Scholarships allow support for a wide range of candidates who otherwise could not afford training.
Jungian training is an extended process. Over an average of six years, individuals from many countries develop their depth of understanding through the study of theory and its application to themselves and their clinical work with patients.
During training, over half of all candidates depend upon some combination of support from their own work, and from family, community, scholarship, or loans. Each year, conditions change drastically for some international candidates. For example, they must now care for an ailing parent, partner/spouse, war erupts, or economic disruptions occur. Over the course of study, often times changes in foreign exchange rates increase expected training costs.
Scholarships have a positive domino effect on the training candidate and his or her home practice area. For example, with numbers of torture victims, refugees, and immigrants are increasing. Jungian therapists can help these individuals process their difficult trauma and try to find meaning and trust in life again.
With a lower burden of debt, new analysts can serve people in varied economic settings in their home countries—often with previously underserved or new populations who require lower fees. The model of making analysis affordable for the populations that graduates serve begins with and is inspired by scholarships.
The events of February 2022, namely the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, were extremely difficult and the most traumatic for me over the past ten years. It was hard to believe in everything that was happening. Like any trauma it happened quite unexpectedly and it was therefore extremely painful. During dissociation one can often feel dizzy, puzzled and overwhelmed with affects. It was a state of “air in the whole body”.
Being at the C G Jung Institute in February 2022 for the semester after the covid time seemed to feel the first relief after two years of a pandemic. We discussed with colleagues the impossibility of a military conflict, the threat of which was growing in the news and the world. Unfortunately we would have been naive. After the semester, I was planning to fly to Ukraine, but the news was alarming and I decided to postpone the trip and returned to Moscow, as I live now most of the time in Russia.
Those feelings when I woke up at 5 am in the morning from the words that the war had begun, are forever in my heart and touch me still to tears. This is a point to which I can return many times in my memories and the pain doesn‘t fade.
I remember the confusion in the voice of my loved ones, video calls of clients leaving Ukraine during rocket attacks, who needed advice and at least some support. This experience was new for me as a psychotherapist and a person, and I understood that it was important for me to stay with people – just as a human being.
It really was all dizzying and it seemed there wasn’t enough air to breathe to calm down.
I am grateful to my supervisor from Slovenia, she was on neutral territory and helped me to find a feeling of support and to keep working, volunteering and continuing my practice in Moscow.
Events such as war plunge me into a state of complete helplessness, acute sensitivity and trauma penetrates deep into everything in the body. Every rocket seemed to be flying at me, I could feel with my whole body what was happening in Ukraine. I was mentally as if I were there, the dissociation was strong, I split into a million parts and lost my dreams. I kept coming and coming to my analyst sessions without dreams…
Mother Nature helped me recover. All this time I was in a country where society was split, and it was hard to find understanding in general. Every day I saw my loved ones, my clients who wander around the world with small children and a completely carefree life of people. It was the most difficult of contrasts that I saw and observed – horror in some eyes, carelessness and denial in others.
I was between Ukraine and Russia and needed a third. Most of all I wanted to go to Zurich for the summer semester 2022 at the C.G.Jung Institute, to a neutral territory where I could feel like myself, without fear of being misunderstood.
Considering the speed at which my life was getting more complicated, I was worried it would affect my further studies. I wrote to the Institute for guidance and was redirected to the C G Jung Foundation.
The phone call I got from David, of the C G Jung Foundation, was completely unexpected. He was so warm and gentle and for me the 40-minute conversation turned out to be extremely therapeutic. I also remember how I caught this feeling that I wasn’t globally alone. The situation in which you are being helped was absolutely amazing for me, because I was supported by the C G Jung Foundation, the C.G.Jung Institute, the teachers, and it was the first time in my life that I felt so much kindness, responsiveness and support. And I feel great gratitude, cordiality and compassion.
The flight which increased in duration 6 times and the sleepless night meant nothing when I came to the Institute and didn’t remember at all which seminar I had registered for and by chance (certainly not by chance) I went into the classroom and talked to the teacher who after learning that I was Ukrainian asked me to stay and share with the group my experience of the last 6 months, saying that part of the seminar concerns Ukraine. It was probably the first time I spoke about what I was experiencing openly and calmly, a sense of relief and calmness filled me in the same proportion as I spoke about my own pain and the pain of others. I found myself in a circle of colleagues, in a magical container in a different energy that healed me with my attention and empathy.
The seminar ended with an active imagination exercise, where I felt something powerful and big inside me. It was the image of a large silver-white cobra with bright shining eyes in the center of the square, rising in the air and looking at me and the world – an unforgettable experience and image.
The Institute itself, the group dynamics, and the connection with the Jungian community were healing. Returning after the first day, I felt strength, centrality, my integrity and a great feeling of love inside me. That same night my dreams came back to me. I felt as if I had recovered from some serious illness and began to return to “normal life”…
AK
There are times when energy expands and times when it constricts. Constriction can stop movement when it is severe, this can happen with financial irregularities, changes in relationship to others or self, career and life path enigmas, traumas (new or reignited), anxieties…even the complete freeze of an archaic style world plague. Jungian training is a heavy draw on psychic processing and energy, and that heavy introspective lifting can dwindle to a muddled strain -or stop entirely- when too many limiting factors compound. The scholarship from the CG Jung Foundation Zurich was a tremendous help to me personally in 2022, when I found myself in a maelstrom of challenges.
The aid from the foundation is manifold, going beyond just assistance to an individual. Helping trainees to avoid a quagmire of debt or pauses in their training allows them to begin practicing more quickly and can support their seeing clients on a sliding scale. The support from the foundation moves out into the greater community in this way. Skilled analysts are very much in demand, perhaps now more than ever before.
Training is not easy, and in isolation a tiny book encircled urban apartment can quickly lose any sort of gnostic allure and begin to feel more like a tomb. Especially during the pandemic when much training was remote, and many students had expressed a sense of disconnection and absence of community feeling. This is another way that support helps a trainee, not just in the form of finances, but in reaffirming connection to a broader global Jungian community and in knowing that a group of folks further along their analytical path ‘have one’s back’.
The foundation is an extremely important entity in helping trainees in flux resecure their footing. It can help one palpably to feel again the connection to the larger community of Jungian practitioners. The directed growth energy and supportive nature of the CG Jung Foundation Zurich are invaluable, hopefully it will continue to expand and thrive in companionship to need.
JH
My encounter with the Jung Foundation, represented by Mr. David Genty, was truly meaningful, heartwarming, and unforgettable. I reached out to the foundation during the final stage of my studies at the CG Jung Institute, seeking financial support for what is, as we know, a significant investment in one’s personal and professional growth. To my surprise, I heard back from the foundation very quickly and soon had my first meeting with David. From the start, he struck me as empathetic, supportive, and genuinely understanding. Our conversation was not only practical but also deeply meaningful, leaving me with a sense of being truly seen and heard. Shortly after our meeting, once the rest of the foundation members had been consulted, I received the financial aid I needed to support the process of writing my thesis. It wasn’t just about the funds—it was about feeling supported on my path, as if the universe itself was affirming, “You’re on the right track.” Even after my graduation, I’ve remained in touch with David, who continues to be generous with his guidance and kindness. This has shown me that the Jung Foundation is more than just a place for financial assistance—it’s a space where lasting relationships are nurtured, and ongoing career support is offered with warmth and sincerity.
AG