Evelyn Challis
Surviving a Michigan childhood (B.A. in Elementary Education, University of Michigan) I sashayed to New York City and taught the 6th grade (plus music and physical education) for 6 years. I celebrated those years by publishing a set of songbooks (Songs for a New Generation, Oak Publishers, NYC). Next, I evolved into Coordinator of Teacher Training of the Human Relations Unit of the NYC Board of Education. I led workshops in human relations for students, teachers, principals and administrators while earning my M.A. in Human Relations (Psychology and Sociology minors) at New York University. My next evolution was to Group Dynamics and Counselor Training at Bank Street College and City University in Manhattan, and Lehman College in the Bronx. I commenced work on my Ph.D. in clinical psychology with Union Graduate School in l970 and had the privilege over the next four years of working and training in the following areas: Psychoanalytic, Gestalt, Rogerian, Adlerian, Rational-Emotive, Bioenergetics, Family Therapies (Bowen, Atkinson, Satir) Psychodrama and Group Therapies (Bion: Tavistock; Cohn: Theme-Centered Interaction and Yalom: Psychodynamically-oriented Group Psychotherapy). Tossed in for good measure are three full summers of training with National Training Laboratories in the areas of laboratory education a la Rogers and organization development a la Benne, Bradford and Gibb.
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I completed my doctorate and arrived on Toronto's doorstep in l974. Besides my work at York University (Coordinator of the Interne Training Programme, the Counselling and Development Centre) I founded and was the first Director of the Toronto Workshop Institute for Living-Learning which trains professionals in the Theme-Centered Interactional approach to leading groups, I became the Coordinator of Training for W.I.L.L. America, and I did organization development and educational consulting in the U.S., Canada and Europe. I also added Transactional Analysis and Addiction / Substance - Abuse Prevention to my list of trainings and orientations in which I work. In l989, I migrated to Santa Monica, California where I became Coordinator of Peer Counseling and Intake at the Senior Health Peer Counseling Center. Additionally I taught at Pepperdine, Chapman and Antioch Universities and Santa Monica College. I have also, since leaving S.H.P.C.C. in 1990, become an ordained minister with the Association for the Integration of the Whole Person, and am a pastoral counselor, where I see individuals, couples and groups. Lastly, I added two more areas of training and certification to my list: Imago Relationship Therapy, based upon the work of Harville Hendrix; and Enneagram Certification. In Imago I've earned the rank of Advanced Clinician, and in the Enneagram, my title is Certified Enneagram Teacher. All of this is to say that I am NOT licensed to practice Psychology in the State of California. I am an ordained minister and my Church, AWIP, is chartered by the State of California. My Charter number is #0848717 and my official title is Counselor.
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I go to such autobiographical lengths in order to 1) elucidate the background from which my educational "growth" model and approach to therapy was derived (as opposed to the medical "cure" model: aside from my two internships in New York at Goldwater Hospital and New York University Medical Center, all of my training in counseling and psychotherapy was acquired in educational settings), 2) indicate that I bring to my here and now practice of teaching, therapy and supervision the sum of my past experiences, and 3) obviate my difficulty with describing my therapy orientation. Most of my post-doctoral training has been in Transactional Analysis (primal, regressive, inner-child work and re-parenting), Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Psychosynthesis, Hakomi and Imago Relationship Therapy. What I can say right now is: I am a psychoanalytically-oriented, experiential, existential, developmentally and psychodynamically-focused eclectic!

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I still tend to use a countertransference approach to supervision, probably because of all the supervision I received in my training, the most personally and professionally growth-inducing was the supervision I received from the psychoanalytically oriented supervisors who used the countertransference model. Simply stated this means that the supervisee deals with those of her/his own life issues which are blocking her/him from working well (i.e., empathically, creatively, caringly, energetically and confrontively) with the client. Consequently, many of your supervisory sessions with me may begin to feel as though you are in therapy. In case this sounds intimidating I can offer two balancing remarks: 1) I am usually sensitive to the supervisee's sense of what and how much to explore and if ever I'm not, I'm open to being given that feedback, and 2) since the countertransference approach includes the supervisor, I am also most willing to examine my issues on an on-going basis to facilitate my working with you well.

My expectations of you as a supervisee, aside from the usual progress notes, taped excerpts and case presentations, are that you will bring to our sessions, some need (or even thirst!) for self-awareness and as courageous a desire to disclose and explore your (and your clients') issues as working effectively makes necessary. In short, supervision with me is a two-way street, in which on-going evaluation is included.
EVELYN I. CHALLIS, Ph.D.© 2020