Bukarest/Rumänien, Start: Dec 1st, 2026
Sofia/Bulgarien, Start: June 9th, 2027
Tiblis/Georgien, Start: ?
Training in the NARM approach is not primarily about techniques. It is about learning to see and understand human beings differently. To recognize how human beings adapt to preserve connection—and how these adaptations continue to shape identity, perception, and relationship and are ultimately at the root of most symptoms people experience. NARM offers a way of working that is both precise and deeply human—supporting change not through effort, but through awareness, agency, and connection.
Module 1: Rethinking Shame, Symptoms and Identity
What if shame and guilt are not emotions, but processes shaping who we believe we are?
– Understanding chronic shame and guilt as hidden drivers of symptoms
– A new therapeutic orientation: Moving beyond pathology and fixing
– Shock trauma vs. developmental trauma – why the difference matters clinically
– Freeze, collapse and intrapsychic conflict
– The NARM integrative approach: Beyond top-down vs. bottom-up
– Organizing principles that shift how we listen and intervene
– The 5 adaptive survival styles as expressions of life intelligence
– Distortions of life force – and how they still serve connection
– Pride and shame-based identifications: Who are we without them?
– The 4 pillars of NARM as a clinical compass
– Establishing a therapeutic contract that supports autonomy
– Tracking connection and disconnection in real time
– Connection survival style – when contact with self is compromised
– Why goal-oriented therapy can unintentionally reinforce disconnection
Module 2: Attachment, Fear and the Loss of Self
Why do we give up parts of ourselves to preserve attachment?
– Developmental dynamics: Attachment and separation-individuation
– Asking questions that open experience instead of directing it
– Deconstructing experience: From story to lived moment
– Somatic mindfulness as a doorway, not a technique
– Attunement survival style – losing oneself in the other
– Working with resources without bypassing deeper dynamics
– Dual awareness: Staying present with both past and now
– Recognizing and amplifying positive shifts
– Autonomy survival style – control, resistance and hidden vulnerability
– Working with anger and aggression without losing connection
Module 3: The Heart, Agency and Relational Intelligence
What is the role of the heart in healing—and why is it often avoided?
– The heart as an organizing center in human experience
– Trust survival style – control, surrender and the fear of being vulnerable
– Primary vs. default emotions: What are we actually feeling?
– Anger and aggression revisited: Protection vs. disconnection
– Narcissism and objectification as relational strategies
– Narcissistic vs. sadistic dynamics in developmental trauma
– Supporting agency: Moving from reaction to participation
– Love-Sexuality survival style – intimacy, shame and vitality
– NARM language: Precision without pathologizing
– The personality disorder continuum as adaptive intelligence
– Core dilemma vs. symptoms: What is really organizing the client’s experience?
Module 4: Freedom, Complexity and Clinical Mastery
What does real change look like beyond symptom reduction?
– Disidentification: Creating space between self and survival patterns
– Developing a working hypothesis without fixing the client
– Self-hatred and self-rejection as protective processes
– Therapist pitfalls: Countertransference, acting out and re-enactment
– When empathy becomes a problem
– Efforting vs. allowing: The therapist’s inner stance
– Interplay of survival styles: Primary and secondary patterns
– Survival styles in intimacy and sexuality
– Expanding capacity for pleasure and aliveness
– Working with identity without reinforcing it
– Supporting increasing complexity and resilience
– Social engagement channels: Eyes, ears, face and touch
– Integrating NARM into clinical practice with clarity and depth