NISAPI offers a certificate program in International Collaborative Practices sponsored by the Houston Galveston Institute and Taos Institute (please check the ICCP link to view two programs in the United States and programs globally-Europe, Northern Europe, Central Europe, Czech Republic, Asia, South America, & Central America), a certificate program in CEACRM, and a hosting program for learners to spend weeks or months through the Taos Institute.Please contact NISAPI about learning events at the Chatsworth location. NISAPI offers course work every month self tailored to our learners. Some courses will repeat monthly but learners can inquire for self tailored venues or our certificate programs. For specialty courses or course work for our two certificate programs please email NISAPI, we can accommodate your schedule for out of state and international learners. Call or email admin@nowiseeaperson.com or call 626-487-9305 or 310-993-9144. An example of our past programs are below. For 2020 courses contact us for calendar of dates.coursecatalogue-NISAPI-9-2017
REFLECTIONS FROM FORMER LEARNERS
I will offer reflections from learners since 2008. The first post received last week is below.I hope this email finds you well! I’m finishing my PhD in another state. I thought of writing to share with you that I recently received a happy news from one of our clients we had at NISAPI several years ago when I was a trainee. I guess she still had my number surprisingly, and sent me a text with a picture of her wedding and said that she just got married to her dream man and wouldn’t have been able to have another relationship if she did not meet with me!The fact that they got married made me so happy, because she was recovering from negative relationships and met this dream man during the period I saw her and I remember well how she talked about this dream man.
However, I thought it was interesting that she was highly speaking of me and her therapy experience, because she was one of those resourceful clients who sort of healed herself inside and outside of therapy. That being said, it is a beauty of collaborative therapy/theories that it’s supposed to be that way, very subtle but surely transforming. So it makes sense that I do not feel that I did much in the form of “interventions,” defined in the traditional therapy models.When I processed my thoughts to this point, I remembered how I was criticized a lot in practicum class as I presented the case that it looked like just “girls-talk” and I was “not doing anything” in the video clips.
Though I thought I was, by having dialogue and facilitating exploration and creating more space for the other possibilities and ideas to come in. It’s just not easy to see in video clips and students and faculties are so used to more dramatic “doings.” They also told me that it was a “red flag” that the client and I were discussing about her ex, while he was not there. Which doesn’t make sense, because we are MFT, we work with systems even when clients come in by themselves. We try to bring in all voices with or without their presence there. They also criticized the client really aggressively with no supportive facts of their opinions, totally out of blue.
Now I’m guessing that it was reflection of their anxiety for not knowing how to see the video clips because they don’t know Collaborative therapy. But it was harsh and painful experience for me back then. I talked with you about this and your feedback was that I was doing just right and those people have no training of our theory or any collaborative practices. I agreed with you, because you knew the model, they did not, and the client kept coming back and was getting better. In addition, she gave me this happy report many years later on her wedding day! I thought this could be an empowering story for your trainees, if their peers and faculties are not understanding the beauty of what happens in collaborative therapy at NISAPI. Though, I hope they are understood.
Things I leaned from you and peers at NISAPI have been a strong core of who I am as a therapist and a person. I truly appreciate all your teaching and sharing of wisdom. When I don’t know what to do, I try to think of your teaching and what you would say. You gave me so much encouragement to not give in to negative judgements and trust unique ways of therapy, as well as unique ways of happiness in personal life. They will stay with me for all my life. How did I get so lucky? Thank you so much, Dr. Swim…
Posted 09/11/18
Learning at Now I See A Person Institute (NISAPI) with Dr. Swim and the team was experiential. It is rare to find professionals who truly embody the theories, philosophies, and ethics of care that are academically written. Somewhere along the way, between processes of conceptualizing and actual implementation of practice; there can be a disconnect. With Dr. Swim, the qualitative research articles that I read and reflected on before visiting the ranch came to life. I learned about Community Engagement: A Collaborative Recovery (CEACRM) through the way that Dr. Swim embraced, respected, and related to me as a person. Through genuine encouragement, authenticity, and interest in who I am, Dr. Swim generously and graciously facilitated an experience of learning where I felt safe, supported, and heard.
