Core Process Psychotherapy
Core Process Psychotherapy (CPP) originated in the 1980s in the UK with the work of Maura and Franklyn Sills, combining Eastern and Western approaches to healing in a psycho-spiritual therapy based at the Karuna Institute in Devon. Karuna is the Pali word for compassion, the heart quality that sits at the centre of the work. More recently the Karuna Institute has relocated to Bristol, with Karuna Dartmoor remaining a beautiful retreat space. For information on training see https://karunainstitute.co.uk.
Mindfulness-based
CPP is a mindfulness-based approach to therapy and emphasizes a deep, ongoing awareness of one’s body and mental processes for self-exploration and healing. It is guided by the Buddhist approach to human suffering and healing. The ‘Core’ of Core Process relates to shunyata in Buddhism, or Emptiness. This refers to the inherent spaciousness and openness underlying all form and from which all form manifests.
It is out of this original Core or source of wholeness and innate health at our centre that our life ‘process’ arises, as we begin to sense ourselves as individuals, as me and other. Borrowing an analogy from Thich Nhat Hanh, we are “like waves arising from the ocean.” The bedrock underpinning CPP is that the wave is never separate from the water.
What Happens in CPP
In CPP, the work of psychotherapy is undertaken as a joint practice, based on the premise that all our experience happens in relationship and that fundamentally we are all interconnected. The way we affect others is how we learn about ourselves. Wounding often arises in the context of our relationships, and it is within relationship that our deepest healing takes place.
Whatever first brings us to seek therapy, a deep undercurrent underlying the healing process of CPP is its subtle reorientation back to something we intuitively once knew but have since lost, reconnecting us to Source, our deepest roots of belonging.
What might a session look like?
The therapist is interested in both what the client struggles with in their life, and what resources them – where they feel healthy and well. We want to locate both aspects of experience in the present time, and to offer a strong sense of holding and safety so that the client can explore their arising process. The therapy is an enquiry that we create together, developing the skills of awareness and mindfulness as a fundamental resource within which to notice what is here. We learn to bring compassion and kindness to all parts of ourselves.
Short-term and Long-term Pyschotherapy
CPP is a depth psychotherapy form that holds the intention for a perceptual shift from conditioned selfhood to an appreciation of a deeper ground of being and a movement to greater ease, openness and freedom in one’s life. This kind of enquiry may take place within longer-term work.
CPP can also be very helpful for short-term work where the client has specific needs in mind and/or wants to focus on stabilising the self, developing coping mechanisms and regulating the nervous system. This may lead to more clarity about the issues that need addressing. There is a strong emphasis on the relational holding and the connection between client and therapist, and this can be of help when a client is in crisis or needs immediate assistance to manage their experience.
Practicalities
There are CPP therapists all over the UK and Ireland, and some living or working internationally. We have a search tool on the website (see…) to help you locate someone near you. Core Process Psychotherapists aim to be accessible to a diverse and inclusive range of clients. You can specify your needs and interests in the search tool to help find a therapist that could be a good fit for you.
Some Core Process Psychotherapists also offer online sessions, so you are not limited by distance.
Nearly all therapists offer concession places or reduced cost sessions. It will depend on the circumstances for each individual therapist what they can offer, so it is always worth asking if you cannot pay their standard rate.
Trainee Psychotherapists
You may wish to consider working with a trainee psychotherapist.
Every year, the Karuna Institute in Bristol trains a new cohort of therapists. After some years of training, those trainees progressing toward their accreditation, that have met all the requirements, are approved to begin their work with clients and are enthusiastically seeking to develop their experience.
There are many benefits to working with a trainee psychotherapist:
- Trainees may well have worked in a helping or supporting profession, prior to training as a psychotherapist
- Some may already be qualified counsellors or therapists from another modality
- With the addition of their Core Process training, they have much to bring to their early practice
- Trainees are required to maintain their own personal therapy throughout their four-year training, by the time they begin seeing clients, they have some good experience of being clients themselves
- Trainees generally have fewer clients than accredited psychotherapists which can afford them more time to plan and reflect on their work
- They are also required to maintain a higher ratio of supervision to client hours again providing more time to focus on the issues their clients are bringing
- Trainees generally offer their work at a lower cost until they become fully accredited psychotherapists
