Training & Continuing education

California Woodland Institute offers clinical training and continuing education for therapists, counselors, social workers, psychologists, associates, trainees, and helping professionals interested in depth-oriented clinical practice.

Our trainings are grounded in relational psychoanalysis, psychodynamic psychotherapy, ecopsychology, equine-assisted psychotherapy, and the realities of contemporary clinical life. We are interested in the clinical encounter as a living field: shaped by transference and countertransference, body and place, love and aggression, uncertainty and responsibility, language and what exceeds language.

CWI trainings are designed for clinicians who want more than technique. They are for those who want to deepen their capacity to think clinically, tolerate complexity, remain emotionally available, and work with the symbolic, relational, and ethical dimensions of psychotherapy.

We offer continuing education courses, consultation groups, experiential trainings with horses, seminars, long-term cohort-based courses, crisis management trainings, and courses on emerging clinical questions such as artificial intelligence, technology, and the changing conditions of therapeutic life.

Current and upcoming offerings from CWI’s clinical training and continuing education program.

Featured Trainings

An experiential consultation and training offering for clinicians interested in equine-assisted psychotherapy, projection, embodiment, countertransference, and the relational field.

In person / CE eligible / August 15, September 26, October 24 10:00-12:30

CLINICAL ROUND PEN

A psychoanalytic course on the passions of clinical life: longing, aggression, not-knowing, and the therapist’s capacity to remain present with what is most difficult to bear.

Online / CE eligible / 12 weekly two hour seminars / September 2026

Love, Hate, Ignorance

A continuing education training on artificial intelligence, fantasy, shame, dependency, and the changing conditions of psychotherapy in an age of inexhaustible technological response

Online / CE eligible / Coming soon

The inexhaustible other

Areas of Study

  • Psychoanalytic & Psychodynamic Practice

    Transference, countertransference, love, hate, ignorance, negative capability, enactment, symbolic life, and the therapist’s use of self.

  • Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy

    Clinical and experiential training in the integration of horses, land, body, projection, and relational field theory into psychotherapy.

  • Consultation & Case-Based Learning

    Ongoing groups and individual consultation focused on case material, countertransference, and the living clinical field.

  • Contemporary Clinical Life

    AI, technology, shame, dependency, attention, loneliness, and the changing cultural conditions of psychotherapy.

  • Liberatory Practice

    Clinical inquiry shaped by liberation psychology, social context, power, oppression, accompaniment, and the ethical demands of psychotherapy in a stratified world.

  • Crisis, Risk & Clinical Responsibility

    Suicide risk, containment, documentation, ethical responsibility, and clinical decision-making under pressure.

  • Ecopsychology

    Clinical and theoretical work exploring psyche, place, ecology, grief, embodiment, and the reciprocal relationship between human life and the more-than-human world.

Training Formats

Courses & Seminars
Structured online or in-person courses focused on psychoanalytic theory, clinical practice, contemporary psychotherapy, and the emotional life of the therapist.

Experiential Trainings
In-person trainings that may include horses, land, body-based observation, group process, and reflective clinical discussion. These offerings are designed for clinicians who want to think beyond technique and engage clinical learning through direct experience.

Consultation Groups
Ongoing or time-limited groups centered on case material, countertransference, symbolic process, clinical uncertainty, and the relational field. Some groups are held online, while others may take place in person at CWI.

Workshops & Continuing Education Trainings
Focused trainings on specific clinical topics such as crisis management, equine-assisted psychotherapy, AI and psychotherapy, risk, ethics, documentation, and psychodynamic clinical practice.

Organizational Trainings
Select CWI trainings may be adapted for clinics, agencies, graduate programs, and professional organizations.

Continuing Education

CWI offers and continues to develop continuing education trainings for licensed and pre-licensed mental health professionals. When a training is eligible for CE credit, the course page will include the number of credit hours, intended audience, attendance requirements, and certificate information. Some CWI offerings are designed for CE credit, while others are offered as consultation, professional development, or institute-based learning. Each training page will clearly indicate whether CE credit is available. Because licensing requirements vary, participants are responsible for confirming that a given training meets the requirements of their licensing board or professional organization.