Previous Years' Course Catalogues

This course provides an overview of the essential models of psychotherapy in use today, including psychodynamic, existential, humanistic, cognitive-behavioral, family systems, postmodern, social constructivist, somatic, and creative arts therapies. Techniques and skills associated with each modality will be explored, with an emphasis on how to sensitively and responsibly integrate theory with the practice of spiritual care and psychospiritual therapy. The course provides students with a foundation for ongoing study of specific psychotherapeutic models, and for the ongoing integration of concepts into clinical practice within a supervised learning process. Knowledge of various modalities will also help students make appropriate referrals when a client’s needs lie outside their scope of practice. The course supports the competencies of the Canadian Association for Spiritual Care (CASC) and the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO) and will also benefit students of theology who wish to augment their spiritual care skills.

A seminar offered each summer on some aspect of the History of Theology with Professor James K.A. Smith, Visiting Distinguished Professor. Participants will explore one or more authors according to themes established by Professor Smith in his current research and writing. Theme for Summer 2015: What could a fifth-century North African bishop possibly have to say to us secular cosmopolitans? Why read Augustine in our "secular age?" Because, in fact, our secular age is already an Augustinian age. To tweak Faulkner just a bit, Augustine isn't dead; he isn't even past. We don't need to engage in acrobatics of "relevance" to cultivate interest in a fifth-century North African bishop because, in a sense, he's been with us this whole time: he just went underground. He is part of our cultural subconscious. And if you dig below the surface, you start to see him everywhere. You'll notice that Hannah Arendt, under the (official) direction of Karl Jaspers (and the unofficial, er, "tutelage" of Martin Heidegger) did her dissertation on Augustine. Or that a fellow north African and existentialist, Albert Camus, also wrote a dissertation on Augustine and Neoplatonism. The genealogy of an "existentialist" strain of 20th-century philosophy is quite directly Augustinian. In important ways, Heidegger's Being and Time was the stone dropped in the pond of our complacency. His analysis of our pathetic, derivative conformity to the chattering of "the they," coupled with his call for a resolute choice of a "project" that summons us to authenticity-these turn out to be Heidegger's translations of Augustine into the language of phenomenology. While Being and Time seemed to drop from the sky, sui generis, in 1927, by the 1990s, when Heidegger's early lectures from 1919-1923 began to be published in his Gesamtausgabe [Collected Works], we learned that his analysis was far from original. In fact, we can see all of Heidegger's categories emerge in an important lecture course on-you guessed it-Augustine's Confessions. This course will consider the theological significance of Augustine's enduring influence on philosophy (and culture) in the 20th and 21st century, exploring the direct Augustinian influence on contemporary theorists such as Martin Heidegger, Hannah Arendt, Albert Camus, Jacques Derrida, Jean-Francais Lyotard, Jean-Luc Marion, and John Milbank (and "Radical Orthodoxy" more broadly).

A seminar offered each summer on some aspect of the History of Theology with Professor James K.A. Smith, Visiting Distinguished Professor. Participants will explore one or more authors according to themes established by Professor Smith in his current research and writing. Theme for Summer 2015: What could a fifth-century North African bishop possibly have to say to us secular cosmopolitans? Why read Augustine in our "secular age?" Because, in fact, our secular age is already an Augustinian age. To tweak Faulkner just a bit, Augustine isn't dead; he isn't even past. We don't need to engage in acrobatics of "relevance" to cultivate interest in a fifth-century North African bishop because, in a sense, he's been with us this whole time: he just went underground. He is part of our cultural subconscious. And if you dig below the surface, you start to see him everywhere. You'll notice that Hannah Arendt, under the (official) direction of Karl Jaspers (and the unofficial, er, "tutelage" of Martin Heidegger) did her dissertation on Augustine. Or that a fellow north African and existentialist, Albert Camus, also wrote a dissertation on Augustine and Neoplatonism. The genealogy of an "existentialist" strain of 20th-century philosophy is quite directly Augustinian. In important ways, Heidegger's Being and Time was the stone dropped in the pond of our complacency. His analysis of our pathetic, derivative conformity to the chattering of "the they," coupled with his call for a resolute choice of a "project" that summons us to authenticity-these turn out to be Heidegger's translations of Augustine into the language of phenomenology. While Being and Time seemed to drop from the sky, sui generis, in 1927, by the 1990s, when Heidegger's early lectures from 1919-1923 began to be published in his Gesamtausgabe [Collected Works], we learned that his analysis was far from original. In fact, we can see all of Heidegger's categories emerge in an important lecture course on-you guessed it-Augustine's Confessions. This course will consider the theological significance of Augustine's enduring influence on philosophy (and culture) in the 20th and 21st century, exploring the direct Augustinian influence on contemporary theorists such as Martin Heidegger, Hannah Arendt, Albert Camus, Jacques Derrida, Jean-Francais Lyotard, Jean-Luc Marion, and John Milbank (and "Radical Orthodoxy" more broadly).

Foundations in the psychology of pastoral counselling, emphasizing the interpersonal, intersubjective and relational dynamics operative in the dyad in a faith-based context. Focus of the course will be on case studies where students will examine multiple perspectives of effective communication in the pastoral setting. Strong focus heightened awareness of not only what persons seeking counseling brings to the relationship, but equally important, on what the counselor brings, and the multiple levels of conscious and unconscious communication mobilized in therapeutic encounters.

Foundations in the psychodynamic understanding of human development, theory of change and the therapeutic relationship, emphasizing the interpersonal, intersubjective and relational dynamics operative in the dyad. Focus on clinical case studies where students examine multiple perspectives of effective communication/listening in therapeutic relationship. Focus on both participants in the dyad and the multiple forms of communication both conscious and unconscious between them. The nature of transference/countertransference dynamics are explored, including 'enactments' and how they
contribute to depend understanding of communicational complexities.

Foundations in the psychology of pastoral counselling, emphasizing the interpersonal, intersubjective and relational dynamics operative in the dyad in a faith-based context. Focus of the course will be on case studies where students will examine multiple perspectives of effective communication in the pastoral setting. Strong focus heightened awareness of not only what persons seeking counseling brings to the relationship, but equally important, on what the counselor brings, and the multiple levels of conscious and unconscious communication mobilized in therapeutic encounters.

Foundations in the psychodynamic understanding of human development, theory of change and the therapeutic
relationship, emphasizing the interpersonal, intersubjective and relational dynamics operative in the dyad. Focus on clinical
case studies where students examine multiple perspectives of effective communication/listening in therapeutic relationship.
Focus on both participants in the dyad and the multiple forms of communication both conscious and unconscious between
them. The nature of transference/countertransference dynamics are explored, including 'enactments' and how they
contribute to depend understanding of communicational complexities.

Foundations in the psychology of pastoral counselling, emphasizing the interpersonal, intersubjective and relational dynamics operative in the dyad in a faith-based context. Focus of the course will be on case studies where students will examine multiple perspectives of effective communication in the pastoral setting. Strong focus heightened awareness of not only what persons seeking counseling brings to the relationship, but equally important, on what the counselor brings, and the multiple levels of conscious and unconscious communication mobilized in therapeutic encounters.

Foundations in the psychodynamic understanding of human development, theory of change and the therapeutic relationship, emphasizing the interpersonal, intersubjective and relational dynamics operative in the dyad. Focus on clinical case studies where students examine multiple perspectives of effective communication/listening in therapeutic relationship. Focus on both participants in the dyad and the multiple forms of communication both conscious and unconscious between them. The nature of transference/countertransference dynamics are explored, including 'enactments' and how they
contribute to depend understanding of communicational complexities.

Foundations in the psychodynamic understanding of human development, theory of change and the therapeutic relationship, emphasizing the interpersonal, intersubjective and relational dynamics operative in the dyad. Focus on clinical case studies where students examine multiple perspectives of effective communication/listening in therapeutic relationship. Focus on both participants in the dyad and the multiple forms of communication both conscious and unconscious between them. The nature of transference/countertransference dynamics are explored, including 'enactments' and how they
contribute to depend understanding of communicational complexities.

This course will introduce central theoretical concepts in psychoanalytic psychotherapy and their importance in effective clinical work. An underlying premise of the course is that therapeutic action occurs within the relationship between therapist and patient, two individuals who struggle together to reclaim and deepen their shared humanity. While theory is essential to the task of providing responsible clinical care, it is understood that it always follows deeply attentive, empathic observation, not only of the patient, but of the psychodynamic processes that occur between the therapist and patient. Theory helps to hold and contain the therapist as she enters the unique, often strange and at times disturbing inner world of the person who seeks her help. Theory must always be held lightly while it is actively operative in the mind of the therapist as he navigates his way through the world that emerges within the analytic setting. A solid grounding in psychodynamic theory helps the therapist maintain a calm receptivity to the patient in the midst of unknowing, which most often characterizes the immediacy of clinical work. It also helps the therapist cultivate and sustain a reflective use of herself that establishes a safe and supportive professional framework that holds and protects both parties in the clinical dyad.

This course will introduce central theoretical concepts in psychoanalytic psychotherapy and their importance in effective clinical work. An underlying premise of the course is that therapeutic action occurs within the relationship between therapist and patient, two individuals who struggle together to reclaim and deepen their shared humanity. While theory is essential to the task of providing responsible clinical care, it is understood that it always follows deeply attentive, empathic observation, not only of the patient, but of the psychodynamic processes that occur between the therapist and patient. Theory helps to ‘hold’ and ‘contain’ the therapist as she enters the unique, often strange and at times disturbing inner world of the person who seeks her help. Theory must always be held lightly while it is actively operative in the mind of the therapist as he navigates his way through the world that emerges within the analytic setting. A solid grounding in psychodynamic theory helps the therapist maintain a calm receptivity to the patient in the midst of unknowing, which most often characterizes the immediacy of clinical work. It also helps the therapist cultivate and sustain a reflective use of herself that establishes a safe and supportive professional framework that holds and protects both parties in the clinical dyad.