Why practitioner presence changes treatment outcomes.
If you ever listened to me, you’ll at some point have heard me preach that the number one most important aspect of healing is the therapeutic relationship. As founder of the NeuroFascia Approach, I will even go so far as to say, it doesn’t matter what the modality is, the relationship between client and practitioner is the key determining factor in positive outcomes.
In the NeuroFascia Approach, the first thing practitioners learn is how to establish a differentiated therapeutic presence. So what does this mean and why?
A differentiated therapeutic presence means that the practitioner is grounded and centred in their own body and own experience all the time, while in connection with their client. Many practitioners are very empathic people and so they very often feel what it is their clients are feeling. It is critically important that the practitioner can differentiate between what is the client’s experience and what is their own.
When the practitioner develops the key skill of being grounded, centred and differentiated while in connection with their client the first thing that happens is the client can totally relax. The client feels very clearly that they don’t need to people-please and be a “good client”. This is a huge relief to the client, many of whom have a pattern of people-pleasing that often goes back to childhood.
Secondly, it ensures that the practitioner remains a steady anchor in the session. They stay firmly grounded in the present, in their own experience, meaning they can competently guide the client during the session.
It prevents the practitioner from merging with the client. Merging is where differentiation between the client and the practitioner is lost. It often happens when the practitioner feels carried away with the client’s experience. When merging occurs, old patterns of making themselves less and putting others first can be recreated for the client. For the practitioner merging can be exhausting, as they can get caught up in the client’s experience and get stuck in “fix it” mode. Working harder than they should, perhaps forcefully, and going beyond their boundaries, like oversharing personal stories, wanting to people please their clients, giving the client extra time in order to fix them.
In the NeuroFascia Approach practitioners learn and practice repeatedly how to develop a clearly differentiated therapeutic relationship with their clients. Clients experience new patterns of not people-pleasing, of having a safe competent differentiated adult guide them, and this has a tremendously positive effect on client outcomes.