Client, 28 years of age

I had reached a point in my life where I realised that I was not happy, that I did not know who or what I was. That I was looking for answers, and was prepared to put an end to it all. As a last resort I decided to do SHIP^®.

Wow! I must say I sometimes felt like skipping these sessions, because I knew I would have to deal with things I thought I had put behind me. But I persevered, however unwillingly, and I’m very thankful for that now. For the first time in my life I’m quite ok with who and what I am. I have found myself, and I accept myself. I also realise now that if one is not happy in yourself, you can’t be happy at other levels. This psychotherapy has also played an incredible role in our marriage and things are just making so much more sense. We have grown much closer to each other and understand each other so much better.

I have found peace within myself and am very grateful to have been able to do SHIP® and complete the sessions. This has changed my whole life and my outlook on life.

I know that one is only human and the “negative” things can build up again, but I got rid of so much baggage that I am carrying a far lighter load. I feel that I can look the world square in the eyes again.

Client, 49 years of age

I agonised and agonised and thanks to SHIP^® I can see clearly how I landed at the right place at the right time and how various people helped me get ahead at various times. Now I know why I am here.

SHIP^® didn’t entirely make sense until I was able to see that it was the only “space” where I had ever been able to be myself.

When we did something good as children my grandmother used to tell us that we would get our reward in heaven. (Naturally we would have preferred an immediate cash acknowledgement!) Now I understand this at a deeper level and this is why I’d like to say to the SHIP^® Facilitators, “You will get your reward in heaven.” Thank you.

Client, 38 years of age

Confronting the fears within, the past and subsequent present projections from my shadow, has lead to the freedom of being me – true to myself and others.

My experience was one of dying and being reborn.

The spontaneous me was hidden in the child within who couldn’t allow herself to be due to responsibilities, expectations, fears and hurt. Allowing my individuation process to unfold in SHIP^® helped me to connect with the nakedness of my soul and I love what I have found.

This unfolding process of a life story as it unfolded from the past into the present, created in me a sense of understanding for myself and others, a knowing that the answers are within and that connectedness begins with trusting my feelings to guide me.

Taking responsibility for my feelings and perceptions helped me to understand boundaries between the internal and external worlds and the mirroring effect of both.

I had to find the complete picture of myself and embrace it. In this I had to walk a road of honesty and confrontation and discovered through this valley my strength and weaknesses, allowing myself to love it all – this brought me life.

Life within – being fully alive – was my connection with freedom.

In this freedom my road of exploration remains endless.

Client, 42 years of age

I hit a crisis early this year (relationship induced) and started seeing a SHIP^® Facilitator. I just want to say thank you for the process you have refined and for sharing with others so that many more people can benefit from it than if you do it on your own. I also want to say thank you for recommending this particular facilitator. The “journey” has been a really valuable one for me and the facilitator with her gentle yet direct approach has really guided me well. I think I still have some work to do, yet know I have come a very long way.

Interesting healing reaction

What I considered healing was fascinating. The facilitator asked me how I saw myself as a girl of school going age. It was a happy picture. She then asked me how I see myself today. What I remember was as if heat waves moved through my body from my toes to my head, an anger that I had allowed that happy girl to change into the adult she had become. After the session I did not notice anything particularly. But that weekend we went to an air show and for someone who was always “freezing cold in winter – never warm enough despite layers and layers of clothing” – I was at the air show and felt warm and took of the thick jacket and then the long sleeve top to walk around in a sleeveless T-shirt. I thought it was a just hot day. But when the same thing happened over and over again, my face glowing, my hands warm and even my feet warm when I went to bed, I knew this was not a coincidence. My husband noticed the warm hands and feet and body and kept asking what happened. I explained that he must go find out for himself. He was so intrigued that my “healing” ( I did not know anything was wrong with having cold hands) triggered enough interest and fascination for him to explore the process. I went through an entire winter being warm for the first time as an adult in as long as I can remember.

I can only say that what you do really matters in people lives – even people whom you had never met. Keep up the good work.

Client, 37 years of age

Prior to starting therapy I felt that I had begun to retreat from the world and everybody in it. Anxiety met with fear, caused me to wonder if things would ever be the same again. Every day I wondered what this was, taking over my body and controlling me. I couldn’t sleep and therefore couldn’t function. When I did sleep, I woke up with trepidation, scared and worried that I wouldn’t cope.

Beginning therapy was the start of change for me. Already I started to accept that the anxiety I felt was the beginning of the healing process and that SHIP^® was the way to becoming healthy again. SHIP^® was incredible for me as I felt it working every step of the way. Today I am back where I want to be. I wake up each day and there is renewed excitement. I feel completely at ease with life and look forward to change. Life is as it was before only I think, better.

Client, 64 years of age

I started SHIP^® a little more than a year ago with complaints of high blood pressure, underachievement, and difficulties in adapting to life after divorce.

Pretty soon my blood pressure returned to normal and I have currently maintained normal levels in spite of quite a stressful business programme.

In general I feel more creative and comfortable with myself even though there are ongoing problems regarding my children and my ex-wife.

SHIP^® has indeed been a very valuable experience for me.

Client, 49 years of age

I have been unhappy ever since I can remember – even as a child. When I was fifteen years old I struggled desperately with anorexia nervosa. This problem never went away and I went to many therapists. I eventually landed up in a mental institution when I was twenty-one years old. I went from one therapist to the next to try and get my life in order. Needless to say, I didn’t want to live! My life in shambles, I decided to give it one more try with a SHIP^® Facilitator.

This was the beginning of a long road to recovery and of truly “finding me”. While there is no such a thing as experiencing a “quick fix” when committing oneself to SHIP^®, one does, however, experience the positive effects of the therapy almost immediately. It was difficult at first when I gained weight and I even became slightly overweight, but it was all part of the process of self-acceptance and I was helped in therapy to deal with it. But miraculously, one day I just realised that my body was “right” and I felt “right”.

I had healed and lost weight spontaneously!!! No dieting, no more fear of food! I was “normal”!! The brilliance of this therapy is that it doesn’t just heal a “symptom” – it helps one to connect with oneself. This of course makes it possible to deal with all the crises that inevitably cross one’s path. I actually enjoyed the therapy! It was self-enriching and I learnt so much about life and about myself! I can never thank my therapist enough! Not only did he save my life, he instilled in me the desire to live and yes, I am looking forward to life!!

Client, 32 years of age

In a couple of days I will be married and where previously I had been extremely scared and nervous concerning everything that married life involves, all those feelings have now dissipated. I am excited and looking forward to this moment. Without SHIP^® I would not have been able to have gone through the complete process of matrimony. Even my fiancé comments on how I have changed and on my spontaneous behaviour.

I feel like a new person, and can cope better with situations in general. It’s really great to feel so good about myself. Thanks for that.

Client, 46 years of age

SHIP^® has been of great value to me.

At first I thought it wasn’t working and that it never would work because all I did was cry over issues I have been crying over for years and years already. The only difference was that I was lying on a bed while someone else was listening to me and making notes (which in itself was a bit scary). But the amazing thing was the healing that happened without my noticing it!

Suddenly, quite a way down the process, things weren’t that bad any more, my body was not playing tricks on me at the most inappropriate time any longer, and life started looking a little bit better. And when I eventually got to the end of the SHIP^® my fears about handling life on my own had gone.

What I appreciate about this type of psychotherapy is that there is no dependency on the facilitator – it’s you making contact with your own potential, but when needed the facilitator is there to assist you in claiming back your life.

Client, 38 years of age

Through my adult years I became used to feelings of emotional discomfort such as unfulfilled loneliness and depression.

I have suffered from anorexia since 1987. The illness was never completely cured but it became less severe after I met my husband at university in 1989 (I was 23 at that time). He was very supportive and I felt more secure. Despite our relationship, I felt anxious often and found difficulty acting spontaneously towards others. This reached a point where feeling discontented was like a comfort zone, almost as if I had a reason not to be happy.

Our marriage was blessed with three children (7, 4 and 2 years of age). While battling to find connectedness towards myself and bringing up three little ones at the same time, I started smoking and drinking wine regularly. I saw that as a way of helping myself to cope, but the truth was that I was not ready to allow myself the experience of peace and joy.

Through seven months of SHIP^® I was confronted with uncomfortable emotional and physical feelings such as body numbness, aching limbs and intense feelings of guilt and grief. I felt like two individuals, the cured one seeing the other still suffering from inner turmoil. These feelings were most likely engraved during my early childhood, since I lost a little brother when I was almost three.

I realized I was using distracters like alcohol to suppress emotions that were not dealt with earlier. During SHIP^® all these “incomplete” feelings came to the surface and we worked through them all until they left me as “energy” being transformed.

I quit smoking in my sixth month of psychotherapy and now use alcohol sensibly. SHIP^® made it possible to experience life from within. Finding freedom and peace of mind is possible, if one can only take responsibility for seeking for it …