Therapeutic training is a long, substantial and arduous process. Therapists are expected to undertake a rigorous self-examination before they are able to proceed in assisting clients. They should be able to help explore depth issues that are expressed in our subconscious, and how these affect our behaviours and repeating patterns which we cannot stop. Working with the subconscious means that clients are taken through a journey of exploration. They will understand how their past affects their present and how to dissolve the fixations, fantasies, fears and neuroses which pull down their adult world. Two important outcomes of therapy are

• There is considerable emotional release and understanding which gives clients more choice about how they wish to respond in situations or relationships. At RPL, this is called regulating or transforming the affect/emotional range.
• There is a depth of understanding/insight into dysfunctional personality through the client's history. At the end of the work, clients are able to re-structure their personality, life style and choices for the future. RPL call this personality re-structuring

Good therapists should be unafraid to explain how they work, what their limitations are, and the likely duration and outcomes of their work with you. Because your personal history becomes of immense importance in therapeutic work, it is not just emotional relief and problem solving, but the possibility of personality re-structuring and repair that a therapist aims for in their work. Due to the length of training, accreditation is not as important as their experience and ability to manage the contents of your subconscious and psyche.

Therapists who have an interest in the spiritual dimension of our personalities will also talk of transpersonal psychology. This is a training or use of models derived from Jung, Assagioli (Psychosynthesis), and Stanislav Grof, amongst others, who help clients to unfold, understand and manage the way in which spirituality creates conflicts and wounding in their lives. Transpersonal psychologists or therapists enable the client to understand the nature of their wounding and how they can use spirituality to heal rather than escape from their pain.