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Homer's Odyssey remains one of the great maps of human experience. The 2026 film brings new vitality to the ancient story while preserving its enduring themes of homecoming, identity, temptation, wisdom, loss, perseverance, and transformation.
This course explores The Odyssey as a resource for ethical reflection in psychotherapy. The epic presents a rich series of moral dilemmas. The story invites careful consideration of the ethical complexities that emerge when human beings are confronted by competing values, conflicting duties, and emotionally charged circumstances. Mental health professionals struggle with precisely these kinds of tensions, as do their clients.
Drawing upon Jungian psychology and classical wisdom traditions, this course examines Odysseus's voyage as a journey of individuation. Each island, monster, goddess, and challenge reflects a psychological situation. The quest becomes a passage from inflation toward humility, and from heroic certainty toward complex wisdom.
The course pays particular attention to the ethical significance of storytelling. Odysseus repeatedly creates narratives, reshapes memories, and presents different versions of himself to different audiences. These actions raise ethical concerns in clinical practice regarding self-presentation, professional boundaries, confidentiality, and maintaining the therapeutic relationship.
Special attention is given to the remarkable women of the epic. Recent scholarship has deepened appreciation for the female figures. The course explores Penelope, Athena, Circe, Calypso, and the Sirens as symbolically illuminating neglected dimensions of human experience.
Throughout the course, ethical principles relevant to psychotherapy will be examined through scenes, symbols, and narrative developments from the film. Participants will consider issues of cultural identity, trauma, grief, resilience, compassion, forgiveness, reparation, and the responsible exercise of professional authority.
Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:
Analyze the Odyssey as an initiatory journey that can be used to explain adult developmental stages.
Identify ethical themes in the epic that illuminate issues in psychotherapeutic practice.
Evaluate the psychological significance of major female characters as representing personality qualities.
Recognize how crises of ethical failure, courage, & identity can be calls for renewal.
Establish strategies for introducing story material in psychotherapy.
Explain how narrative identity is shaped through storytelling, memory, adversity, and meaning-making.
Online live webinar with storytelling, analysis of symbolism in scenes and stories, and discussion of clinical applications.
CE Credits: 6 hours (meets law and ethics requirements)
Audience: Psychologists, LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCs, RNs and pre-licensed professionals. Also of interest to others in helping professions like teachers, clergy and human resource managers.
The material is presented at an introductory level for psychologists, requiring no background in mythic studies, narrative theory, or Jungian psychology. No advance preparation is necessary. However, participants are provided with a recommended reading list as part of their class materials.
The following CE credits are available:
Psychology, LMFT, LCSW, LPCC, Ed Psych, NBCC : 6 CE hours
Nursing : 7 hours
Most teachers must get credits approved by their school administration. Center courses meet the requirements in most states. Contact us if you need more information about receiving credit in your state.
Jonathan Young, PhD is a psychologist (PSY10231) and minister of the Live Oak Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Goleta, a suburb of Santa Barbara, California. Dr. Young assisted mythologist Joseph Campbell at seminars and was founding curator of the Joseph Campbell Archives and Library, (now the Opus Archives & Research Center). He also launched the Mythological Studies doctoral program at the Pacifica Graduate Institute. Dr. Young is featured in several documentary series on the History Channel.
Anne Bach, M.S., LMFT 38891 is a specialist in uses of writing in psychotherapy. She gives presentations on creativity as inner work at major conferences, and lectures widely on psychological dimensions of expressive writing. She also appears in memoir drama performances for various theater groups, including the Marsh Stage in Berkeley. Her clinical background includes poetry therapy with seriously mentally ill patients.
Select a seminar from the Current Course Offerings
Register online or call the Center at 805-687-7171
Zoom link goes live at 9:30 a.m., California time - Seminar 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Please return on time
Akbar, S. (2026). The Odyssey Mindset: 7 Timeless Lessons on Strength, Resilience, and the Power of Purpose. London: Pan Macmillan.
Christensen, J. (2020). The Many-Minded Man: The "Odyssey," Psychology, and the Therapy of Epic. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Cousineau, P. (2026). The Wisdom of the Odyssey: Twenty-Four Life Lessons from Homer's Epic. Cardiff, CA: Waterside Productions.
Fagles, R. (Trans.). (1996). The odyssey. New York: Penguin Books.
Houston, J. (2006). The Hero and the Goddess: The Odyssey as Pathway to Personal Transformation. Wheaton, IL: Quest Books/Theosophical Publishing House.
Lattimore, R. (Trans.). (1965). The odyssey of Homer. New York: Harper & Row.
Mendelsohn, D. (Trans.). (2025). The odyssey. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Van Nortwick, T. (2008). The Unknown Odysseus: Alternate Worlds in Homer's Odyssey. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
Wilson, E. (Trans.). (2017). The odyssey. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Campbell, Joseph (2018). The Hero's Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work. Novato, CA: New World Library.
Campbell, Joseph (2018). The Flight of the Wild Gander: Explorations in the Mythological Dimension. Novato, CA: New World Library.
Campbell, Joseph (2017). Ecstasy of Being: Mythology and Dance. Novato, CA: New World Library.
Campbell, Joseph (2013). Goddesses: Mysteries of the Feminine Divine. Novato, CA: New World Library.
Campbell, Joseph (2002). The Inner Reaches of Outer Space: Myth As Metaphor and As Religion. Novato, CA: New World Library.
Campbell, Joseph (2001). Thou Art That: Transforming Religious Metaphor. Novato, CA: New World Library.
Campbell, Joseph and Toms, Michael (1990). An Open Life. New York: Harper Perennial.
Estés, Clarissa Pinkola (2013). Untie the Strong Woman: Blessed Mother's Immaculate Love for the Wild Soul. Louisville, CO: Sounds True Books.
Estés, Clarissa Pinkola (1993). The Gift of Story: A Wise Tale About What is Enough. (audio). Boulder, CO: Sounds True.
Feinstein, David and Krippner, Stanley (2009). Personal Mythology: Using Ritual, Dreams, and Imagination to Discover Your Inner Story. (Revised 3rd Edition). Santa Rosa, CA: Energy Psychology Press.
Hillman, James (1998). Healing Fiction. Spring Publications.
Hollis, James (2020). Living Between Worlds: Finding Personal Resilience in Changing Times. Louisville CO: Sounds True.
Hollis, James (1996). Swamplands of the Soul: New Life in Dismal Places. Toronto: Inner City Books.
Johnson, Robert A. (1986). Inner Work. New York: HarperCollins.
Keen, Sam and Valley-Fox, Anne (1989). Your Mythic Journey: Finding Meaning in Your Life Through Writing and Storytelling. New York: TarcherPerigee.
Larsen, Stephen and Larsen, Robin (2002). A Fire in the Mind: The Life and Work of Joseph Campbell. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions.
Pearson, Carol S. (2015). Persephone Rising: Awakening the Heroine Within. New York: HarperOne.
Vogler, Christopher (2020). The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers. (25th Anniversary Ed.). Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese.
Young, Jonathan (2000). Saga - Best New Writings on Mythology Vol. 2. Ashland, OR: White Cloud Press.
Young, Jonathan (1996). Saga - Best New Writings on Mythology Vol. 1. Ashland, OR: White Cloud Press.