Imago Relationship Therapy
Imago Relationship Therapy uses concepts from a range of psychological theories and therapeutic practices and was developed by Harville Hendrix PhD and Helen LaKelly Hunt PhD in the late 1980s.
According to Imago Relationship Therapy, our early childhood experiences impact on our adult relationships. The way we were treated as children by our caregivers will become issues in our intimate relationships. If, for example, you were criticised by your father, then you will be sensitive to criticism by your partner. You can find yourself being triggered to such an extent that you cannot see the good things in the relationship.
Imago Relationship Therapy can help you to heal and understand your childhood wounds. Through counselling or attending one of the couples workshops, you can learn communication skills and the Imago Dialogue. This transformative process can lead to deep and intimate connections with your partner and save or enhance your relationships.
Imago Dialogue Technique
Imago is renowned for its dialogue technique. It focuses on building trust in relationship by teaching powerful, effective, common-sense communication skills which can quickly create a feeling of safety.
Even after just a few sessions, many couples immediately experience an opportunity to connect more deeply with their partners, helping to appreciate them more and reviving hope in their relationship.
Another focus of Imago therapy is in helping couples understand their pattern of reactivity and connection and also to ‘upskill’ the couple in relating to one another and in healthily handling and resolving conflict.
Through skilled facilitation by the therapist, the couple is able to develop a greater awareness of what keeps them apart, often stuck and feeling disconnected from each other.
By better managing these interactions and understanding the points of tension and difference, they can realise and express concerns, reclaim the joy of their relationship, better connect with each other and remember why they got together in the first place.
As part of this process they can also experience greater wholeness in their individual beings.
Imago Relationship Therapy is ground-breaking in providing both relational and individual healing and growth through one process, the Imago dialogue.
