Rod is our Healing The Shadow Elder. He supports Marianne in interviewing and assessing the trainees and offers mentorship and guidance

‘I’ve been involved in the world of psychotherapy, counselling and emotional healing for more than 20 years now.

Over that time, I’ve come to see how a number of basic principles run through all the work I’ve engaged in with my clients, whether working one-to-one individually or in groups.

The first of these principles is that healing starts in the quality of relationship between client and practitioner. The second, that the drive to wholeness and integration in each one of us is powerful, and when allowed to express itself in a safe environment, will naturally provide the direction for the healing work.

And the third is that no matter how unhelpful a particular way of thinking or behaving might appear, somewhere behind it lies a desire in one part of the ‘human system’ for safety and protection.

These principles were the foundation of my training in, and practice of, counselling and psychotherapy, initially in the field of transactional analysis (TA), and later in the world of integrative therapy.

Lately, as I explored how to combine the principles of integrative psychotherapy with the Jungian concepts of shadow and archetypes, I came to see that this combination could provide one of the most powerful and potentially transformative systems of emotional healing available today.

Alongside this exploration, my experience in men’s work, initially with the ManKind Project, and later in facilitating my own men’s groups, has proved to me the power of community in overcoming the emotional wounds of childhood, particularly in the inner child.

And so Marianne and I now run a number of mixed gender groups in various formats which are based on working with the shadow and healing emotional wounds through a variety of powerful tools and techniques based on all of these approaches to emotional healing.

As interest in the nature and properties of the Shadow increases at this critical time in human history, it seems timely to offer an opportunity for others who wish to train in this field (or increase their expertise in their existing practice).

Our new training course offers a chance to learn the skills involved in setting up a Healing The Shadow practice. And more than this, it also provides the opportunity for those in an existing counselling or therapy practice to add to their skill set.

Training and Experience

My first introduction to the world of therapy was through a four year part time training course in Transactional Analysis psychotherapy at the Manchester Institute for Psychotherapy (1999 – 2004).  The experience gained on this training course naturally led me on to an exploration of Integrative Psychotherapy with Dr Richard Erskine’s training faculty (2000 – 2006).

This in turn led me to  a deeper exploration of self, not only through the personal therapy which complements all psychotherapy training, but also through a diverse range of deep soul work. This included Vision Quests in the high mountains of Utah, solo trekking in the wilderness, group psychotherapy for personal development, an exploration of Tantric practice, meditation, and more recently, training with the ManKind Project as an integration group (PIT) leader (2014 – 2019).

I have always had a sense that part of my mission in life is to lead self-development groups. I started to work in this area in 2012 after training with the UK branch of Shadow Work Seminars Inc. I completed the basic facilitator, advanced facilitator, and leader training which they offer, but I chose not to take certification with them.

In my writing I have brought an updated explanation of the archetypes to a wider public. However, this book – Warrior, Magician, Lover, King – is not just another book about archetypes. It is an updated guide to the human personality, written for the 21st Century, accessible yet profound, and it has proven very popular with both men and women.

I am currently a certified Healing The Shadow practitioner and lead men’s groups and mixed gender groups, as well as offering one to one work with clients. Naturally, I am in Supervision, and I continue to work on my own development so that I am able to offer a safe environment in which my clients can thrive and more fully manifest their own potential.’

Please visit my website for further information about my practice: Life Coaching For Change