Individuation, the Shadow and the Journey of Becoming – with Stephen Bushell (Nov. 2020)

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I anticipated attending this CPD event with great eagerness, looking forward to exploring these concepts- the sense that “life is a journey of becoming whole” within a Jungian paradigm: how this might be experienced, how we might make sense of it, and how we might get stuck on our journeys. 

And I think, for me certainly, the sense of how this might be experienced was foundational to this day of learning. Stephen managed to structure and facilitate an experiential way of working that was both insightful and empathetic and, given that this event was held online via Zoom, it worked brilliantly. 

We were encouraged to think more deeply about the shadow, the ego, and the self and their relationship by experiencing and then exploring. Stephen would set us a couple of questions on which to reflect, we would then be placed in “breakout rooms” of dyads or triads and were able to explore our responses to these questions together. We’d then return to the larger group to feed back our experiences around this thinking and collectively make sense of them. 

The sense of connection fostered in this approach was a part of the learning, I felt, in that we were working quite intimately in small groups as part of a greater whole and this structurally created a metaphor for that concept developed in this workshop that “I” is made up of many parts, and how they dance together has real meaning in the accessing of depth. 

We explored with Stephen the sense of Collective or Cultural Shadow and how space for living where this might be suspended can be created and experienced. We explored the concept of transcendence, we explored how the emergence of the self can feel threatening to the ego and thought about projection. 

All of this was done within the context of the “Hero’s Journey” or “call to adventure”; the path of Individuation tracked across Jung’s four stages of life- both chronologically and developmentally. Our internal world and external one begin to meet in the process of Individuation and this involves a being with those parts of ourselves and our history that are uncomfortable and potentially distressing to know: the Shadow. This feels like it is a process of getting to know and integration between our inner world (the Shadow) and the outer world (the Ego) which is the compost in which the Self can become:  “Becoming who we were born to become”. Now I don’t pretend to be an expert in Jungian theory- this workshop has left me with both a realisation of how much I don’t know, and also a real thirst to learn more. If I have in any way mis-described the theoretical learning in this brief precis, then I do apologise; I am at the beginning of my own learning here.

Most importantly, we explored this from a place of real connectivity and constellation with each other and this both made the work do-able and as I experienced, deeply felt. This resulted in an experience that was greater than educational, it was lived and quite transformational. Both I and my practice have benefited from this CPD Event, and given another opportunity to work with Stephen, would jump at it. 

By: Merri Mayers
Merri Mayers Counselling

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Average feedback scores from our event:

Organisation of event: 4.9 out of 5

Speaker: 4.9 out of 5

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Feedback from our event:

“The day was richly filled with personal application and adaptability for the current pandemic, which I greatly appreciated. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and the journey of the day. The group felt safe to share and that enabled a depth of learning to emerge at a natural pace throughout the time we shared together. I felt that we created something very precious and I’m still feeling the impact.” Sally Walters

“I would love to see Stephen Bushell return to give another workshop. I found his delivery to be very engaging and welcomed his experiential style. He held the group in a way that invited trust and disclosure and I valued his personal involvement in the process.”  Carol Bennett

“Thoroughly enjoyable CPD, despite having to take place on Zoom, a great connectedness was created within the group and the depth of material Stephen elicited within the group was thought provoking and enjoyable.” Debbie Kelly

“Enlightening personally and affirming of good practice.” John Homewood

“Significant, deeply helpful for personal and client work. It’s been inspiring for growth.” Angela Man

“I have valued the pace, style, content of this day greatly, and thought that Stephen held the group beautifully. I would like more of this please!” Kelly Paterson

“I have really enjoyed today and I am very interested on any future workshops on Jungs work, with Stephen. It has very much brought to life a subject that I have tried to battle with in my head. I have enjoyed the experiential nature of the workshop, very powerful for personal and professional life – it was also safe and deeply held by Stephen.” Emma Johnsey

“Re-kindling my connection with Jungs ideas; this feels really important and nourishing just now . Thank you. Really appreciating the pace, spaciousness and connectedness of the day.” Jaana Laidlaw

“Really valuable day.  I have enjoyed the experiential nature of the workshop and the connected nature of the group.” Kate Blockley 

“Thank you for the workshop which has been thought-provoking and enriching, personally and clinically.  I feel glad to have been part of the group.” Georgia Dench

“Thought provoking, nourishing and deeply connecting. Expertly delivered by Stephen with a real sense of unity felt by the group. I will certainly be signing up for more workshops in the future.” Jessica Bennett 

“This is AWESOME!!!” Merri Mayers 

“Thank you for such a well organised, successful training day. I was very impressed by how smoothly you made the day run over Zoom. I didn’t experience a single hitch!” Georgia Dench