Before the Covid lockdown I taught courses in Singapore, Utrecht and Istanbul, and worked with IOPT student practitioners in The Netherlands. I have facilitated open seminars in Utrecht, USA, Berlin, Oslo, Brazil, Israel and Romania, and online in Moscow. Since the Covid-19 lockdown I have been working online: open workshops, supervision of students, and professional learning events.

I edited all of the English translations of Franz Ruppert’s books, published by Green Balloon Publishing, a partnership which I established in 2008 with John Mitchell. I have written four books myself, one on Family Constellations – In the Presence of Many: Reflections on Constellations emphasising the Individual Context, and three on IoPT work:

The Heart of Things: Understanding Trauma – Working with Constellations
Becoming your true self: a handbook for the journey from trauma to healthy autonomy.
Trauma and Identity: Identity Oriented Psychotrauma Therapy – Theory and Practice.

Vivian’s perspective on her work and the human condition is this:

“We are created as innocent babies, healthy, unique, separate and free. If we are fully welcomed by our mother, the first relationship we have, we can grow to be who we really are, and flourish as ourselves. We are of course dependent, for a while, but if our mother really wants us and celebrates who we actually are and will become, then we keep our freedom and uniqueness and can develop our healthy psyche.

Our troubles begin if our mother is not so clear, if she does not want us, or if she is confused in her idea of what it is to be a mother, or if she requires her child to be something for her or do something for her, save her from her own traumas and disturbances. This, then, is a trauma for the child, who cannot hold onto his healthy, unique original self, but instead has to compromise and identify with the wants of the rejecting mother. The journey from this place of early trauma and a survival form of existence for the newly created child, is a long and hard journey, often resulting in a life of troubles, disappointment and pain.

IOPT understands this, and offers a means to a more hopeful and satisfying journey to re-gain our healthy psyche. The harm happened, but after the healing process it no longer dominates our life.”