Seeking help
People who come to Primal Therapy may have tried other therapies and counselling. They feel they need something more or would like to explore issues at greater depths. For other people, the pain may be so overwhelming that they feel alone, isolated and that no-one will ever understand or help them. Sometimes, those who have seen changes in others during their primal process choose to do primal for themselves.
Primal Therapy is not just about healing past hurts, it is also about releasing hidden potentials.
Trust and safety
Safety is born of trust. We all bring to the healing process histories which contain some sort of betrayal of trust and safety in the world. Consciously or unconsciously, we believe that life and other people are not safe.
We separate from our true self to survive and become what others want us to be, unable to express our true feelings. We lose our sense of being okay in our families and the world.
Regardless of what brings us to Primal Therapy, the rebuilding of trust and safety is essential; it is the foundation of the primal therapeutic relationship. Restoring trust in ourselves allows us to come home to our real self and to build and live a life that is authentic.
Allowing you to be however you are
No matter what stage or circumstance you are at in life’s journey, Primal Therapy allows you to go at your own pace, consciously or unconsciously choosing the issues you want to deal with and giving yourself permission to express them however you need to.
Primal therapists focus on encouraging the expression of all feelings, regardless of what they are. In creating a safe place where you are allowed to be your true self, the hidden or unacceptable aspects of yourself will eventually surface.
When an empathic and caring therapist witnesses and supports the expression of all the parts of yourself and your feelings, perhaps for the first time in your life, healing occurs.
Owning your own process
A therapist will encourage you to work at your own pace, so that you begin to build trust in yourself and the process. With this comes a sense of safety.
By being responsible for your own process, you are learning to take care of yourself in a healthy way. Primal Therapy is an individual and gradual process.
Finding your creativity
When you feel hurt, a part of yourself remains frozen at the age of the hurt and with it your creativity.
In Primal Therapy, therapists support you to re-engage with the hurt parts. To integrate these parts, you need to re-connect to them and to let yourself express what ever you need to. The use of language alone is often too adult to reach these early wounds. To access these frozen feelings, the therapist at times may encourage the use of sand-play, drawing and artwork, inner child work, voice work, body awareness and movement.
As you heal, you regain your creativity.
Support to link past experiences
In order to heal, we need to feel. Each of us is a physical, mental, emotional and spiritual being. Many of us have been taught not to feel or express feelings such as sadness, jealously, excitement, anxiety, shame or anger, and yet the feelings are still there inside; we still feel them. We don’t know what to do with these feelings as they are often overwhelming and out of proportion to the current situation; most of them belong in the past.
Expressing these feelings through Primal Therapy creates the opportunity to explore the fullness of the feelings and to experience where they come from. The insights and integration from engaging in this process enables us to leave the feelings back in the past where they belong. We are then free to choose how we want to live our lives.
Education
Education is the foundation of making meaning of the journey. The therapist uses education to help you make sense of and integrate your experiences. Input from the therapist when requested helps to clarify and validate experiences and feelings.
When appropriate the primal therapist may suggest relevant books or reading materials to further help the integration of the feeling and thinking processes.
Integration into life
The purpose of undertaking this kind of process is that by the reliving of past pain comes insight as to why you are who you are and why your life is the way it is. Connections are made between the original event and how you consciously or unconsciously set up present-day situations to recreate the original pain.
The motivation for doing Primal Therapy is to develop strength and resilience. Dealing with your early hurts gives you greater choice in the here and now as to how to you live your life.
The past no longer runs your life and you are free to live in the present, with access to a richer, deeper experience of life and yourself.
Individual Sessions
Individual sessions are of 50 minutes duration with longer sessions available if required.
Residential Intensives
Residential intensives allow for full engagement with the primal process, free from outside distractions. It involves individual sessions and group work. The duration will vary in length to a maximum of 3 weeks.
Groups
Groups are weekly and go for 3 hours. They are available after completing an intensive.
Workshops
Workshops are available throughout the year on various related topics.