EUROTAS COMMITTEE on the Certified Training of Transpersonal Psychotherapists.

Members of the Committee:

Monique Tiberghien - Belgium
Kerstin Haraldsdotter - Sweden
Vladimir Maikov - Russia
Christine Maurer - Switzerland
Katalin Orosz - Hungary
Guido Peltzer - Germany
Vitor Rodriguez - Portugal
Dan Sercar - Croatia
Eva Titus - Belgium
Winfried Wagner - Germany
Mariana Schneider - Switzerland
Peter Loomans - Germany


Last year, we began to make a survey on the training already existing in Europe, to inspire new training in the countries who need it, and to establish a data base and a framework for European training. During this meeting in Bad Kissingen we realised after a new exploration of the different positions of the representatives of 8 countries, that we could come, more quickly that our previsions, to a very alive consensus for a European training.

As a focus for our brain storming on future training we used the classical concepts of knowledge, skills and attitudes. When putting together a student curriculum, it is important to know the difference in meaning and function of 3 dimensions of all teaching and learning processes: knowledge, practical skills and attitudes. Though they are independent and complementary, it is not possible to leave out any separate dimension.

Content of knowledge, curriculum. All teaching needs existing knowledge as a base. If every student generation has to re-invent the wheel, there is no more time, nor energy, for evolution. Renewal of knowledge is not identic with the dropping of all existing knowledge. It is an aspect of long term critical evaluation ( theoretical research and pratical evaluation). On that base new aspects can be developed. Related to handling knowledge is the recognition of the importance of insight. The opposition between knowledge, cognitive insight and emotional intuition is a false problem. Insight is the refinement of knowledge. Testing the student’s insight is testing their competence: insight functions as a prevention that knowledge is applied after the training in a mechanical way , that ignores the uniqueness of each situation and person.

Practical skills: A practical skill is a tangible, perceivable action toward the outside world that proves the presence of existing inner knowledge, insight and attitude in the student. Without a practical skilful application, they would remain abstractions. For the positive impact of our immaterial knowledge-insight and attitude -on our material world- a concrete action form is indispensable. Otherwise, they can bear no fruit.

Attitudes: Our knowledge-insight and skills are embedded in our greater frame of reference; our attitudes, our worldviews, our transpersonal vision. They decide for what larger goals we use our knowledge and skills and in which direction we look for a path. Experience with curriculum construction teaches us that the more the inner immaterial aspects of human competence are valued (knowledge, insight, attitudes), the more there is a risk to neglect the teaching of practical skills. This tendency can be related to the seduction to focus only on transcending the material world or focusing only on spiritual evolution or altered states of consciousness as a goal in itself. Forgetting that individual evolution-healing cannot take place without the evolution-healing of the spiritual and material total entity we are all connected with: matter and mind/spirit are not separate entities with different values. From a transpersonal scientific and philosophical viewpoint: matter and mind are constantly embracing each other attitudes: here we include the feeling attitudes or metaskills, as defined by Amy Mindell : "Deep spiritual attitudes and beliefs manifest in therapy and in every daily life.... Through their feelings and attitudes, the therapists express their fundamental beliefs about life. These attitudes permeate and shape all of the therapists apparent techniques. Conceptually, I raise these essential underlying feelings of the therapist to "skills " that must and can be studied and cultivated. I call these feeling attitudes "metaskills".

So we will be ready to come to concrete actions as soon as these 3 levels will be shared enough between all of us. It is still in process, but we also want to do concrete steps now for a presentation of a frame and a link to the existing institutions like EAP & ITP. In order to be more clear for the outside we changed our name : from Creative Initiative Expert Committee for Training of TP Psychotherapists, we become : EUROTAS COMMITTEE on the Certified Training of Transpersonal Psychotherapists. (ECCTTT) This change has been accepted by the whole assembly of delegates, and the words Creative Initiative could be still employed for us inside Eurotas.

Last year, we established 8 basic guidelines including aspects of knowledge, skills and attitudes. They represent the definition of the most essential training aspects on which the group members agreed. Inspired from these lines, the Russian team, for example, this year built a more precise presentation of their program of specialization in TP. This program is a local conception of what could be a European training, it is also inspired by the European Association for Psychotherapy's Standards.

We worked again on these lines to improve them; and they are now as follows:

  • Integration of Meditative practices and psychotherapeutic work.
  • Balance between theoretical and experiential work and integration of activities on the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual level.
  • Openess to, and knowledge of, different spiritual traditions, practices and psychotherapeutic schools and ongoing experience in at least one spiritual tradition.
  • Development of specific skills to deal with non-ordinary, holotropic, modified, altered, expanded or qualitatively changed states of consciousness.
  • Understanding of psychopathology and the role of a therapeutic team in severe cases.
  • Inclusion of forms of art and creativity as expressions of human experience.
  • Concern for the ethical dimensions of transpersonal psychotherapy.
  • The development of a long term perspective on psychotherapeutic work.

We also decided that we should define a general strategy for relationships with EAP (see Appendix 2). This strategy will include the following points:

  • We will contact the EAP as representatives of the majority of the Transpersonal Associations of Europe (15 countries).
  • We will have teachers formed according to EAP rules.
  • We will develop a consensus among the majority of the existing local European Associations for the acceptance of the basic training rules from EAP.
  • We will have, as a future objective, the definition of a European Curriculum for the training of transpersonal psychotherapists.

We made a joint commitment to stay in this working group and to work during the year to come on the lines already defined and also we decided to have, as a first homework, the following:

  • Make a joint meditation to be held each month at full moon, for at least five minutes, at seven o'clock Portuguese time, which means 3 hours later for Russia, 1 hour later for German time and so on. For this purpose each participant will select a word for meditation, send it to Vitor Rodrigues who will compile all the words and send them back to every participant so we can achieve a common basis with each one's contributions.
  • Read two relevant books for our present work: Roger Walsh's "Essential Spirituality" and Amy Mindell's "Meta-skills". These books are to be read until the first of September. We will keep a ongoing process of communication among ourselves and others, aiming at further improvement of the guidelines, definition of the characteristics to be trained in transpersonally-oriented psychotherapists (both at the skills and meta-skills level) and structuring of a basic European curriculum for this training.
Next steps: Links with EAP ; we want to apply Eurotas as an acknowledged member organisation to EAP; this will facilitate also the next acceptation of a certified training for local Associations. Vladimir Maikov from Russia is ready to act as an intermediate between EUROTAS and the EAP. He will also find out if the EAP itself has already formulated standards or guidelines for transpersonal training. For the next Conference EAP in Moscow, June 2001, we want to be ready with a proposition for the training respecting the rules that EAP proposed.

Appendix 1 The on-going process of European coordination and acknowledgment of the training of transpersonal therapists is bound to the existence of the EAP (European Association of Psychotherapy). Several years ago the EAP issued her declaration of Strasbourg in which psychotherapy is defined as a scientific discipline that demands a highly qualified level. A professional profile was set up and accepted by the European Commission. Those who respond to these criteria will have a European Certificate of Psychotherapy and will be a European Registered Psychotherapist. EAP criteria have been established for the minimum educational level required to enter into the training. In this training, 2 levels can be distinguished: 1) A basic (non-specialised) psychotherapeutic training level (propaedeutic), consisting of several modules spread over at least 3 years. These modules are defined as:

  • Psychopathology and psychodiagnostic - Knowledge of a repertory of therapeutic interventions, containing the concepts and methods of the following accepted therapeutic schools: psychodynamic, behaviouristic, humanistic and integrative schools.
  • Developmental psychology. - Pedagogic and sexual development - Social problems as related to psychotherapy - Related philosophical issues and models - Related law and ethics - Related research methods and results.
  • A specialisation training level of about 4 years (part-time) teaching in one of the above mentioned accepted therapeutic schools. It is here that the transpersonal psychotherapeutic training fits in (being related to the humanistic psychology).
Any future Eurotas concept for training of transpersonal psychotherapists has to include the entering criteria and the requirements of levels 1) and 2) to be accepted by EAP. The EAP has accepted that there will be a transitional period for the application of her criteria to those who were trained in the past. But present and future therapist students who want to be acknowledged have to follow the formal training model or can add to their actual non-accepted training model, the modules and trainings hours that are missing. (see specific decisions of the European Training Standards Committee of the EAP) A visual representation of the relation concerning acknowledgment procedures between EAP and other local European associations and institutes would be as follows: EAP Other accepted European Associations EUROTAS -National or local Associations National or Local Associations Schools local institutes

At the moment, there is a parallel movement on a governmental and European level towards legal protection of the therapist professional quality. A protection that is meant as a quality-guarantee for the client. At a local governmental level the movement towards legalisation is slow and the influence of political interests and historical competition between therapy schools can be strong. Therefore it may be quicker and more rewarding for local European transpersonal organisations providing professional trainings to bypass (temporarily) the governmental legalisation procedures and to strive directly for European acknowledgment from the EAP. But this acknowledgment can only be given via Eurotas, as the EAP never gives acknowledgment to single local organisations, but only to European Associations containing these single organisations or institutes Only these European Associations like Eurotas when acknowledged by the EAP can aquire the right to have the status of EWAO (European Wide Awarding Organisation) and thereby the status to issue (on behalf of the EAP) a European Certificate of Psychotherapy (ECP) to local organisationmembers. In this perspective, joining Eurotas could become important to many tranpersonal local associations and institutes



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