self help founded 1973 founder thomas willhite jane willhite headquarters lake county california united states key people jane willhite president and chairman services personal development coursework subsidiaries psi world website company web site psi seminars is a for profit private company that offers large group awareness training seminars for personal development . programs are held in many locations in the u.s. canada japan and worldwide . there are psi seminars offices in major cities throughout north america . contents 1 history and background 2 evaluations and reviews 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history and background edit psi seminars claims to be the oldest continuously operating personal and professional training company in the u.s. 1 with over 500 000 graduates of the basic seminar . based in clearlake oaks california it was founded in 1973 by thomas and jane willhite . they also founded the non profit psi world based in clearlake oaks which provides free training seminars and organizes volunteer service projects such as building a new soccer field for an elementary school . 1 2 3 in 1983 thomas willhite died when his private plane crashed in a field at the company headquarters . since that time his widow jane c. willhite has run the company as ceo . 1 the unity movement 4 cited psi seminars as one of nine growth organizations that grew out of mind dynamics . other groups also cited by vahle as having been influenced by mind dynamics include the forum and lifespring . 4 as such psi seminars was an early example of the companies providing large group awareness training lgats associated with humanistic psychology . 5 humanistic psychology is one of the major roots of positive psychology the field that was initiated by dr. martin seligman when he was president of the american psychological association in 1998 . psi seminars offers a sequence of three self discovery and awareness seminars psi basic 6 a weekend seminar that students attend in a city close to their home ; psi 7 life success course 7 a seven day seminar held at the psi headquarters ; and a men s leadership seminar 8 and women s leadership seminar 9 which are nine day seminars held at the psi headquarters . they also offer a 90 day goal setting and coaching program pld . 10 evaluations and reviews edit dr. debra holland phd studied participants in the psi basic seminar to determine the effects a year after taking the class . of 268 people who took the seminar 202 people completed questionnaires before the seminar and 89 completed follow up questionnaires or telephone interviews a year later . she found that psi basic graduates regardless of prior expectations described mostly positive experiences at the seminar . even those responses which were subcategorized as neutral described positive experiences although a negative comment was included . the majority of negative comments had to do with the pressure to attend advanced seminars or to enroll others into the basic . many graduates of the seminar made changes in their lives from attending the seminar changes which continued throughout the following year . this finding may indicate that although as some critics have expressed there was an initial high from the seminar some permanent change was found for certain individuals . ... individuals who are not dysfunctional who are seeking enhanced relationships better communications skills and desiring to increase self awareness could best benefit from attending psi . ... it is important for the therapist to discourage those clients who have psychiatric disorders from attending any lgat . ... a mostly positive experience resulting from the psi basic was found with some types of changes occurring mostly in the area of relationships . 11 psi seminars has been favorably cited by authors of books on self improvement . examples include jack canfield s the success principles 12 ch rie carter scott s if life is a game ... these are the stories 13 mark chussil s nice start 14 and rich fettke s extreme success . 15 in an episode of larry king live guests michael beckwith author bob proctor and john demartini announced that they would be working together for two weeks at psi seminars . bob proctor stated dr. martini michael beckwith and myself are going to be working together next week is it two weeks at psi seminars . i don t own the company but it is the best course i ve ever seen . 16 see also edit large group awareness training list of large group awareness training organizations references edit a b c about psi seminars . psiseminars.com . 2013 01 30 . retrieved 2013 08 10 . vancil tiffany 2008 04 25 . psi seminars blog history of psi seminars . psi seminars.blogspot.com . retrieved 2013 08 10 . rockenstein denise 7 october 2009 . just for kicks the grass is greener at burns valley elementary . lake county record bee . retrieved 9 august 2013 . a b vahle neal ; connie fillmore bazzy 2002 . the unity movement its evolution and spiritual teachings . templeton foundation press . pp. 399 403 . isbn 1 890151 96 3 . finkelstein peter ; wenegrat brant ; yalom irvin january 1982 . large group awareness training . annual review of psychology . 33 1 515 539 . doi 10.1146 annurev.ps .33.020182.002503 . issn 0066 4308 . 1 2 3 4 5 holland debra l. 1993 10 29 a one year follow up of the experience and impact of the psi basic seminar pp. 103 106 108 thesis phd university of southern california 1993 . educ . phd 93 h734 canfield jack l. ; janet switzer 2005 . the success principles tm . harpercollins . p. 447 . isbn 0 06 059488 8 . carter scott cherie 2004 . if life is a game ... these are the stories . andrews mcmeel publishing . p. 252 . isbn 0 7407 4684 7 . chussil mark 2010 . nice start . inkwater press . pp . ix . isbn 978 1 59299 474 8 . fettke rich 2002 . extreme success . simon and schuster . p. 7 . isbn 0 7432 3386 7 . staff november 2 2006 . the power of positive thoughts . larry king live . cnn . external links edit company website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title psi seminars & oldid 729814571 categories companies based in lake county californiacompanies established in 1973large group awareness training navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 14 july 2016 at 18 53 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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