Five Saturdays, September 6 - October 4 (Sept 6, 13, 20, 27, October 4)
7:00am – 9:00am CDT (1pm-3pm UK time)
Meets via Zoom
Cost: $150
Taught by David Field

This workshop introduces the conceptual and the clinical approaches of psychodynamic Christian counselling in the conviction that, rightly understood and practised, it represents a demonstrably biblical model of counselling-as-discipleship.

It may be of interest

• to ministers, elders, and others involved in pastoral care;
• to serving Christian counsellors who work with other modalities than psychodynamic;
• to practising psychodynamic counsellors who seek clearer Biblical warrant for what they seek to do;
• and to any and all who wish to gain psychotherapeutic insight into Christian discipleship, that is, to understand and practise the true complementarity of psychological and spiritual maturity.

Course Outline

Week One:
Comfort or Reality: Choose One. Presenting a model for psychodynamic Christian counselling which flows from an understanding of the economy of God, is shaped by the elements of discipleship, and is reflected in Christian liturgy. [Practicum: a cigar is never just a cigar: the psychoanalytic attitude.]

Week Two:
Infancy and the Unconscious: further back and deeper down. Exploring the biblical warrant for paying careful attention to our early years and for taking the unconscious seriously; outlining models and practices for working with these themes. [Practicum: e-motion and bodily dynamics and sensations.]

Week Three:

Defenses. ‘The far country’ (in the parable of the prodigal son) ‘is forgetfulness of God’ and defenses are our way of refusing reality, of keeping psychological and emotional discomfort out of awareness. To identify, see the cost of, turn against, and dismantle our defenses is to be like the prodigal when ‘he came to himself’. [Practicum: the Holy Spirit (Sacred Breath/Spooky Breeze) and modes of attention.]

Week Four:
Clinical Emphases. ‘It’s OK, you’re safe here.’ ‘Where does it hurt?’ ‘I can’t help you if you won’t keep still.’ ‘The only way out is through.’ ‘Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.’ ‘Attention! and our need for Huxley’s mynah birds.’ [Practicum: the whole session.]

Week Five:
Psychodynamic Christian counselling and the Church. How Biblically-based psychodynamic counselling illumines and reinforces the place of liturgy, community, devotional practices, the Psalms, serving others, parenting, fasting, and silence in healthy Christian living. [Practicum: practising the presence of God in Christ by the Spirit.]

The workshop will attend to Theopolis priorities of “Bible | Liturgy | Culture” in seeking to serve the Church with perspectives on discipleship and formation, and on the part which Christian counselling and psychotherapy might play in them. Exercises for personal practice and opportunity for Q&A will be included in each
session.

Register below

The course will meet for five Saturdays (Sept 6, 13, 20, 27, October 4), starting at 7:00am – 9:00am CDT (1pm-3pm UK time).

David Field has lectured in seminaries in Nigeria and England, served as minister of a local church south of London, and worked in business as an executive search consultant for leading international universities. He studied theology at Oxford, went on to complete his PhD on Puritan theology at Cambridge, and has published books on the Puritan John Howe and on Obadiah. For several years, David has served in private practice as a psychodynamic Christian counsellor. He lives in Oxford with his wife Sue.

Theopolis Institute admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies or scholarship programs.

*This requirement was added in July 2016. For those who entered the Certificate Program earlier than that date, the oral examination is voluntary.