NVC Constellations & Identity Constellations Workshops
Daren De Witt facilitates monthly constellations workshops for a small group of people (7 participants max). He usually alternates between two types of workshop: Identity Constellations workshops and NVC-focused Identity Constellations workshops. Click the following links or scroll down to read about:
Upcoming Constellations Workshop Dates
About Constellations Workshops and NVC
Constellations Background and Theory
What happens on a Constellations workshop
More Constellations Background Theory
To book a place on a workshop or to discuss this further, please email Daren at nvcresolutions[at]gmail.com or message Daren via the contact form on this website.
Upcoming Workshops Dates:
These workshops take place approx once every two months. Currently scheduled dates are:
Date: Sat 18th & Sun 19th May 2024. Workshop type: Identity Constellations (IoPT). Location: Online using Zoom.
Timings: In the online format, each workshop runs over two mornings (Sat & Sun) from 9.30am – 1.30pm.
NB. Daren is currently facilitating these workshops in an online format only, due to changes in people’s habits resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic. He hopes at some point to offer theses workshops in-person in both London and Hastings. Daren has facilitated many constellations workshops online and they have all been very effective, despite participants being in their separate homes and connecting through the internet. The ’empathic resonance’ typical of constellations sessions was experienced by us all, and a deep level of trust and connection usually develops between participants. If you would prefer to attend in a face to face format only, please let Daren know and he will contact you when he resumes face to face workshops.
About Constellations Workshops and NVC
These workshops are not ‘NVC training workshops’, ie the emphasis is not on learning and assimilating the NVC process. Instead the emphasis is on personal healing and integration. However, these workshops are very much aligned with NVC and Daren’s depth of experience of NVC is an aspect of his facilitation. The particular quality that predominates in these workshops is ’empathic resonance’, which is an application of the NVC focus of empathy to our intrapsychic experience. When we experience this quality of empathic resonance during a constellations workshop it illustrates the power we have as humans to connect empathically with one another on the deepest levels. Empathic resonance is a resource that is scarcely known and rarely utilised.
Constellations Workshops Background and Theory
NVC helps us enormously in our communication and relationships. However, sometimes deeper patterns within us prevent the smooth flow of communication that we seek. These patterns can be very difficult to spot within ourselves as they are often unconscious and habitual. Also, it can be really hard to see ourselves as we appear to others in the world.
Daren’s own challenges in this area and his search for a way forward led him to Identity Constellations, (also called Identity-oriented Psychotrauma Therapy, or IoPT) a process developed by Professor Franz Ruppert from roots in the Family Constellations method of Bert Hellinger.
Identity constellations focuses particularly on three core needs – safety, connection and authenticity – and how these needs played out in the very earliest years of our life when our core identity was formed. It is at this early period of our life that many of the patterns of our personality are created, and these patterns go on to influence us for the rest of our lives, for better and for worse!
The Identity Constellations process usually takes place in a group context, though it is also possible to work one to one with a facilitator. The process harnesses the power of empathic resonance – our natural ability as humans to attune ourselves to each other on deep levels. Within the context of the ’empathic field’ of the group, other participants act as respectful and supportive mirrors of our inner dynamics.
Identity Constellations workshops are rich, powerful and deeply engaging workshops that will help you to explore and understand your sense of who you are and where you have split off from parts of your true identity. Gradually you will be able to reclaim long lost parts of yourself, enabling you to relate more effectively from a place of inner strength and authenticity.
NVC-focused Identity Constellations workshops: Daren has adapted the Identity Constellations process to focus on the themes of NVC, with particular emphasis on our needs. Often when practising NVC we can find that we have deeper resistance and blocks within us to getting one or more of our needs met in our daily lives. During NVC-focused Identity Constellations, we focus on a particular need that we are struggling with and the process supports us to meet and understand the block or resistance within us, which supports us to create the internal shift needed to get this need met.
If you find working in groups too challenging, Daren can also facilitate this process with you on a one to one basis. Contact Daren to discuss this option.
Thank you for the workshop last weekend, Daren. I found it incredibly powerful and healing. Thank you for your calm and grounding presence. I’ll definitely do another one. – NC, March 2022
My experience doing this work with Daren went far beyond my expectations. I attended his workshop having never heard of this modality before, and I am so glad I took the chance on it. Even as someone new to the work, I felt comfortable fully participating and letting go into the process, largely because of the trust and support I felt with Daren. Daren is a highly empathetic and perceptive facilitator, and his many years of experience were incredibly felt during the workshop. I would highly recommend working with Daren. – Lauren S, July 2021
“Thank you Daren – I had an insightful and monumental experience in your workshop.” – CN, June 2021
Upcoming Constellations Workshops Dates and Timings:
These workshops take place approx once every two months. Currently scheduled dates are:
Date: Sat 18th & Sun 19th May 2024. Workshop type: Identity Constellations. Location: Online using Zoom.
Timings: In the online format, each workshop runs over two mornings (Sat & Sun) from 9.30am – 1.30pm.
What Happens on a Constellations Workshop?
There are two types of place on these workshops, which we call a working place and a participant place.
Working Place: If you book a working place, this will enable you to engage in a full self-encounter process or ‘constellation’. In each process the person working will come up with an intention to explore an area in his or her life. For example, “I want to know why I am anxious around other people.” This ‘sentence of intention’ will provide the framework for that person’s process. Other members of the group support the exploration by participating in the process and resonating with the different elements of that person’s intention. If you have a working place you can also be available as a support person, or ’empathic resonator’ for others when they do their processes. There is a maximum of 4 working places available on each workshop. Each constellation last for approx 75-90 minutes.
Participant Place: If you book a participant place, you role will primarily be to support those with working places through resonating with the elements of their intention. There is a maximum of 3 participant places available on each workshop.
Everyone in the group can benefit from the experience, learning something about themselves either through experiencing their own constellation (self-encounter), participating in the constellations of others, or observing.
NB. Identity Constellations and NVC-focused Identity Constellations workshops are very similar. The essential difference is that on NVC-focused Identity Constellations workshops we ask you to formulate your ‘sentence of intention’ around a need that you are struggling with in your life and want to understand more about in relation to your inner experience.
Visit Daren’s website, IdentityTherapy-Constellations.co.uk for more information on Identity Constellations.
Prices and Booking:
You can choose from two types of workshop place. Both offer personal insights, learning and healing.
Working place – £90: Guarantees you a personal constellation
Participant place – £30: Available as resonator in the constellations of others.
Working places are limited and fill up quickly. If time allows it may be possible to upgrade to a working place on the day.
To Book a Place on a workshop
To book a place on a workshop or to discuss this further, please email Daren at nvcresolutions[at]gmail.com
NB. Replace the [at] in the above email address with the following symbol: @
Workshops take place approximately once a month. Each workshop is self-contained, so you can attend one or attend regularly.
The workshop provides a safe environment in which to explore early life experiences. These experiences can evoke strong feelings relating to early trauma. Some participants might find that they need support between sessions to process these feelings. If you don’t have access to support you are welcome to discuss this with Daren.
Comments from previous Identity Constellations workshop participants:
“I really love the identity constellations and they REALLY help me. This time I have seen really instant results too, I have such a better understanding about myself and this week I have made some positive changes that feel like totally new territory, not going over the same old failed interventions but really getting to the heart of things.” – Phillipa G, Jan 2019
“On the workshop I found and brought back a piece of myself that has been buried for such a long time and that gives me tremendous joy and a renewed sense of inner strength. I cannot thank you enough for such a precious gift.” – Carlotta Z, March 2019
“Today’s workshop has felt very gentle & patient. We have had plenty of time & emotional space to give voice to those vulnerable parts of ourselves that have not previously dared to speak their truth.” – Jane S, November 2019
More Constellations Background Theory
In early childhood we are caught between two primary needs. One is attachment, the need to form a loving connection with others, usually our parents, in order to be looked after, to survive and to grow. The second primary need is for authenticity – the ability to be connected to ourselves, to know what we feel and be able to act on it. However, if being authentic to ourselves threatens our attachment to our parents or carers, then our need for attachment will overpower our need for authenticity every time. Dr Gabor Mate explains this succinctly in this short excerpt below. NB. The relevant excerpt will start at 1:32:49. We suggest you follow it for approx 5 minutes to 1:37:10.
Identity Constellations Therapy defines this loss of connection with our authentic feelings as a Trauma of Identity. We split off from our authentic feelings because our attachment relationships won’t support them. We then cultivate adapted personality traits, or ‘survival selves’ to maintain attachment and to keep our authentic feelings from our awareness. 
As we progress through life, our authentic feelings remain buried and out of reach and a more authentic way of being and relating to others eludes us. As Dr Mate suggests, most of us have faced some degree of disconnection from our authenticity in this way.
Identity Constellations is a unique process that helps us to experience the attachment-authenticity dynamic as it played out in our early lives, from the point of conception onwards. It does this by making use of our natural ability as humans to resonate with the body, feelings and cognitions of others. As humans we tune into, and resonate with others all the time. Identity Constellations harnesses and focuses this natural ability to support deep awareness and healing.
Identity constellations therapy will help you to gain an understanding of how your early life experiences are influencing you on a daily basis.
Step by step you will be able to:
* separate yourself from what others wanted you to be
* trust yourself
* make clear and positive choices
* honour your feelings as well as your body
* maintain healthy loving relationships
* become the person you want to be