Mission

Our Vision

Our vision is of a sustainable, flourishing, deeply democratic world that values all viewpoints and all levels of experience, and facilitates their interaction in order to reveal the potential meaning and growth that lies at the heart of even the most disturbing human experiences.

We dream of a world where everyone has the skills, understanding and ability to facilitate the process of relating (to oneself, to others, to the world) because we have seen how this can bring unexpected solutions and relief to many areas of human striving, including personal and social development; post-war recovery; conflicts in organizational, social and domestic settings; interpersonal issues; and individual distress and life challenges.

About Us

The Process Work Institute is a non-profit educational institute devoted to vocational education, research and training in Process-oriented Psychology, also known as Processwork. The Institute is a non-profit corporation, 501 (C) (3), incorporated under Oregon law in 1989.

As a modality that draws on indigenous knowledge, we offer our respect to the elders, past and present, who have stewarded the land and indigenous knowledge and practices for generations.  We acknowledge the land where we are privileged to be based, now called Portland, Oregon in Multnomah County, as the traditional lands of the Multnomah, Kathlamet, Clackamas, bands of Chinook, and other tribes who made their homes along the Columbia River.

The Process Work Institute welcomes all students. It does not discriminate based on age, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, disability, marital status, national origin, race, religion, or sexual orientation. This policy of non-discrimination applies to all aspects of admission, education, employment, student activities, and other school-administered programs.

Processwork was originally developed by Jungian author and analyst Arnold Mindell as a therapeutic modality. Over the last thirty years of application and research, Processwork is now more commonly described as an “awareness practice,” as its methods are applied in a wide range of situations, as a form of inner work and leadership development, as a facilitation method for organizational and group work, conflict situations, and large public forums, as a therapy method for individuals, couples, and families, and as a method for working with comatose and remote states of consciousness.

The Process Work Institute continues the tradition of Processwork training and research begun in 1982 with the founding of the Research Society for Process-oriented Psychology in Zurich, Switzerland by Arnold Mindell and his associates. In 1989, the Process Work Center of Portland, later renamed the Process Work Institute, was incorporated in Oregon as a center for training and research in Process Work. It received authorization from the State of Oregon to offer a Master of Arts degree in Process Work, in January, 1992. A second Master of Arts degree program in Conflict Facilitation and Organizational Change began in 2004.

This school is a non-profit corporation and is authorized by the State of Oregon to offer and confer the academic degrees described herein, following a determination that state academic standards will be satisfied under OAR 583-030. Inquiries concerning the standards or school compliance may be directed to the Office of Degree Authorization, 775 Court St NE, Salem, Oregon 97301.

The Institute serves as a center for personal and professional growth, offering several degree and non-degree programs and courses in a wide variety of Processwork applications.

It is one of many centers worldwide, linked by the International Association of Process Oriented Psychology, dedicated to furthering our understanding of the fundamental problems facing individuals and groups today, using the methods and spirit of inquiry found in Processwork.

See Also: IAPOP


Our Mission

Our mission is to provide vocational, high quality training in Processwork facilitation methods and applications across individual, relationship, group and organizational contexts and to serve as a center for the teaching, research and development of techniques for working with process.

We prepare graduates with the skills needed for employment in roles such as management, mediation, facilitation, individual coaching, leadership, human resource and community services management, international development, organizational consultancy and training.

Process is the potentially meaningful flow of inner and outer signals that can be observed in individuals and groups.  Processwork facilitation techniques work with behaviors, feelings, interactions, expression and inner experiences to elicit unexpected solutions and meaning from the most difficult problems.

Our mission serves a diverse local and international community of learners seeking quality education and training delivered through a rigorous combination of academic and vocational study; practical and experiential learning; personal development and social awareness.


Our Values

Our values include awareness, diversity, learning, relationship, collaboration and a continued commitment to personal growth.

We are committed to a learning environment that:

  1. Views the individual and his or her unique personal style as an integral part of the learning process
  2. Fosters an atmosphere of collaboration, experimentation, and mutual discovery in learner-teacher interaction
  3. Provides intensive and experiential instruction using onsite, distance and online learning modes of delivery that strengthens student learning
  4. Connects the student’s skill development to his or her own personal process and unique style
  5. Emphasizes the role of community and relationship in the learning process
  6. Promotes dialogue, inclusion, and intercultural competence.

We value being locally connected and internationally collaborative.