Searching for Afrocentric spirituality within the transpersonal

The aim of this paper is to show, via the lens of a culturally specific dream, how the transpersonal could benefit from broadening its approach to spirituality to include the wisdom of African spiritual beliefs. Discussing perennial theory, whilst considering briefly some of the spiritual means essential to an African spirituality, this paper suggest that a more cosmopolitan approach to the transpersonal is needed to avoid the creation of a spiritual other

Relating to the other: a transpersonal exploration of our internalised experience of difference

The aim of the research was to explore the universal experience of internalised othering utilising creative techniques common to transpersonal psychotherap

Estimating the National and Local Prevalence of Problem Drug Misuse in Scotland

This report outlines the results of the third national study funded by the Scottish Government to provide estimates of the prevalence of problem drug misuse in Scotland. The estimates refer to the calendar year 2006

The effect of background knowledge on young children's comprehension of explicit and implicit information

Bibliography: leaves 15-16Supported in part by the National Institute of Educatio

Universal difference? Understanding relationality and difference in transpersonal psychotherapy

As a working class, black, male, who is the son of immigrants who travelled from the Caribbean with the Windrush Generation, I often feel at odds with my psychotherapy profession, dominated as it is by middle class, white, women, who typically have a British family line flowing back generations. My sense of otherness is with me throughout my working day, in my psychotherapy practice, as I sit with a diverse range of clients within the complex context of contemporary ‘multicultural’ Britain. The sense of ‘the other’, the sense of myself as ‘other’ impacts on, and to some degree constitutes therapeutic relationality. Within most styles of psychotherapy difference is mainly understood in terms of the acknowledgement of the various categories, consideration of power imbalances, which we try as therapists to work with, work around, work through. But I am a transpersonal psychotherapist, and within this modality, there is very little consideration of ‘difference’, or otherness, except to highlight the apparent universality of us all. In this paper, we will explore ways of carving out a space within transpersonal ways of thinking to consider the relational context of therapy, and to explore the constitution of ‘othering’ within this transpersonal therapeutic context. This paper outlines how the use of creative techniques common to Transpersonal psychotherapy, such as visualisations, drawing, and Sand Tray work can be used in research on therapy to explore the emotional bodily and relational experience of difference, between therapist and client, and between researcher and researche