Gifted Psychology 101 with Jennifer Harvey Sallin - starting in April 2025

We're hosting an extra cohort of our Gifted Psychology 101 course for psychologists!

This 6-month training course, taught and facilitated by Jennifer Harvey Sallin, typically runs once per year. This year, we've added a second cohort to start in April 2025. We've got a few spots still available and registration is open!

Course overview

This course is for gifted psychologists, psychiatrists, therapists, counselors, social workers who have been actively working with clients for a minimum of 6 months. This 6-month training program brings you and your gifted professional peers into the world of gifted-specific psychology, through a combination of instruction on gifted-specific development and therapeutic trajectories, and a personal and professional development process of you as a gifted individual and helping professional. The themes covered in the modules are:

Recognizing giftedness in clients

How to recognize and evaluate giftedness, giftedness levels, and unique giftedness profiles
How to bring up and address giftedness with a client
How to overcome resistance to the idea
Resources for client self-discovery inside and outside of therapy

Most common problem areas for gifted clients

Social troubles
Lack of peers
Lack of recognition
Romantic relational troubles
Trauma / Complex Trauma
Twice-exceptionality, Misdiagnoses + most common gifted/psychopathology overlaps
How to best guide and support + resources

Therapeutic dynamics with gifted clients

How to fully engage with gifted clients
How to handle the overexcitabilities and intensity in sessions
How to handle differences in giftedness levels between psychologist and client
How to have good boundaries and when to use self-disclosure with gifted clients
How to work with client when the psychologist is triggered by his/her own gifted issues
When to see breakdown as positive disintegration, and when to see it as "clinical"; how to best help in both cases

Therapeutic logistics

How therapy, coaching and mentoring can all help a gifted client, and when each is appropriate
Common therapeutic trajectories for clients and how to help them transition from therapy to other forms of support
Client drop out and how to maintain engagement

Gifted personal & career development

Common gifted career dilemmas and how to approach them
Helpful resources for gifted career exploration
Giftedness and creativity
Giftedness and spirituality/religion
Tools of positive psychology for gifted self-development

Understanding & working with special populations

Children, teens & adults
Elderly
Prison populations
LGBTQ+
Twice-exceptional clients

More about the sessions

The course combines live teaching, group discussion, personal exploration, professional learning & practice, peer interaction and if desired, practice sessions with your fellow participants. Each monthly session includes an extensive module and preparation homework, as well as a 2-hour live teaching & group discussion facilitated by Jennifer via zoom.

The modules and live sessions allow space for your own growth and reflection as a gifted person and gifted professional, while providing you with the theoretical knowledge, practical insight, case studies, and peer feedback to start your gifted-specific practice or bring your existing practice to a new level. You'll also expand your gifted-specific professional network and leave the course with an extensive list of gifted-specific references and resources to support your clients and your practice.

Participants say that this course is a transformational journey unlike any other, both personally and professionally. You can read their feedback and experience of the course here.

More about the logistics

We schedule our course sessions according to participant availability and time-zones. This cohort is set to accommodate the Americas (mornings) and Europe (afternoon/evenings). Courses are generally not recorded due to the personal nature of sharing that takes place.

This course costs 1,750 CHF. We are currently in a position to offer up to three partial scholarships for deserving participants of this course. The scholarship amount will be determined according to need, covering up to half of the full course fee. If you show an excellence in your work and are in a deserving financial situation (i.e. your country has an unfavorable exchange rate that keeps you from participating in our courses), please email us, together with your application, via the link below.

How to apply to join?

If you're interested in participating, please review our Course Overview Document for more details, where you will also find instructions for applying to join the course.