Since 1980, the Cape Cod Training Program has provided a distinctive learning opportunity for therapists, coaches, consultants, executives and leaders from around the world. In structured, intense, and highly interactive sessions, participants learn how to become effective agents for change using the Cape Cod Model. 

The Program is structured so that didactic presentations are followed by intensive small group practice sessions in which the concepts are applied.  The faculty rotates through the small groups, so that participants are exposed to their different styles and receive individual feedback from all of them.

The first week focuses on working with dyads and includes: perceiving a system instead of separate individuals; the role of the intervenor; countertransference and boundaries; connecting intimate and strategic ways of relating.  The second week is focused on working with small groups and covers: working within hierarchical systems; the difference between working with families and organizations; use of experiments.

Participants will:

• Learn a powerful new perspective that sees behavior and interactions as systems, creating new and dynamic possibilities for intervention

• Use this systems perspective in working with dyads and small groups, including a technique for giving compelling positive feedback that strengthens the system and builds its ability to move toward change

• Practice specific skills that constitute the components of an effective intervention.

• Increase their awareness and appreciation of the subjective personal lens that we all bring to what we see.

• Understand strategic and connecting ways of interacting.  

The Cape Cod Training Program is designed to benefit coaches, organizational consultants, psychotherapists and other mental health and social service professionals, executives, educators, and other professionals who are concerned with small systems. The Program has been found effective for leaders of and consultants to family businesses. Previous participants have come from Europe, Australia, Africa, and South America, as well as North America.

“The time I spent in the Cape Cod Training Program at GISC has made a profound change in the way I see the world around me. It has helped me personally, professionally and in all my interactions with others. The concept of truly studying the well-developed areas of a person, couple or system now resonates with me as a basic building block for meaningful communication.  I use the skills I learned and the awareness I developed on a daily basis.”   -Vice President, Financial Services Firm

“I am a social worker working in community-based preventive and foster care services. The Cape Cod Model has helped me to serve my client families and the community better. I have benefited in learning how to balance intimacy and strategy in working with children, youth, and adults in their environments. My clients have expressed how much they appreciate the optimistic approach that I use in my work. Many of the parents I work with are used to hearing about what they are doing wrong. The Cape Cod Model assists me in pointing out the strength in my client family systems and, in doing so, I have seen parents move away from a place of shame to one of hopefulness and achievement.”    -Social Worker