The “Embodied Use of Self “ in Creative Therapy and Coaching : playing at the "edge of awareness."

Warning : The side-effects of this presentation may double your outcome effectiveness as a change artist ( coach, therapist, somatic educator, body worker…). In this short experiential presentation you will take away insights, tools and strategies to impact your own relational and somatic intelligence for greater outcome effectiveness. ------ Out of the between 400-1000 different models or therapeutic approaches out there in therapy-land (depending on how you count them ) , there is the one you love the most, with almost magical properties. It just feels so right . Its okay, I know the feeling too. Every 6 months or so I would discover another “alphabet therapy”, almost like an addiction. The thing is though, study after study has found no difference in outcome between these various and competing approaches. Even palm reading comes out as comparable with most of them . Confirmation bias is a bummer. Regardless of the therapy /coaching model you are using (and possibly deeply identified to), meta-study analysis shows that the type of therapy does not make much of a difference to outcomes, the outcomes remain constant. It’s only around 8%. And while therapy does make a difference to most people in many cases , it’s certainly in “could do better“ territory and is not improving over decades. And a drop out rate of about 25% as well. However here is the good news: the same studies show that some therapists/coaches are “better” than others and we now know “ what works “. In particular better therapists form better relationships with a broader range of clients. This ”therapeutic alliance “ between client and therapist /coach, is now considered the most robust predictor of outcomes, it is “the difference that makes the difference “, at around a huge 30-50% outcome effect! In addition to this, the therapists own creative “use of self“ has been shown critical as a most important factor in building that alliance. By this we mean the therapist’s “planned use of his or her personality, insights, perceptions, and judgments as part of the therapeutic process” (Punwar & Peloquin, 2000). In this experiential presentation we will use these models and examples of therapy excellence, and short guided processes to discover and really embody this core “use of self” to become even more of an embodied ,relational and creative therapist or coach . We will explore : - what works in creating and deepening the working relationship /alliance a short protocol ( “COACH” ) to access and tune the subtle “nerve awareness” of an embodied and creative use of self - the impact of “self-disclosure” and the power of an embodied presence and authenticity the importance of “felt sense” ( Gendlin ): studies show clients reporting a felt sense of the issue correlates with successful therapy - how to tailor and gift-wrap your communication to fit the needs of the client ( the “utilization “principle ) - the “ 4 relational mantras” of generative changework - the “resonant conditions” ( Gilligan ) :sensing ,naming , welcoming the symptom ( shift from wound to gift, “the problem is the solution “) - “How's it going so far “? The power of feedback (if this is all you do your outcomes have already come up significantly) Come and discover these core dimensions and attributes of excellence in therapy and coaching and experience how somatic intelligence can be guided by the deeper lead-system of your body , letting your embodied use of self surprise and delight you with even greater flexibility in choice, personal congruence and success.