Because everyone is unique and will benefit from different types of therapy, we pull from a lot of different sources. Here’s the perspectives we’re generally working from:
Inner Community and “Parts work” (Multiplicity adapted Internal Family Systems)
Whether multiple or singlet, we all have aspects of ourselves that could use a hand, and being on your own side makes life easier. We get there by working together with everyone inside, listening to what they know, how they’re trying to help, and how they can work together. It’s kind of like team building. We don’t rigidly subscribe to IFS’s concept of Core Self and we work within your own conceptualization of this.
Parts, People, “Self” and Personhood
The jury is still out on consciousness. Philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, and spiritual practices have been exploring consciousness and identity since we could think about it. We believe that to classify aspects of ourselves in rigid boundaries doesn’t reflect the nuance of experiences we see in the world. In our experience system member distinctions can range from fragments, to clusters, to parts of parts, to distinct individuals, to spiritual aspects of ‘self’ and beyond. These lines in the sand are nebulous and can change over time, especially as inner communication, connection, and co-conciousness develop. We view everyone inside as deserving of rights, respect and care. Yes, even the ones we wish weren’t around. You’re not too broken/weird/crazy/dangerous etc.
Everyone deserves support and a space to exist.
Multiplicity Affirming Trauma Work is deeply consensual. We work with everyone in your system, honouring their boundaries and ways of doing things. We don’t see fusion as a required goal, won’t try to make anyone disappear, and don’t see anyone as more “real” than others in the system.
The primary way we work with processing traumatic experiences is using the Comprehensive Resource Model, which focuses on facilitating inner-system support and secure attachment while having multiple layers of resourcing active at once. This creates the safe-enough space for people to express and re-experience things in a way that is deeply healing. Imagine someone being with you in exactly the way you needed as you go through the hard things, that someone’s finally got you. That’s the vibe here.
Somatic, or Body Based therapy is a way of tuning into your body’s radio station/gut instincts to get information that’s harder to access through the usual talk therapy strategy. You can also think of it like being with your inner cats. How freaked out are they? What do they need to feel a bit safer or more ok? We help the body to feel a sense of safe-enough-ness in the present moment, and then we pay attention to sensations that come up and hold space for them from this safe-enough space. There’s a lot of different techniques for this, but the most important part is that we’re only going there if/when you are feeling up for it. We will never force you to feel into your body sensations if that’s not something you want to do.
Narrative Therapy puts the focus on telling your story, both where you’ve been, and where you want to go. We build on your strengths and values in a similar way to existential therapy, but we also externalize the things you’re working with. “You’re not the problem, the problem is the problem, together, let’s create a solution” This doesn’t have to involve digging through traumatic experiences. Rather, it is about looking at the stories we’ve internalized about ourselves and regaining agency to reframe and write new stories that better serve our goals. This pairs really well with TTRPG therapy.
Existential Therapy focuses on finding your inner compass.We ask the big questions in life: What’s important to you? Who do you want to be? Living in alignment with with our values gives us more agency and fulfillment. It’s the ultimate character creation.
Person-Centered Design is a style of design that emphasizes clearly defining the desired user experience (your life situation now and what you’d like it to be), generating ideas, choosing some things to try out, seeing how they go and then iterating on that design again with the new information. It’s grounded in the idea that you (the user), are the one who’s experience matters most, and that we can find unique solutions customized to your goals by experimenting, reviewing, designing and experimenting again. We essentially end up with a map and a choose-your-own-adventure style plan together. In short, this is a collaborative version of f*ck around and find out. It’s similar to Solution Focused Therapy, but bringing game design to the mix. It’s your life, why not be the designer of it?