INTEGRATING FOCUSING
Focusing can be integrated into any practice or activity to make that activity more effective and to feel its full potential. Focusing can be added to theory construction, creative writing, dreamwork, group facilitation, sport performance, relationships, working with children, and spirituality etc. Below are a few examples of how an experiential sensitivity can be integrated into counselling, coaching and supervision practices.
Counselling and Therapy
Focusing was originally discovered by Eugene Gendlin and his research team. By listening closely to what successful psychotherapy clients do during their sessions, they identified a key element: clients who change in therapy pay direct attention to their bodily experiences. They notice that their body responds to their own and their therapist’s words. These bodily responses guide them to explore their lives in a direction that feels more beneficial. This allows them to experience their own change step by step (see Focusing-Oriented Experiential Psychotherapy )
At the University of Chicago, Professor Gendlin developed simple steps to teach this form of bodily attention. Most people can easily re-learn how to be guided naturally by their own experience, as it is felt directly in their bodies.
Since its first description in the 1950s, Focusing has been the subject of academic and clinical research. The approach offers therapists a natural way to engage in open dialogues of depth rather than remaining with stories or thoughts or imposing ‘expert’ opinions. However, this approach remains little-known by many therapists and most clients, and it is still uncommon to find a Certified Focusing-oriented Therapist!
London Focusing is a member of the Focusing Oriented Therapy Association (FOTA) and offers training for registered therapists and counsellors who would like to achieve International Focusing Institute certification. Focusing training is also available for trainee counsellors and psychotherapists who want to enhance the skills they are learning in their training course. Institutions are welcome to request ad hoc Focusing input into their advanced training curriculum.
Professionals interested in incorporating Focusing into their practice are encouraged to contact us for information on workshops specifically designed for experienced counsellors, coaches, supervisors and mental health professionals.
Let Your Body Be Your Coach
By paying attention to how the body responds to specific situations, we can choose, act and think in more holistic ways. Incorporating Focusing awareness into any coaching approach, including other body-based coaching, can enhance its effectiveness. The fundamental skills we teach can be integrated into any practice that is already beneficial.
Coaching is valuable for managers and others involved in creative or corporate environments, public sector institutions, and non-governmental organisations. It is also useful for individuals seeking to improve professional relationships, achieve greater life balance, or pursue new goals.
Focusing Coaching is offered individually or as group training at the workplace, fostering an innovative work culture that encourages novelty and openness.
Focusing training has also proven particularly effective in small business settings and with staff working with the public.
Supervision Sessions
Integrating the awareness of Focusing into clinical and management supervision sessions provides an effective method for addressing unhelpful patterns and entrenched relationships.
As an employee or supervisee recounts their work, the body naturally re-creates the situation. By observing the body’s response, individuals can experience real change in how the situation feels in the future.
London Focusing offers supervision from an embodied approach, making sessions more evocative and effective. We work from the present moment rather than general theoretical concepts.
‘Evocative moments in supervision can feel spiritual, making the familiar dazzle with novelty and poetic expression… Focusing on the bodily implicit can connect us to a self-responding infinity’.
– Greg Madison (2009) Evocative Supervision