ABOUT ▶ ABOUT PPI
“What is received is received in the manner of the receiver”
– Thomas Aquinas
There is a very long history arguing for the importance of tailoring what is said or taught to the individual learner.
Nowhere should such a personalized, patient-centered philosophy be more evident than in the field of psychotherapy. The vast percentage of psychotherapy websites say something about “personalizing” the therapy with comments such as “I tailor my approach to your needs” or “I provide a personalized approach geared to your specific problems and life goals.”
And yet, none of these websites say how they do that. In fact, most psychotherapy training focuses on specific therapy schools and therapeutic techniques geared to specific “disorders”. In a personalized approach to psychotherapy the therapist tailors and modulates therapeutic processes and interventions to patients’ specific problems,needs, goals, and sensitivities. But how can the therapist know what is responsive for a particular patient? How can a therapist personalize therapy to optimize the treatment for each patient?
The Personalized Psychotherapy Institute answers that question.
Based on 50 years of scholarship and research from SFPRG and other contributing researchers around the world, we have developed a reliable, empirically validated model of case formulation – the patient plan formulation – that helps a therapist understand a patients goals, the obstructions that impede the patient, the adverse life experiences that contribute to those obstructions, how the patient works in therapy to overcome them, and the kinds of insights and new experiences that will be most beneficial. This is not a new school or brand or therapy; the patient plan formulation is an evidence-based tool that helps therapists to personalize interventions (whatever their preferred interventions may be), optimize treatments, and to make therapists more effective.
We offer a broad variety of workshops and classes on how to personalize psychotherapy, Learn more by going to Trainings, video resources, and publication pages.
Education:
We believe that better therapy comes from better theories, and better therapists come from better training. In order to improve psychotherapy for all, clinicians must be offered the best in treatment planning and case formulation.
Research:
Psychotherapy is rooted in the empirical tradition. Though it is always case-specific, it must obey general principles and laws like everything else. With careful, diligent research we believe those principles can be uncovered, understood, and disseminated.
Community:
We aim to be a “professional home” for therapists in private practice, in community mental health, and in academia who are united by the vision of compassionate, empirical, and deeply humane therapy for our patients. And to have a a few laughs along the way.