About Us

The Institute of Positive Phenomenology™ (IPP) was founded by Joseph S. Plowman, B.Sc. (Hons), M.Sc. (Applied Psy), a positive psychology practitioner. Positive Phenomenology™ utilises detailed methods of subjective inquiry combined with the philosophy of phenomenology. It also draws on the phenomenology of Ericksonian hypnosis and solution-oriented approaches. The result is both phenomenal and powerful.

Joseph is a Founding Member of the Centre of Applied Positive Psychology (CAPP) in the UK, a GHR registered cognitive-behavioural hypnotherapist and life coach, and a psychological coach with the International Society for Coaching Psychology. (For indicative professional organizations, see the logos on the right).

For a number of years Joseph was engaged in positive psychology research at Trinity College, Dublin, exploring topics such as happiness and hope. He has also been awarded certificates in CBT/REBT; positive psychology practice (e.g., teaching hope and happiness); a diploma in cognitive-behavioural therapy; and completed his M.Sc. in Applied Psychology at Trinity College, Dublin. Joseph is also a certified 'expert' in facial expression recognition, based on the work of emotional expert Paul Ekman. In terms of application, Joseph has worked in the UK with referred patients in both life coaching contexts, depression and anxiety management contexts, as well as with autistic children in Ireland in early intervention via applied behavioural analysis. Joseph is also a co-organiser of Dublin Stoicism which introduces attendees to Stoic philosophy.

Currently, Joseph writes and tutors on a number of academic psychology courses in Ireland for The Open College, the largest private provider of nationally validated qualifications in Ireland, including nationally validated distance learning in applied psychology, child psychology, and mental health awareness, so our training contains academic content with the same highstandards. In relation to training standards, Joseph holds a Train the Trainer (distinction grade) from the national training authority in Ireland (FETAC).

In the Institute's view, popular personal growth methods, such as traditional neuro-linguistic concepts, are best understood as tools for phenomenology and therefore considered as qualitative tools for subjective inquiry. This approach mirrors the growing interest in psychology methodology for qualitative approaches. Traditional neuro-linguistics and personal change methods sometimes implied this, but muddied the discourse by reference to unsubstantiated quantitative statements regarding neurological organization and other matters.


Positive Phenomenology sets out to shift the perspective and to give students of our CPD practitioner certificate a firm grounding in the basics of psychological science, prior to also discussing qualitative methods, both in academic psychology and through the lens of traditional neuro-linguistics.


Our Practitioner in Positive Phenomenology™ training is therefore based on this extremely broad and detailed positive psychological and empirical base, as well as respect for the philosophical tradition via our development of positive phenomenology. Positive psychology is the science of optimal human experience, so positive phenomenology is a way to explore the structure of experience for positive ends (e.g., greater happiness).


As a curious aside, having performed magic in the past, and mind-reading effects (see one slightly scary poster on the right!), using some of the psychological skills you'll learn on this practitioner course, Joseph is also a member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians (IBM). This is the largest organization of magicians in the world, with famous members such as Lance Burton and David Copperfield! Applications of positive phenomenology can cover a wide spectrum, and more and more entertainers are learning how such approaches can enhance their art's impact.


If you email, we'll send you a detailed unit-by-unit account of the course, along with some sample units, so you will know precisely what you're investing in and can feel assured about your purchase.

After purchasing, you'll still have a 30 day guarantee. So why not try it and see?

See below for a "brief" overview of the course, or contact the Institute at: jhypnos@gmail.com

This is Joseph above, courtesy of a friend's sense of humour! As Joseph sometimes says about this image, "Don't judge a book by its cover. Especially when that cover is my face."

A play on James Joyce's character, Stephen Dedalus, in Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.

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Your Clients

• The Practitioner in Positive Phenomenology™
is applicable in a variety of contexts. Business and Influential Communication, Life and Executive Coaching, Holistic and Complementary Practices, and any context where understanding people, and improving their experience, is useful. Even game design and performance art!

• The Practitioner in Positive Phenomenology™ is a method of inquiry applied as an adjunct to complement other skills, such as CBT and hypnotherapy, or even performance magic!

• The Practitioner in Positive Phenomenology™ is respectful of psychological science and yet deeply experiential and subjective as phenomenology.

•Moreover, graduates of our practitioner course will be able to avail of a 10% discount code for the Zur Institute. The Zur Institute provides CPD courses for mental health professionals, written by mental health professionals, and is the "go to" CPD institute for American psychologists and other mental health practitioners. This could be you!

Your Award

• Practitioner in Positive Phenomenology™ to complement your existing qualifications as CPD.

• Register as a Positive Phenomenologist™ with the Institute of Positive Phenomenology (IPP). We will send you our logos to use with your other materials.

• Investment: 299 euro.

• Reduced welcome fee of 199 euro for members of the General Hypnotherapy Register.

• This award assumes another context-based qualification within which you can begin to think and practice more phenomenally (using phenomenological approaches). On its own, it's not an award to practice in a helping capacity or similar, but can greatly complement as CPD for hypnotherapists and other professionals.

Practitioner Overview

• Practitioner in Positive Phenomenology™ I: The Basis of Lived Human Experience. Covers Developmental and Lifespan Psychology in great depth. This includes child psychology theories of cognitive development (e.g., Piaget), social-cognitive theories and observational modelling (Bandura), identity theories (Erik Erikson), attachment theory (Bowlby), ecological systems theory (Bronfenbrenner), and much more.

• Practitioner in Positive Phenomenology™ II: Applied Psychology and Applied Positive Phenomenology. Covers the Branches of Applied Psychology (clinical, health, forensic, etc.), including Positive Psychology, prior to the final unit discussing academic phenomenology in philosophy and Positive Phenomenology as expressed via Neuro-Linguistic Phenomenology. (Includes recommended reading.)

You have 1 year to complete the certificate, though extensions are possible to accommodate a busy schedule. We do not allow completion sooner than 6 months, to insure that trainees have absorbed the material.

Assessment: Assessment for the award will be based on the completion of a detailed case study involving the methods you have learned. (A template will be provided.)

Remember!

• You will still learn traditional neuro-linguistic concepts and methods, but much more!

• You will gain a firm grounding in developmental and applied psychology, which are virtually never discussed in traditional neuro-linguistic or positive psychology courses.

• You will learn many powerful models, including some developed entirely for the Practitioner in Positive Phenomenology™, to bridge academic psychology, therapy, and phenomenology. These include coaching models, such as Eudaimonic Coaching™.

• You will become registered with the Institute of Positive Phenomenology.