AEDP Research Shines as Shigeru Iwakabe Caps His Presidency of the Society for Psychotherapy Research

For the past five years, the AEDP Institute’s Director of Research, Shigeru Iwakabe, PhD, has served as president of the world’s most prominent psychotherapy research organization: the Society for Psychotherapy Research (SPR).

Shigeru capped off his tenure by hosting SPR’s 57th annual international conference in Osaka, Japan, where he and his team of graduate students welcomed over 730 researchers from 48 countries. They came together to share leading-edge psychotherapy process research findings, discuss new ideas and challenges in the field, and network and enjoy each other!

Because Shigeru and his team at Ritsumeikan University are deeply involved and invested in the ongoing AEDP psychotherapy research project, there was a lot of excitement about AEDP at the conference. Below are the titles of the panel, presentations, and posters presented by Shigeru and his team.

Panel

Positive Experiences and Transformational Processes in Psychotherapy: Measuring In-Session Pathways of Change in AEDP
Wakako Yamazaki, iEFT Japan, Tokyo, Japan

Presentations

The Role of Positive Emotions in Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy
Niv Gross, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel; Eran Bar-Kalifa, Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva, Israel; and Ben Shahar, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel

Development of a Coding System of Affirmation in Psychotherapy
Ayumi Noda, Taisho University, Tokyo, Japan; Shigeru Iwakabe, Ritsumeikan University, Osaka, Japan; Marina DiCorcia, Ochanomizu University, Tokyo, Japan; Akira Matsumoto, Ritsumeikan University, Osaka, Japan; Fumika Nishikawa, Ritsumeikan University, Japan; Cheng Liu, Ritsumeikan University; Chen Liang, Ritsumeikan University; Junzhe Zhang, Ritsumeikan University, Japan; Toki Ozaki, Ritsumeikan University, Osaka, Japan; and Kenshin Shigemura, Ritsumeikan University, Osaka, Japan

Flourishing Experiences in AEDP: Client Flourishing Experiences and Subsequent Improvement in a Lagged Model
Wakako Yamazaki, iEFT Japan, Tokyo, Japan; Marina DiCorcia, Ochanomizu University, Tokyo, Japan; Kaori Nakamura, Bunkyo Gakuin University; Shigeru Iwakabe, Ritsumeikan University, Osaka, Japan; Diana Fosha, AEDP Institute; Andrew Joseph, AEDP Institute; Richard Harrison, AEDP Institute; and Lauren Lepow, Parsons Research Center for Psychedelic Healing at Mount Sinai

Poster Presentations

Effective Moment-to-Moment Interventions for Working with Complex PTSD: Findings from a Multiple-Case Comparison in Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy
Akira Matsumoto, Ritsumeikan University, Osaka, Japan; Marina DiCorcia, Ochanomizu University, Tokyo, Japan; Richard Harrison, AEDP Institute; Cheng Liu, Ritsumeikan University; Chen Liang, Ritsumeikan University; Andrew Joseph, AEDP Institute; Diana Fosha, AEDP Institute; and Shigeru Iwakabe, Ritsumeikan University, Osaka, Japan

Examining Therapeutic Change: Emotional and Relational Processes in Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP): A Multilevel Analysis
Junzhe Zhang, Ritsumeikan University, Japan; and Shigeru Iwakabe, Ritsumeikan University

Congratulations to Shigeru Iwakabe, Wakako Yamazaki, Ayumi Noda, Akira Matsumoto, Niv Gross, and Marina DiCorcia on this incredible achievement, and thank you for continuing to be the academic backbone of AEDP psychotherapy research!

Learn more about the Society for Psychotherapy Research at psychotherapyresearch.org.

Congratulations to Our Newly Certified AEDP Supervisors!

We are thrilled to celebrate three members of our community who have achieved AEDP Supervisor certification, a milestone that reflects not only clinical mastery but also a deep capacity to hold, guide, and delight in the growth of other therapists.

Supervision in AEDP is more than case consultation. It is experiential and relational at its core. Supervisors work to undo the aloneness of the therapist, meet clinical struggles with affirmation rather than judgment, and help supervisees metabolize the moment-to-moment work of transformation, so they can offer their clients the same secure, healing-centred presence.

Becoming an AEDP Supervisor asks for years of dedicated practice, immersion in the model, and a genuine gift for accompanying others. These three clinicians embody all of that.

Please join us in congratulating:

So-Yeon (Yeony) Kim
Mimi Steele
Shelley Carr

Click on each name to learn more about their work and how to connect with them.

We are grateful for the wisdom, warmth, and dedication they bring to this community, to the supervisees they accompany, and through them, to countless clients on their healing journeys.

Visit our Supervisor Directory to connect with a certified AEDP Supervisor. Learn more about the path to AEDP Supervisor certification.

Celebrating Our Newly Certified AEDP® Therapists

There is a particular joy in witnessing a clinician grow into the fullness of their craft. AEDP certification marks a deepening capacity to sit with another person in their most vulnerable moments and to help transform suffering into healing through genuine connection.

AEDP rests on a simple but profound conviction: that human beings are wired for healing and that transformation becomes possible when we no longer have to face our pain alone. To become certified is to commit deeply to that vision, through many hours of practice, close consultation, and the willingness to stay present with both the struggle and the flourishing of those we serve.

The clinicians we celebrate today have walked this path with dedication and heart. Certification is both an arrival and a beginning, honoring what they have already accomplished while opening the door to all the lives they will continue to touch.

We are so proud to celebrate these members of our community who have recently achieved AEDP Certification. Each of these clinicians has demonstrated deep commitment to the healing-oriented, relationally embedded work at the heart of AEDP, and we are honored to mark this milestone with them.

Click on each name to learn more about their work and how to connect with them.

We are grateful for the dedication each of them brings to this community and to the clients they serve!

Visit our Therapist Directory to connect with a certified AEDP® therapist.

Learn more about the AEDP® Certification Pathway.

AEDP® Advanced Skills July 2026: Feeling Felt; Expanding Receptive Affective Capacity

On 9 and 11 July 2026, the AEDP Institute will host Feeling Felt: Expanding Receptive Affective Capacity, an Intermediate seminar presented live online by Senior Faculty member Kate Halliday, LCSW.

At the heart of the seminar is a simple but powerful premise: expanding and deepening Receptive Affective Capacity, the experience of “feeling felt,” turbo-charges AEDP’s consolidation of brain growth and neural integration. Many clinicians notice that after a full day of intense AEDP sessions they emerge not depleted but invigorated, and that the transformative qualities of authentic relational experience begin to find their way into everyday life with friends, family, and colleagues.

This seminar offers an opportunity to integrate theoretical knowledge of AEDP and to deepen understanding of how the model works from the bottom up and inside out, beginning with the clinician’s own experience. Through didactic and video presentations, participants strengthen their clinical application of AEDP principles and build confidence and effectiveness in practice, while connecting with a wider AEDP community.

Offered across two half-days of seminar instruction, this track is ideal for those who prefer focused learning without experiential practice. It is open to AEDP Level 1 graduates of Immersion, and those who have also completed Essential Skills may find it easier to grasp the more advanced AEDP content.

For therapists who want to deepen their understanding of AEDP and their capacity for authentic relational connection, this is a rich invitation to learn from one of the model’s most experienced teachers.

Event Details

  • Dates: Thursday and Saturday, 9 and 11 July 2026
  • Time: 11:00 AM to 3:30 PM EST
  • Format: Live online
  • Presenter: Kate Halliday, LCSW, Senior Faculty, AEDP Institute
  • Continuing Education: Up to 8 CE credits; ASWB, APA, NBCC, and New York approvals
  • Eligibility: AEDP Level 1+ (Immersion graduates) with qualifying licensing credentials
  • Fee: $399 USD (registration closes 2 July 2026); limited scholarships and payment plans available

Register here

AEDP Institute is now an APA Approved CE Provider

AEDP Institute is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. AEDP Institute maintains responsibility for this program and its content. 

AEDP Institute courses — including Immersion, Essential Skills, Advanced Skills, and eligible seminars — will now offer APA CE credits. 

APA approval reflects our commitment to offering rigorous, clinically grounded training that meets the highest professional standards in the field.

APA CE credits will be available for courses after April 22, 2026. Participants currently enrolled in an ongoing course are not eligible to receive APA CE credits for that course. 

Questions? Email Marilia at admin@aedpinstitute.org

New Issue Alert: Transformance: The AEDP Journal!

Transformance Journal – Volume 15, Issue 2 Now Available!

Dear Colleagues,

Danny Yeung and I are excited and proud to announce that the newest issue of Transformance: The AEDP Journal is now live on the website. 

We wish to thank our authors for bringing us these engaging, unique, and creatively inspired articles. You can find the new issue here: https://aedpinstitute.org/journal/the-international-cultural-volume-15-issue-2. 

Below are the contents: Enjoy! You will find much to surprise, move and intrigue you. 

If you feel inspired to do so, we’d welcome any reflections or responses you’d like to share on the listserv. While each article stands on its own, they also open space for ongoing conversation within our community.

This edition celebrates AEDP’s expanding global community and the universal power of transformation through connection.

— Carrie & Danny

Latest News: AEDP Institute Now Approved by ASWB!

We’re pleased to announce that AEDP Institute has been approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Social workers can again earn CE credits for our qualifying courses.

​Questions? Email Marilia at admin@aedpinstitute.org

New Volume: Journal Transformance

Transformance Journal – Volume 14 Now Available!

We’re delighted to announce the release of Transformance Journal, Volume 14, featuring powerful and deeply moving explorations of AEDP’s global reach and cultural resonance. This issue highlights how AEDP is being lived, practiced, and integrated across diverse contexts around the world — from Brazil to Sweden, Korea, China, and beyond.

Articles include: Click here to access journal

  • AEDP Fits Like a Glove: AEDP and Brazilian Culture — Regina Pontes & Maria Cândida Sobral Soares
  • To Make the Implicit Explicit and the Explicit a New Experience: My Discovery of AEDP in a Swedish Context — Anna Christina Sundgren
  • Transformation of Transgenerational Trauma: A Cross-Cultural Context — H. Jacquie Ye-Perman
  • On Sacred Ground: An AEDP Case Study with a Torah-Observant Jew — Leah Subar
  • From Symptom to Transformational Energy: Integrating Daoist Yin–Yang Perspective into AEDP’s Practice — Sabrina (Yunshuo) Wei
  • The Significance of the First Session Experience for Koreans in AEDP: Transformation Through Encounter and Recollection — So-Yeon Kim & Danny Yeung
  • After Freud Meets Zhuangzi: Stance and Dance of the Self-in-Transformation with the Other-in-Contemplative Presence — Danny Yeung, Diana Fosha, H. Jacquie Ye-Perman, Xu Yong

This edition celebrates AEDP’s expanding global community and the universal power of transformation through connection.

Julia Jalalat is now an AEDP Certified Therapist!!!

I had the good fortune of being Julia’s Certification supervisor working closely with her on the transcriptions of her work with her clients. Our discussions were lively and informative and educative for me as well as for Julia. Her ability to invite me fully into the sessions and feel the work with her was very powerful. 

 Julia is thoroughly engaged with her clients. On display in her work is her clinical skillfulness, her easeful attunement and the way in which that fosters a stance of secure attachment. Her work demonstrates how she weaves AEDP principles and skills into her practice with adept skill and authenticity. 

Her commanding and deeply caring presence is not something that can be taught. Julia lives into the work in a bold and deeply authentic relational way.

Ilene writes of her experience of working closely with Julia..

Continue reading “Julia Jalalat is now an AEDP Certified Therapist!!!”

Stephen McDonnell is now a certified AEDP Supervisor

Dear community,

It is a true pleasure and honor to announce that Stephen McDonnell is now a certified AEDP Supervisor.

I first got to know Stephen in the sixteen-session AEDP Research weekly supervision group. His attuned, gentle, and yet persistent work with clients stood out immediately. Over time, those same qualities became even more apparent in how he showed up as a peer in the group—finding just the right words to ease anxiety, highlight the positive, or offer another lens or intervention to fellow research therapists.

Watching Stephen step into the role of supervisor during the certification process only deepened what I already knew: he is a natural and gifted supervisor as well as a highly skilled AEDP therapist.

Continue reading “Stephen McDonnell is now a certified AEDP Supervisor”

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