What is process-oriented psychology and Processwork?

Process-oriented psychology, also called Processwork, is a post-Jungian transpersonal depth psychology that views human experience as a dynamic flow. Processwork invites people to attend to the subtle, shifting signals within their experience— a fleeting image, a slight tension, an almost-voice or impulse – and gently amplify those signals until they become conscious material. Grounded in compassionate curiosity, Processwork views difficulties not as pathologies to be fixed but as meaningful information pointing towards the next step on a person’s growth journey.

A process-oriented psychotherapist works with the full spectrum of their client’s experience, attuning to their conscious, primary identity and to the unconscious, secondary aspects that are marginalised and perceived as “not me”. Thus, the experiences a person has during night-time dreams, daytime fantasies and so-called altered states are received as richly significant and explored with the same compassionate curiosity as a person’s body symptoms, mental and emotional issues, relationship challenges and everyday disturbances.    

Processwork sessions are experiential and creative, with interventions arising from the client’s present-moment process rather than from a fixed protocol. This often involves tracking bodily cues and negotiating polarities, so all parts can be acknowledged and balanced, leading towards a sense of authenticity and wholeness. As disavowed or repressed aspects are treated as potentially useful, bringing them into conscious dialogue can expand a person’s emotional and behavioural capacity; for example, recovering assertiveness where passive patterns once dominated.

For people open to exploring their inner world, Processwork offers a path to enhanced emotional literacy, transformation of limiting beliefs and inner critics, and greater embodied self-awareness. With its focus on bringing awareness to underlying patterns and unconscious processes, Processwork is not just for individuals but is also widely used to resolve conflict within relationships, families, groups and communities.

If you’re curious to learn more about the Processwork approach in relation to my one-to-one sessions or group workshops, I invite you to book a free call with me. I also recommend the Mamaki Film documentary series ‘Beautiful People’ and ‘Miraculous Bodies’ for fascinating examples of Processwork in action. Additionally, the guided inner works on my YouTube channel offer insights into Processwork methodology.