More Than Words: Reclaiming the Spiritual in Psychotherapy

We've gotten really good at talking about the human mind as a nervous system to be regulated or a machine to be optimised. But the moments that actually shift something in therapy are rarely the ones where we're being perfectly rational. They're the weird, slightly vertical leaps: a plunge into the subconscious, an unexpected wave of grief, or a sudden sense of awe.

Yet, as practitioners, it can be hard to talk about this spiritual, transcendent dimension of healing without falling into either fluffy, clinical "woo-woo" or sterile, sanitised mindfulness.

In this follow-up to our Sustaining the Therapist event, clinical psychologist and hypnotherapist Michael Hühn joins Johanne Schwensen to get concrete about the spiritual and sublime elements in the consultation room. We want to talk about what actually happens when we stop trying to fix clients and start letting ourselves be moved.

What we'll talk about

• The Subconscious: Why talking alone isn't always enough, and how altered states of consciousness allow us to access resources our everyday intellect actively blocks.
• Dreamwork & Case Vignettes: Michael will share practical experiences on how to introduce the language of dreams to clients without sounding like a fortune teller, sharing one or two striking case examples of how dreams can break through therapeutic deadlocks.
• The Power of Awe: Why the feeling of being small in the face of something vast is a therapeutic tool, and how to make room for this in our practice.
• Ethical Transcendence: How to bring spirituality into therapy collaboratively, without imposing dogmas or over-relying on clinical authority.

The experiential bit

Because we shouldn't just talk about the non-rational, we're going to do it. Michael will lead us through a short, five-to-ten-minute experiential exercise: a light trance focused on active imagination, evoking the "inner wise self" as a symbolic archetype. You can participate, or you can just watch and analyse it from a safe distance.

If you suspect therapy needs to make room for the soul (however you choose to define it), or if you're just tired of trying to individually optimise yourself, come join the conversation.

Bring your coffee, your scepticism, and your questions.