Existential Well-being Counseling: A Person-centered Experiential Approach

Course Description

This humanities course offers you the opportunity to explore what really matters in life and teaches you how to nurture your well-being and enhance the well-being of others. We will address themes in your personal and professional life and show you how to counsel at all stages. We start with a positive approach by giving attention to people’s talents. We recognize that human existence involves constraints and difficulties, which is why this course is based on the idea of “existential” well-being. This course will teach you how to live fully as a human being, in this body, on this planet, while at the same time being conscious that you are just a small part of a vast, incomprehensible, universe. Our experiential approach focuses on the innate wisdom of the human organism and our tendency to evolve in a forward-moving direction. You will learn how to become aware of this deeply felt knowledge by giving attention to your body as felt from the inside and to your emotions. Our person-centered approach encourages building optimal human relationships through empathy, respect and authenticity. These are complex skills, which we will bring within your reach by means of simple exercises. Through examples, role-play and video-demonstrations we will illustrate how you can apply our existential well-being approach in a variety of helping contexts, including counseling and psychotherapy. You will develop skills to embody the existential well-being approach as a person and as a professional. Your learning will be enriched through exchanging thoughts and experiences with a diverse group of international participants. You will learn to notice how people from different cultures have different ideas about what it means to live well and meaningfully. You will engage in discussions where divergent values can be respectfully acknowledged. Your personal view of well-being will expand and deepen to a more universal perspective on what it means to be human. This course is taught by instructors with decades of experience in existential psychotherapy, focusing -oriented and emotion-focused therapy, person-centered counseling and positive psychology. The instructors are also teachers and researchers in the fields of psychotherapy, positive psychology, meaning and spirituality at KU Leuven, a prestigious European University. This course offers you a high degree of flexibility. You can follow the content in sequence or choose to complete sections in order of interest to you. Be aware that it would be realistic to spend 6 to 8 hours on each section. The course will be available from October until the end of June and you can follow your own rhythm in studying and practicing what is offered in each section.