Website Changes (RSS)Hosting an ISPS Training or Workshop
Questions and Answers
Revision 1.0, October 2005
To: Training Hosts
From: Support at ISPS
If you have any further questions or problems please email us at 
, or Grant McFetridge at 250-413-3211 in Canada. (This later phone number is the Institute’s voice mail—if we're traveling, it might take up to 5 days for us to reply.)
Which type of workshop do you want to host?
Currently we can divide ISPS workshops and seminars into 4 main categories. The different types have different minimum and maximum group sizes (and hence room size requirements), as well as different restrictions on who can attend (set by the nature of the material being taught).
A - General information seminars, open to all. The group size can be large.
B - Specific healing technique workshops, open to all. Size is between 8 and 15 people.
C - Targeted peak state workshops, open to all. Size is between 8 and 15 people.
D - Professional workshops, restricted to qualified individuals. Size is between 8 and 15 people.
Financial Arrangements
Does this save me (the host or hostess) money?
Yes. We reduce your cost by half or more, depending on which workshop it is. Essentially, you're trading your time for a reduced cost. Hosting can be a lot of fun if you like people, are willing to send out information on how to get to the class location and other details, and enjoy building community by speaking to people on the phone.
What are the financial arrangements?
The most common financial arrangement is to let us take the risks. You charge the fees that we set, collect deposits, and if there is insufficient attendance, we cancel the workshop and you return the deposits.
Some people contact us to put on a workshop because they are already running a retreat, seminar, or clinical specialty business. These people pay a negotiated and guaranteed flat fee and cover all advertising, food, lodging, and transportation costs. The risks of insufficient attendance are part of their business.
Contact us at 
for the financial particulars of your workshop.
Who do participants pay?
The organizer (you) needs to handle the student's money and deposits. We don’t take credit cards at this time.
Do I need to get a deposit from each participant?
Definitely. You collect a deposit of half the course fee at the time of their registration, to confirm their attendance. We typically offer a discount for early registration, that cuts off at 4 weeks before the class. The checks should be made out to you. Participants should receive a receipt for their deposit and the final payments. The ISPS instructor will issue the organizer a receipt upon payment of the final fee.
What do I charge for returnees who have already taken the workshop?
The typical discount is 35% for people who have already taken the class. People who haven't taken the class get priority up to 4 weeks before the workshop. However, if the workshop is being run by a retreat company, any discounts would have to be set by them, not us.
Before the Workshop
Is there a brochure I can hand out or mail to interested people?
We refer most people to the website (www.PeakStates.com), for more information than they can get from speaking with you.
In addition we do have brochures that can be sent to people. Some people may need this to get reimbursement from their work. The brochure is available in printed form.
For a single page two sided brochure primarily about the Institute, click here for the PDF file (270k). For a single page two sided brochure primarily about the 4 day WHH training program, click here for the PDF file (900k). The files are relatively large, so they may take a few minutes to download.
Scroll down to the bottom of this page for a sample announcement letter.
What is the minimum and maximum number of participants?
For our typical professional training, the class size is a minimum of 8 and a maximum of 12 students. If we have an assistant or another teacher, we can raise the maximum to 15 students.
For seminars, the minimum number is 15 and there is no maximum.
Do I have to arrange for location and facilities?
Yes. However, the size of the facility depends on which class is being taught.
Our introductory lectures can have a large number of people, and so the space has to be suited to the audience size that you expect to attract.
The professional training typically involve only a small group. ISPS instructors are generally very informal, and a room large enough for 8 to 15 participants to sit around comfortably in someone's house is fine. If it is necessary to rent space, the cost for this will come out of the fee paid by participants, but you need to handle all the details of arranging it. (Given the intense nature of the work and the occasional catharsis in students, if a hotel conference room is chosen, it is best to discuss this issue with the hotel management ahead of time so they can locate a room in the building that would provide the least interaction with other guests and other events.)
What about sleeping arrangements?
You need to find a place for the instructor(s) to sleep (at your house is fine).
You need to find an inexpensive hotel for out of town participants with a phone number so they can make reservations (make sure they know THEY need to make them). Many hotels or motels will provide a discounted rate for groups - if this is negotiated, be certain to let participants know how much the rooms cost. If sleeping arrangements in private homes can be arranged, this is also a good option to offer.
Do students need to purchase textbooks ahead of time? What would cost be?
Our different classes use our published books and handouts. If at all possible, we recommend purchasing the textbooks ahead of time and reading them before class. This gives students the best learning experience. Click here to go to Amazon's or other stores order page.
The handouts are given in class. The cost of the textbooks are not covered in the training fee. We bring textbooks to the class for purchase there, if the student wants to.
Who would you recommend take the class?
Different workshops appeal to different kinds of people. They're for practicing professional therapists as well as interested lay people. It's particularly useful for people who know and use energy therapies, as their beliefs about healing have already shifted and have realized the limitations with existing techniques from having clients they couldn't help that way.
What about CEU's?
We can get psychology CEU's through the Association for Humanistic Psychology for each training, but that is expensive and takes some effort. If a number of participants need it, we can arrange this with enough advance notice, but we discourage it just because of the cost and effort involved.
A certificate of completion will be handed out on the last day of the workshop.
What if the people who call have questions I can't answer?
If you have any further questions or problems please contact us at 
, or Grant McFetridge at 250-413-3211 in Canada. (This is the Institute’s voice mail—if we're traveling, it might take up to 5 days for us to reply.)
During the Workshop
What do the participants need to bring?
What equipment do you need to do the training? Will I need an overhead projector, whiteboard or computer projector?
How long is each class?
Will there be a certificate of completion?
Yes, these will be handed out on the last day of the training. We encourage qualified participants to put their names on the free referrer/provider page of the website.
About the Workshops
What makes ISPS workshops special?
In many workshops, the students receive only minimal direct assistance from the instructor - they get directions, go off and work on their own and return when done. Peak States work cannot work this way, as traumas often get triggered and people can require very intense and specialized assistance.
The ISPS workshops have been designed to transmit some pretty paradigm-breaking concepts and, more importantly, to heal key traumas that block people from certain peak states. This healing process is quite dramatic for some attendees and they need special attention as this happens.
Until one has experienced the depth of this, it is normal to contemplate the ISPS workshops in much the same light as other workshops. However, given that deep exposure to core trauma is something very foreign to most healing workshops, modalities and therapies (despite the advertising and the catharsis that might occur), we at the ISPS take the safety of our students very, very seriously. The triggering of suicidal thoughts and other dangerous outcomes are possible unless the situation is properly managed.
What does the class offer that isn't on the website or in our textbooks?
First, personal instruction makes learning this material a LOT easier. People receive individual attention, a lot of reinforcement, answers to their questions, and quizzes to reinforce the basic material.
Students get to practice with professional feedback, and get personal experience healing at least 3 and usually around 10 personal issues (for our trainings, not introductory day workshops).
All our classes cover a tremendous amount of support techniques. Some are our own, others are what we consider the best available. For example, we teach a technique not available on the website called Distant Personality Release, which is a simple and fast method to eliminate a client’s blocks to working with the therapist and heal more easily.
I want to announce it to my friends through email. Do you have a short announcement?
Sample announcement email:
Hello Everyone!
This is the official synopsis for the Peak States course that we are all looking forward to in *month*.
I am delighted to tell you that Grant McFetridge of The Institute for the Study of Peak States has agreed to present a four-day workshop here in *City xxxx* - in fact the workshop will be held in my *City xxx* home! The ISPS's pioneering research on healing and states of consciousness is very exciting and will take us into territory very few individuals have experienced.
The goals of the Institute are to develop and spread methods to bring anyone into peak states of consciousness, and to develop methods and train healers to cure a variety of physical and emotional conditions that conventional processes cannot help. The Institute website is: http://www.peakstates.com/
This workshop will cover healing techniques that are the groundwork for Peak States, including:
Whole-Hearted Healing - a process in which negative emotions and many body sensations evaporate rather quickly. Traumas and their effects disappear. Even if an individual believes they have healed the repercussions of a trauma, the related "strings" tend to resurface after time. This process identifies the magnitude of the problem and heals the "strings". The process is simple and effective and can be used to permanently eliminate emotional triggers which create stress, depression, anxiety and highly unresourceful states. Whole Hearted Healing is a regression technique that heals trauma quickly and fairly easily. The therapy does not use hypnosis, touch or muscle testing, and a typical issue is finished when the client experiences only a sense of peace, calm, and lightness around the issue that they came in with, typically in under an hour. This is not a 'meridian' therapy, so psychological reversal or energy toxins are not a problem. It is often used for clients that energy therapies are not effective with, although it can be used simultaneously with energy therapies to make them faster and more effective.
The training is for professional therapists as well as interested lay people. It is experiential, and you will be healing several of your own issues in the training. The four day training is all that is necessary to master the basic Whole Hearted Healing therapy. CEU's available.
Distant Personality Release - learn how to clear the issues of another regardless of their mental state.
Per the Peak States website "A variety of changes can be experienced from our work - either by healing the traumas that block intrinsic abilities, or as a consequence to changes in states of consciousness. They include: needing little sleep, seeing surroundings in vivid three dimensions, each moment of time feels infinitely long, the body feels like it's floating, everything is effortless, music sounds rapturous, merging with all past lives simultaneously, and a host of other changes."
Course Title: *xxxx*
Dates: *month, xx, 200x*
Time: 9 am until 5pm with food breaks and then continue in the evening if needed
Location: the home of *Mxxxx Dxxx* at *XXX street, city, country* (map will be provided)
Contact:
*Contact person*
*name@emailaddress.com*
*phone number*
Cheque mailing address:
*Street address*
*City, state/province*
*Zip/postal code
Payable to: *contact person*
Cost: US$750 for the 5-day course and a $375 deposit is required upon registration. In order to give the teachers enough time to make travel reservations, the registration deadline is *month, day, year* - attendance is limited, so please don't wait to register.
Deposit: Please have your deposit of US$375 paid by *date*, with the rest payable by *date*. Please send a post-dated cheque for the reminder with the initial payment.
Lodging:
Nearby motel facilities available approx. *$xx.xx* per night or bed & breakfast next door at *$xx.xx* per night or sleeping bag on floor/outside at *name*.
Bring with you a list of issues (3-10)--anything about which you do not feel calm, peace and lightness.