A Primer in Brief and In-Depth Crisis Work

Course Description

How to deal with depression? How to deal with a job loss? And how to deal with feelings of isolation? All of us encounter crises in our lives, as do the people we work with. This course is about dealing with those crises in life using Brief and In-depth work.

This live webinar course introduces you to Brief and In-Depth work when someone else or you are dealing with a crisis in your life. It is a short-term way of working and healing and it focuses on unconscious processes, dreams and memories, and their associated body responses.  

Brief and In-depth work takes about 8 to 10 sessions, in which a client and clinician meet to explore a core issue, a specific psychological problem that needs immediate attention. With the help of an on-going series of ancient, Asklepian dream incubation practices, the creative imagination leads the way.

A recent Kaiser Foundation poll found that the COVID-19 pandemic affected the mental health of 56% of adults. As a result, mental health workers and students of life are finding it necessary to adapt to this changing landscape. Working with our own as well as the dreams of others opens us to the strangeness of our shared catastrophe.

In this Brief and In-Depth primer, you will be guided to enter the dream landscape of your own and that of others. A slow and careful exploration of the dream images, from various perspectives, will lead to an increased depth of creative imagination and a profound sense of one’s own humanity. By allowing dreams to speak to us in their own manner, it is hoped that the COVID-19 pandemic will play a role in returning us to our deeper human nature. 

This course is ideal if

• You are interested in learning a new and innovative approach to short-term crisis work that emphasizes on the unconscious processes.
• As a student of life or as a mental health worker you are interested in learning an embodied imagination approach to working with dreams and memories.
• You are interested in exploring the importance of the ancient Asklepian dream incubation practices.
• You and/or those around you have felt the emotional fallout or psychological trauma caused by the Pandemic and COVID-19.
• You want to familiarize yourself with a way to feel more grounded, energized, and connected to yourself and others.
• You are interested in learning how the “lived body”, the body through which we touch, feel, and move is central to the depth and quality of our relationships with others.

Course Overview

Class 1-8

The first half of each webinar will start with a discussion on questions and articles sent prior to each session.

The second half will be experiential and involves working with the dreams and/or memories of webinar participants.

Note! No recordings will be made of this webinar series.

By the end of this course you will

• You will understand the structure of Brief and In-Depth crisis work.
• You will have a greater understanding of the use of Ancient Greek Incubation techniques to enhance each of the 8-10 sessions that are part of Brief and In-Depth crisis work.
• You will be able to work with and approach dreams and memories from an embodied imagination perspective.
• You will have the tools to feel more grounded, energized, and capable of moving forward despite the aftereffects and complexities of the Pandemic and COVID-19.
• You will become more aware of and attentive to being with your lived body.