David Lewis - Existential Therapist

Existential psychotherapist Flora Cruft has launched the South West Existential Therapy Alliance, a regional offshoot of the Society for Existential Analysis. The aim of SWEPA is to provide a free network for existential psychotherapists, psychologists, counsellors, students and others in the South West of England who are interested in the existential approach. Flora Cruft, who has private practices in Exeter and Honiton, will also be running the following workshops:

• 1st November 2008 - Counselling skills for the caring professions: an introductory workshop, Exeter.

• 2nd May 2009 - Working with rape survivors, Exeter.

• 16th May 2009 - Therapeutic techniques for working with rape and trauma, Exeter.

Jeffrey Schaler (introduced by Anthony Stadlen) conducts Inner Circle Seminar No. 131 on Sunday 12 October 2008, 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM: “ADDICTION IS A CHOICE”.
Professor Jeffrey A. Schaler is the world’s leading disbeliever in ‘addiction’. He is an existential psychotherapist and full time professor in the Department of Justice, Law and Society at American University’s School of Public Affairs in Washington, D.C. His book Addiction is a Choice (2000) argues:

1. No drug (including alcohol and tobacco) is ‘addictive’.
2. Drugs are not intrinsically safe or dangerous, good or bad.
3. Disease refers to cellular pathology, not behaviour.
4. ‘Loss of control’ is an unfalsifiable, hence unscientific, hypothesis.
5. ‘Addiction’ is ethical, not medical.
6. Focussing on the existential reasons for ‘addiction’ can help drug users address and resolve the problems in living they try to solve with drugs.

Whether you agree, disagree, or are undecided, you are welcome to discuss Professor Schaler’s argument and evidence with him in this important seminar. Venue: Herringham Hall, Regent’s College, Inner Circle, London NW1. Subscription: Students £88, others £110, by 12 April 2008. Apply to: Anthony Stadlen, stadlen@aol.com.

Forum with Professor Ernesto Spinelli: ‘PRACTISING EXISTENTIAL PSYCHOTHERAPY: THE RELATIONAL WORLD’ on Friday, 22nd February 2008 at 7:00pm. Venue: The October Gallery, 24 Old Gloucester Street, London WC1. (Nearest Tubes: Holborn, Russell Sq.). Entrance: £5.00 (SEA Members), £8.00 (Non-Members).
This Forum will provide the opportunity for participants to hear Professor Ernesto Spinelli introduce the key ideas and themes in his new book and then to present their comments and queries for discussion.
Professor Ernesto Spinelli, PhD is a Fellow of both the British Psychological Society (BPS) and the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) as well as a UKCP registered existential psychotherapist and APECS registered executive coach and coaching supervisor. In 1999, he was awarded a Personal Chair as Professor of Psychotherapy, Counselling and Counselling Psychology. His authorship of numerous specialist articles and several highly respected and widely-read books dealing with the theory and practise of existential psychotherapy has earned for Ernesto a BPS Counselling Psychology Division Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Advancement of the Profession as well as an international reputation as a leading figure in the advancement of contemporary existential psychotherapy, and coaching. As well as maintaining a private practice as a psychotherapist, executive coach and supervisor, Ernesto is Senior Fellow at the School of Psychotherapy and Counselling, Regent’s College, London and Director of ESA Associates. Ernesto was Chair of the SEA from 1994 to 1999.

David Lewis has accepted a part-time academic post as a Lecturer in Existential Psychotherapy in Lisbon, Portugal.
Dr. Edgar Correia of the Sociedade Portuguesa de Psicoterapia Existencial has appointed David Lewis as a Lecturer in Existential Psychotherapy on the Curso de Formação em Psicoterapia Existencial in Lisbon . This is a new training course, and the first ever cohort of students has just begun its studies. It is the first time that a training in existential psychotherapy has taken place in Portugal. David will travel to Lisbon on dedicated days to give his lectures, and his private practice and NHS work in London are unaffected.