The Psychotherapy Institute (TPI) is a long-standing professional community organization devoted to the practice and study of relational depth psychotherapy. Following a 2023 strategic planning process, the Institute is currently in a time of reflection and change as we seek to reinforce our organizational strengths and respond to changes in our field and community. As we refine aspects of our training programs and community guidelines, we recommit ourselves to an ongoing effort to uphold our values and to foster diversity, equity, and inclusion. We acknowledge that working in community and practicing and training in relational psychotherapy requires a commitment to shared values.

These are the values and principles that guide our work:

The Values of The Psychotherapy Institute

Psychodynamic Foundation
TPI values the exploration of multiple psychodynamic perspectives and the application of these perspectives in our training programs and all we do as an organization.

Commitment to Relationship and Relational Process
TPI values building and maintaining relationships. We strive to engage with one another in a way to foster learning about ourselves and others. When challenging dynamics arise, we ask all to show humility, courage, and respect, and to strive toward greater understanding and repair. Our Guidelines for Discussions provide direction for how we strive to communicate with one another.

Community
TPI values the creation of a diverse, affiliated professional community toward the aim of providing accessible, high-quality mental health care to our clients and opportunities for professional development, personal growth, and networking for our members.

Volunteerism
TPI values our founding members’ vision of volunteer service in teaching, supervision, and organizational leadership. Our ability to provide high quality training is dependent upon the contributions of many volunteers who teach, supervise, and support our programs in other ways.

Continued Learning and Mentorship
We value a shared commitment to life-long learning and training and understand that professional development is essential to providing ethical psychotherapy. We seek to foster advanced learning in the field of psychodynamic psychotherapy and provide high-quality training for therapists at all levels of experience.

Social Justice
TPI values an awareness of social justice issues and acting upon that understanding. We believe that everyone deserves equal economic, political, and social rights, as well as a fair and quitable division of resources, opportunities, and privileges in society.

Equity and Inclusion
TPI values inclusion and support of diverse populations in our leadership, membership, community clinic, and educational programming. We acknowledge that the field of psychology developed in a world that has and continues to discriminate and exclude those belonging to marginalized groups. As such, we embrace a shared responsibility to recognize how we have been shaped by this history and to challenge continuing injustices.

Humility and Courage
TPI values an openness to learning, acknowledging our limited individual perspectives, and having the courage to engage in a discovery process with acceptance for ourselves and others.

Compassion
TPI values leading with compassion in interactions within the Institute, in our professional community, and in the community at-large. We seek to empathize with the challenges and sufferings of others and to reduce suffering through our work.

Inner Exploration
TPI values an exploration of the unconscious as fundamental to understanding the connection to self and others. 

Environmental Sustainability
TPI values the care of the environment and its impact on all living beings and is committed to running the Institute in ways that promote energy conservation and environmental sustainability.