The advanced training program in integrative treatment for parents, academic year 2021-2022

The parental identity is one of the most central identities in the life of an adult person. Parenthood is also the role of the person raising their own children. Treating parents is especially complex because it requires thinking of and relating to the third, who at times is absent from the room. The reference to parenthood combines movement between the symbolic and the real, between the present, past, and future, feelings, wishes, longings, and identities that carries within themself.

The parental identity is one of the most central identities in the life of an adult person. Parenthood is also the role of the person raising their own children. Treating parents is especially complex because it requires thinking of and relating to the third, who at times is absent from the room. The reference to parenthood combines movement between the symbolic and the real, between the present, past, and future, feelings, wishes, longings, and identities that the parent carries within themself.

What does an expert therapist working in the field with parents need to improve and better their work and promote the quality of service given to their patients?
Questions that arise with the parent therapist: Am I working effectively enough with parents? Do I feel capable and qualified? Do I know how to focus on the parent(s) as my patient(s)? If to this day I have not taken this step in a sufficient manner, how do I apply it differently in the future? What kind of support will I need further down the road to streamline my work with the general public of parents? When parents enter my clinic, how do I know which approach to choose to work with? Will the optimal treatment be through working with them directly? Do I address the part of their identity, or according to their role as parents? Is the relationship between parent and child my main patient? How I build the full process with them, from getting to know them, intake, offering a treatment plan and formulating a contract. How do I choose and direct the parents to focus on themselves, the connection, the relationship, or another layer in the complex mosaic that arises upon the deepening of the acquaintance with them? Does my parenting affect the treatment, and if so – in what way? How do I deal with ethical dilemmas that arise in the room? When and how do I end the treatment in the most positive and influential way?

Empathy Forum's comprehensive training program is designed to train and promote parent therapists so that they can provide parents with a more effective of therapeutic responses, whether they simultaneously treat children and adolescents psychotherapeutically or work with adults and families.

The objective of the training program

The objective of the training process is to improve the capabilities of the psychologists and psychotherapists who meet with parents and children, both in public and private clinics, to create a therapeutic space that will be as professional and beneficial as possible to their patients. This is done through increasing the knowledge and tools, understanding and flexibility of the approaches applied by the parent therapists. The aim is to provide a comprehensive and integrative professional response to as many parents and needs as possible, in various cultural contexts and different populations. The training program for the year 2021-2022 is part of the comprehensive program for integrative treatment for parents, and additional courses will be added in the future.

Uniqueness

• A program based on comprehensive training in therapeutic work with parents and parenting.
• Familiarity with a variety of approaches and perceptions that will suit the various kinds of parents whom the therapists meet at the clinic.
• Creating professional experiences aimed at self-design of a personal work method.
• Continuous integrative connection between learning and instruction through practical experience.
• Modular choice of the scope and pace of study, which can be structured by the learner(s) at a customized scope and pace.
• Belonging to an active community that thinks and promotes beneficial parenting.
• Being trained by the professional entity in Israel that specializes in the field of parenting psychology.

Rationale

Psychologists and psychotherapists who have undergone certified therapeutic training working with parents come from a variety of trainings with varying degrees of experience in the field of public and private work, and are interested in refreshing and creating an orderly infrastructure for in-depth work with parents. Therefore, the training program begins by reviewing the meaning of a therapeutic contract, interview, recruitment, and the essence of therapeutic work with parents, combined with a basic course of the different perceptions, ethics, and developmental psychology. On this foundation, with the aid of group and individual guidance, follow-up courses in treatment for parents are constantly structured, and they will be offered in the coming years. Our goal is to provide therapists for parents with the skills, self-observation, and means to be better therapists for the adult person in the various aspects of their parenting.

General

Therapeutic work with parents and integrative care for parents and parenting is a field that is gaining ground in the field of psychology as a stand-alone field. As such, it requires knowledge, familiarity, understanding, and experience in unique psychotherapeutic modalities. In the past, treatment for parents was perceived as part of the child and adolescent psychotherapy and was given only a partial response, despite the unequivocal evidence of its crucial impact on the success of the treatment in children. At the same time, in the field of treatment for adults in the field of psychotherapy there is an increasing focus of adults, throughout their entire life span, who reach out for treatment in the context of their parenthood.

The Empathy Forum was established to address the tremendous need of therapists, who work with parents in various settings, to deepen their training in the field and to make it more accessible to parents. Presently, Empathy Forum offers an annual training program, as part of a more comprehensive program to promote specialization in the field. The program we offer is innovative and is designed to provide a broad, integrative solution that combines approaches, perceptions, and experiences, in order to enable the learners to have a proper basis providing for optimal and integrative treatment for parents and parenting.

The program is intended for treating psychologists, clinical social workers, psychiatrists, expression and creative therapists, and clinical criminologists, who have graduated with a recognized Master's degree or higher (according to the criteria of the Israel Psychological Association for recognized therapeutic training), who treat parents in public and private settings, and who have accumulated at least two years of experience treating parents.

The training courses meet the criteria of the Israel Psychological Association for recognition as distinct professional training courses.

The program includes training courses ranging between theory and practice, as well as groups for thinking about cases from the field in therapeutic work with parents. The activities will be conducted in the academic year 2021-2022, some online on Zoom and others as physical or online training group session.

The Empathy Forum

The Empathy Forum acts to promote the field of treatment for parents by referring to the identity and role aspects of parenthood, and by looking at the different types of interventions, ranging from guidance, through counseling and to treatment for parents.

Community vision – the Empathy Forum acts with the aim of promoting the mental well-being of parents in Israel. As part of this concept, we work to improve the services provided to parents on several levels. Among other things, we work in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and are part of the Coalition of Civil Organizations for Public Psychology, we act and represent the field in order to increase its presence and importance among decision-makers, government officials, and other government Ministries.

Terms of payment for the training courses

Registration and payment details
The payment is 1,200 NIS plus VAT (1,404 NIS including VAT) for each course.
the number of spots is limited.

The actual registration for the training courses begins about two months (or as otherwise set in a notification sent by the Forum) prior to the commencement date of each course. To ensure your participation in a specific course, 200 NIS plus VAT (234 NIS including VAT), which will not be refunded, are to be transferred during the registration process.

The remaining amount will be paid about a month prior to the start of the course (in one or two installments) upon the completion of the registration process.
Without the additional payment, the registration will not take effect.

Discounts and arrangements

For participants in the theoretical courses
Cost of continued participation – a second course in the Forum – 1,020 NIS plus VAT (15% discount, 1,193 NIS including VAT).
Cost of a third course – 867 NIS plus VAT (15% additional discount, 1,014 NIS including VAT).
The cost of the fourth course and onwards – 800 NIS plus VAT (936 NIS including VAT) for each additional course taken by the participant under the Empathy Forum training program.
Psychological services and organizations receive the training courses through special arrangements.

For participants in the training/learning groups around cases from the field
The actual participants in the training groups (from the second year on, or those who pay three months in advance) are entitled to receive the maximum discount (800 NIS per training) for any theoretical training in which they participate in parallel with the group training.

Terms of cancellation and refunds

After the first session, it is possible to cancel the participation in the training and receive a refund of 50% of the cost. After that, no refund will be given.