Trust the Process

As a newly qualified therapist in 2004, I was curious and fascinated by all aspects of psychology and was particularly interested in learning creative ways of accessing the unconscious to develop a greater insight and understanding of issues that might block or hinder my personal growth.

A colleague mentioned that he had recently returned from Tennessee having spent a week training at Onsite. I was super keen to learn more and my interest piqued when he really struggled to describe and articulate the process involved, just talking about ‘the power of connection’ and it being ‘a magical place’. I have a fairly pragmatic character, but the intrigue of this potential opportunity outweighed my cynicism and after what seemed like years of academic learning, mainly cognitively challenging, I was keen to experience a novel way of learning that might stretch me in alternative ways.

The written assessment process was thorough and brought up memories, feelings and hints of unresolved issues and I felt nervous yet excited at taking the time and space to pay attention to some of this material. I am a staunch advocate of the timeless premise that a therapist can’t expect a client to go where they haven’t been themselves and am a strong supporter of the importance of clinicians in engaging in continuous personal work to better inform their practise. I also kept reminding myself that this was a training, not necessarily a therapeutic experience.

I booked my flights and vowed to remain open minded and willing. I prayed for courage and flew out to Nashville.

The environment was familiar to me as I had previously lived in Kentucky, working with horses and the ranch at Onsite brought back some of those positive memories, the heat, the lush greenery and the genuine welcoming energy.