Our Approach

DOR Therapy Services

There is truth in the saying ‘Life has no trial run!’ and it reminds us of the call inherent in every human being, namely, to live life and each day to the fulness of it’s potential. Psychosynthesis provides the pathway to enable us to do this.

Our therapeutic approach is informed by psychosynthesis which is holistic at its core and inclusive of the whole human being.  It offers a set of models, maps and tools to help empower and embody a human being at every level. It embraces all characteristics and includes and makes reference to body, feelings, mind, spirituality and sexuality.  All of these aspects are seen as important dimensions of a human being.

Roberto Assagioli, an Italian psychiatrist working at the beginning of the 20th Century, was the founder of the psychospiritual psychology he called psychosynthesis.  A contemporary of Freud and Jung, he developed psychosynthesis from its psychoanalytical roots to include the spiritual aspects of the individual.  He created a particular map, commonly known as the egg diagram.

The egg diagram provides a symbolic representation of a human being, or a model of a person.

Assagioli suggests that the lower unconscious (1), often described as the cellar or the basement, contains one’s personal psychological past, memories, dreams.

The middle unconscious, sometimes known as the kitchen (2), supports our day-to-day functioning, where we build patterns, skills, feelings, attitudes forming the infrastructure of our conscious life (4). It’s the area that holds our essence or the I, the deepest part of our being that is truly us (5).

The higher unconscious or the superconscious (3) holds our higher Self and connects us to our aspirations, hopes, dreams and altruistic love and will (6). Assagioli made the shape in the model open and fluid, suggesting movement and energy to reflect that we are ever-changing in every moment.

How we Work

As therapists, we both work using bifocal vision, holding the call of the higher self for emerging potential, while listening to suffering at the level of self.

So, we work with an individual at the level of their suffering (usually the reason a person enters the therapeutic space) and hold that they are more than this problem or issue.  We also hold the question: what if the stress, anxiety or grief could be an opportunity for a new way to be in the world?  Maybe the individual has outgrown an aspect of themselves and now needs to manifest differently.

We both offer one-hourly (60-minute) therapeutic sessions, weekly.  When possible, we contract and commit for the same day each week, at the same time.  This offers a continuity, providing a sense of safety and containment.  We also recognise that sometimes people work with inconsistent time frames, and we can negotiate dates and time to suit.

We also both begin with an initial session to establish what your needs might be.  In listening to your story and what you are bringing in this session, we can get a sense of your needs, which will allow us to then tailor your therapy sessions to address those needs.  (Assagioli likened the therapeutic journey to mountaineering and potholing, where the therapist acts as guide in the client’s expedition of discovery.)

During the initial session you can decide if you would like to work together, and should you choose to work we will then contract for six sessions.  This method provides a therapeutic beginning and helps to uncover what you might need.  In the sixth session we review our work together and you decide if you wish to contract for further work.

Please see our contact page for details of how to get in touch with either of us.