Foundations of Jungian Psychology Drop-in Classes
Class Title: Jung And Freud
Presenter: Paul Sanderson, Phd., IAAP
Date: October 17, 2026, 9:30 Am – 12:30 Pm (3 Hours)
Class Description
This class will focus on the two founders of depth psychology: sigmund freud and C.G. Jung. We will begin with brief biological sketches with special attention to cultural/religious differences and how each of them, as wounded healers, discovered the presence and importance of the unconscious realm of psyche. Then we will briefly explore how they differed in their understanding of the unconscious and dream interpretation with more attention given to their different approaches to psychology of religion and religious experience, exploring their basic differences as grounded in the distinction between classical and contemporary physics.
Class Title: Know Thyself: C.G. Jung’s Psychological Types
Presenter: Olga Turcotte
Date: October 17, 2026, 1:30 Pm – 4:30 Pm (3 Hours)
Class description
While dr. Jung was careful not to categorize personalities, he discovered it helped the analytical process tremendously to observe and note that we all view the world through varying and different typological lenses. His extensive research and many years of findings on the typology of his patients paved the way for most present-day personality tests widely used in almost all professional fields across the globe.
In this seminar, we are going to learn about the different personality types and how we can tap into this knowledge to have a fuller and more authentic personal as well as professional life.If time permits, we will also do a hands-on exercise to expand our understanding of typology. All materials and instructions will be provided by the seminar leader.
Class Title: Complexes: Do We Have Them? Or Do They Have Us?
A Class On Jung’s “Healthily Dissociable” Theory
Presenter: Patricia Vesey-Mcgrew, Lp, IAAP
Date: November 21, 2026: 9:30 Am – 12:30 Pm (3.0 Hours)
Class Description
Complexes, thus, are often experienced as both blessing and curse. As the basic structural components of the personal psyche they enlarge, add depth and richness to the personality. However, they frequently thwart the intentions of the ego, often causing illusory perceptions, problematic thoughts and behaviors and, not infrequently, intense suffering. Not only do we all have complexes, in fact it is far more often the case that our complexes have us. – C.G. Jung
This class will explore the nature of complexes and their tendency to erupt and overtake the ego as well as their ability to expand and enrich the psyche of the individual. Additionally, we will review the core complexes: Ego, Self, Persona, Mother, Father, Shadow, Divine Child.
Class Title: Archetypes
Presenter: Michael Conforti, IAAP
Dates: November 21, 2026: 1:30 Pm – 4:30 Pm (3.0 Hours)
Class Description
Through the presentation and detailed examination of a dream we will look at the relationship and differences between a personal and archetypal understanding of images. We will come to see the utter beauty and profundity of this voice of Psyche as it speaks to us about life, love, destiny, and most importantly, about our relationship to the sacred.
Class Title: Dreams
Presenter: Tom Bonner
Date: December 12, 2026, 9:30 Am – 12:30 Pm (3.0 Hours)
Class Description
This course will explore Jung’s understanding of the dream as a purposive, physiological fact that serves as a natural aid in adaptation. The emphasis of the course will be the development of the individual relationship with the unconscious through the dream encounter. Topics to be explored include consciousness, unconsciousness, Jung’s hypothesis of a collective unconscious, the symbolic language of dreams, the informative and compensatory functions of the unconscious, and the introduction of a simple framework for working with and relating to a dream. The course will include a brief history of human interaction with dreams as well as some dream examples.
Class Title: Body As Shadow- Jung On Re-Membering The Body
Presenter: Erica Lorentz, Med, Lpc, IAAP
Date: December 12, 2026, 1:30 Pm – 4:30 Pm (3.0 Hours)
Class Description
Jung states that we cannot have a soulful life or transform without connection to our body – they are inextricably linked. We will demonstrate how his favorite method of working, embodied active imagination, offers us the ability to engage with our embodied soul and the inter-active field thus retrieving it from the shadow personally and professionally. This is his legacy to us.
Class Title: Jung’s Concept Of Individuation And The Analytic Process
Presenter: Brian Hobbs, M.Ed., Cags, IAAP
Dates: January 16, 2027, 9:30 Am – 12:30 Pm (3.0 Hours)
Class Description
In this seminar we will explore the implications of this concept, it’s relation to other core Jungian concepts, such as the Self, and will identify key components in individuation as a process. The class will read the myth of Cupid and Psyche as an example of an individuation process in symbolic form. We will use the myth to help us reflect on its necessarily complicated course and its manifestation in particular forms.
Class Title: The Interpretation And Use Of Fairy Tales
Presenter: Deborah De Fauconberg
Date: January 16, 2027, 1:30 Pm – 4:30 Pm (3 Hours)
Class Description
This course provides a brief introduction to Jungian interpretation of fairytales drawing on the methods developed by CG Jung and Marie-Louise von Franz. We will explore why fairy tales are uniquely valuable psychological guides illuminating the dynamics of the psyche through the characters, motifs and narrative patterns contained therein. Together we will examine one fairy tale in-depth and relate it to how it may appear in a clinical setting.
Class Title: The Transformation Of Libido And Symbol Formation
Presenter: D. Stephenson Bond, M.Div., IAAP
Date: February 20, 2027, 9:30 Am – 12:30 Pm (3.0 Hours)
Class Description
When Jung wrote “the psychological mechanism that transforms energy is the symbol,” he opened a new way of understanding a symbol (an energetic image). This seminar will explore the concept of libido and its many transformations in dreams and in living. Students will learn Jung’s early developing libido theory, in contrast to Freud, and the role the transformation of libido plays in creating symbols, dreams, and myths.
Class Title: Alchemy and the Religious Function of the Psyche
Presenter: Jason Smith, MA, IAAP
Date: February 20, 2027: 1:30 pm – 4:30 pm (3.0 hours)
Class Description
In this class we will discuss the religious function of the psyche and look at how it is experienced both individually and collectively. We will discuss the symbolism of alchemy and its relevance to the individuation process. Finally, we will look at the ways that religious questions can manifest in the context of the psychotherapeutic setting.
Class Title: Music And Psyche
Presenter: Melinda Haas
Date: March 20, 2027: 9:30 Am – 12:30 Pm (3.0 Hours)
Class Description
I imagine we all embark upon a journey into Jungian thought out of desire and/or need to develop a deeper relationship to Psyche, to ourselves. To do that we need to be firing on all four cylinders — Thinking, Feeling, Sensation and Intuition. It is my experience, both in Jungian work and in the culture at large, that our Thinking Function is privileged and dominant. This is often to the exclusion, denial or demotion of Feeling and Sensation — the functions that are grounded in the body. If dreams are the “royal road to the unconscious,” surely music is the royal road to Psyche and Feeling. Through musical examples this class will explore Psyche’s experience of beauty, structure, “home,” sadness, joy, all in a world without the language of words.
Class Title: On Synchronicity: Jung, Wilhelm and the I Ching
Presenter: Brian Skea, IAAAP
Date: March 20, 2027: 1:30 – 4:30 pm (3.0 hours)
Class Description
After my introduction, class members will use Wilhelm’s Introduction to the Use of the Book of Changes (I Ching) to learn the method of constructing hexagrams by throwing three coins six times. I will use Jung’s Foreword for examples of types of questions asked and how to interpret answers received. I will describe the Eight Basic Trigrams and certain key hexagrams, for example No 1 The Creative, and No 2 The Receptive. Participants will be encouraged to form their own hexagrams which will not be interpreted publicly.
Class Title: Introduction To Sandplay Therapy
Presenter: Sarah (Sally) Sugatt
Date: April 17, 2027: 9:30 Am – 12:30 Pm (3.0 Hours)
Class Description
This three-hour exploration will include: the origins of Kalffian/Jungian Sandplay Therapy, its theorists and their contributions, a discussion of “how it works”, the typical progressions of Sandplay Therapy sessions/processes, as well as the materials needed and suggested training requirements.
Class Title: The Transcendent Function
Presenter: Pamela Donleavy, J.D., IAAP
Date: April 17, 2027: 1:30 – 4:30 Pm (3.0 Hours)
Class Description
In this class we explore the transcendent function through an examination of Jung’s writings, and through the use of dreams, imagination, and reflections on the analytic process. We arrive at a deeper understanding of this often-mysterious aspect of the psyche which seeks to reconcile the tension between the opposites of conscious and unconscious perspectives and experiences in the interest of psychological growth. We will also discuss ways in which consciousness can work to facilitate the workings of this important function in the psyche.