I came to this work the way most of us do. Not through theory first, but through living it.
As a stepchild, a divorced mother, and a stepmother, I have been part of a stepfamily for most of my life. I started the Institute of Step-Family Dynamics because I saw first hand how many practitioners did not understand the different dynamics and stressors stepfamilies encounter. So much of successful stepfamily relationship navigation runs counter to conventional methods. The support was not there, and what was there often made things worse.
For years, the focus was stepfamily dynamics. The coaching, the support groups, the writing, the books. What kept showing up, though, was bigger than stepfamilies. The same patterns across very different lives. The over-functioning. The self-erasure. The quiet loss of knowing what we need and believing we are allowed to need it.
The framework that grew out of that clinical observation is Core State Curation. It holds everything the Institute of Step-Family Dynamics was, and everything it has become.
I am a therapist and practitioner-researcher based in Aotearoa New Zealand. My Master’s research documented the development of CSC, and the work continues to grow.
To book a session with me or to ask for more information please email [email protected]