FALL 2025 SEMESTER

Registration for Fall 2025 course auditing is open until September 15, 2025, or until a course reaches its maximum of four auditors—whichever comes first. To secure your spot, full payment is required prior to the start of classes on September 15, 2025.

MFT555: Psychodynamic & Experiential Dynamic Therapy

Professor: Vidar Husby

Tuesdays 9am-Noon Pacific Standard Time, September 22 - December 19, 2025 (12 three-hour classes)

Fee: $1,500

This courses teaches an introductory Deliberate Practice approach to Psychodynamic / Experiential Dynamic Therapy, with a strong emphasis on practical skill development and clinical feedback. Students will learn core concepts such as unconscious processes, defense mechanisms, attachment patterns, and affect regulation. Through live demonstrations, video analysis, and deliberate practice exercises, participants will gain hands-on experience in applying these approaches to real clinical scenarios. Ideal for therapists seeking to deepen their emotional attunement and therapeutic presence.

MFT556: Emotionally-Focused Couples Therapy

Professor: Angela Jensen Ramirez

Wednesdays 9am-Noon Pacific Standard Time, September 22 - December 19, 2025 (12 three-hour classes)

Fee: $1,500

This courses teaches a Deliberate Practice approach to Emotionally-Focused Couples Therapy, with a strong emphasis on practical skill development and clinical feedback. Participants will explore the key stages of EFT, including assessment, de-escalation, and restructuring emotional bonds, while developing the micro-skills necessary for attunement and intervention. Through live role-plays, video review, and focused practice exercises, students will build confidence in working with relational dynamics and deep emotional processes. Ideal for clinicians who want to strengthen their couples therapy skills through hands-on learning.

MFT541: Assessment & Diagnosis

Professor: Vanessa Zhou

Mondays 9am-Noon Pacific Standard Time, September 22 - December 19, 2025 (12 three-hour classes)

Fee: $1,500

The Assessment & Diagnosis course provides a comprehensive and integrative framework for evaluating psychological distress and mental health disorders. Drawing from current research and clinical best practices, the course covers foundational skills such as conducting the initial clinical interview, identifying presenting problems, and assessing client motivation and treatment goals. It emphasizes a trauma-informed, culturally sensitive approach to diagnosing psychopathology while also addressing immediate safety concerns, such as suicidality and substance use. Students are introduced to the DSM-5 diagnostic framework and its limitations, as well as transdiagnostic models that highlight shared emotional regulation challenges across disorders. Specific modules delve into the assessment and clinical presentation of common disorders, including anxiety, depression, OCD, PTSD, and eating disorders, with a focus on case formulation, symptom patterns, and transdiagnostic maintenance factors. Students are trained through an integration of theoretical lectures, videotape analysis of real therapy sessions, and structured skill-building deliberate practice exercises tailored to the course's topics.

MFT551: Theories & Models I (Common Factors and Intro to Major Treatment Models course)

Professor: Inês Amaro

Tuesdays 9am-Noon Pacific Standard Time, September 22 - December 19, 2025 (12 three-hour classes)

Fee: $1,500

The Theories & Models I course offers a structured introduction to the foundations of psychotherapy, beginning with several class sessions focused on the common factors that predict therapeutic effectiveness across treatment models. These include the therapeutic alliance, client expectations, therapist responsiveness, and the role of emotional engagement. Building on this foundation, the course then introduces students to specific therapeutic models, including cognitive-behavioral and emotion-focused approaches, emphasizing how each addresses client suffering and facilitates change. Through a combination of theoretical lectures, video analysis of real clinical sessions, and structured experiential deliberate practice exercises, students critically examine how different models conceptualize emotion, cognition, and relational patterns. The course prepares students to understand both the unique contributions and shared principles of diverse treatment approaches.

MFT561: Person of the Therapist

Professor: Sara Lappan

Fridays 9am-Noon Pacific Standard Time, September 22 - December 19, 2025 (12 three-hour classes)

Fee: $1,500

This courses teaches the Sentio Deliberate Practice approach to personal development as a therapist which focuses on building therapist’s ability to remain grounded and responsive rather than reactive during difficult clinical interactions. Topics include the rationale for developing the person of the therapist; the inner skills of psychotherapy; methods for psychological/emotional self-awareness, self-assessment, and growth; and common challenges in this area. An emphasis is placed on student self-agency and protecting students boundaries.