One of the ways to address the mission of the Control Research Foundation Fund is through teaching and education. Funding is available for up to $10,000 for course work, classes, lectures, and workshops, as described below. Classes (for both undergraduate and graduate psychology students and psychiatry residents) and workshops (including Continuing Education and Continuing Medical Education) for health care professionals are all opportunities for funding. The first heading below provides EXAMPLES OF FUNDING; the second heading provides an APPLICATION FORM. The third heading provides RESOURCES RELEVANT TO COURSE DEVELOPMENT AND WORKSHOPS. The forth link is offered for those who may wish to peruse some philosophical comments about control and our shared journey on planet earth :)
Funding IS available for different types of teaching. The following suggestions are meant to be illustrative only, three different levels of funding are offered, depending upon the amount of preparation and length of the teaching. (e.g., a semester class on Control Therapy or a Clinical Training Workshop of 1-2 days would require the most preparation; a lecture on Control Therapy in a Systems of Psychotherapy class or Grand Rounds would involve both less time and less preparation).
Curriculum and Workshop Grants may include, but are not limited to:
FUNDING of up to $10,000 is available for the development of courses/seminars on Control Therapy” Theory, Research, and Practice
APPLICANT ELIGIBILITY To be eligible for this funding, an applicant must hold an advanced degree and have an academic appointment at an accredited college or university; and/or be a licensed health care professional. The applicant should demonstrate in the application knowledge and background familiarity with Control Therapy. (see RESOURCES below).
Applications are due March 1st and September 1st with award notices issued June 1st and November 1st. Refer to the Grant Guidelines below for further information.
Download the PDF version of the funding guidelines: Course Development and Workshops.
Download the Word DOC version of the funding guidelines: Course Development and Workshops.
Resources are available at the links below at no charge. Below are two which suggest a “spine” of a model syllabus for teaching and workshops: Control Therapy Seminar Template; Control Therapy (last lecture) Template.
The following templates are provided to assist with course and/or lecture development.
THE LIMITS OF HUMAN CONTROL, THE IMPORTANCE OF TRYING, COMPASSION AS A CONTEXT. If we take a few steps back, look at the stars and galaxies, and imagine the earth rotating on its axis around the sun, it’s amazing that we have the chutzpah to believe we have any control at all in the world! It’s important to remember that in the process of therapy—and life itself—we are small creatures on a small planet in a small solar system in a small galaxy. This is not a reason for fatalism and helplessness. But it is a reason to honestly and compassionately face our limits.
On the one hand, we want to “practice what we preach,” striving to become exemplars of optimal control in each of the domains of life. In Zen, as we have discussed, the instruction is “When you walk, walk; when you sit, sit; above all don’t wobble.” We want to follow Gandhi’s advice to “Be the change you want to see in the world.” The Gita says, “Let there not be a hair’s breadth between will (what you decide) and action (how you act).” This applies to being centered and calm, and also to acting in the ways of the world. The Gita integrates these two skills by saying that one who can “see action in inaction” (even while calm and centered, as in meditation, recognizing that blood is coursing through the body, the heart is beating, the mind is awake); and “inaction in action” (even while we act, we attempt to stay centered and calm), “that person is wise among all.”
This is all sage advice yet, as you have probably experienced for yourself (in other aspects of your life, and perhaps even more consciously during your work with this manual), there is no such thing as “perfect” self-control. There are limits to our ability to stretch and grow in a positive assertive sense just as there are limits to how much we are able to yield and accept. We are human, after all! And we do wobble. There are times in life when we simply don’t know the correct course of action. As noted, we think a footnote to the Zen saying might be needed: “When you wobble, wobble well!” (Or as best you can).
FACING SUFFERING—WITHIN AND WITHOUT. Further, as the Buddha pointed out, each of us eventually will have to face the three messengers of aging, illness, and death in our own lives, as well as in the lives of loved ones. All of us have, or will have wounds, places where we’ve been broken, and at times feel crushed.
We all know the challenges of overcoming our individual selves and connecting with others. Yet, no matter how well we do the “tai chi dance” of relationship, no matter how well we forgive, and dialogue successfully, from one perspective, in this earthly plane, all such efforts end: marriage ends either in divorce, or, even with the most devoted love, in death. Our bodies, no matter how well we care for them, are doomed to decay and fail. It is the irony recognized by the playwright Chekov, a physician who knew that even as you try to cure a patient, it is only a temporary reprieve. We humans have awareness of the suffering of life. Part of our task is to learn how to cope, deal with, and come to terms with necessary losses that are part of life. This involves mourning, grieving, and ultimately trying to come to some kind of peace and equanimity with the “10000 sorrows.”
Yet, it is said “10000 sorrows, 10000 joys.”
We also can have awareness of life’s beauty and preciousness. This is all we have. How can we keep our focus on what is important and valuable in life? Like the person in the Zen tale faced with the fierce, teeth-baring tiger above and the sharp, jagged rocks below, we have the ability to pause, make a choice, and taste the “sweet” strawberry in the here and now. We also have the choice to courageously move forward with our lives. We can recall Hemingway’s Old Man saying, “Man can be destroyed, but not defeated.” We can learn to adapt, to grow, and, as best as possible, learn to find ways to let the “light shine through the cracks” of places where we have been wounded and broken.
We have the opportunity to learn the lesson that Miriam taught, after the Israelites had crossed the Red (Reed) Sea after leaving the slavery of Egypt. Egypt (mitzrayim in Hebrew) means “narrow places.” Crossing the sea can represent, metaphorically, leaving our internal “narrow places” where we are enslaved, and crossing into a higher sea of consciousness. Yet, as we know the story, the Israelites still had forty years of wandering in the wilderness to face in order to reach the “Promised Land.” Miriam’s lesson? She led the Israelites in dance. We have the choice to take a break from effortful focus on difficulties, hard times, and suffering, to pause and celebrate, to dance in our hearts and minds along our journey.
We also have the capacity to face mindfully and directly difficult and challenging aspects of reality; and, without avoiding or denying, to choose “how we want the story to end.” Recall the story of the parents of a murdered child, shared in Module Three, who didn’t want evil, negative thoughts to have the last word. They model for us how it is possible to face a horrendous event—the meaningless, senseless death of a loved one – with courage, intention, and seeking to find meaning. Rather than letting their daughter’s terrible murder be the final word, they created a sense of control by choosing to determine the ending of her story--an honoring and celebrating of a meaningful life.
This is not to say that facing such challenges and adversity is easy. Rather, it may be impossible to face all the challenges life sends us with perfect self-control. Sometimes we’ll wobble, but we should try to wobble as well (and compassionately) as we can, and choose as healing and wise a response as we are able.
HEALING THE WORLD. In addition, just as our smallness and vulnerability in the universe can produce feelings of helplessness and being out of control, so too can the pervasiveness of suffering in this world. If we look around at poverty, homelessness, war, and disease, it is impossible not to be aware of the world’s suffering. Once we break through denial, it is understandable that we can become overwhelmed at the enormity of this suffering. There is suffering in this world that is part of the human experience, and no amount of control efforts can ever completely ameliorate that.
However, as many spiritual traditions suggest, while it is not entirely up to us to solve the problems of the world, it is our responsibility to make some contribution toward solving these problems. One way to address this is through the metaphor of yoga stretching. If we do not stay slow and centered in a stretch, we can push too hard and injure ourselves. From a centered place, however, each of us may be able to find ways to stretch toward one or two degrees more involvement with the posture (and with life’s suffering). In dealing with the messengers, each of us may be able to develop one or two degrees more of acceptance. Each of us has to find the balance between acceptance (quadrant two) and stretch (quadrant one) that feels wisest and most compassionate to us.
Simply because we are limited in our ability to exert positive control in each mode does not mean that the effort is not worthwhile. If we can only improve two, three, or four degrees, that can make a substantial difference in our lives and the lives of others (e.g. Think of the difference a few degrees makes in our body temperature: e.g., 98.6 to 102)
It seems to us, as co-authors, there must be some part in each of you reading this manual (and in us writing it) that is basically optimistic about our ability as humans to change and grow in positive ways, or else we wouldn’t be in the health and healing professions. We seek to affect positive control and reduction of suffering in ourselves and others wherever we can.
We are all fellow travelers on a temporary journey through the hourglass. Compassion and love are needed as a context for our efforts to teach, learn, and practice positive control in our lives.