Transpersonal psychology was developed by American psychologist Abraham Maslow in the 1960s – the term relates to ‘beyond the personal’ – this may mean spiritual (if appropriate) or beyond the way that we have been conditioned to view ourselves

The transpersonal approach to therapy focuses on wholeness – moving beyond the experiences that we have had and allowing them to take towards the people that we want to be in the world – the ‘true’ version of ourselves

“That which is created in a relationship can be fixed in a relationship” – Murray Bowen

The theory was developed by Murray Bowen – the main premise of the theory is that the family is an emotional / social unit – any change in a member of that unit will have an impact on the rest of the members – meaning that the healing that one person does for themselves can impact the entire family

It also means that we can learn to understand ourselves better when viewed in the context of the family – consideration will be given to elements such as sibling position, how emotion is shown / expressed in the family, what might be appearing from previous generations

Developed by Fritz Perls, this modality focuses on the present moment to help to resolve past relationship wounds and on what we, as individuals, are making the situations mean about ourselves – as an example, where we might be angry at someone for something that they have done, we would work on seeing what it is that we believe their behaviours means about us (eg I’m not important, I’m insignificant)

Role play can be used to help resolve some of the relationship wounds that we carry

Developed by Carl Rogers, this type of therapeutic approach means that the direction of the sessions is not lead by the therapist but by you, the client

The role of the therapist is to support and encourage you towards self-discovery – every person is unique and, therefore, everyone’s ability to manage their own therapy, should be trusted

The Flash technique is an intervention aimed at rapidly decreasing the subjective disturbance of an aversive memory, thereby serving as a potential way of treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

The protocol is used to stimulate clients to engage in positive imagery while being discouraged to actively recollect the targeted disturbing memory

Previous research into the Flash technique’s efficacy shows promising results

Nadine and Vanessa are trained in this modality to an advanced level

EMDR - Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing

EMDR was developed by Francine Shapiro and is used to work with the symptoms of traumatic experiences.  When we experience intensely distressing experiences, the brain isn’t always able to fully process the event and it can remain stored as a sensory memory (what they heard, saw or smelt)

With the use of eye movement or repetitive movement, the brain is more able to release the memory so that it can processed and integrated, thus reducing the intensity of the memory and of any related symptoms (eg intrusive thoughts, flashbacks, nightmares)

Both Nadine and Vanessa are currently training in the modality

Developed by Dr J Eric Gentry, FFTT is the process by which we resolve our painful past here in the present

This is done by understanding how our body is responding to threat and how we can interrupt that threat response by using self-regulation skills

As we use these skills, we become more in tune with how our body is responding and more able to restore calm and wellbeing

Vanessa is currently training in this modality