Courses

Closed/ Community Wellness Focusing

This is an in-person year-long Community Wellness Focusing (CWF) course leading to certification as a Focusing Professional through The International Focusing Institute (TIFI). Nina Joy Lawrence and Pat Omidian, Certifying Coordinators, Facilitators Monthly classes will be held in Corvallis, OR, USA on the first Saturday of […]

Closed/ Community Wellness Focusing – Online

This is year-long online training in Community Wellness Focusing (CWF) leading to certification as a Focusing Professional through The International Focusing Institute (TIFI). We will meet on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of each month (January through November) for a total of 55 hours class time, […]

Free Introduction to PSS and PFA – Self-Paced

Are you curious about the field of psychosocial support and community wellness, or psychological first aid? Our introductory course is the perfect way to get a taste of what these courses have to offer. In this short self-paced course, you’ll experience the unique approach and […]

Psychological First Aid (PFA) – Self-Paced

Psychological First Aid (PFA) is the current international standard for care and support for individuals in the midst of or the immediate aftermath of a traumatic event. This evidence-based technique replaces the debriefing process that was used in the past.

Psychosocial Support (PSS), Community Wellness and Focusing

There is no “one size fits all” in PSS work, because each community has its own needs, traditions, and its own hidden strengths.  This course is designed to work with you as you explore working at a deeper level within your own community.

Reviews

Useful Resources

Being with your Felt Sense of Fear

My fear kept me safe from Ebola. I worked in Liberia when Ebola was on the rise, then again when it was almost gone. As I sit here today thinking about these experiences and about the current warnings about a global pandemic from the coronavirus, […]

12 Years Later, PSS Training Continues to Support Change

The walled city of Multan, Pakistan,  is a warren of narrow streets where the rays of sun seldom reach. Yes, before 1947, when the city was inhabited by the Sikh and Hindu business community, it was thriving with merchants, shops and more spacious family homes. […]

A Public Health Approach to Wellness

Focusing International fosters social change by supporting community wellness and psychosocial wellness using a public health approach. One of the best description of the public health approach comes from The Public Health Agency of Canada, which describes this approach as follows: “Important values in public […]

Addressing the Psychosocial Needs of Children in the Classroom

This book, co-authored with Nina Papadopoulos,  documents the training of teacher trainers in the IRC’s Female Education Program (FEP) in psychosocial wellness models. and the development of teacher training materials for Pakistan-based Afghan refugee teachers in 2002. A reflective process was used to raise awareness, […]