Haven Institute
Encyclopedia
Jock McKeen
Jock McKeen , is a Canadian physician,acupuncturist, author and lecturer who co-founded the Haven Institute with Bennet Wong. He has written on East-West medicine, alternative medicine, holistic health, Asian studies and personal growth.-Education:McKeen received his M.D...
and Bennet Wong
Bennet Wong
Bennet Randall Wong , is a Canadian psychiatrist, author and lecturer who co-founded the Haven Institute, a residential experiential learning centre on the west coast of Canada, with Jock McKeen. He has written on mental illness, group psychotherapy, humanistic psychology and personal growth.-...
, the centre offers courses for personal and professional purposes, including a program for students aspiring to achieve a Diploma in Counselling or other post-secondary certification.
Institutional Registration and Credits
The Haven Institute is registered in the province of British ColumbiaBritish Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
as a Private Post-Secondary institution in accordance with the Private Post-Secondary Education Act of B.C. (SBC CHAP 64). This registration is governed by the Private Career Training Institutions Agency of B.C.
Private Career Training Institutions Agency
The Private Career Training Institutions Agency is the provincial regulatory body of British Columbia, Canada responsible for accrediting private post-secondary institutions and ensuring minimum standards of quality and consumer protection...
. Some of their course are approved for continuing education credit
Continuing Professional Development
Continuing professional development or Continuing professional education is the means by which people maintain their knowledge and skills related to their professional lives.-CPD research:...
credit by the Canadian Addiction Counsellors Certification Federation (CACCF), the Canadian Association of Rehabilitation Professionals (CARP), the Canadian Counselling Association (CCA) and the College of Massage Therapists of British Columbia (CMTBC).
History
Bennet Wong
Bennet Randall Wong , is a Canadian psychiatrist, author and lecturer who co-founded the Haven Institute, a residential experiential learning centre on the west coast of Canada, with Jock McKeen. He has written on mental illness, group psychotherapy, humanistic psychology and personal growth.-...
and Jock McKeen
Jock McKeen
Jock McKeen , is a Canadian physician,acupuncturist, author and lecturer who co-founded the Haven Institute with Bennet Wong. He has written on East-West medicine, alternative medicine, holistic health, Asian studies and personal growth.-Education:McKeen received his M.D...
purchased the Taylor Bay Lodge on Gabriola Island, British Columbia, and transformed it into a waterfront resort and conference centre. They called it "a resort with a difference" because people could enter into the activities at whatever level they chose. Some people came with their families to enjoy a country resort; groups and agencies held conferences; others attended the numerous residential self-awareness
Self-awareness
Self-awareness is the capacity for introspection and the ability to reconcile oneself as an individual separate from the environment and other individuals...
seminars. Still others returned for training in counseling; over 75 people have achieved the Diploma in Counselling (Dip.C.) from The Haven Institute.
There are over fifty visiting faculty members teaching in this nontraditional, open atmosphere. Some notable ones have been Virginia Satir
Virginia Satir
Virginia Satir was an American author and psychotherapist, known especially for her approach to family therapy and her work with Systemic Constellations...
, Erv and Miriam Polster, Paul Reps
Paul Reps
Paul Reps was an American artist, poet, and author. He is best known for his unorthodox haiku-inspired poetry that was published from 1939 onwards. He is considered one of America's first haiku poets....
, Carl Whitaker, Paul Lowe
Paul Lowe
Paul Edward Lowe is a retired American football running back who played for the Los Angeles/San Diego Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs of the American Football League from 1960 to 1969.-College career:...
, James Bugental
James Bugental
James Frederick Taylor Bugental was one of the predominant theorists and advocates of the Existential-Humanistic Therapy movement. He was a therapist, teacher and writer for over 50 years. He received his Ph.D...
, Thomas Szasz
Thomas Szasz
Thomas Stephen Szasz is a psychiatrist and academic. Since 1990 he has been Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at the State University of New York Health Science Center in Syracuse, New York. He is a well-known social critic of the moral and scientific foundations of psychiatry, and of the social...
, Bill O'Hanlon
Bill O'Hanlon
Bill O'Hanlon, M.S., is psychotherapist, prolific author, and popular workshop presenter. He co-developed Solution-Oriented Therapy, a form of Solution focused brief therapy, has authored or co-authored over 28 books , and has given over two thousand workshop...
, and Maria Gomori
Maria Gomori
Maria Gomori, M.S.W., Dip.C., Ph.D., is a pioneer in the field of systems family therapy. She has a long and disciplined background, and has made significant contributions to the fields of psychiatric and social work training, having designed numerous successful training programs. She is the...
. The annual Haven Symposium has featured Joseph Chilton Pearce
Joseph Chilton Pearce
Joseph Chilton Pearce is an American author of a number of books on child development. He prefers the name "Joe".He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II...
, Margaret Wheatley, and Dan Millman
Dan Millman
Dan Millman is a former Trampolining world champion athlete, university coach, martial arts instructor and college professor, and an author of fourteen self-help books, currently published in 29 languages, the most famous of which is the semi-autobiographical novel, Way of the Peaceful Warrior ,...
. The Wong-McKeen Phoenix Auditorium, Haven's performing arts theatre, has seen performances by Ann Mortifee
Ann Mortifee
Ann Mortifee, CM is a Canadian-based singer-songwriter, writer and speaker. After emigrating to Canada in childhood, she spent her youth in Vancouver, British Columbia. At the beginning of her musical career, she joined the cast of the original Vancouver production of The Ecstasy of Rita Joe...
, Lou Reed
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
, Eric Bibb
Eric Bibb
Eric Bibb is an American acoustic blues singer-songwriter. He is based in London and launched his career in Europe. Today he lives in Finland.-Biography:...
, Victor Wooten
Victor Wooten
Victor Lemonte Wooten is an American bass player, composer, author, and producer, and has been the recipient of five Grammy Awards....
, Shari Ulrich
Shari Ulrich
Sharon Ulrich, is a Canadian musician-songwriter. She has won a Juno Award for "Most Promising Female Vocalist of the Year", and has acted as a television host, actor, film composer, & songwriting educator...
and Leon Bibb
Leon Bibb (musician)
Leon Bibb is an American folk singer and actor who grew up in Kentucky, worked in New York, and has lived in Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada since 1969.Bibb was born in Louisville, Kentucky...
. The Haven Institute Press publishes books by founders Bennet Wong
Bennet Wong
Bennet Randall Wong , is a Canadian psychiatrist, author and lecturer who co-founded the Haven Institute, a residential experiential learning centre on the west coast of Canada, with Jock McKeen. He has written on mental illness, group psychotherapy, humanistic psychology and personal growth.-...
and Jock McKeen
Jock McKeen
Jock McKeen , is a Canadian physician,acupuncturist, author and lecturer who co-founded the Haven Institute with Bennet Wong. He has written on East-West medicine, alternative medicine, holistic health, Asian studies and personal growth.-Education:McKeen received his M.D...
and others.
The Core Programs for the Institute were developed by McKeen and Wong. Programs have been offered at Haven with Chinese translation since the early 1990s, and numerous Asian people have attended as participants, and trainees.
Joann Peterson
Joann Peterson
Joann S. Peterson, M.S.W., A.C.S.W., Dip.C., Ph.D., was an American social worker, counsellor, author and lecturer...
became the Director of Education in 1992, and oversaw the training of over 1200 interns and assistants in group and individual counselling until her death in 2007. The programs have continued to develop and broaden.
In 2003, The Haven Foundation was established as a federally recognized Canadian nonprofit charity
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
. In 2004, Wong and McKeen and their three sons, transferred the ownership of The Haven Institute into the Haven Foundation so that the facility and their work could continue in perpetuity under independent guidance. ,
Teaching principles
The methods in the courses are derived from a great variety of sources in the fields of humanistic psychologyHumanistic psychology
Humanistic psychology is a psychological perspective which rose to prominence in the mid-20th century, drawing on the work of early pioneers like Carl Rogers and the philosophies of existentialism and phenomenology...
and transpersonal psychology
Transpersonal psychology
Transpersonal psychology is a form of psychology that studies the transpersonal, self-transcendent or spiritual aspects of the human experience....
, as well as the more traditional fields of psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
, religious studies
Religious studies
Religious studies is the academic field of multi-disciplinary, secular study of religious beliefs, behaviors, and institutions. It describes, compares, interprets, and explains religion, emphasizing systematic, historically based, and cross-cultural perspectives.While theology attempts to...
, drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
, music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
and art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
. The techniques used cover a broad spectrum, including gestalt
Gestalt therapy
Gestalt therapy is an existential/experiential form of psychotherapy that emphasizes personal responsibility, and that focuses upon the individual's experience in the present moment, the therapist-client relationship, the environmental and social contexts of a person's life, and the self-regulating...
, Reichian body approaches, acupuncture
Acupuncture
Acupuncture is a type of alternative medicine that treats patients by insertion and manipulation of solid, generally thin needles in the body....
, psychodrama
Psychodrama
Psychodrama is a method of psychotherapy in which clients utilize spontaneous dramatization, role playing and dramatic self-presentation to investigate and gain insight into their lives. Developed by Jacob L. Moreno, M.D. psychodrama includes elements of theater, often conducted on a stage where...
, psychosynthesis
Psychosynthesis
Psychosynthesis is an approach to psychology that was developed by Roberto Assagioli, M.D. He compared psychosynthesis to the prevailing thinking of the day, contrasting psychosynthesis for example with Existential psychology, but unlike the latter considered loneliness not to be "either ultimate...
, role playing, family therapy
Family therapy
Family therapy, also referred to as couple and family therapy, family systems therapy, and family counseling, is a branch of psychotherapy that works with families and couples in intimate relationships to nurture change and development. It tends to view change in terms of the systems of...
, fantasy and visualization techniques, video work, theatre games, play therapy
Play therapy
Play therapy is generally employed with children aged 3 through 11 and provides a way for them to express their experiences and feelings through a natural, self-guided, self-healing process...
and music therapy
Music therapy
Music therapy is an allied health profession and one of the expressive therapies, consisting of an interpersonal process in which a trained music therapist uses music and all of its facets—physical, emotional, mental, social, aesthetic, and spiritual—to help clients to improve or maintain their...
, all stressing encounter and communication
Communication
Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast...
skills. The approaches are educational only, so no therapeutic care is available.
There are some lectures and discussion groups, but emphasis is upon heuristic education
Heuristic
Heuristic refers to experience-based techniques for problem solving, learning, and discovery. Heuristic methods are used to speed up the process of finding a satisfactory solution, where an exhaustive search is impractical...
and experiential learning
Experiential learning
Experiential learning is the process of making meaning from direct experience. Simply put, Experiential Learning is learning from experience. The experience can be staged or left open. Aristotle once said, "For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them." David A...
, in which the person is invited to experience situations in which to learn what is needed.