Friends of Jung-South
Friends of Jung-South presents
A Presentation for Laypeople and Mental Health Professionals
Wholeness and
the Myth of Perfection
WITH
Andrea Mathews, LPC, NCC
"The pendulum of the mind
oscillates between sense and nonsense,
not between right and wrong."
—CG Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections, 1961, p. 154
Saturday, December 6, 2025
9 am - 1:30 pm
There will be two 15-minute breaks.​
ONLINE via ZOOM from Birmingham, Alabama​
4 NBCC Contact Hours
Live attendance on screen via Zoom is required for contact hours.​
"And so, for the first time in my life…I took the lamp and descended into the depths of myself, into the deep abyss. But as I moved away from conventional certainties..., I realized that I was losing touch with myself. At each step of the descent, a new person revealed itself in me…. And when I had to stop my exploration because the path was fading…I found a bottomless abyss at my feet, and it was from there—arising I know not whence—came the current I dare to call my life."
—Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Le Milieu Divin, 1927, pp. 76-77
Perfectionism runs rampant through our society, and many suffer its confounding damage to life and self. We are caught in its inhumane prison, both in its persistent demand that we perform perfectly and its insistence that we are not good enough if we don’t.
This is dangerous business for the psyche, which longs for any modicum of a sense of self. In fact, from a Transpersonal perspective, perfectionism is a state of nonbeing.
Wholeness is not a state of perfection. Jung taught that when we strive for perfection, we must experience and integrate perfection's unconscious opposite—imperfection—in order to reach wholeness. We tend to think of attaining a state of wholeness as perfection, because we believe that wholeness is an ultimate state of arrival.
Society and religion teach that this unconscious opposition is evidence of our lack, evidence that we are not good people. The resulting shame reveals the shadow of perfectionism.
If wholeness is not a state of ultimate arrival, what is it?
This workshop will explore and offer to clinicians, their clients/patients, and to lay people a process through perfectionism toward wholeness.
​Objectives
Participants will be able to:​
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Explain how we have attached perfectionism to identity as a sense of self.
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Explain perfectionism as certainty.
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Explain some transcendental, religious and Jungian concepts regarding the duality between good and evil.
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Explain how shame might be considered to be the shadow of perfectionism.
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Define wholeness from Jungian and Transpersonal perspectives.
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Learn how self-guidance and making friends with difficult emotions leads toward wholeness.
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Learn constructive ways to transform practice into process.
Andrea Mathews, LPC, NCC
Andrea Mathews is an avid student of Carl Jung and a provider of both Cognitive and Transpersonal therapy, both from a Jungian perspective. She is the author of three books, the last of which, “Letting Go of Good: Dispel the Myth of Goodness to Find Your Genuine Self,” is utilized in this workshop, subsumed under the work of Carl Jung and various Transpersonal therapies.
Andrea spent several years of her professional experience working in mental health and substance abuse agencies and firms in several different capacities including counselor, family therapist, program director, clinical director and clinical consultant. In her private practice, not only does she provide NBCC and ABSWE approved professional training to mental health clinicians, but she has previously also provided professional training in the soft skills to various corporations as well as executive consultations to their leadership.
Registration
Please select one of the links below. You will be directed to PayPal
to complete your registration using either your debit or credit card OR PayPal account.
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Email info@friendsofjungsouth.org with general questions or to inquire about financial assistance.
4 NBCC Contact Hours
FOJS Member Workshop $55​​​
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Non-member Workshop $65 ​​
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New Member Workshop + 2026 Dues $75
Renewal Member Workshop + 2026 Dues $75
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NBCC Continuing Education Credits
Friends of Jung-South has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, AECP #6859. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Friends of Jung -South is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.
Friends of Jung-South Membership
Members support the continuing mission of FOJS, and enjoy the camaraderie of a regional group of others with shared interests. Discounted rates for events are offered to members. It is not necessary to pay dues to attend events. Annual membership dues are $20 and renew each January. Members may join at any time during the year.
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Click here to pay with a major credit or debit card via PayPal. ​To pay by mail, please send check with your name, address, phone number, and email address to Friends of Jung-South, c/o Dr. Chris DaSambiagio-Moore, 501 N. Main Street, Suite 111, Tuscumbia AL 35674.