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Deepening Our Practice Session 1: Working with Essential Self, Parts & Process


For some time now we’ve been drawing on a powerful body of work - ‘Internal Family Systems’ - as we have worked with our own development and with our clients in our coaching practices. It’s a way of understanding people that proposes that we’re never just ‘one thing’ but constituted as a system, or ‘family’, of inner parts that are in an unfolding process of ongoing relationship with one another and the world. As well as the many parts of us (some of which are protector parts, some of which are ‘exiled’ parts carrying both burdens and gifts) the model proposes an enduring Essential Self - wide, deep, compassionate, present - which can attend to the parts, support them and, when called for, lead the family of parts in skilful ways.

The approach has strong resonance with all we teach on the PCC and has an enormous degree of explanatory power - how we get stuck, how we might compassionately liberate the gifts we could bring, and how we can honour and integrate what is more difficult or challenging within us. It opens up new ways of understanding development (in the 10 ways), personality (as in the 3 Panels, Enneagram), and the ‘essential self’ with the many qualities and virtues that we can bring into the world. And it lends itself very pragmatically to working sensitively and powerfully with the unfolding developmental and relational process of our clients in all four human domains. It’s a wonderful and coherent adjunct to the skills of coaching you’ll have learned in the PCC.

Session 1: Working with Ourselves with Compassion and Inclusion

In our first 3-day session we’ll focus on ways we can work with our own inner systems and how they have us show up in the world of others. We intend that you leave the first session with 

  • powerful new distinctions and practices that can help you begin to observe and work skilfully and compassionately with your own inner family systems - in support of everything belonging and in support of your own ongoing unfoldment

  • ways to further develop your sensitivity, care and creativity in working with yourself that can form the foundation for working with others.

The programme is offered entirely online and runs from 10am to 6pm UK time each day. We will gather in an intimate community of learning on Zoom, with 18 places open to anyone who is a graduate of the PCC. The three days will be led by Neena, Lizzie and Justin.

Session 2 will be coming in September 2023

A second session which supports you in extending your understanding to your work with your clients will run over four days on September 12-15 2023.

Fees for Session 1

We are developing models for fees that can themselves be as inclusive as possible. We want to make our work increasingly available to everyone. To support this we’re offering three different choices for fees for this module:

  • Attender - the standard course fee of £900 (+ UK VAT if applicable)

  • Supporter - an opportunity to make it possible for others to join us. You pay a course fee of £900 (+ UK VAT if applicable) + a donation towards someone else’s place. We suggest a donation of £300 but you can choose to donate less or more as your resources allow

  • Supported - a reduced course fee of £300 (+ UK VAT if applicable)

If these fees don’t work for you, please speak to us. We are committed to finding ways to have our offerings be as inclusive as we can.

Reserve your place
We ask for a £75 non-refundable but transferrable deposit to reserve your place. We will invoice the full balance before the programme begins.

Book a Place
Earlier Event: December 2
Winter Graduate Workshop 2022 - Online
Later Event: June 29
Informal Study Days 2023