Walking in Two Worlds: The Relational Self in Theory, Practice, and Community

Self-Relations Therapy is, in part, a synthesis of theory and practice from various prior traditions. However, the approach is more than an amalgam of ideas; rather, SR offers a meta-framework in which multiplicity – of form, meaning, presence, and so on – can be contained within an actively adaptive, aware, and present relational self.

Editors Stephen Gilligan and Dvorah Simon have gathered in a mosaic of content and communication to explain the perspective and to show how it can be applied across contexts. Divided into five broad sections – The Self-Relations Approach, Applications of Self-Relations, Self-Relations and Spiritual Paths, Dimensions of Self-Relations, Self-Relations and Expressive and Somatic Approaches – the book can be dipped into or read from beginning to end. Like a rich and colorful mosaic, the material can inspire or invoke whether you come in very close to follow specific themes or you stand back to take in the whole.

Stephen Gilligan first presented the theory and practice of Self-Relations in his book The Courage to Love in 1997. In the years since, the work has continued to evolve through workshops and presentations, as well as through the dialog and sharing of ideas that he has invited along the way. Just as the approach itself is a kind of collaboration of entities, whether within an individual or between people or in the midst of a community, this new book encourages the multidimensionality of voices. The contributors are not confined by rigid structural or editorial requisites; they are invited to address their topics in the language that befits them. Thus, a sense of the SR ideal of "multiple truths at the same time" is embodied in the work.

Stephen Gilligan, Ph.D., is known internationally as an author, a teacher, a presenter -- and the creator of the Self-Relations Approach to Psychotherapy. His work is designed to reconnect mind-body processes and encourage and support radical change. Steve Gilligan is the author of numerous articles and books, including The Courage to Love and, most recently, The Legacy of Milton H. Erickson.

Dvorah Simon, Ph.D., is a psychologist and poet. Since 1985, she has worked at the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine as a researcher and clinician in the field of brain injury and stroke rehabilitation. Her primary professional focus is on modes of therapy that begin with the premise of the inherent resourcefulness of the client. She is the author of a chapter on "Solution Focused Therapy as a Spiritual Path," which appeared in the Handbook of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy. For five years, she published news of the difference, an international newsletter for Solution Focused, Ericksonian, and related therapies. Self-Relations Therapy satisfies her quest for a way of working that embraces a robust and generous definition of the self.