Frequently Asked Questions

The Center welcomes mental health professionals at every stage of their careers, from students and early-career clinicians to experienced practitioners, educators, and researchers. We also welcome writers, scholars, and other professionals with a serious interest in psychotherapy and the broader mental health field.

The Center takes a comprehensive approach to strengthening psychotherapy, bringing together three areas of inquiry that are often addressed separately: the foundations of effective psychotherapy, the external forces that can shape or distort the field, and emerging developments with the potential to advance the profession. Through these three lenses of Foundations, Impositions, and Innovations, we examine what is worth preserving, identify and respond to outside influences, and explore and evaluate new ideas in a rapidly evolving field.

Rather than focusing on a single therapeutic approach or issue, we aim to bring clinicians, scholars, and educators together to explore the field’s most important questions. By fostering a community that encourages open dialogue and the exchange of practical knowledge, we aim to strengthen clinical skill and professional judgment, with the goal of restoring the healing ethos of therapy.

At its heart, therapy is a healing relationship. A person comes to a practitioner who respects them as an individual, in their own context, and helps them grow toward a healthy life defined by their own values and hopes. The practitioner’s professional judgment guides them in a direction that fits their circumstances. That shared intent, to help this particular person heal and grow, is what we mean by the healing ethos.

The phrase has roots. We credit psychotherapist Val Thomas, founder of Critical Therapy Antidote, as the originator of the healing ethos of therapy as a concept for this era of psychotherapy. Critical Therapy Antidote took as its motto “preserving the traditional healing ethos of therapy.” In a 2020 series of essays, Val warned that this ethos was being called into question, and she set out to re-engage a long-standing question: what is the healing ethos of therapy as we know it, and how can we protect it from undue influence? As she put it in How Critical Social Justice Theory Cuts the Heart out of Therapy, “A healing ethos is the heart of therapy: it is characterised by an unwavering commitment to the flourishing of the person who is seeking your help.” The Center uses this language with Val Thomas’s permission, and we’ve adopted it as our commitment for the future of the field.

The field has drifted from that intent in other ways too. Fads and trends crowd out lasting clinical wisdom, training often stops at exposure rather than real competence, and the sensibilities that make someone good at this work aren’t always passed on. “Restoring” means returning the field to its ethical mandate. That’s not a step backward. It means building on what has always made therapy work: the relationship, sound judgment, and a practitioner’s ongoing growth in their craft.

The Center exists to help mental health professionals do exactly that, through training, scholarship and mentorship that keep the healing ethos at the center of the work.

Many clinicians finish their training with real gaps in what they know, what they can do in the room, and how confidently they can apply it. The Center focuses on four: knowledge (understanding psychotherapy, its history, and its evidence), skills (what a clinician can actually do with a client), competency (applying that knowledge and skill reliably, with sound judgment, across real situations), and field literacy (understanding the forces that shape our work, from institutions and trends to pay, contracts, and employment, as well as how to keep growing professionally throughout a career). Our programs, publications, and Center Salons are designed to help close these gaps, so clinicians leave better prepared to help the people in their care.

No. We provide training and community for mental health professionals so they can better serve their clients. We do not provide therapy referrals or other direct client services.

The Center is developing a range of educational programs and opportunities for professional engagement and mentorship. These include online training programs, a monthly salon series, presentations by guest speakers, and a community discussion forum for members.

We also plan to produce publications and other educational resources, including articles, essays, and multimedia content that explore important questions in psychotherapy. Additional initiatives under consideration include formal research collaborations and opportunities for clinical consultation beyond Center Salons.

No. Political and ideological influences are among the many factors that can shape psychotherapy, and examining them is part of our work. However, the Center’s interests extend much further. We explore the history and foundations of psychotherapy, clinical training and competency, emerging research, technological developments, economic pressures, and the institutional conditions that affect psychotherapy.

The Center is committed to maintaining an environment in which ideas can be examined openly, including those that challenge prevailing assumptions and institutional interests. In practice, that means engaging in thoughtful internal deliberation and actively welcoming criticism and feedback. Our work is guided by intellectual rigor, professional ethics, and a commitment to improving therapeutic practice, not by the interests of any particular individual or group. We maintain internal checks and balances to uphold these principles.

We believe that meaningful inquiry requires the freedom to ask difficult questions, challenge each other’s ideas, and offer perspectives that may be uncomfortable or controversial. We aim to foster constructive disagreement grounded in civility and intellectual honesty.

The Center is a grassroots organization built by people who believe in its mission. We depend on donations to sustain our operations and bring our vision to life, and contributions of all sizes can make a meaningful difference.

Donations support every aspect of our work, from maintaining the infrastructure needed to operate to developing educational programs, publications, and other resources. They will also help us compensate the people whose time and expertise keep the Center running.

If you believe in what we’re building and would like to help make it possible, we invite you to support the Center’s work.

Center Salons are live, interactive consultation sessions included as a benefit of Center membership. They give members opportunities to explore clinical questions, strengthen their knowledge and skills, and develop their clinical judgment through discussion with colleagues.

Center Salons provide consultation, rather than formal clinical supervision. They support professional learning and reflection without establishing a supervisory relationship.

Participation does not replace supervision required for a member’s training or professional role. Members retain responsibility for their clinical work and professional decisions.

Center Salons are not a substitute for emergency or crisis services, and nothing shared in a Salon creates a professional relationship with the Center or its facilitators.

Consultation may take two forms:

• Client-focused consultation explores a de-identified clinical situation. Discussion may address case formulation, therapeutic approaches, clinical dilemmas, or questions about understanding and responding to a client’s needs.
• Consultee-focused consultation centers on the clinician’s professional development. Discussion may explore areas of uncertainty, clinical skills, assumptions, reactions, or recurring challenges in practice.

Both forms may address particular populations, demographics, or presenting concerns. They can also overlap: a clinical example may illuminate a broader learning need, while developing a clinician’s understanding may inform their work with a particular client.

Clinical discussions in Center Salons use de-identified material. Members are expected to omit names and other information that could reasonably identify a client, including distinctive combinations of personal details.

Discussions should include only the clinical information needed to explore the question. Members are also expected to respect the privacy of colleagues and the material shared within the Salon. Specific participation and confidentiality expectations will be communicated for each session.