IoPT is a constellation method developed by Franz Ruppert, a German psychotherapist. It is also referred to as the ‘Constellation of the intention’ or a method of ‘self-encounter’. The methodology originated from the traditional Family constellations work of Bert Hellinger and differs from the traditional constellation in that it does not emphasize the family system but the development of identity. And to the inner split or fragmentation that has arisen from early childhood trauma.

The figure on the right depicts this inner split as a result of trauma. The connection with your own identity, the relationship with who you really are, is disrupted. From that moment on, the so-called survival parts take over and your healthy I and the willpower that belongs to who you really are are no longer at the service of yourself but of the part that has to survive.

In 2019 I completed the basic IoPT training with Walter de Vries, psychotherapist, originator and trainer in Culemborg, the Netherlands.

For further professional development and training in working with identity-oriented trauma constellations I attended a number of seminars at Vivian Broughton in London. Seminars with the focus on working with IoPT in individual counseling.

“Get the inside right and the outside will fall into place”

How does an individual constellation work?

Your intention is central during an individual constellation. In a blog article I wrote you can read how such a session can go.

With a constellation, a three-dimensional image is placed in the space, as it were, where every word and every sign that is being set up is ‘mirrored’. When we write the individual words of the intention as you have formulated it on a piece of paper and place it in space, we can perceive something in ourselves or mirrored in the other by means of the so-called ‘resonance’. As a client you can stand on the words and resonate yourself and/or ask the therapist to do this for you. About this resonance I also wrote a blog article.

Working with trauma means working with power. Many clients have been injured in their experiences of power and loss of autonomy. This means that as a counselor and as a therapist I am extra alert to how I am present in the contact with the other.

As a psychosynthesis therapist, I have increasingly delved into early childhood trauma and the effects of primal wounding on the development of our personality and identity. Franz Ruppert’s work and method have enriched my work as a therapist. The IoPT method leaves a lot of responsibility and autonomy with the client.

From experience and feedback from clients in practice, I know that working with psychotrauma and the IoPT method can very well take place online. Many clients experience working in their own environment as very safe and trusted. Feel free to schedule an appointment via the online agenda, online or face to face in Amsterdam.