How to use the nurturing figures exercise

ABOUT THE EPISODE

How can therapists introduce nurturing figures?

Natalie and Wendy discuss using nurturing figures across CFT and EMDR, including with clients experiencing trauma and anxiety.

Wendy describes how to guide the exercise, respond to emotional reactions and adapt it to the client in front of you.

• Introducing and practising nurturing figures
• Combining CFT and EMDR
• Responding to difficult emotions
• Scripts and resources for therapists

How can therapists introduce nurturing figures collaboratively?

Wendy Castelino and Natalie discuss introducing and practising nurturing figures across compassion-focused therapy and EMDR. Explaining the exercise and inviting the client's response can help it feel like a collaborative exploration rather than an image the client is expected to produce correctly.

The work may need adapting for the person in front of the therapist. Clients can respond differently to imagined care and support, particularly where trauma or anxiety is present, so the therapist needs room to slow down and understand what emerges.

What if the exercise brings up difficult emotion?

Nurturing imagery does not always feel immediately comforting. The episode considers responding to emotional reactions and using the client's experience as information rather than assuming that difficulty means the exercise has failed.

Scripts and resources can provide structure, but they do not replace attunement. The therapist can adjust the pace, language and form of the exercise while keeping sight of what the imagery is intended to support within the wider therapy.

Related listening: For a clear way to explain the attachment ideas beneath nurturing imagery, listen to An Innovative Way of Explaining Attachment Theory and the tiger-and-teddy metaphor.