-Oriented

• Process Experiential/Emotion Focused

• Person-Centered Expressive

• Child-Centered Play Therapy

• Other

• Many

The “other” category includes programs and faculty who practice or teach other integrative or eclectic approaches that may not be exclusively person-centered in the traditional sense but which have a strong component of traditional person-centered principles and practices.  The directory provides the opportunity for individuals to briefly explain what “other” means to them.

The “many” category describes programs, courses, and faculty that teach many, most or all of the orientations above. 

To be included in the Directory one’s program or teaching need not be exclusively person-centered.  For example, one may teach person-centered practice in some courses, yet one’s job description may include teaching other courses on evaluation, diagnosis and treatment planning.  Or, like the editor of this directory did, one may teach an advanced counseling theories course that includes several in-depth sessions on the person-centered approach but also includes sessions on other counseling theories. Similarly a program need not be exclusively person-centered to be included (few are), but it should have a strong and identifiable person-centered component.

Further criteria are as follows:

Programs:  These are university courses of study that (a) lead to a Masters or doctoral degree or certificate or credential in counseling, psychotherapy, clinical psychology, social work, or allied field in which the program contains a strong concentration of learning experiences in the person-centered approach, (b) lead to a degree, certification, certificate or other credential specifically in the person-centered or experiential approach, and/or (c) are conducted in a person-centered/student-centered manner, i.e., a facilitative learning environment with a high degree of the core conditions, student self-direction, self-evaluation, etc.

Courses:  We understand that virtually every counseling, clinical psychology, clinical social work, etc. program in the U.S. and Canada includes an opportunity for students to learn basic, empathic listening skills and includes a theories course that spends a week or two at the most on the person-centered approach.  This level of concentration is not enough to qualify a course for inclusion in the directory.  To be included, a university course should have a major focus (at least several sessions) on the person-centered or experiential approach.

Faculty:  These are individual faculty members at universities for whom the person-centered/experiential approach is an important aspect of their belief system, which they infuse in their teaching, mentoring, supervision, research, clinical practice and/or thesis/dissertation sponsorship.  Part-time faculty, adjunct faculty, and professors emeritus/emerita are eligible for inclusion if they still are available to work with students at their institution.

4. Process for Building the Directory

The process so far has included the following steps:

1. The editor sent out a request for submissions of programs, courses, faculty, etc. to programs and faculty he knew of, to various group lists, to programs and faculty who subsequently came to his attention, and to other interested parties.
2. Programs, faculty, institutes, etc. returned the submission form with their information.
3. The editor called or emailed contact persons who submitted the information to clarify any uncertain points
4. The editor, usually in collaboration with the submitter, decided which entries fit the criteria for inclusion and edited any entries as needed.
5. A draft of the directory was sent to all the contact persons and faculty included in the directory (a) for corrections, comments, critique and suggestions and (b) to send on to other colleagues known to them who are qualified to be included but are not yet included in the directory.
   
6. A draft of the directory was sent to the members of ADPCA (a) for corrections, comments, critique and suggestions and (b) to send on to other colleagues known to them who are qualified to be included but are not yet included in the directory.

The directory will continually be updated and expanded over subsequent months and years. Hopefully it will continue to grow as more information on person-centered and experiential programs, courses, and faculty are identified, and as the person-centered approach achieves greater visibility and legitimacy in university settings.

5. Directory Overview by Region

    A. University Faculty

    B. University Courses   
        (See also University Program section for other course descriptions.)

    C. University Programs

    D. Institutes

6. Full Directory Listings

    A. University Faculty

    B. University Courses   
         (Note: “Faculty” means faculty member(s) teaching the course.)

    C. University Programs

It is understood that in the U.S. and Canada it is difficult to offer a graduate program in exclusively one counseling or therapeutic approach.  Accreditation standards typically require all programs to provide a broad range of theoretical approaches and practical applications and to cover a great number of subjects from group work to addictions to multicultural issues to diagnosis and treatment planning.  For a program to describe itself as person-centered (in any of its forms), then, does not imply that the program primarily teaches that approach, but that it has managed to build enough person-centered and experiential elements into its program to distinguish it from other programs, while still meeting all the other requirements for accreditation.

    D. Institutes

This section is for institutes and organizations that offer a certificate, credential or other extensive training program in the person-centered or experiential approach.
 

7.   Submission Forms for New Entries

We are certain that there are many person-centered and experiential faculty, courses, programs and/or institutes in the U.S. and Canada not yet included in this Directory. To submit additional entries for the U.S and Canada you would like to have included, download the Submission Form. The listing is free of charge for all institutions.
 

8.   Additional Directory Category: Non-Academic, Non-Credential Offering Institutions* 

*This additional section is not edited by Howard Kirschenbaum.

This category is under development and will relate to institutions in the U.S. and Canada that provide theoretical and/or practical learning programs in the person-centered or experiential approach, without however offering academic credentials or certification. If you would like to join this forthcoming category, click on Submission Form.