Resource Therapy Training – Australia Resource Therapy Institute

July 20, 2026July 20, 2026

When the Clinical Map Meets Complexity: Advanced Parts Work – Resource Therapy

Philipa Thornton and Chris Paulin presenting the Advanced Clinical Resource Therapy live online program in November 2026. Including RTI Membership upgrade.

You understand the Resource Therapy model. You can identify Resource States, formulate using the five conditions and select from the 15 Treatment Actions.

Then a session takes an unexpected turn.

A protective state interrupts the process. Trauma and neurodivergent experiences appear to overlap. Dissociation becomes more apparent, or the Treatment Action you expected to use no longer seems clinically appropriate.

You know the map, but the terrain has become more complicated.

This is where Advanced Clinical Resource Therapy training becomes especially valuable.

From understanding the model to greater clinical fluency

Clinical Resource Therapy training provides a strong, structured foundation. You learn the five Resource Therapy conditions, eight pathologies and 15 Treatment Actions developed within the original model founded by Professor Gordon Emmerson PhD.

As your experience grows, different questions begin to emerge.

Which condition best explains what is happening now? Is the Resource State ready for the planned intervention? Should I continue, pause or reconsider my formulation? What might I be missing?

Advanced Clinical training gives qualified practitioners an opportunity to return to the model with the benefit of accumulated clinical experience. Concepts that once seemed theoretical can be explored through the lens of real sessions, complex presentations and the clinical moments that have stayed with you.

Refining clinical judgement in Resource Therapy

G’day, Philipa Thornton

The aim is not simply to memorise more information. It is to become more discerning in how you use what you already know.

Through experiential practice, clinical discussion and demonstrations, participants will have opportunities to:

• refine Resource Therapy case formulation
• consolidate their understanding of the five conditions and eight pathologies
• improve the selection and sequencing of the 15 Treatment Actions
• respond more flexibly when a session does not proceed as expected
• explore resistance, uncertainty and competing clinical information
• recognise when supervision, referral or multidisciplinary input may be needed

Clinical fluency includes knowing how to proceed. It also includes recognising when to slow down, gather more information or work within the limits of your professional role.

Specialist perspectives on complex presentations

The November program will include highly knowledgable guest presenters with specialist clinical experience in:

• ADHD and neurodiversity-affirming practice
• Complex PTSD
• Dissociation, including Dissociative Identity Disorder

These sessions will bring focused knowledge and real-world clinical experience into the wider Advanced Clinical program. They are designed to strengthen awareness, formulation and clinical responsiveness rather than qualify participants as specialists in these areas.

Participants will consider how neurodivergence may influence assessment, communication, therapeutic pacing and the way a client experiences the therapeutic relationship. ADHD will be approached through a respectful, strengths-based and neurodiversity-affirming lens.

We will also explore the complexity of trauma-related adaptations without reducing people to diagnostic labels. Where neurodivergent experiences and trauma responses appear to overlap, thoughtful assessment and formulation become particularly important.

In relation to complex PTSD and dissociation, including DID, the emphasis will remain on careful, ethical and appropriately paced clinical practice.

Participants can consider how Resource Therapy may be thoughtfully incorporated into their existing professional framework while remaining attentive to scope of practice, specialist assessment, supervision, referral and multidisciplinary care.

These specialist sessions do not replace appropriate diagnosis, medical care, specialist treatment or clinical supervision.

Revisiting Resource Therapy with Experienced Eyes

Returning to Resource Therapy theory after working with clients is a very different experience from encountering it for the first time.

You are no longer learning only from examples provided during training. You bring your own clinical questions, observations and uncertainties.

This allows the group to explore how the clarity of Resource Therapy can be preserved while its Treatment Actions are applied responsively to the person in front of you.

Advanced practice is not about adding complexity for its own sake. It is about applying Professor Gordon Emmerson’s original model with greater precision, flexibility and care.

A pathway towards supervision, leadership and teaching

Some participants undertake Advanced Clinical training because they want to strengthen their clinical practice. Others are considering supervision, professional leadership or teaching Resource Therapy.

There is no expectation that every participant must become a trainer.

For practitioners who do wish to teach, the Train the Trainer pathway provides opportunities to develop the knowledge, facilitation skills and professional responsibilities involved in sharing Resource Therapy with others.

Advanced Clinical qualification and Trainer recognition remain distinct. Trainer recognition applies only when the relevant Train the Trainer requirements and RTI eligibility standards have been successfully completed.

RTI Senior Trainer Sign-off

Philipa Thornton and Chris Paulin are RTI Senior Trainers who can assess and sign off participants at the Advanced Clinical and Train the Trainer levels.

Following successful completion, Philipa and Chris verify the graduate’s qualification directly with Resource Therapy International and arrange the appropriate update to their RTI record.

This provides participants with a clear link between their ARTI training, successful completion and recognition within the international Resource Therapy community.

Your RTI recognition update is included

Already an RTI Clinical member?

Your applicable recognition or membership update is included as part of this special ARTI training package.

• Existing RTI Clinical members who complete the Advanced Clinical requirements will have their qualification and directory recognition updated to Advanced Clinical Resource Therapist.

• Participants who complete the relevant Train the Trainer requirements, satisfy RTI’s Trainer eligibility standards and receive Senior Trainer sign-off can have their existing RTI Clinical membership upgraded to RTI Trainer membership.

• ARTI will coordinate the applicable recognition or membership update with Resource Therapy International as part of you training package, paying all update fees..

These are two distinct pathways.

Completing Advanced Clinical updates the practitioner’s professional qualification and Advanced Clinical directory recognition. Advanced Clinical Resource Therapist is not currently a separate paid RTI membership tier.

Trainer membership and Trainer directory recognition apply only when the participant has completed the relevant Train the Trainer requirements and received Senior Trainer sign-off.

Benefits of RTI Trainer membership

Trainer membership and Trainer directory recognition apply only when the participant has completed the relevant Train the Trainer requirements, satisfied RTI eligibility requirements and received Senior Trainer sign-off.

Recognised RTI Trainer members receive:

all relevant Clinical Resource Therapist membership benefits
continued listing in the RTI Clinical Resource Therapist Directory
eligibility for a public listing in the RTI Trainer Directory, subject to approval and current membership
eligibility to list approved Resource Therapy training on the RTI international training calendar
use of the RTI Trainer Member badge, subject to RTI branding guidelines
opportunities to promote approved Resource Therapy-only training through selected RTI channels, where available
opportunities to share appropriate graduate photographs and training updates through approved RTI channels
RTI trainer communications, announcements and professional updates
member pricing for selected RTI events and conferences, where available
connection and collaboration with approved Resource Therapy trainers internationally
greater professional visibility as a recognised trainer within the international Resource Therapy community

Trainer membership provides a clear, publicly visible connection to Resource Therapy International. Giving you professional standing in the parts work community globally recognised. It supports trainers in sharing Resource Therapy while maintaining consistency, professional standards and fidelity to the model founded by Professor Gordon Emmerson PhD.

These are the benefits currently published on the official RTI membership page. Directory and promotional benefits remain subject to RTI approval, current membership and the applicable RTI guidelines.

November 2026 program details

Programme: Advanced Clinical Resource Therapy Programme

Delivery: Live online

Dates: 15–18 November and 22 November 2026

Time: 9.00 am–5.00 pm Sydney time, AEDT

Duration: Five days

Eligibility: Qualified Clinical Resource Therapists

Your lead trainers

Philipa Thornton

Psychologist, Master Resource Therapy Trainer and Consultant, Lead Trainer, RTI Senior Trainer and President of Resource Therapy International.

Chris Paulin

Consultant Psychologist, Master Resource Therapy Trainer and Consultant, and RTI Senior Trainer.

As RTI Senior Trainers, Philipa and Chris can assess and sign off the relevant Advanced Clinical and Train the Trainer requirements and verify successful completion with Resource Therapy International.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who can attend the Advanced Clinical program?

The program is available to qualified Clinical Resource Therapists only. If you completed your Clinical Resource Therapy training with another recognised trainer, contact ARTI to confirm your eligibility.

Will this make me a specialist in ADHD, complex PTSD or DID?

No. The guest sessions are professional-development opportunities intended to improve awareness, conceptualisation, formulation and clinical responsiveness.

They do not provide a specialist qualification or replace further training, assessment, supervision, referral or multidisciplinary care.

Will I automatically become an RTI Trainer?

Advanced Clinical completion alone does not confer Trainer recognition.

Participants who complete the Advanced Clinical requirements will have their qualification and directory recognition updated to Advanced Clinical Resource Therapist.

Those who also complete the relevant Train the Trainer requirements, satisfy RTI’s eligibility standards and receive Senior Trainer sign-off from Philipa Thornton and Chris Paulin can progress to Trainer recognition.

For existing RTI Clinical members, the applicable Advanced Clinical recognition or Trainer membership upgrade is included in this special ARTI training package.

Join Us in November

If you are ready to revisit Resource Therapy with experienced eyes, bring your clinical questions and strengthen the way you navigate complexity; Chris and I would be delighted to welcome you.

This is an opportunity to consolidate what you know, refine how you apply it and reconnect with colleagues who share your commitment to thoughtful, ethical and clinically precise advanced parts work of Resource Therapy practice.

Warmly,

Philipa Thornton and Chris Paulin
Co-founders and Lead Trainers, Australia Resource Therapy Institute
Master Resource Therapy Trainers, Consultants and RTI Senior Trainers

Philipa Thornton – Psychologist and President, Resource Therapy International
Chris Paulin – Consultant Psychologist

June 1, 2026June 1, 2026

A Psychologist Explains Parts Work: The Secret to Turning Internal Clashes Into Smooth Sailing

A diverse multi-ethnic crew of smiling friends standing together on the sunny deck of a sailing boat on open blue water representing aligned personality parts in Resource Therapy.

Ever feel like you’re a walking, talking contradiction? One minute you’re a calm, confident professional leading a high-stakes meeting, and the next you’re completely overwhelmed by a minor bit of critical feedback, feeling like a misunderstood child.
If that sounds familiar, let’s clear something up right now: You haven’t lost your marbles. You’ve just got a lively internal crew on deck, and a couple of your personality “parts” are clashing.

A historic masted tall ship navigating dark choppy ocean waters under a dramatic stormy sky representing psychological conflict and parts work therapy similar to IFA. — When your internal crew is out of sync, it feels like navigating a violent psychological storm.. Source: Pngtree

As psychologists and global parts therapy trainers, we believe the most misunderstood, under-utilised form of human intelligence isn’t something measured on a standard cognitive test.
It’s your Internal Intelligence. It’s how well you know, respect, and steer the different emotional parts living inside you.

When these parts engage in an internal tug-of-war, it feels like your ship is caught in a violent squall. Here is what is actually going on beneath deck, and how parts work can help get your inner crew working in brilliant harmony across Australia, New Zealand, and internationally.

The Myth of the “Single Self”

An antique vintage maritime navigation chart displaying complex ocean routes and a detailed compass rose mapping out personality parts framework. — Your personality isn’t a single point on a map; it’s a vast, interconnected network of internal routes and destinations. Source: StockCake

We are taught from childhood that we have one single, uniform personality. But our everyday language tells a completely different story. Think about how often you say things like:

“A part of me really wants to apply for that promotion, but another part is terrified of failing.”
“I don’t know why I snapped like that—that part of me just took over.”
The reality? You aren’t just one lonely sailor on deck; your personality is made up of a whole inner crew. In the psychological framework of Resource Therapy (RT), we call these facets your Resource States or parts.

Every single part stepped on board for an excellent reason: to handle a specific life situation. You have an analytical part for work, a playful adventurer for friends, and a fiercely protective lookout who watches for danger.
Ideally, your ship should operate under a beautifully clear system: The Normal Condition.

The Normal Benchmark: This is the ultimate goal for every single member of your inner crew.

A “Normal” part is completely healthy, grounded, and acting appropriately for the *here and now*. When a part is in this state, it steps up as the absolute best Captain of the Moment to suit the occasion, fully armed with the necessary skills to navigate your current reality smoothly. But just like a real ship crew, sometimes your inner parts get tired, hurt, or stuck in ancient patterns, throwing the whole vessel off course.

The Four Internal Clashes Potentially Sabotaging Your Life Voyage

When our internal intelligence breaks down, it’s usually because an everyday adult part has slipped into a part not equipped for the journey. If you feel like you are constantly fighting your own ship, look closely at these four common patterns:

1. The Vaded Parts (Trapped in Old Storms)

These are parts of your crew that have become flooded (vaded) by intense, unresolved emotions from past shipwrecks. They are stuck in an emotional time loop.

Vaded in Fear: Flooded with old trauma, keeping your inner lookout in a state of constant anxiety and hyper-vigilance.
Vaded in Rejection (The “Not Enough” Part): Carrying deep feelings of inadequacy and shame, causing this part to withdraw to the lower decks.
Vaded in Disappointment: Operating with a low-energy, hopeless tone that mutters, “What’s the point? Abandon ship.”
Vaded in Confusion: Trapped in endless rumination, looping guilt, or blame.

2. The Retro Parts (Outdated Navigation Software)

These parts are running on ancient, overlearned habits that no longer serve your current voyage.

Retro Original: Old, automated behaviours your other parts dislike, like nail-biting, or defensive snapping under pressure.
Retro Avoiding (The Numbing & Scrolling Part): Numbing strategies, like mindlessly scrolling your phone for hours or reaching for an extra glass of wine, are designed entirely to push uncomfortable feelings deep down into the cargo hold.

3. The Conflicted Parts (The Internal Tug-of-War)

This is classic psychological paralysis. Two of your internal parts are vehemently competing for the steering wheel with opposite goals. One part wants to speak up boldly and steer forward; the other is afraid of rocking the boat with conflict and locks your jaw, freezing the rudder.

4. The Dissonant Parts (Wrong Sailor at the Wheel)

This happens when an otherwise capable part shows up at the wrong station. Imagine your strict, hyper-analytical “corporate manager” part hijacking the wheel during a relaxed, romantic weekend away. Planning the next business decision in the boardroom. It’s an excellent, highly skilled part, but it’s in the completely wrong role for the current waters. Here, your romantic ‘partner’ part will be best to be in the driver’s seat.

🧭 Interactive Tool: Map Your Inner Crew

Want to see how your own internal team operates? Click below to try our live interactive parts passport. You can adjust the state of your inner crew to see exactly who takes the wheel as your Captain of the Moment. The link below opens up Philipa’s parts passport as a PDF file.

👉 Try the Inner Crew Parts Passport

Smooth Sailing Ahead: Review and Repair

True psychological agility isn’t about tossing challenging parts overboard or fighting yourself. Mutiny never brought peace to a ship. Instead, effective parts work is all about a supportive process of review and repair.

Our primary aim at Resource Therapy is to step in, compass in hand, to safely review what each part needs, repair the old distress, and guide them back to their healthy, Normal condition.

⚓ The Journey from Mutiny to Harmony

Where You Are Now (Current Reality)	The Healing Voyage (Our Steps)	Where We Are Steering (Desired Reality)
• Flooded Parts: Anchored in past distress.	1. Identify & Review: Meet the part with compassion.	• Smooth Sailing: An internal ship that glides effortlessly.
• Internal Mutiny: Parts fighting for control.	2. Repair Old Pain: Safely unburden and heal the hurt.	• The Right Captain: The perfect state leading at the perfect time.
• Stuck in Habits: Outdated coping mechanisms.	3. Return to “Normal”: Anchor the part back in the present.	• Total Alignment: A crew that works together beautifully.

We don’t try to eliminate your protective or anxious parts. We listen to them. We help the *Vaded* parts safely release their old pain, we negotiate peace treaties between *Conflicted* parts, and we guide the *Dissonant* parts back to the roles where they actually thrive.
The ultimate goal is beautifully simple: ensuring that whatever waters life throws you into, the part acting as the Captain of the Moment is returned to its healthy, normal state, perfectly suited to the occasion, completely grounded, and armed with the exact skills you need to navigate ahead.

Meet the Captains of Global Resource Therapy

Bringing harmony to your inner crew requires a safe, experienced, and deeply compassionate pair of hands. That’s where we come in.

As the leading global authorities on Resource Therapy, Philipa Thornton and Chris Paulin bring decades of combined clinical expertise, warmth, and down-to-earth kindness to this profound parts-work framework. Operating from our hub in Sydney, Australia, we oversee the growth of this transformative therapy worldwide as the directors of the Australia Resource Therapy Institute and leading voices for Resource Therapy International.

Our mission is to ensure every part of you gets the stamp of validation it deserves, making this fast, respectful, and powerful clinical tool accessible to therapists and clients everywhere.

Whether you are looking to book a personal consultation to find your own internal alignment or you’re a practitioner ready to revolutionise your clinical practice, we are here to support you every nautical mile of the way.

Ready to update your passports? If you are looking for a psychologist in Sydney, or you are based anywhere across Australia or New Zealand and want to experience the rapid, life-changing shift of parts work, explore our global directory to find a certified Clinical Resource Therapist near you.

For practitioners in Australia and NZ ready to upgrade your clinical toolkit with world-class expertise, join Philipa and Chris in our upcoming professional training cohorts online and in person. Secure your passport to advanced clinical excellence on our workshop training page here.

About the Authors

Philipa Thornton & Chris Paulin are General/ Consultant Psychologists, senior international trainers, and founders of the Australia Resource Therapy Institute (ARTI). As the President and Treasurer, they are on the executive committee of Resource Therapy International. They specialise in helping individuals and practitioners master advanced parts work to create rapid, lasting emotional healing.

Your Inner Crew Is Waiting Begin The Journey Within A Gentle Way To Meet Your Parts Resource Therapy Tools For Self-Understanding Not All Healing Starts With Talking Sometimes It Starts With Noticing Who’s On Board — A Gentle Way To Meet Your Parts
Resource Therapy Tools For Self-Understanding

May 3, 2026May 3, 2026

Last Chance For Bali: Refocus Your Parts Work In Paradise

Elegant promotional graphic for the Bali Clinical Resource Therapy Intensive, inviting past Resource Therapy graduates to refocus their parts work in a warm tropical setting with Philipa Thornton

There is a particular moment in every therapist’s professional life when they realise they do not need more theory.

They need reconnection.

Reconnection with the work.
Reconnection with clinical confidence.
Reconnection with the part of them that first fell in love with therapy because it could create real change.

For many past Resource Therapy graduates, the original training opened something powerful. You learnt to recognise Resource States. You learnt to listen differently. You discovered that symptoms, resistance, distress, avoidance and inner conflict were not random problems to be managed, but meaningful expressions from parts of the personality system.

And then life happened.

Clients kept coming. Notes piled up. Supervision squeezed into the edges. The theory was there, somewhere. The skills were there, too. But perhaps the confidence became a little less sharp. Perhaps you found yourself thinking:

“I know Resource Therapy works – but I’d love to feel really fluent again.”

That is exactly why the Bali Clinical Resource Therapy Intensive is such a rare opportunity.

This is not simply a repeat of training. It is a chance to return to the heart of Resource Therapy – with fresh eyes, renewed energy, and a deeper appreciation of what this beautiful parts-based model can do.

Why A Refresher Matters

Resource Therapy is practical, precise and deeply attachment-informed.

It asks a deceptively simple question:

Who is at the helm right now?

That question can change a session.

Instead of working around the client’s symptoms, we learn to speak directly with the Resource State that is carrying the pain, protection, confusion, grief, fear, rejection, anger or resistance.

For past graduates, refreshing this skill is not remedial. It is professional deepening.

Because the more fluent you become in Resource Therapy, the more you begin to notice what is happening beneath the surface:

The client who says, “I’m fine,” while a Vaded State quietly holds rejection below deck.
The couple caught in conflict, while dissonant parts battle for safety.
The high-functioning professional whose Retro State keeps them moving so they never have to feel.
The therapy client who seems resistant – until we understand that resistance is simply a Resource State trying to protect the system.

This is where Resource Therapy becomes more than a model.

It becomes a clinical map.

Why Bali?

There is something powerful about stepping away from the usual clinical environment.

Not because Bali is beautiful – though it is.
Not because warm air, ocean, colour and spaciousness help the nervous system soften – though they do.

But because distance creates perspective.

A Bali intensive gives you room to remember your own inner crew as well as your clients’.

It allows learning to become embodied again. You are not squeezing professional development between emails, invoices, family logistics and tired evenings. You are entering a focused, immersive environment where Resource Therapy can come alive again through teaching, demonstration, discussion, practice and connection.

And for past graduates, this matters.

Because when you revisit this work after having used it clinically, you hear it differently.

What once felt like theory now has faces.
What once felt like steps now has nuance.
What once felt like “a technique” becomes a way of listening.

For Past Graduates Who Want More Confidence

This Bali opportunity is especially suited to therapists who have already completed Resource Therapy training and want to:

Sharpen their clinical precision
Refresh the core actions and principles
Reconnect with the ship and crew metaphor
Gain more confidence in identifying which part is at the helm in the drivers seat
Deepen their understanding of Vaded, Retro and Conflicted States
Practise RT thinking in a supportive learning community
Return home feeling clearer, braver and more resourced

It is also ideal if you have been meaning to bring Resource Therapy more fully into your practice, but have not quite found the momentum.

Sometimes the missing piece is not more information.

Sometimes it is immersion.

The Cost Of Waiting

Here is the honest bit.

If you already know Resource Therapy has changed the way you see clients, waiting another year may mean another year of underusing a model you already believe in.

Another year of reaching for familiar interventions when a direct parts-based approach might be more precise.

Another year of thinking, “I really should revisit that.”

The Bali Intensive is a chance to stop circling and step back in.

Not with pressure.
Not with perfection.
But with curiosity, warmth and clinical courage.

Come Back To The Work That Works

Resource Therapy gives therapists a way to meet clients where the wound actually lives.

Not just in the story.
Not just in the behaviour.
But in the Resource State that is carrying the emotional charge.

For past graduates, Bali offers a beautiful invitation:

Come back to the parts work model.
Come back to the method.
Come back to your own confidence.

And perhaps most importantly – come back to the part of you that knows this work matters.

Last Chance For Bali – Refocus Your Parts Work

Join us for the Bali Clinical Resource Therapy Intensive and reconnect with the power, precision and heart of Resource Therapy.

Learn more or enquire:
Bali Refresher dates June 10-18, 2026
philipa@resourcetherapy.com.au