Specialist Fields
Since its inauguration in September 2001 The SHIP® Foundation has developed and branched out in different specialist fields.
- SHIPiC® (SHIP®inChildren) (Clients under 12)
- SHIP®forAdolescents (Clients between 12 & 18)
- SHIP®forAdults (Clients 18 and above)
- SHIP®forAcuteTrauma (Clients 18 and above)
In 2003, SHIPiC® was trademarked and launched at the Annual National SHIP® Conference at the Mahlapholane Game Reserve. Today SHIPiC® is one of the growing specialisation fields in The SHIP® Foundation and a training workshop for SHIP® Facilitators is organised each year.
The aim of SHIPiC® is to facilitate healing in the child client by allowing the child’s inner rhythms and wisdom to effect a natural balance. Various play and projection materials were developed to activate and further encourage the healing process in the child client. The book on this innovative South African child therapy technique is available for order by contacting us.


Adolescents have different needs and are at a unique developmental stage. SHIP®forAdolescents is a tailor-made approach to accommodate adolescents.
At approximately 12 years of age adolescents usually master the skill of operational thinking, which enables them to engage in abstract thinking in relation to the world, their philosophy of life and their own ideas and emotions. SHIP® is an ideal way to help adolescents to become more aware of their inner selves and help them to visualise and express what they think and feel.
SHIP®forAdults creates an environment within which the internal spontaneous healing process of the client may follow its natural self-regulation sequence. The focus is on the activation and spontaneous release of disconnected information. Ultimately it is the connection of the client with his or her disconnected material (the two sides of the wound) that brings about healing. The facilitator continually guides (facilitates) the client to remain in this Healing Space wherein self-regulation of the system reclaims past filed traumas. The spontaneous healing process within the client is thus allowed the opportunity to express (release) disconnected information, to complete traumas and to move towards flow.
The philosophy of SHIP® is that once the disconnected material is being connected and allowed to release spontaneously/ of its own accord, chronic dis-ease dissipates.


SHIP®forAcuteTrauma is a debriefing model. It has a very specific focus and application, namely to assist an adult client who has been exposed to acute trauma shortly after the traumatisation has taken place; it is not a treatment for a post-traumatic stress disorder.
SHIP®forAcuteTrauma was developed in private practice over a period of 15 years, after hundreds of sessions with a variety of victims. These included police officials, emergency workers, traffic officers, security officers and civilians. The types of traumatic incidents to which the victims had been exposed cover the entire spectrum.
SHIP®forAcuteTrauma is an exposure method by which the traumatic pain, fear and helplessness as well as the trauma memory are integrated and connected. The intervention prevents the trauma memory and pain from overwhelming the thoughts, emotions and behaviour of the person and subsequently averts chronic problems. SHIP®forAcuteTrauma is an intervention method to be used during the acute dis-ease, with the object of preventing the trauma from triggering the person’s negative coping styles and distracters. Failure to intervene would eventually lead to a chronic dis-ease.
SHIP® and SHIP®forAcuteTrauma regard symptoms as messages of disregulation within the self, but also as messages for healing. A traumatic incident brings to the fore a large number of definite symptoms within specific time periods. These provide an indication of the severity and intensity of the internal disconnection. It is important for the SHIP® Facilitator to have a detailed knowledge of the symptoms of trauma. SHIP®forAcuteTrauma does not regard the symptoms as pathological or consider that the symptoms need to be controlled and suppressed. The symptoms of trauma are the indicators of the state of chronic and acute disconnection and connection, non-integration and integration, and healing and non-healing.