ADMINISTRATIVE POLICIES AND PROCEDURES
Length of Training:
You can complete Certification Training in 9 to 16 months
in most cases. You must complete the training in 24 months
unless you obtain a written extension from the Academy. If
you do not complete the training in 24 months, you will
forfeit your tuition. You may apply for an extension due to
extenuating circumstances, but the decision to grant a six
month extension will be made by the Academy on an
individual basis.
Study
Groups:
We highly recommend you form or join a study group of
participating professionals. Practicing with a group of
like-minded colleagues is the surest way of developing your
skills and fine tuning your mastery of the material. Your
group or organization may want to consider having the
Academy provide local on-site Preceptorships, which would
save your group significantly on hotel and travel costs.
Call for details.
Cancellations
and Refunds:
Your enrollment in Professional Certification Training
represents a serious commitment for both you and the
Academy for Guided Imagery. In order to provide the
personalized, high quality education we have designed, we
must contract with conference sites and busy faculty
members, produce educational materials, and support
administrative staff based on enrollments. Therefore, as in
the case with almost every educational organization, we are
not able to refund tuition if you withdraw or fail to
satisfactorily complete your Professional Certification
Training within two years from the date of your enrollment.
AGI's Preceptorships are the heart of the Certification
Training Program. The number of participants is limited
because of the number of available faculty required to keep
the student/faculty ratio low. Thus, Preceptorships are
very costly to produce and require a great deal of planning
and coordination on the part of AGI staff and faculty.
Due to the value of these limited spaces available, you
must give one month's prior notice if you cancel attendance
at a Preceptorship in which you have enrolled. There will
be no charge if AGI is notified more than 30 days in
advance. With less than 30 day's notice, AGI will charge
you a $100 processing fee and attempt to fill your spot
with another student. If AGI cannot fill your spot (which
is quite possible due to the longer planning needs of most
professionals), you will be charged $750 (one-half regular)
additional tuition to re-register for a future
Preceptorship.
AGI recognizes that "things happen" and when they do, AGI
will do its best to reschedule you and help you meet your
course requirements for Certification. However, AGI cannot
be responsible for providing training programs or
opportunities beyond those already scheduled and for which
you have already registered.
Service
Charges, Fees, and Late Payment Policies
There is an 18% Annual Percentage Rate (APR) service charge
for extended payments plans, and a 10% late charge on any
payments not received at the Academy office within 10
calendar days of the due date.
Payments must be current to be granted admission to Academy
programs. Should any default be made in payment when due,
the whole sum owed shall become immediately due at the
option of the Academy or the holder of your Promissory
Note. If any action is required to collect funds on this
note, you must agree to pay all expenses incurred including
reasonable attorney's fees and costs.
Scope
of Practice
Certification by the Academy is not a license and does not
entitle you to practice as a health professional unless you
are already licensed as such. If you are a licensed health
professional, you are expected to apply what you learn
within the legal and ethical parameters of your licensure.
If you are not licensed as a health professional, please
understand that Certification in Interactive Guided
ImagerySM
attests only to
your competency in using these skills. The applications in
which you apply them need to be within the legal and
ethical limits of your training, experience and profession.
Informed
Consent, Waivers, Releases, and Safety
Considerations
AGI was created to provide training to health professionals
in the clinical and educational uses of guided imagery.
These trainings include not only didactic information, but
large and small group experiential exercises, as well as
the opportunity for participants to focus on their own
personal issues, if they so choose, during the practice.
Many participants find these opportunities extremely
valuable in their own personal growth, development, and
therapeutic work.
When working with guided imagery, either on your own
issues, in "role plays," or as a guide facilitating the
process of another participant, this experience may access,
elicit, or evoke powerful emotional responses or memories
in you. While this is often therapeutic and useful, it is
possible to uncover issues and emotions which have been
repressed, forgotten, or dissociated.
For this reason, AGI offers the following information,
makes the following disclaimers, and advises the following
safeguards:
(A)
AGI is a California corporation created to train health
professionals and educators to utilize a variety of guided
imagery methods with their clients and/or patients. AGI and
its staff does not offer psychotherapy or related therapy
as part of its workshops or training.
AGI recognizes that the possibility exists during its
trainings for exposure to powerful psychological contents
including memories, fantasies, emotions, and physical
reactions to all the above. AGI provides designated,
skilled facilitators at each training that are available in
case of psychological emergency during the training period.
At the same time, AGI strongly encourages all participants
going through Certification training to have an established
relationship with a competent therapist, preferably one
with knowledge of imagery and symbolic process, who can be
called on in case there is any overwhelming, threatening,
or difficult emergence of material and affect.
(B)
In every
experiential session, it is perfectly acceptable when
acting as the "client," to not focus on your own issues. As
an alternative, AGI suggests that you pick a client,
present or past, that you'd like to understand better, and
"role play" that client.
Alternatively, you can just "make up" a client and
role-play that. However, not having a specific person to
base your role play on may allow your own issues to come to
the fore more easily than if you began your role play with
someone else in mind.
Be advised that your own issues may intrude even if you
role play, and, in fact, this may occur even if you choose
to merely observe, rather than serve as a "client."
(C)
While AGI
recommends taking the opportunity to be a "client" in these
settings, since there is much to be learned from this
experience that can improve your ability to guide
effectively, it is also permissible for you to choose not
to be a "client," if you are feeling too vulnerable or do
not feel safe doing so in this setting. AGI respects this,
and any AGI staff member can help arrange an observing
position for you if you prefer.
Please let a staff member know your choice before the
beginning of any exercise so that this can be arranged.
As the "client," it is perfectly acceptable for you to stop
the process at any time if you are feeling uncomfortable,
or for any reason, prefer not to continue with the
exercise. All you need to do is open your eyes and let the
guide know that you prefer to stop the process where it is,
or that you'd like to stop the process and be guided to a
place where you feel safer and more centered, etc.
As the guide, however, it is your professional
responsibility to stay with the "client" in their process
until it reaches an acceptable place or conclusion.
(D)
As a workshop,
seminar, conference, Preceptorship, or Certification
student involved in AGI training, you must understand the
above cautions and precautions, and by signing your Student
Contract, you agree to release and indemnify the Academy
for Guided Imagery, Inc., its shareholders, directors,
officers, employees, consultants, successors and assigns,
for any physical or psychological symptoms, damages or
other manifestations that may arise as a result of your
voluntary participation in these professional training
programs.