My Practice | Jung At Heart

NEW -- Writing for Healing -- ONLINE

Mon, 10 May 2010 10:48:29 -0400

Please note format changes for this group.

Beginning August 1: Writing For Healing, an eight week program.

Writing For Healing, an eight week program.

Everyone is healing from something—illness, divorce, job loss, loneliness, exhaustion. Writing for Healing invites participants to explore the emotional effects of trauma or illness on individuals and families. It offers a chance to relieve stress, find acceptance and hope, and begin the healing process and explore your inner life.

You will be supported to write the stories that you may not have told anyone before. The course is confidential -- everyone agrees to keep each other’s stories private and contained. Guidelines for listening to the work of others and offering feedback will be given in order to create a safe space for each member.

You will learn how writing helps to heal, and how to release your inner voice. Studies have shown that writing not only heals trauma and helps to resolve inner and outer conflicts, but it helps those with chronic illness.Writing helps to relieve stress and sort out our thoughts and feelings.

Writing For Healing teaches how to use writing as a major tool for healing and inner exploration. Please note: While writing is highly therapeutic, this class does not offer group therapy or individual counseling. We share stories, but we do not seek advice or try to advise one another.

This is an 8-week class. Members will spend time each week writing at home. Prompts and exercises will be offered for each week to help guide writing. Members may choose to share what they have written, though there is no requirement to do so.

We will use a private Ning network, where we will have a discussion forum, and I will be able to post assignments and material to read. You may post your writing (if you wish) and read the writing of others. We will use the discussion forum for discussions about the assignments, about writing, about the process of personal exploration through writing. Our network will not be visible to anyone outside of our group and accessible only to members. Ten days after the ending of the class, I will delete all writings and discussion. Because of the format, people are free to participate each day within their own schedule, which will make it easier for everyone to participate.

You will send your written work to me via Word attachments to an email and you may post it for the group to read. I will return it to you with my comments. My comments will not be critiquing your writing but suggestions for ways you might continue to explore whatever issue you have chosen to write about.

We will create a safe space for this work by committing to full confidentiality when reading the work posted in this class. Feedback will be supportive, with an eye to the visions and the goals of the writers. Our goal is to facilitate healing and personal growth and support your intention to write things you may not have written before, not to focus on the mechanics of writing.

Basic requirements: Internet access, ability to use email, including how to attach and download documents. Members agree to commit to spending time each day (about 3- 4 hrs per week) reading and writing and commenting on the writing of other class participants and participating in discussions. I will be participating daily in discussions.

The class will be limited to 8 members. The charge for this course is $200, payable weekly or in a single payment via Paypal. Individual consultations are available for an additional fee upon request.

Email me with questions or for further information about this group. You may contact me by using the form at the right. Please put Writing for Healing in the subject line. I ask that you make an advance payment of $35.00 to secure your place in the class.

Writing For Healing will begin August 1, 2010.

Life Writing

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 11:01:11 -0500

Life Writing For Women 50 and over

In drama, the third act features the resolution of the story and its subplots. In this act, the main tensions of the story are brought to their most intense point and the dramatic question answered, leaving the protagonist and other characters with a new sense of who they really are. Our fifth or sixth or seventh decade of life is the Third Act of our lives.

The goal of all life, the end point, death is what lies in front of us. In the third act of life it looms larger than it has before and is much more a part of consciousness. To be fully alive is to know that death lies ahead.

Between here and death, there is a lot of territory. Work to be done to deal with things left undone, to reconcile ourselves to our past, to seriously consider the story we have been living with an eye especially toward any changes we want to make in the remaining years.

A friend of mine, a woman in her mid-70's, told me that she wishes she could read about this life period as she could about midlife. The issues of midlife are not hers. She wrestles with the conflict between the desire to do and the body that no longer wants to. With the bubbling up of creative possibilities that she does not know she can bring to fruition. All of us in the third act are faced with having to prioritize in a new way, to come to terms with the certain knowledge that if there is something we want to do, want to create, we have to get down to work now because time is passing swiftly.

In the Third Act, we wrestle with issues like:

• What does it mean to become old?

• How do we come to terms with a body, a face that is not the face or body I carry in my mind's eye of myself?

• How do we make sense of the story we have lived and consider how we want to live the last chapters?

Life review writing is a means of intentionally reflecting on the experiences and events from our past and drawing meaning from those experiences, especially as it affects our present lives and the future. In life writing, we look back at the life we have lived and forward to the life yet to be lived.

Life review is important for many reasons . . . it can help us deal with unfinished business, to plan for retirement, for pursuing goals that we would still like to achieve and for sharing what we have learned from the past with our children, grandchildren and generations yet to come. In life writing you will have an opportunity to reflect on

who you are now • how you got here • where you are going • the story you are living

This group will teleconference and email. We will meet for weekly for 8 weeks. The dates and time will be arranged to meet the needs of the members. In between sessions, members may also share insights or thoughts any time by e-mail in the accompanying private, invitation-only Life Writing Group e-mail group.

Eight sessions - fee is $200 payable monthly or in a single payment via Paypal.

Email me with questions or for further information about this group. You may contact me by using the form at the left. Please put Life Writing in the subject line.

New group forming Autumn 2010.

Jungian Psychotherapy -- The Inward Journey

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 07:03:37 -0500

"Psychoanalysis cannot be considered a method of education if by education we mean the topiary art of clipping a tree into a beautiful artificial shape. But those who have a higher conception of education will prize most the method of cultivating a tree so that it fulfils to perfection its own natural conditions of growth."Jung Collected Works, vol. 4, para. 442

If you are seeking balance in your life or

you are interested in deep and lasting change or

you want to understand yourself more fully, change long-standing issues or patterns, discover greater meaning and purpose in your life or

you want to heal the effects of painful or traumatic past experiences or

if you find that all your enthusiasm for living has dried up, that there seems to be no meaning in anything, or that your creative, playful juices have stopped flowing,

then Jungian psychotherapy can help you.

Perhaps you are a woman in midlife and you are wondering what now that the children have grown up and you wonder who you are beyond the roles you have played.

You have a sense of where the end lies and that changes things for you. Now there is the knowledge that there likely will not be time for everything. How to prioritize? And how to handle it when flagging energy and physical resources make some longer for ambitions no longer attainable?

You want to work with your dreams and other creative expressions as a means of learning more about yourself.

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The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed. – C.G. Jung

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You and I are partners in this undertaking. The work in therapy comes out of a mutual process. Jungian psychotherapy is usually not brief therapy. It takes time to explore the complexities of feeling and experience that make up a person's own unique past, as well as present manifestations of that past. People who enter Jungian psychotherapy make an important personal commitment.

The goal of Jungian psychotherapy is to enable you to live a life that most fully expresses your own nature. Each of us has a unique self which is trying to unfold. When that unfolding is blocked we may become anxious, or depressed or angry and we may have trouble in our relationships. You and I together develop a caring dialogue which will help you first to understand where you are blocked and then to overcome your blocks. Through our work, you can expect to feel happier and more fulfilled in your relationships, in your job and in your creative life. to themselves and their personal journey.

Jungian therapy aims at activating your innate healing capabilities. It does so by promoting a living dialogue between the conscious and the unconscious, so that you have access to your own individual source of knowledge about yourself.Your symptoms, your struggles, your suffering and your dreams are all regarded as messages from the soul. By learning to understand these messages, we work together to bring new perspective on old difficulties, a deeper connection to self and others, and the strength to change old patterns. Along with relief from symptoms, Jungian therapy works toward developing lasting change, access to your own inner wisdom, self-acceptance, authenticity and renewed energy for life.

In sessions, we talk about the important events of your week and your feelings about them. We also talk about the thoughts and feelings which emerge in our session. Your dreams may be very helpful.

Click here for information about fees.

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Man's task is to become conscious of the contents that press upward from the unconscious. – C.G. Jung

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Have you been considering finding a Jungian psychotherapist? If you have any questions or would like to know more about my practice or me, please use the contact form on the right to email me. I will call you if you provide a phone number or reply via email as you wish. Or you may call me:

+1 (207) 956-0299 Eastern Standard Time (Greenwich Mean Time -5 hours)

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My work as a psychoanalyst is to help patients recover their lost wholeness and to strengthen the psyche so it can resist future dismemberment. -C.G. Jung

Policies & Guidelines

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 19:09:36 -0500

Following is an overview of policies and procedures regarding appointments, fees, cancellations, etc.

1. Cheryl Fuller, Ph.D. is a Jungian psychotherapist specializing in individual psychotherapy. Customarily once an agreement to work together has been made, patients make a commitment which may last from a few months to several years.

2. Cheryl Fuller does not offer emergency care, crisis intervention, court-mandated therapy, or case management services. Cheryl is available via email or telephone to established patients.

3. Full payment is expected for missed sessions and for sessions cancelled on short notice. This is a practical measure as patients contract for an available time slot which remains theirs until they leave therapy.

4. Fees are payable via PayPal. or by check at the time of the session. For those electing to work via telephone, a Paypal invoice is sent after each session or patients may elect to pay each month for the full month.

5. Patients electing to work via telephone will pay any long distance charges assessed by their carrier. Contact via Skype will be available on August 1.

6. Patients may email Cheryl between sessions. Limitations on use of email will be discussed as needed.

Social Media Policy

The proliferation of social media creates new issues for therapists and psychotherapy patients. Following is an outline of my policies related to use of social media.

° Friending

I do not accept friend requests from current or former patients. This holds true on Facebook, LinkedIn, and all other social networking sites. I feel that adding clients as friends on these websites blurs the boundaries of our therapeutic relationship. If you have questions about this, please feel free to bring them up when we meet and I’m happy to talk more about it.

° Twitter

I do not follow current or former clients on blogs or Twitter. If there are things you wish to share with me from your online life, I strongly encourage you to bring them into our sessions where we can process them together, during the therapy hour.

° Interacting via social media sites

Please do not use messaging on websites such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to contact me. If you need to contact me between sessions, the best way to do so is by phone or direct email.

° Use of Search Engines

It is NOT a regular part of my practice to search for clients on Google or other search engines.

° Email

If you choose to communicate with me by email, please be aware that all emails are retained in the logs of your and my Internet service providers. While it is unlikely that someone will be looking at these logs, they are, in theory, available to be read by the system administrator(s) of the Internet service provider.

Thanks to Dr. Keely Kolmes for her permission to modify her form.

Study Group

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:18:48 -0500

Jung Study Group -- Online version

Interested in exploring Jung in greater depth? I offer a study group concentrating on the psychology of C.G. Jung in an online version. This group provides a structured environment for participants to read the writings of Jung to learn his psychology at a deeper level. More than an academic venture, this group seeks to live and breathe the process of analytical psychology through reading, discussing, and the relating of the material to the member's growth and life experience.

It is not possible to cover the full range of Jung's thought in one year or even two, so this group will run for as long as there is interest, exploring different material each year.

Year one will include Jung's memoir, Memories, Dreams, Reflections, and portions of Collected Works dealing with complexes, psychological types, shadow and individuation. We have begun reading CW, Vol. 7, Two Essays on Analytical Psychology.

No prior knowledge about Jung is required.

Members prepay on a monthly basis. In between sessions, you may also share insights any time by e-mail in the accompanying private, invitation-only Study Group e-mail group. The fee is $40/month, payable via Paypal.

This group utilizes both teleconferencing and email. There are spaces remaining.

Email me with questions or for further information about this group. You may contact me by using the form at the left. Please put Study Group in the subject line.

The group will be reading the following over the next year -- that is through June, 2010:

The Archetypes and The Collective Unconscious -- Collected Works, Vol. 9, part 1

Aspects of the Feminine (Routledge Classics) by C.G. Jung

Aspects of the Masculine by C. G. Jung

Animus and Anima: Two Papers by Emma Jung

Starting in September 2010 and continuing through June 2011, we will read:

Psychology and the East (Routledge Classics) by C.G. Jung

Psychology and Western Religion: (From Vols. 11, 18 Collected Works)

by C. G. Jung

Dreams (Routledge Classics) by C.G. Jung

The Interpretation of Fairy Tales by Marie-Louise von Franz

Jungian Dream Group

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 13:08:00 -0500

We need to share our dreams – our dreams from the night and our life dreams – with caring and supportive others who can help us to unlock their meanings and bring their energy to heal and empower our everyday lives.

This group will take a psychoeducational approach -- that is we will study as well as share and engage the creative process. Together we will read the book, The Art of Dreaming, by Jill Mellick and and other material to learn about dream interpretation and dreamwork from a Jungian perspective. Participants will be asked to keep a dream journal.

Members will be invited to share dreams and benefit from the group's questions and reflections about the dream. Other participants are enriched by hearing and working with dreams other than their own. Everyone in the group learns about dream work by doing it together. The only requirement is that you really love dreams want to learn more about your own dream process.

This group will begin in late spring and will be offered via teleconference and email. We will meet for 2 hours twice each month for 4 months. The dates and time will be arranged to meet the needs of the members.

Cost: $55 per month payable via Paypal.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Use the contact form on the left, please put Dream Group in the subject line.

Fees

Thu, 01 Jan 2009 11:46:17 -0500

Are you concerned about whether or not you can afford therapy?

I understand this concern, especially in these times. Many of my previous patients have felt the same way. Those that have made the decision to invest in themselves, however, have found that their lives have improved immensely.

Therapy is not magic. It isn't quick. It is work. It does work.

50 minutes Individual Psychotherapy -- $105.00; 90 minute sessions -- $150.00 In general, I make every effort to assure that cost is not a barrier to psychotherapy. Don't be hesitant to discuss what will work for you.

I do not accept third party payment/health insurance. This allows me to have a sliding scale for fees according to your circumstances and ability to pay. Once we decide to work together, we will settle on a fee which we will negotiate together.

More research on Long Distance Therapy

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 21:24:02 -0400

For a number of years now I have worked with a fair portion of my patients by telephone. At first when it was suggested to me as a way to continue my practice when I moved, I was skeptical but now, seven years later, I find that therapy by telephone not only works, in some cases it works better than face to face meetings. So I was not surprised to see this recently appear in the NY Times:

A new analysis of phone therapy research by Northwestern University shows that when patients receive psychotherapy for depression over the phone, more than 90 percent continue with it. The research showed that the average attrition rate in the telephone therapy was only 7.6 percent, compared to nearly 50 percent in face-to-face therapy. The researchers also found that telephone therapy was just as effective at reducing depressive symptoms as face-to-face treatment.

The therapeutic space which develops when the work is done by telephone differs from that when therapist and patient sit face to face, but it is therapeutic space nonetheless. When my patients call. I am sitting in my customary place, just as if they were sitting in front of me in my office. And I suggest that my patient similarly be in the same place each time. We then create the space between us -- the sound of our voices and the time creating a temenos between us. Therapy works because it is contained. There is confidntiality, there is a fee, and a set time. Our work together is contained in this virtual space, just as it would be were we both in my office.

Phone psychotherapy eliminates travel and waiting time, and allows more flexible scheduling. It makes psychotherapy available to patients who are unable to travel, including many of the physically disabled and those whose symptoms, depression or agoraphobia, make them reluctant to leave home and for those whose work takes them away from home frequently. And in a time when gasoline costs are a significant part of household budgets, it saves the expense of driving. It also makes therapy readily available to people living in rural areas with few if any therapists available.

Long-distance Psychotherapy

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 09:31:50 -0500

Eight years ago, when I moved for a time from Maine to Michigan, I offered my patients the option of continuing to work with me by telephone. And most decided they wanted to try it. At that time, therapy via telephone was not widely accepted, so it felt to me that my patients and I were embarking on a bold experiment. Today, though I have returned to Maine, a little more than half of my work remains by telephone.

A recent article confirms what I have found myself working long-distance. Studies at the VA and an HMO is Seattle have shown positive benefit to therapy conducted via telephone. As acceptance for it increases, I am certain that further research will confirm these early studies.

The therapeutic space which develops when the work is done by telephone differs from that when therapist and patient sit face to face, but it is therapeutic space nonetheless. When my patients call. I am sitting in my customary place, just as if they were sitting in front of me. And I suggest that my patient similarly be in the same place each time. We then create the space between us -- the sound of our voices and the time creating a temenos between us. Therapy works because it is contained. There is confidntiality, there is a fee, and a set time. Our work together is contained in this virtual space, just as it would be were we both in my office.

Long-distance psychotherapy eliminates travel and waiting time, and allows more flexible scheduling. It makes psychotherapy available to patients who are unable to travel, including many of the physically disabled and those whose symptoms -- depression or agoraphobia for example-- make them reluctant to leave home. And in a time when gasoline costs are a significant part of household budgets, it saves the expense of driving. It also makes therapy readily available to people living in rural areas with few if any therapists available.

And finally, for those wishing to work with a Jungian and/or a therapist willing and interested in working in depth and with dreams, long-distance psychotherapy enables you to make this choice.

I currently have openings for prospective patients who wish to work by telephone or face-to-face. If you would like more information, please use Contact Me on the right and email me. Please include your telephone number if you would like for me to call you.