Multi-hands and Comprehensive Therapy Programmes

Multi-hands:  where 1 + 1 = more than 2!

The multi-hands part of our work is loved by our practitioners, as we get to work together and offer our clients a potentially deeper experience in a way that can only be done with the support of others. Treatment involves two or more therapists per client.

Some of our practitioners who share a clinic or have colleagues close by may offer this option. We call this approach ‘multi-hands’.

On occasion, your practitioner may feel it would be beneficial to offer treatment with a small group of 2-5 therapists for a session, or even a few sessions over a few days.

We refer to this as an Intensive Programme.

Creating the space

We are in the process of introducing to the UK the Comprehensive Therapy Programmes as they are run in the United States and other countries.  These programmes involve a group of people being treated in the same place by many therapists working ‘multi-hands’. For example, five clients may have 20-25 therapists working in five groups simultaneously, one client per 4/5 therapists. Often, especially if children are involved, the group will work with the whole family, both as individuals and as a group. Family dynamics can be a very helpful place to work, especially if there are particular challenges that have an affect on the whole family.

During these programmes, each group is lead by one primary therapist, and supported and assisted by the others in a way that makes this work really exceptional. When we work multi-hands we work as a team, all following what the person on the table needs. It is absolutely not five people with different agendas working at the same time! The primary therapist is qualified and will have completed all the required training and advanced classes. The supporting therapists will have completed at least the SER1 class and have lots of experience using the work in their practice.

Veterans’ Programmes

To give you a key example, this format was used in the clinic at Palm Beach, Florida, over a number of years for groups of Vietnam veterans. Some of these people had been suffering with PTSD and associated issues for many years. This programme was the one thing in 20 years that, they said, made a significant difference to their lives.

There is an article about CST breaking the 20-year cycle here.

So what makes the difference?

The benefit of this approach is having two therapists working together, thereby enabling them to be more perceptive to what is going on in the body.  The changes often feel more significant than having had two single treatments – the deeper issues or causal factors of what is going on with the client can be addressed in this supported setting.  On a practical level, more of the client’s body can be physically held if there is unwinding or releasing that the body needs to do in a bigger way than one person could physically hold! The energy, intention and love of groups of therapists engaging and treating can make changes that are hard to put into words…

Working in water… working with dolphins!

There are also some of our US colleagues who run a nearly unique programme using CST in water alongside dolphins. There is a long (17 minutes!) video below that gives you some insights into CST itself, as well as working with the dolphins and how the comprehensive therapy programmes work out there.