John Dent

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John works as a body-psychotherapist, ERT practitioner and group facilitator in Bristol and in Stroud. He runs workshops across the UK.
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John
Dent
Body-psychotherapist, ERT practitioner and group facilitator

Many years ago I became involved with a primal therapy community in both Ireland and South America. Here I experienced the power of authenticity, speaking ones truth and allowing feelings, discovering that not only does core centred expression lead to a richer, liberated sense of self but also it prevents feelings from coming out in a distorted way (somatic issues, low self-esteem, passive aggression, anxiety etc.). This simple, yet profound insight led me to train in various therapies.

I began training at the purely physical end of body-therapy spectrum starting with a massage courses but deeper work kept calling out to me. I then studied transcultural counselling, and psychodrama and eventually Deep-body work with The Entelia Institute (Adv Dip) and Embodied Relational Therapy (Adv Dip) with Nick Totton, both neo-reichian forms of body-psychotherapy . Most recently I also trained in Wild Therapy also with Nick Totton, an approach to working therapeutically outdoors in nature.

I have always been drawn to ways of working that allow the whole self into the space, this means allowing expression through not only words but also sound, touch, creativity and movement. Certain stages of development cannot be reached through words alone such as preverbal states. Words can also take us away from our feelings and more into our heads which is not always where we need to be, also I do not underestimate the power of words and see them as an essential part of how I work. I love this kind of work because it’s a creative approach that encourages the whole person’s life force in all its forms.

The work I do in nature (DNA) was developed by myself. I developed it as a way of acknowledging the psyche as extending beyond the body and incorporating the natural world as a part of who we are.

Like our natural breath, my approach feeds a need in myself as a therapist for inspiration, expansion and energetic release.

I am supervised and a full member of IPN (Independent Practitioners Network) through which I am also accredited.

Bristol and Stroud