Where Relationship Shapes Practice
Our Mission
The Atlantic Centre for Relational Practice exists to cultivate a community of mental health practitioners committed to deepening their understanding of psychotherapy/counselling through a contemporary relational and psychoanalytic lens. We believe that healing is not found solely in techniques or interventions, but also within the therapeutic relationship itself: a relationship shaped by curiosity, authenticity, mutual influence, and genuine human connection within an ethically grounded therapeutic frame.
Psychotherapy/counselling is, first and foremost, a human encounter. While theory, skills, and evidence are essential, it is within the therapeutic relationship that these come alive. Our mission is to support clinicians in understanding and strengthening that relationship through ongoing study, reflection, dialogue, and engagement with one another.
Experienced Clinical Facilitators
We bring extensive experience across psychotherapy/counselling, clinical supervision, teaching, research, and scholarship, with particular expertise in relational and psychoanalytic approaches. Click here to learn more about our backgrounds and the perspectives we bring to the Centre.
Current Offering
Foundations of Relational Practice
A Six-Month Clinical Consultation Group in Relational and Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy
January – June 2027
Approved by CCPA for 48 Continuing Education Credits (CECs)
Psychotherapy/counselling is more than the application of techniques; it is a relationship between two people. Foundations of Relational Practice is a six-month clinical consultation group designed for licensed or regulated mental health practitioners who wish to deepen their clinical thinking through a contemporary relational and psychoanalytic lens.
In a profession that often emphasizes techniques, protocols, and measurable outcomes, we believe clinicians also need places to slow down, think together, and remain connected to the relational heart of psychotherapy/counselling.
Through ongoing clinical consultation, participants will explore the therapeutic relationship as a central agent of change and develop their capacity to think relationally about the complexities of their own clinical work. Our discussions will engage with concepts such as relational theory, transference and countertransference, enactment, rupture and repair, attachment, subjectivity, and the use of self in psychotherapy. We will also consider how culture, identity, power, and experiences of difference shape the therapeutic relationship and influence both clients’ and therapists’ experiences within the clinical encounter.
Relevant readings and theoretical material from foundational psychoanalytic and psychodynamic thinkers as well as contemporary relational writers will be introduced throughout the consultation process to support and deepen participants’ clinical thinking. Rather than approaching theory as separate from practice, we will continually consider how these ideas illuminate the clinical material participants encounter in their own work.
The program invites clinicians into a sustained process of consultation, reflection, dialogue, and engagement with colleagues. Together, we will think deeply about therapeutic process, the therapist’s participation in the clinical encounter, and the complex relational dynamics that emerge within psychotherapy/counselling.
Clinical Consultation Format
The group meets every other Thursday for six months starting on January 14, 2027 and ending on June 17, 2027.
Each two-hour meeting provides an opportunity for participants to bring clinical material from their own practices for collaborative exploration through a relational and psychoanalytic lens. Participants will work in smaller consultation groups with a dedicated clinical facilitator (Debra or Nathan), allowing for sustained attention to individual cases, therapeutic relationships, and questions emerging from participants’ clinical work.
Consultation will be enriched by discussion of relevant relational, psychoanalytic, psychodynamic, and attachment-based ideas. Facilitators may introduce theoretical material, readings, and other resources that help participants think more deeply about the clinical situations being explored. Selected readings and opportunities for reflection between meetings will further support the ongoing consultation process.
Across the six months, participants will have repeated opportunities to present and reflect upon their clinical work, receive input from facilitators and colleagues, and consider their own participation within therapeutic relationships. The aim is not simply to acquire additional techniques, but to develop a deeper and more flexible way of thinking about therapeutic process and complex moments in clinical practice.
Who Should Apply?
Foundations of Relational Practice is designed for licensed or regulated mental health practitioners who are interested in deepening their clinical practice and their understanding of the therapeutic relationship.
Clinicians from a wide range of therapeutic orientations—including psychodynamic, emotion-focused, attachment-based, CBT, ACT, systemic, and integrative approaches—are welcome. Previous training in relational or psychoanalytic psychotherapy is not required.
What matters most is a genuine curiosity about the therapeutic relationship, a willingness to bring aspects of one’s clinical work into consultation, an openness to reflecting on one’s own experience and participation within the clinical encounter, and an interest in considering how culture, identity, power, and differences are lived and negotiated within therapeutic relationships.
Clinical consultation within the program is intended for professional learning, reflection, and the development of clinical thinking. It does not replace supervision requirements established by a participant’s regulatory body, employer, or professional association. Participants are expected to protect client confidentiality and present clinical material in appropriately de-identified form in accordance with their professional and regulatory obligations. To support confidentiality, trust, and open clinical discussion, program sessions are not recorded.
Program Details
Applications Open: September 2026
Application Deadline: November 30, 2026
Program Dates: January 14 – June 17, 2027
Schedule: Every other Thursday, 9:30–11:30 a.m. Atlantic Time
Format: Live online via Zoom
Continuing Education: Approved by CCPA for 48 Continuing Education Credits (CECs), inclusive of live clinical consultation hours and associated reading and reflective activities.
Cohort Size: 10–12 participants
Investment: $250 CAD per two-hour clinical consultation meeting, billed at $500 per month for six months. Enrolment involves a commitment to the full six-month program.
A Small Clinical Community
To support trust, continuity, meaningful clinical discussion, and individualized consultation, enrolment is intentionally limited to 10–12 participants. The same participants will meet together throughout the six-month program, creating an opportunity to develop an ongoing community of clinicians thinking together about their work.
Applications
If this way of thinking about psychotherapy/counselling resonates with you, we would be delighted to learn more about you through your application. If you have any questions, please reach out to us at info@atlanticrelationalpractice.ca.
Applications for the January 2027 cohort close November 30, 2026.
Limited spaces available.