Lonely Leo: When Private Practice Feels Like an Island

Our ship of therapist parts for healing trauma restoring connection

💭 “Private practice feels like an island — no co-pilot, no crew.”

Many therapists resonate with Lonely Leo. The freedom of private practice can be a gift, but it can also feel like isolation. You sit with couples carrying the weight of trauma, attachment wounds, and relational ruptures — and while you hold their storm, you sometimes realise you’re holding it alone.

It’s a silent struggle. Therapists don’t often talk about the loneliness of the work. We champion connection for our clients, yet behind the closed door of the consulting room, many of us feel cut off from our peers, uncertain whether we’re “doing it right,” and longing for community.

The hidden cost of private practice

Private practice offers independence, flexibility, and the ability to work in alignment with your values. But it also removes the natural scaffolding of team life — those corridor conversations, the quick peer debriefs, the reassurance that you’re not the only one struggling with a tough couple.

Over time, isolation can grow heavy. You may notice:

  • The self-doubt that creeps in after a difficult session.
  • The fatigue of carrying complex trauma stories without support.
  • The paralysis when couples spiral and you feel unsure which model to use.
  • The ache for professional community — colleagues who understand the unique challenges of this work.

This is where Leo comes in. His story reminds us that no therapist was meant to work alone on an island.

Why trauma complicates couples’ work

When trauma walks into the couples therapy room, everything becomes more complex. Sessions may feel turbulent — sudden escalations, frozen silences, or spirals that don’t respond to ordinary dialogue techniques.

Without a trauma-informed framework, therapists can feel adrift. Do I use Imago here? Is this an EFT moment? Should I try Gottman structure, or is PACT more suitable? That scatter — the uncertainty of “which map do I use?” — is where isolation cuts deepest.

What we need is not only clarity and confidence but also connection — a professional crew that reminds us we’re not alone in navigating these storms.

Why this workshop is different

That’s why the Healing Trauma, Restoring Connection workshop exists. It’s not just about skills; it’s about anchoring therapists back into community.

🎙️ Maureen McEvoy, MA, RCC (Canada) is a trauma therapist with over 30 years’ experience — and an International Faculty Member of Imago Relationship Therapy. She has trained thousands of therapists internationally and brings a rare gift: the ability to weave multiple modalities into one coherent, trauma-informed framework.

In this workshop, Maureen integrates:

✨ Parts therapy approaches

✨ Imago Relationship Therapy

✨ EFT (Emotionally Focused Therapy)

✨ Gottman Method

✨ PACT

✨ Somatic therapy practices

✨ Art therapy interventions

This is the only Australian workshop in 2025 where you can learn directly from Maureen.

What you’ll gain

Over two days in Sydney, you will:

  • Learn parts-based tools to understand what happens when trauma hijacks a couple’s dynamic.
  • Discover how to integrate different modalities without getting stuck in “which model do I use?” paralysis.
  • Add somatic and creative interventions to help couples regulate in the moment.
  • Build the confidence to step into turbulent sessions with clarity.
  • Most importantly, reconnect with a community of peers who share your challenges, your questions, and your passion for couples therapy.

A personal reflection

Think of the last time you left a session feeling uncertain — wondering whether you had missed something, doubting whether you had helped enough.

Now imagine stepping out of that same session knowing:

  • You have a framework to hold the trauma safely.
  • You can name and work with the parts of each partner that are triggered.
  • You have colleagues to debrief with, to normalise the struggle, and to celebrate the breakthroughs.

That shift — from isolation to connection — is the difference this training can make.

Event details – Healing Trauma Restoring Connection

📅 8–9 Nov 2025 | Sydney

🎙️ Maureen McEvoy, MA, RCC (Canada) — International Imago Faculty

🟡 Sponsored by ARTI | 🎓 12 CPD Hours

⚡ September Saver: $995 until 30 Sept – save $105

Final thought

If you’ve ever felt like Lonely Leo — flying solo without a co-pilot or crew — this workshop was designed for you.

We can’t always eliminate the turbulence, but we can learn how to navigate it together.

Hurry spaces are filling fast – join us today !

The Power of EMDR & Parts Therapy

the compassion of parts therapy

After training in Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR), our EMDR consultant said Parts Therapy would be both beneficial and necessary in his experience.

So true!

We attended the Ego State Therapy training run by Professor Gordon Emmerson PhD.

Gordon Emmerson presents Chris Paulin with Official RT Trainer Certificate

Logically in the workshop one could see the value in working with the personality parts associated with our issues directly.

Brief and effective interventions are vital in today’s society, as clients expect fast, long lasting, results.

The problem was Ego State Therapy was not easy to follow. With no clear sequences or protocols to guide clinicians in treating client problems.

We explained, read complained!

Gordon listened.

Developing Resource Therapy in response.

Clear protocols, systems and actions based on Resource Therapy’s Therapy of personality to facilitate change.

Relief.

A guide for therapists to assisting unburdening our clients from the overwhelming issues they bring into our offices.

Parts work fits in beautifully with EMDR. Those who know Jim Knipe, Laurel Parnell, Robin Shapiro, Janina Fisher, Sondra Paulson and Maggie Phillips will be familiar with the concept. All legends in the psychology and trauma healing field.

Internal Family Systems folk will know the power of parts.

Resource Therapy bears some similarities and differences to IFS, Ego State and the others. Watch this space for that article.

Adaptable.

And easy addition to your empathic health and well being practice.

Resource Therapy fits in easily and seamlessly to your tool kit.

Its great combined in your artists palette with Mindfulness, ACT, EFT, EMDR, couples work and Imago Therapy.

Use your therapeutic artistry to learn parts psychology with resource therapy

It’s that simple.

For those who use EMDR you would have seen parts popping out in processing. With a little tweak Resource Therapy can fast track looping, adding an interweave and working with dissociation easily.

Plus it’s fun.

Staying within our clients Window of Tolerance shifts happen quickly resolving long held issues. Clients report a sense of freedom and lightness.

So empowering.

RT is super practical.

In our two day training you will be up and running with these powerful techniques. Applying them in your next client session.

Here’s the web page for our next workshop. Love to have you join us March 30/31 Sydney https://resourcetherapy.com.au/resource-therapy-foundation-training-online-philipa-thornton-sydney/

Back from Las Vegas and ready to roll for 2020.

Resource Therapy has a lot to offer therapists. A perfect addition to your therapy skillset and toolbox. Ready to train in the USA - 2020.

Hi guys,  have been over to the USA scouting possible locations for bringing Resource Therapy to America.

Welcome to the city that never sleeps - Las Vegas. Could it be our first stop for Resource Therapy Training?
Welcome to the city that never sleeps – Las Vegas. Could it be our first stop for Resource Therapy Training?

I loved my visit. Las Vegas was a hoot and so hot!! Thank you to the America people too. Everyone was so kind, polite and friendly.

Attending a Michele Weiner-Davis workshop – a couple therapy legend and new friend. Michele is super talented at bringing out the best state to progress marriages on the brink. So exciting to learn her Solution Oriented model, a further development of brief Solution focused therapy. I did training back in the day with Brian Cade and bought his book he wrote with Bill O’Hanlon – A Brief guide to Brief Therapy.

Click the book picture to see the book on Amazon.

As many of you know Chris and I run Marriage Works and if you want more info and  For Michele’s books please click this link.  

Michele Weiner-Davis in Boulder Colorado USA teaching how to effectively work with Couples
Michele Weiner-Davis in Boulder Colorado USA teaching how to effectively work with Couples.

So we are thinking of different USA locations – love to hear your recommendations please. It’s looking like 2020 to return in 2021. Most likely we will do the Clinical training in two five day units.

Loved seeing these native Big horn Sheep in Boulder City, Nevada USA. Perhaps this could be the Resource Therapy Institutes next training destination? Say 2020?
Loved seeing these native Big horn Sheep in Boulder City, Nevada USA. Perhaps this could be the Resource Therapy Institutes next training destination? Say 2020?

How glorious to see wildlife in the wild. Truly one of my favorite things to do. Pretty pleased it wasn’t a bear or a rattlesnake though!

Love to hear your thoughts and comments – please spread the word. So happy to chat to folks who wish to know more about Resource Therapy and how it will benefit your client work. It’s a brief parts therapy perfectly adaptable to your preferred therapy model – I know we get attached to our learnings and fair enough.

Thanks for reading. Glad the Sydney winter weather has been kind. The Mojave desert was getting up to 118 Fahrenheit, melting point for me at 47 Celsius!

 

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