Holistic Psychotherapy Training
“No mud, no lotus” - Thich Nhat Hanh
UPDATE:
Applications for our 2026 training are now open!
The training runs March - November 2026, full calendar at the bottom of this page.
Click the button below to apply and please be advised that this training tends to fill quickly!
(We cannot guarantee your place until your application is approved and your deposit is received)
Please make sure you have read and understand all the information on this page, before submitting your information.
And remember that there are two pre-requisite trainings for the Holistic Psychotherapy course. You can apply for the training before completing them, but you must have completed them prior to the start of the HP training.
Each pre-requisite takes at least a month to complete. (RBR Foundations can be squeezed into less time, but it’s not recommended)
You can start them now in order to begin the learning journey and begin integrating and embodying the foundational skills and practices in your life.
Pre-requisites:
1) The RBR Foundations training course is a pre-requisite.
You can access this recorded training via the Connection Culture app (for iOS and Android) or via any web browser.
2) The new 30 day journey Tending the Garden of the Heart (a self-care and emotional healing program delivered to you daily by email) is now also a pre-requisite.
More info and sign up here:
This is a chance for you to start the inner work that will continue during the HP training.
It is also a practical introduction to many of the therapeutic principles and practices we will be learning in the HP training.
Overview
Good therapists are born, not made.
There are qualities that good therapists posess - a commitment to service, the desire to be truly helpful, curiosity about the human condition and a depth of compassion that cannot be taught.
The purpose of this training is to cultivate, develop and empower the therapist in you. To bring forth what is already there.
Course Structure Summary
What does holistic mean?
It means that we bring together the most cutting-edge insights from neuroscience, biochemistry and somatic psychotherapy, with the time-tested wisdom of Buddhist psychology and nature-based wisdom traditions.
This training is truly multi-dimensional. Because humans are.
What will I learn?
There are three elements to the training: Head, Heart and Hand.
HEAD - Theory and Insight
In this section we lay the theoretical groundwork. How do we define mental and emotional wellness? Too many approaches focus slavishly on trauma and pathology. So what is true, deep health?
Starting with first principles we build a framework for clear thinking.
We also look at the most up-to-date ideas on anxiety, depression, addiction, trauma, PTSD, anger management, relationship counselling, bereavement, grief and OCD.
We study the autism/psychosis spectrum and the gifts and challenges presented by the glorious neuro-diversity of our species.
And we emerge with practical tools for helping our clients know themselves more deeply, so that they can better understand and overcome their challenges.
HEART - Compassion and Capacity
Here we cultivate the internal qualities that form the basis of holistic psychotherapy. All the science and information in the world is useless if it is not coupled with a depth of awareness, focus, compassion and presence that enables us, as therapists, to be with whatever our client is bringing to the session, and still maintain our composure - our own solid centre.
How do we practice this stable, unshakeable and yet compassionate regard?
How do we respond to our own triggers, biases and traumas when they emerge in a session?
This is where we have to do our homework. Practising the change we seek to help others obtain.
Using simple awareness; mindfulness and breath, along with body-centred (somatic, interoceptive) practices we deepen our sense of inner safety, of self-compassion. Healing and releasing so as to expand our capacity to meet the wounds of others, without being overwhelmed by our own.
HAND - the Art and Craft of guiding therapy
This is where we embed our learnings and growth, exploring the craft of holistic psychotherapy.
How do we structure the flow of a session?
When do we interrupt or challenge our clients? And when do we simply listen?
How can we use language to skilfully and subtly introduce new possibilities? To reframe past experiences in a new light?
How can we become more aware of our client’s language and use their own imagery and metaphors to initiate meaningful therapeutic shifts?
We study language, story and metaphor at a deep level. Combining it with awareness of body language, voice intonation (ours and our client’s) so that even over video and phone sessions we are able to listen between the words, calibrating our instinct and intuition, responding with the kind of congruence that facilitates safety, trust and the courage to embrace transformation.
Using the ARISES approach to unpack the essential elements of any holistic psychotherapy session, we will learn how to structure the pace and flow of our sessions so as to make each one a work of art. A beautiful dance of presence, acceptance; meaningful growth and genuine healing.
Practice, Mentoring and the Living Field of Learning
Our work doesn’t end with theory - it begins when we bring it to life.
The Empowered Practice, Community Clinic and Mentoring pathways invite students to step into real, relational, and embodied learning. Together, they form a living ecosystem of practice — a place to grow skills, deepen presence, and explore who we are as therapists in community.
Here, learning is both professional and personal: grounded in compassion, guided by curiosity, and held in connection.
New for 2026!
We’re excited to announce that long-term community member, Michelle McCosker will be officially joining the Connection Culture faculty!
In her new role as Community Steward, Michelle will, as always, be helping to support the student community in between training modules, responding to communication in the group message thread and offering the amazing Empowered Practice sessions where students can practice their therapeutic skills in small groups, with expert guidance and immediate feedback.
She’ll also be continuing her facilitation of the growing Connection Culture Community Clinic, and Mentoring offerings. More info below….
Empowered Practice
The optional Empowered Practice (EP) sessions, guided by Michelle McCosker, take place in between training modules.
Although the modules contain a lot of small group discussions and triad practice exercises, the EP sessions make experiential learning their focus.
In Tom Brown Jr.’s words, “Only experience can elevate theory to wisdom”. There is no substitute for repetition and the embodied ownership of skill that comes from practice.
Together you’ll unpack key concepts, explore case work, engage in reflective supervision (based on student practice sessions), and practise new skills in real time.
In Michelle’s words:
You’ll be invited to refine your therapist self - empowering this part of you with integration, confidence, and clarity. It’s a place to experiment, ask questions, and meet the unknown with curiosity and courage.
The environment is warm, welcoming, deep, and often playful - a space to celebrate diversity, honour each other’s lived experience as a source of wisdom, and grow trust in yourself and in the process of becoming.
The EP sessions can bridge the gap between training and embodied professionalism, helping you translate what you’ve learned into who you are becoming as a practitioner.
And although they are not a compulsory part of the training, they are highly recommended (and included in the course fee, so no extra charge).
Community Clinic
The Community Clinic is where learning meets life.
Following graduation, newly qualified therapists face the potentially daunting task of finding clients and accumulating professional experience. The Community Clinic smooths the transition between graduation and fully fledged private practice.
Here, students and therapists both emerging and advanced, offer affordable, meaningful and holistic 1:1 sessions under experienced supervision and guidance. It’s a space to deepen your craft in real-world practice while offering genuine care and connection to those who might not otherwise access therapy.
The Clinic has three purposes:
To support graduates in refining their therapeutic presence through lived, supported experience.
To provide accessible, quality therapy for people wherever they are and wherever they’re at.
To cultivate a living culture of connection and contribution within the Holistic Psychotherapy community.
The atmosphere is grounded and relational - a community of practice where compassion, diversity and authentic human connection are at the centre. And the Clinic is continually evolving in response to community input, hosting a growing blog and resource page and expanding to meet the needs of the therapists and clients it serves.
Mentoring
Throughout the online Modules and at the Intensives, Mentors help hold the learning container - offering focused feedback, guidance, and encouragement along the way. These mentors are graduates of the course - psychotherapists who have been through this same training and are embodying it through their own professional experience and in their lives.
In the mentors, you’ll find warm, confidential opportunities to explore your professional growth and personal unfolding. You’ll be met with curiosity, care, and honest reflection as you navigate the discoveries and challenges of therapeutic work.
In addition to mentoring within the modules, there is also the option of additional 1 on 1 mentoring sessions, according to need or desire (and at a very reasonable rate). Since students come to this training with a range of previous experience, some find that some extra support is helpful.
That all sounds great! What is the investment?
Psychology and psychotherapy has long suffered from an inadequacy complex, trying to seem more scientific. So the study of psychology becomes enmired with statistics and experimental design, and psychotherapy training becomes an academic discipline with huge reading lists and essay writing, over years of study (and tens of thousands of dollars).
Our perspective is that although science is wonderful and useful, the art and craft of psychotherapy becomes stilted and dry when attempted by academicians.
And although mass, randomised clinical trials can tell us a lot about huge populations and averages, they may not necessarily reveal much that is useful about the person in front of you.
All of which is a long-winded way of saying, we want to offer psychotherapy training that keeps essays and statistics to a minimum.
Focusing instead on the actual interpersonal craft of powerful, evidence-based therapy and the practical tools that can help people in distress, quickly and effectively.
This streamlining means that where other courses may take three or four years, ours takes 1 year.
Rather than tens of thousands of dollars, ours is far less.
Investment: $6499 (payment due prior to the commencement of the course)
Apply now for Early Bird rate (available until Dec 1st): $6199 ($300 discount)
There are a great many humans doing amazing work in the world, who need these skills; this training.
It’s time to make them more widely available. To do away with the academic and financial gatekeeping which is a barrier to many excellent future therapists.
The World Needs You
By some estimates, as much as 40% of young people are experiencing mental health challenges. The National Survey of Mental Health conducted in 2021 found that one in four young people reported seeking mental health support from a health professional, but more than a third said they did not receive the counselling they needed.
More than two in five Australians adults have experienced a mental health condition at some point in their lives. One in five was experiencing a mental health disorder at the time of the study.
This is the unheralded pandemic, and it pre-dates COVID. It is infecting and overwhelming the hearts and minds of humans around the world, as well as in our own communities, families and ourselves.
We need more bodhisattvas to face this challenge - the battle for the heart to heal and the mind to see clearly.
If you’re feeling called to this work or you’re already doing this work and want to level-up your skills and capacity, then we would love to see you on the training.
We look forward to walking with you as you begin a new chapter in your journey.
with much love and many blessings,
Lee, Michelle and Hannah
Important Information and FAQ - Please Read
Time commitment
Along with the eight online modules and two intensives, students are required to undertake (and document) 1-2 hours of practice and study per week for the duration of the training.
Pre-requisites:
1) The RBR Foundations training course is a pre-requisite.
You can access this recorded training via the Connection Culture app (for iOS and Android)
2) The new 30 day journey Tending the Garden of the Heart (a self-care and emotional healing program delivered to you daily by email) is now also a pre-requisite.
More info and sign up here:
This is a chance for you to start the inner work that will continue during the HP training.
It is also a practical introduction to many of the therapeutic principles and practices we will be learning in the HP training.
2026 Calendar
The Holistic Psychotherapy Training will begin in 2026.
The five-day intensives at the middle and end of the training are in-person.
The 8 modules in between are online via Zoom. These will be held on weekends, Saturday and Sunday, 9am - 4pm.
The pathway to becoming a certified Holistic Psychotherapist:
(Please note: dates are provisional and subject to confirmation)
2026
Module 1 - Fundamentals 1 - Intro to Effective Therapy - Feb 28th -March 1
Module 2 - Fundamentals 2 - ARISES model - March 14-15
Module 3 - Fundamentals 3 - Storytelling and Narrative Therapy - April 25-26
Module 4 - Fundamentals 4 - Body-centred and Somatic Therapy - May 16-17
In-Person Intensive 1 - June 16-20 (TBC) - Myocum, Northern RIvers, NSW
Module 5 - Anxiety, Depression and Suicide - July 4-5
Module 6 - Addictions, Anger and Grief Counselling - July 25-26
Module 7 - Archetypes - Aug 15-16
Module 8 - Relationship Counselling - September 5-6
In-Person Intensive 2 - November 3-7 (TBC) - Myocum, Northern Rivers, NSW
Certification vs Accreditation
On successful completion of the training you will be a Certified Psychotherapist (and Certified Rapport Based Relating coach), eligible for Professional Indemnity and Public Liability insurance via AON Allied Health.
Please note: Certification is not the same as accreditation.
Certification means you have successfully completed a training and are ready to practice, according to your training.
Accreditation means the student has met the requirements of a regulatory body.
This training is not accredited (ie affiliated to a regulatory body ACA or PACFA).
Accreditation is not necessary to practice privately as a self-employed psychotherapist in Australia. But some employers may require it.
Each employer is different - some may accept experience in lieu of accreditation. Potential applicants should do their own research regarding future employment.
This training is primarily for those wanting to work in private practice; or for those whose work already requires them to be an ‘accidental counsellor’, and who want to upskill to more fully meet the needs of those they serve - eg teacher, mentor, carer, bodyworker, coach, yoga teacher, social worker, youth worker, community leader etc
Assessment
Alongside ongoing assessment via practice sessions throughout the course, the final assessment is the submission of two recorded 60min therapy sessions with a real client, to demonstrate the ability to provide safe and effective therapy in accordance with your training.