Focusing Resources
There are many ways to learn about Focusing. Below, we’ve collected some of our favorite books, articles, websites, videos, and podcasts about Focusing. Our hope is that this Focusing Resources page will be a rich library for our community and beyond. Feel free to send suggestions our way! Focusing is an expanding field, and we welcome your contribution.
LIBRARY
Books
“I know I’m in There Somewhere,” Helene Brenner
Focusing-Oriented Psychotherapy: A Manual of the Experiential Method by Eugene Gendlin, Ph.D.
Let Your Body Interpret Your Dreams by Eugene Gendlin, PhD
Focusing in Clinical Practice. The Essence of Change by Ann Weiser Cornell, PhD
Focusing-Oriented Therapy (FOT) by Neil Friedman, PhD
Theory and Practice of Focusing-Oriented Psychotherapy. Beyond the Talking Cure by Greg Madison, PhD
Person-Centered Therapy: The Focusing-Oriented Approach by Campbell Purton, PhD
Focusing-Oriented Art Therapy by Laury Rappaport, PhD
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel Van der Kolk, MD
Articles
“Opening Doorways to the Spiritual in Psychotherapy,” Joan Klagsbrun
“Don’t Go It Alone: The Power of Focusing Partnerships,” Joan Klagsbrun
“My Big Focusing Aha Moment,” Rosie Fanale
“Death Looks Not Towards the Moon: My Journey Through the Dark Night of the Soul,” Randi Love
“Hidden Trauma,” Jeffrey Morrison
“Intergenerational and Vicarious Trauma: Identifying and Unwinding Its Impact on Clients and Health Care Workers,” Jeffrey Morrison
“The Relational Heart of FOT,” Lynn Preston
KEEPER OF THE FLAME: Healing Inter-Generational Trauma Using Focusing-Oriented Therapy, Beilah Ross
“Fragile Process,” Margaret Warner
Websites
The International Focusing Institute
The Focusing Institute is the international organisation that offers certification to psychotherapists who have completed a FOT training offered by our members. The FI website has a generous amount of information on various other applications of Focusing, apart from the therapy context.
International Association of Focusing-Oriented Therapists (IAFOTs)
Worldwide organisation of certified Focusing-Oriented Therapists. We offer psychotherapy and training based upon the experiential practice of Focusing and the philosophy of implicit experience.
Focusing Initiatives International
Focusing International is an international organisation specialising in a model of ‘community wellness’, especially in developing areas of the world and with groups that might not otherwise have access to Focusing training.
Inner Relationship Focusing (IRF) is a process for emotional healing and accessing positive life-forward energy. It has been developed by Ann Weiser Cornell and Barbara McGavin, based on the work of Eugene Gendlin. Above all, the practice of IRF has been developed over 18 years of intensive work with clients who were engaging with difficult issues such as action blocks, addiction (primarily eating disorders), depressed and anxious states, and experiences of low self-worth.
The Seattle Focusing Institute (SFI) is a virtual home to Focusing teachers and students alike. SFI, founded by Jeffrey Morrison (Certified Focusing Trainer and Certifying Focusing Coordinator) offers an in-depth, two-year Focusing training program: Focusing-Oriented Therapy & Complex Trauma. The program welcomes anyone who feels called to work with others, heal inner wounds, and find a personal path of purpose, peace, and freedom.
Wholebody Focusing is a community of practitioners exploring the ‘whole body’ integration of Focusing and Alexander Technique as pioneered by Kevin McEvenue.
Leslie Ellis, PhD, RCC, is a registered clinical counsellor, teacher and author who lives and works in beautiful Deep Cove, British Columbia. After writing A Clinician’s Guide to Dream Therapy, she changed her focus from private psychotherapy practice to local and online classes in dreamwork, focusing-oriented therapy and trauma training for therapists.