Australia Resource Therapy Institute

July 17, 2025July 16, 2025

Online Training That Works: A Psychologist’s Experience With Resource Therapy

Psychologist Leigh shares her online clinical training in Resource Therapy experience

As more therapists turn to Telehealth and online professional development, a common question arises:

Can experiential, trauma-informed training really work online – especially when it involves parts work and deep emotional processing?

Leigh, a psychologist with a special interest in trauma and dissociation, had the same question before enrolling in the Resource Therapy training program offered online by the Australian Resource Therapy Institute (ARTI). Leigh holds senior qualifications as a Clinical Hypnotherapist, Couples therapist, and Psychosomatic Therapist.

After completing the full training, she is now officially a Clinical Resource Therapist. She shares her answer with warmth, clarity, and conviction

What Surprised Her Most

Leigh admits she was initially unsure if such an experiential modality could truly be taught online.

“I didn’t know if I’d feel connected, or if I’d get the practical experience I needed. But I was pleasantly surprised – it felt real, engaging, and very connected. The demos were brilliant, and the small group practice made it easy to try things out safely.“

The structured format, real-time demonstrations, and rich interaction offered by the live Zoom sessions helped her feel immersed in the material, just as she would in an in-person setting.

Confidence With Complex Cases

As a trauma-informed psychologist, Leigh was drawn to Resource Therapy’s clear protocols and strong ethical foundation. What she gained was a renewed sense of confidence in working with complex clients.

“I use parts language in my work already, but RT gave me practical tools I can use right away. It’s strengths-based, respectful, and incredibly powerful – especially with clients who feel stuck, overwhelmed or fragmented.”

With the ability to work safely with Vaded States, negotiate Retro patterns, and access Conflicted States with precision, she now has a more structured approach to help clients move forward.

Why She Recommends It

For clinicians unsure about online training, Leigh’s message is simple:

“Give it a go. I wasn’t sure either, but I’m so glad I did. You’ll feel supported, you’ll practise a lot, and you’ll walk away with tools you can use immediately – online or in the room.”

What Is Resource Therapy?

Resource Therapy is a trauma-informed, strengths-based psychotherapy developed by Professor Gordon Emmerson. It helps clinicians access and work directly with the personality parts (called Resource States) that carry unresolved emotions or unhelpful patterns. The training includes 15 treatment actions, clear protocols, and targeted interventions for a wide range of presentations – from PTSD and anxiety to depression, addiction, and relationship distress.

The training is suitable for psychologists, counsellors, psychotherapists, social workers, EMDR clinicians, and anyone working with trauma or parts.

🎥 Watch Leigh’s Testimonial

Want To Learn Resource Therapy Online?

We offer live, interactive online training throughout the year. Whether you’re new to parts work or looking to deepen your trauma toolkit, Resource Therapy provides a powerful and respectful way to help clients heal.

✅ Live Zoom sessions with experiential practice
✅ Learn to map, access, and resolve Resource States
✅ Suitable for online and in-person clinical work
✅ Endorsed by psychologists, EMDR and DBR therapists across Australia

👉 View upcoming training dates and program info

July 16, 2025July 15, 2025

🎯 Resource Therapy vs Other Parts Therapies: The Model Built for Action

A strength based approach with Conditions of Resource States at Sea

“Insight without action is like diagnosis without treatment.”
– A sentiment many seasoned therapists know all too well.

As trauma therapy continues to evolve, clinicians are embracing parts-based approaches that honour the complexity of the human psyche. But not all parts models are created equal.

You’ve probably heard of Internal Family Systems (IFS), Ego State Therapy, or even the parts-based elements that emerge within EMDR sessions. But if you’ve ever felt something missing – structure, clarity, or real-time transformation – it may be time to explore what makes Resource Therapy (RT) so uniquely effective.

Let’s compare four popular modalities using what matters in clinical practice:

Approach	Access to Parts	Protocols	Pathology Diagnosis	Real-Time Action
IFS	⚠️ Sometimes	❌ None	⚠️ Conceptual only	✅ Yes
Ego State	✅ Direct	⚠️ Variable	❌ None	⚠️ Sometimes
EMDR	⚠️ Indirect	✅ Yes	❌ None	✅ Yes
RT	✅ Direct	✅ Yes	✅ Formal system	✅ Always

1. Access to Parts – Who’s in the Captain’s Chair?

All four models work with parts – or internal voices and states – acknowledging that our psyche is not a single voice, but a crew.

Where IFS and Ego State offer reflective access, and EMDR may surface parts indirectly through trauma targets, Resource Therapy takes you straight to the part that needs help – fast.

Using Vivify Specific (Action 2), RT locates the exact Resource State holding distress, unmet needs, or outdated beliefs, and brings it forward to speak for itself.

“RT does not just observe the part. It gives it a voice, a seat at the table, and a path to healing.”
– Gordon Emmerson, PhD

2. Protocols – Structure or Stumble?

Therapists know that when trauma, resistance, or emotional overwhelm enters the room, structure matters.

IFS is exploratory and open-ended.
Ego State Therapy can vary significantly among practitioners.
EMDR brings excellent structure, but not state-specific treatment.
RT offers a clear, flexible system with 15 targeted Treatment Actions.

Whether you need to express, clear introjects, relieve emotional pain, or build internal strength, RT gives you the tools to act with purpose.

3. Pathology Diagnosis – Can We Map What Needs Treating?

Here’s where Resource Therapy steps into its own.

Many models avoid pathologising parts – a welcome shift. But what if we could offer non-judgmental diagnosis that guides treatment?

IFS affirms that all parts are good, but lacks a diagnostic map.
Ego State Therapy and EMDR avoid classification usually.
RT introduces a structured, compassionate diagnostic system:
- Vaded States – carrying unmet emotional needs
- Retro States – stuck in old roles or protections
- Conflicted States – caught between opposing drives
- Dissonant States – wrong part in the captains seat
- Normal Condition of States – right part out with appropriate skills to suit the occasion

This means you can identify what is stuck and know exactly how to treat it.

Think of RT as the Google Maps of parts therapy – locating the issue and showing you the route out.

4. Real-Time Action – Can We Change the State in the Session?

Many therapists feel stuck in insight. The client knows what’s wrong… but nothing changes.

IFS fosters beautiful awareness, but often delays transformation.
Ego State Therapy may stop at catharsis.
EMDR creates desensitisation, but not always internal change.
RT enables the client to change from within, in the moment.

When a client speaks from their Vaded State and gets relief, or when a Retro State steps aside and a stronger self emerges – that is RT in action.

“RT is like a laser pointer for the psyche – precise, effective, and immediately transformational.”
– Clinical RT Graduate

A Quick Story

Anna had done IFS and EMDR. She could name her parts. She had insight. But every time she was triggered by her partner, she collapsed into silence and shame.

Her therapist used RT. Within minutes, they accessed the exact state holding the freeze. Anna spoke from the part, not about it. They cleared the internalised introject, processed the hurt, and anchored her back to strength.

“I’ve spent years understanding my trauma. But this is the first time I actually felt it shift.”

That is the power of action. That is Resource Therapy.

Why Therapists Are Switching to RT

RT is not a blend of parts models. It is a clinical evolution.

✅ A full internal diagnostic system
✅ Immediate access to the presenting state
✅ Action-based treatment, not talk-based delay
✅ Designed for both brief and complex trauma work
✅ Integrates seamlessly with EMDR, Imago, DBR, and more

“RT is the structured answer to the parts therapy movement.”

You Belong With Us

If you are a therapist who wants more than insight…
If you want a parts therapy that does more than label…
If you want change, not someday, but now, Resource Therapy is waiting for you.

Join a movement of clinicians who believe in healing with heart and action.

🌟 Clinical RT Training 2025 – Enrol Now

Online Program starts 31 August / 1 September 2025
Bali Intensive Program returns in 2026
Led by Philipa Thornton & Chris Paulin – Psychologists & Master Trainers
Fully accredited. Experiential. Clinically practical.

“Every therapist should be trained in this. RT changed how I work – and how I heal.”
– Recent Graduate

🔗 Learn more and enrol at resource therapy training dates and fees

July 10, 2025

From Fragmentation To Freedom: A Journey Through The History Of Parts-Based Therapy

the History of Parts Work Therapeautic Modalities

Have you ever felt like part of you was ready to step forward, but another part hesitated or held back? Maybe one part longs to say yes, while another screams no. These moments of inner conflict reveal a fundamental truth – we are not just one voice. Inside each of us lives a rich inner cast of characters, each with its own memories, motives, and meanings.

Over the past century, therapists have been listening more deeply to those voices within. The evolution of parts-based therapies reflects a growing understanding: healing isn’t about eliminating parts of ourselves. It’s about integrating them. Let’s take a journey through the key approaches that have shaped this field, ending with Resource Therapy – a modern model offering clarity, compassion, and clinically precise healing.

The Roots Of Parts Therapy: Ego State Theory

Our voyage begins with Paul Federn, an early psychoanalyst and contemporary of Freud, who first introduced the idea that the personality is made up of distinct states. His student Edoardo Weiss continued this exploration, and later John and Helen Watkins developed Ego State Therapy. This model posited that our psyche is composed of parts – or “ego states” – that can operate independently. These parts could be functional or frozen in trauma, and they could be accessed through hypnosis or dialogue.

What was revolutionary here? Rather than treating the person as a monolithic self, therapists began working directly with the state that held the pain, fear, or stuck behaviour.

Systemic Echoes: Family Constellations

While not a parts model in the traditional sense, Bert Hellinger’s Family Constellations added a powerful layer. His work focused on the idea that unresolved systemic trauma could live on in the internal world of descendants. Parts of us may carry the burdens of others, ancestors, lost siblings, and family secrets.

Constellations externalised these inner dynamics in space, offering clients the chance to see how loyalty to suffering may be embedded in a part of them. These insights paved the way for greater compassion and awareness of the unconscious loyalties that parts may carry.

The Dialoguers: Voice Dialogue

Enter Hal and Sidra Stone, who invited us to meet our inner voices with intention. Their method, Voice Dialogue, gave form to familiar parts – the Inner Critic, the Pleaser, the Vulnerable Child, and encouraged clients to speak as the part. No fixing. No fusing. Just listening.

Their approach normalised multiplicity and championed the idea that every part has value. Even the saboteur is protecting something. Their legacy lies in the permission they gave us to dialogue with complexity, not just simplify it.

The Inner Family: Internal Family Systems (IFS)

Richard Schwartz took these ideas mainstream with Internal Family Systems (IFS). His model framed the psyche as an inner family of “parts,” with a central Self that is calm, compassionate, and confident. The goal of IFS is to heal wounded “exiles” and transform protective “managers” and “firefighters” so the Self can lead.

IFS became incredibly popular because of its non-pathologising language and its accessible way of working. However, it can sometimes lean heavily into spiritual concepts, rely on Self, which isn’t always accessible, and doesn’t always offer therapists a clear treatment path for trauma-driven behaviours.

Enter Resource Therapy: The Clinical Compass

Resource Therapy (RT), developed by Dr Gordon Emmerson in Australia, brings together the depth of Ego State Therapy with the precision of clinical intervention. It’s the next generation in parts-based therapy – trauma-informed, client-centred, and neurologically attuned.

Here’s what makes Resource Therapy unique:

Parts are called Resource States, and they are physiological, not just symbolic. That means they’re real, distinct states with specific neural pathways.
RT works only with the part that holds the issue. We don’t just talk about the anxious part – we bring it out and speak directly with it. With deep respect and compassion.
Knows we can have the best part suited to the occasion at the helm. Captain Conscious pilots the way with the appropriate skills and abilities.
The model offers a detailed diagnostic system with eight types of Resource pathologies, including:
- Vaded with Fear (e.g. panic, phobias, PTSD)
- Vaded with Rejection (e.g. low self-worth, perfectionism)
- Retro Avoiding (e.g. addictions, avoidance behaviours)
- Conflicted States (inner tension and paralysis)
RT uses 15 specific therapeutic actions – including Vivify Specific, Bridging, Expression, Introject Speak, Relief, and Resource Finding – giving clinicians a clear roadmap for deep, lasting change.
And it all rests on the brilliant ship metaphor. Each person is a ship with many crew members. When the right part is at the helm, we sail smoothly. When a wounded or outdated state grabs the wheel at the wrong time, we veer off course. RT helps clients restore internal harmony so the most skilled captain can steer.

Integration, Not Elimination

From Federn’s clinical focus to Hellinger’s ancestral insight, from Voice Dialogue’s inner conversations to IFS’s compassionate Self, each model has gifted us a new way to see the inner world. They remind us that healing is not about silencing parts, but about hearing them, honouring them, and helping them come back into relationship with the whole.

Resource Therapy builds on this legacy, providing a sophisticated, trauma-attuned approach that empowers therapists to work directly with the state that needs healing. It doesn’t ask, “What’s wrong with you?” – it asks, “Which part of you is hurting, and how can we help you?”

When we stop seeing ourselves as broken and start recognising the parts of us trying their best to survive, we open the door to real healing.

And when the right part is at the helm, the whole ship can sail towards freedom.