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Welcome to the International School of Resource Therapy
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The How and Why of the International School of Resource Therapy.
By Anna Emmerson
By Anna Emmerson
An impulse way back in 2013
The International School of RT began as an impulse way back in 2013. Gordon Emmerson and I were in our first year of coupledom living in Blackwood and spending most of our time imagining how we might help the newly named Resource Personality Theory and Therapy he had been developing grow. Resource Therapy was the new name for Gordon's Ego State Therapy inspired trauma-informed treatment protocol. We were discussing the importance of Gordon teaching it to others and how good it would be to train practitioners to not only use it with their clients and patients, but also to teach it to other therapists.
Book writing and teaching in Ubud, Bali
By 2014 we realized there would little hope of making sure people could learn it properly without a definitive guide to the work. So we headed off to Ubud, Bali for 2 months - retreating to an affordable and fairly a spartan room in the heart of Ubud. We spent 2 wonderful months with Gordon tapping and Dragon recording 2 books on his laptop, and me editing and proof reading for him, and using the rest of my time creating RT's very first website. The books were a hit, and the website evolved to become the first Resource Therapy International (our new association) website. I went on to look after that website until 2022. We returned to Ubud for more writing and development, and I loved it there so much I decided it was too good not to share. So I dreamed up our first Ubud training program. I still remember Gordon saying no-one would come. Haha... not only did they come but Ubud became known as RT's second home for the best training experiences. You can see photos of some of our earlier Ubud training days dotted throughout this website. In fact, our Ubud days only came to an end when Covid-19 shut everything down.
Dreaming of an RT school for everyone
But even in those early days I was hankering to start a school of RT. I remember dreaming how wonderful it would be to be able to teach RT online to students around the world without them having to travel. So many prospective students were writing to me asking me if they could attend for free, siting their lack of financial freedom preventing them from flying to Australia or to Ubud to learn. To us RT was not a business-in-a-box or something to trademark or franchise. It was and I hope always will be a serious therapy that can be learned and used by anyone who is passionate about helping others. Much like CBT, RT cannot be branded. It is a model.
Re-imagining the safety and the openness of a circle
In 2019 Gordon was staunchly against online training and felt quite understandably that RT was best taught live in a classroom. He liked attendees to sit in a circle or semi-circle, wherever possible, without tables obscuring them from him or one another. He felt strongly that attendees needed to be open and not 'hiding' behind desks or tables. This wasn't always possible as sometimes people or organizations would host his trainings and require tables and classroom rows. But wherever possible Gordon wanted people to sit openly. I liked his idea in theory but also liked to think that if someone felt more relaxed leaning on a desk or table or having a glass of water or cup of coffee while learning, it was fine by me. I imagined also that learning online would give attendees a chance to learn from the comfort of their own space. Feeling open and free and comfortable is after all one of the best ways to receive new information, right?
Then the unimaginable happened
2020 brought with it news of the fast-spreading virus dubbed Covid-19. The world was quickly bracing itself and closing down borders everywhere. Suddenly the idea of online learning became a required reality for everyone everywhere.
The first trainer team
It was a no-brainer for me to get RT online as quickly as possible. I had been planning it in my mind for a long time, and now with this unfortunate reality upon us, it was easy to visualize and manage RT's direction. RT online training and therapy quickly became a reality.
I started by quickly bringing a group of trainers together to support and inspire each other into a training community. I saw this as a great experiment, one that I had been planning on doing in Ubud anyway, and now deciding to do it online. I brought 10 trainers together and coordinated and supervised our first Zoom platform Clinical training program by April 2020. It was the first of its kind for the world of Resource Therapy and I am happy to say it was a booming success.
For me, this was the birth of a dream I had held for many years, and although it was still not named, it was the beginning, the birth of the International School of Resource Therapy.
A family tragedy that changed everything
In March of 2021 tragedy struck our family. My only sibling, my brother, almost died and survived only to be completely quadriplegic in a freak accident in his home. As his next of kin, the news came quickly but only after my poor brother had lay alone unable to move and gasping for air calling for help for 5 hours before a passerby heard his cries and raised the alarm. At the time, I was spending a short time in Melbourne, over an hour from Blackwood, caring my daughter who was going through some intense struggles of her own. When news of my brother's accident arrived, we were in the midst of the Victorian State covid pandemic lockdowns and I had to decide if I would stay by my brother or go back to Blackwood. I couldn't do both. The urgency and need for my brother to have an advocate and loving care by his side was imperative. It was difficult, but it was necessary. So, I stayed in Melbourne and spent most days by my brother's bedside in the intensive care unit as around the clock vigil at first, and then when he was finally moved to the spinal ward, I spent everyday tag-teaming with his girlfriend for the most part of 12 months. Miraculously, and with the help of a handful of friends and colleagues, I was able to continue to run our RT online classes as well as assist Gordon with as much of his professional work as I could. But make no mistake. These were very deeply the darkest days of my life. The people who worked hard to carry me through this period were: Gloria and Berny who insisted on preparing meals for me and my daughter for the better part of 6 months so I could continue to work and look after my daughter and my brother; And Christiane Essing in Germany, William (Jim)Heron in the UK, and Shane Marsh in Vic - All RT trainers who trained with me and ultimately helped me to 'show up' for work and covered for me when I just couldn't. Many others helped me and carried me along emotionally and spiritually, including my children and other colleagues and friends like Dr Karlheinz Erbe, Yvette Allen, Tatiana Pera and Ann Garden. I call them my beloveds because they quietly held me in their loving kindness while I felt like I was shattering into a thousand pieces.
The final split
In April 2022, Gordon Emmerson and I divorced. The pressures of being physically apart and my having to care for others around the clock simply became too much for the relationship to bear and our marriage sadly did not survive. I stayed in Melbourne and Gordon continued on living in Blackwood. We independently decided to retire from the Resource Therapy International association. First me, because I really could not do it all anymore. Within a week of my resignation Gordon also retired from his responsibilities with the association. And when you blend marital breakups with organizational reformations you undoubtably create a blend of disappointments and opportunities. A new committee was formed consisting of some old and new faces. You can read more about the RT International association here
I survived and so did the training
I will not lie. I almost folded the online training completely. I could no longer afford to pay the trainers and some trainers were offering their time voluntarily. It was difficult to survive as a single woman and carer to two people as well as find time to see clients, offer supervision and run training programs. I almost gave up. Well, the truth is I did give up a few times. But within a fortnight I would be back at the laptop re-engaging and re-imagining the work. RT has become my legacy in as much as it is Gordon's, but for different reasons. It is Gordon's legacy to the world as its originator and as an excellent teacher and therapist. RT has become my legacy to the world as a training leader passionate about maintaining its purity, passionate about teaching it without agenda, and passionate about supporting a genuine authenticity of community to surround and support its growth.
And then another unthinkable happened...
In late 2022 my brother's girlfriend - the one who cared for my brother and loved him to pieces even after his accident, died. She had been diagnosed with an endocrine cancer and died within just a few months. It was another blow. Another horrible tragedy. My brother grief was inconsolable. Everything that he had gained in rehabilitation disappeared. He was catatonic and all hope was lost for any sort of life on that day. My brother's girlfriend had been planning on taking him home to live with him, to care for him. And now, this hope and this one dream he had to look forward to was also lost. Nervous breakdown is probably the best way to describe the next few months for him. For me, it was more of the same only sadder and more tragic than before.
What has driving trams got to do with the price of fish?
At this time my brain felt like it had long snapped, and I wondered how I was going to survive myself. I had just been accepted into a new role and was about to learn how to drive Melbourne trams and join the iconic Yarra-Tram network as a part-time driver. I later discovered why I followed my own advice to do that. And as anyone could probably have guessed, I was adding more fuel to a pretty big fire. But to be honest, tram driving did suit me ...believe it or not. It was a wonderful way to escape the dark holes of tragedy that seemed to permeate my private world... and pay the rent. Driving trams, in affect (correctly spelt) was exhilarating! And I lasted for almost 10 months before my knees, feet and neck gave out. Who would have thought driving trams could make such a difference to a little old body? It does... and sadly did.
Then came my own mind bending diagnosis
For many years I wondered if I had ADHD or something similar. I had been struggling with health issues for years. When I finally decided to take me to a Clinical Psychologist to help me through what had fast become a form of PTSD after my brother's tragedy, my psychologist invited me to do undertake an assessment for Autism. She specialized in assessing and working with women on this spectrum, and when she put it to me, I felt she had an inkling that might be worth pursuing. After many hours of specialized testing and
interviews, the diagnosis returned with Autism Spectrum Condition. We began working together to unravel what this meant and means, and in doing so much of my life story became more interesting and made a lot more sense. It was mind bending for me to discover I am autistic. But in doing so I have also discovered so much more. Now I am beginning to see the colours of life from my own perspective - vibrant and real, crisp and true. I see that much of what I thought was real was a mask I wore to fit in and to blend. Living with Autism and trying to keep up with a very differently shaped world was exhausting. This part of my journey as a neurodivergent adult is only now unfolding. Stay with me as I learn more and share more here.
So when & why did the name International School of Resource Therapy arrive?!
I continued to run my online RT training programs, but in 2022 I decided I wanted a name for what I was doing. I was no longer with Gordon and I was no longer virtually running Resource Therapy International, so it was time to give my online training impulse a formal name. At first I thought - The Emmerson School of Resource Therapy would make a good name. After all the impulse was about teaching purely Emmerson's school of thought. Much like the Ericksonian school of thought might be taught by people other than Milton Erickson. But after some months it became clear that this name was not suitable because some people thought it was a school that surely Gordon Emmerson owned. Since it was not owned or operated in any way by the originator himself, I decided to change the name to suit the impulse even more precisely. I was naming a school that was primarily pure RT for an international online community. Suddenly it was a no brainer, and the International School of Resource Therapy was formally named by the end of 2022.
A legacy of accurate sharing
The foundations of the International School of Resource Therapy is my legacy to RT. I had seen over the years that even though there were many therapists becoming trained in RT and as RT Trainers themselves, there were too few who would teach RT in its purest form. To me (and I believe to Gordon Emmerson), RT was and is a complete therapy that does not need to be altered, re-imagined, or mixed together with other therapies for it to be successful. I saw proof of this in my own work as a therapist coming from person centred and psychodynamic modalities such as the eminent Dr. Yehuda Tagar's, early model known as Philiphonetics in the 1990s to NLP in early 2000 and many other models learned in my studies at the Academy of Hypnotic Sciences in Melbourne, where I first saw Gordon Emmerson still teaching Ego State Therapy in 2010. I began like everyone else, mixing modalities and sharing competently across my toolbox of therapies. But I soon found, and sometimes to my disappointment - for what has a single therapy to do with taking care of everything on its own anyway! - that RT when used purely and correctly is on its own better at successfully treating the client's issues than mixing it up in a cocktail of therapies. Once I realized this... in my forever search for the 'perfect' solution in therapeutic practices, I became absolutely passionate about teaching it properly.
In those early days, when Gordon and I travelled to Ubud so that Gordon could write his many RT books, we both felt strongly that the words in the books would endure long after the egos teaching the work watered and misinterpreted their meaning. We held strong that the books would carry the legacy of RT on their own. And I truly hope they do. In the meantime, I along with a number of others (I hope) will teach RT as it was intended to be taught and learned.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and travel the journey with me. The truth is often a long story that need not be told. But when others diminish or discredit the truth and thereby do injustice to authenticity and the deeds of others... - Well, sometimes an Autie like me will want to go ahead and clarify. I hope this has helped the interested reader to understand a little if not a lot about why and how the International School of Resource Therapy actually came to be.
The International School of RT began as an impulse way back in 2013. Gordon Emmerson and I were in our first year of coupledom living in Blackwood and spending most of our time imagining how we might help the newly named Resource Personality Theory and Therapy he had been developing grow. Resource Therapy was the new name for Gordon's Ego State Therapy inspired trauma-informed treatment protocol. We were discussing the importance of Gordon teaching it to others and how good it would be to train practitioners to not only use it with their clients and patients, but also to teach it to other therapists.
Book writing and teaching in Ubud, Bali
By 2014 we realized there would little hope of making sure people could learn it properly without a definitive guide to the work. So we headed off to Ubud, Bali for 2 months - retreating to an affordable and fairly a spartan room in the heart of Ubud. We spent 2 wonderful months with Gordon tapping and Dragon recording 2 books on his laptop, and me editing and proof reading for him, and using the rest of my time creating RT's very first website. The books were a hit, and the website evolved to become the first Resource Therapy International (our new association) website. I went on to look after that website until 2022. We returned to Ubud for more writing and development, and I loved it there so much I decided it was too good not to share. So I dreamed up our first Ubud training program. I still remember Gordon saying no-one would come. Haha... not only did they come but Ubud became known as RT's second home for the best training experiences. You can see photos of some of our earlier Ubud training days dotted throughout this website. In fact, our Ubud days only came to an end when Covid-19 shut everything down.
Dreaming of an RT school for everyone
But even in those early days I was hankering to start a school of RT. I remember dreaming how wonderful it would be to be able to teach RT online to students around the world without them having to travel. So many prospective students were writing to me asking me if they could attend for free, siting their lack of financial freedom preventing them from flying to Australia or to Ubud to learn. To us RT was not a business-in-a-box or something to trademark or franchise. It was and I hope always will be a serious therapy that can be learned and used by anyone who is passionate about helping others. Much like CBT, RT cannot be branded. It is a model.
Re-imagining the safety and the openness of a circle
In 2019 Gordon was staunchly against online training and felt quite understandably that RT was best taught live in a classroom. He liked attendees to sit in a circle or semi-circle, wherever possible, without tables obscuring them from him or one another. He felt strongly that attendees needed to be open and not 'hiding' behind desks or tables. This wasn't always possible as sometimes people or organizations would host his trainings and require tables and classroom rows. But wherever possible Gordon wanted people to sit openly. I liked his idea in theory but also liked to think that if someone felt more relaxed leaning on a desk or table or having a glass of water or cup of coffee while learning, it was fine by me. I imagined also that learning online would give attendees a chance to learn from the comfort of their own space. Feeling open and free and comfortable is after all one of the best ways to receive new information, right?
Then the unimaginable happened
2020 brought with it news of the fast-spreading virus dubbed Covid-19. The world was quickly bracing itself and closing down borders everywhere. Suddenly the idea of online learning became a required reality for everyone everywhere.
The first trainer team
It was a no-brainer for me to get RT online as quickly as possible. I had been planning it in my mind for a long time, and now with this unfortunate reality upon us, it was easy to visualize and manage RT's direction. RT online training and therapy quickly became a reality.
I started by quickly bringing a group of trainers together to support and inspire each other into a training community. I saw this as a great experiment, one that I had been planning on doing in Ubud anyway, and now deciding to do it online. I brought 10 trainers together and coordinated and supervised our first Zoom platform Clinical training program by April 2020. It was the first of its kind for the world of Resource Therapy and I am happy to say it was a booming success.
For me, this was the birth of a dream I had held for many years, and although it was still not named, it was the beginning, the birth of the International School of Resource Therapy.
A family tragedy that changed everything
In March of 2021 tragedy struck our family. My only sibling, my brother, almost died and survived only to be completely quadriplegic in a freak accident in his home. As his next of kin, the news came quickly but only after my poor brother had lay alone unable to move and gasping for air calling for help for 5 hours before a passerby heard his cries and raised the alarm. At the time, I was spending a short time in Melbourne, over an hour from Blackwood, caring my daughter who was going through some intense struggles of her own. When news of my brother's accident arrived, we were in the midst of the Victorian State covid pandemic lockdowns and I had to decide if I would stay by my brother or go back to Blackwood. I couldn't do both. The urgency and need for my brother to have an advocate and loving care by his side was imperative. It was difficult, but it was necessary. So, I stayed in Melbourne and spent most days by my brother's bedside in the intensive care unit as around the clock vigil at first, and then when he was finally moved to the spinal ward, I spent everyday tag-teaming with his girlfriend for the most part of 12 months. Miraculously, and with the help of a handful of friends and colleagues, I was able to continue to run our RT online classes as well as assist Gordon with as much of his professional work as I could. But make no mistake. These were very deeply the darkest days of my life. The people who worked hard to carry me through this period were: Gloria and Berny who insisted on preparing meals for me and my daughter for the better part of 6 months so I could continue to work and look after my daughter and my brother; And Christiane Essing in Germany, William (Jim)Heron in the UK, and Shane Marsh in Vic - All RT trainers who trained with me and ultimately helped me to 'show up' for work and covered for me when I just couldn't. Many others helped me and carried me along emotionally and spiritually, including my children and other colleagues and friends like Dr Karlheinz Erbe, Yvette Allen, Tatiana Pera and Ann Garden. I call them my beloveds because they quietly held me in their loving kindness while I felt like I was shattering into a thousand pieces.
The final split
In April 2022, Gordon Emmerson and I divorced. The pressures of being physically apart and my having to care for others around the clock simply became too much for the relationship to bear and our marriage sadly did not survive. I stayed in Melbourne and Gordon continued on living in Blackwood. We independently decided to retire from the Resource Therapy International association. First me, because I really could not do it all anymore. Within a week of my resignation Gordon also retired from his responsibilities with the association. And when you blend marital breakups with organizational reformations you undoubtably create a blend of disappointments and opportunities. A new committee was formed consisting of some old and new faces. You can read more about the RT International association here
I survived and so did the training
I will not lie. I almost folded the online training completely. I could no longer afford to pay the trainers and some trainers were offering their time voluntarily. It was difficult to survive as a single woman and carer to two people as well as find time to see clients, offer supervision and run training programs. I almost gave up. Well, the truth is I did give up a few times. But within a fortnight I would be back at the laptop re-engaging and re-imagining the work. RT has become my legacy in as much as it is Gordon's, but for different reasons. It is Gordon's legacy to the world as its originator and as an excellent teacher and therapist. RT has become my legacy to the world as a training leader passionate about maintaining its purity, passionate about teaching it without agenda, and passionate about supporting a genuine authenticity of community to surround and support its growth.
And then another unthinkable happened...
In late 2022 my brother's girlfriend - the one who cared for my brother and loved him to pieces even after his accident, died. She had been diagnosed with an endocrine cancer and died within just a few months. It was another blow. Another horrible tragedy. My brother grief was inconsolable. Everything that he had gained in rehabilitation disappeared. He was catatonic and all hope was lost for any sort of life on that day. My brother's girlfriend had been planning on taking him home to live with him, to care for him. And now, this hope and this one dream he had to look forward to was also lost. Nervous breakdown is probably the best way to describe the next few months for him. For me, it was more of the same only sadder and more tragic than before.
What has driving trams got to do with the price of fish?
At this time my brain felt like it had long snapped, and I wondered how I was going to survive myself. I had just been accepted into a new role and was about to learn how to drive Melbourne trams and join the iconic Yarra-Tram network as a part-time driver. I later discovered why I followed my own advice to do that. And as anyone could probably have guessed, I was adding more fuel to a pretty big fire. But to be honest, tram driving did suit me ...believe it or not. It was a wonderful way to escape the dark holes of tragedy that seemed to permeate my private world... and pay the rent. Driving trams, in affect (correctly spelt) was exhilarating! And I lasted for almost 10 months before my knees, feet and neck gave out. Who would have thought driving trams could make such a difference to a little old body? It does... and sadly did.
Then came my own mind bending diagnosis
For many years I wondered if I had ADHD or something similar. I had been struggling with health issues for years. When I finally decided to take me to a Clinical Psychologist to help me through what had fast become a form of PTSD after my brother's tragedy, my psychologist invited me to do undertake an assessment for Autism. She specialized in assessing and working with women on this spectrum, and when she put it to me, I felt she had an inkling that might be worth pursuing. After many hours of specialized testing and
interviews, the diagnosis returned with Autism Spectrum Condition. We began working together to unravel what this meant and means, and in doing so much of my life story became more interesting and made a lot more sense. It was mind bending for me to discover I am autistic. But in doing so I have also discovered so much more. Now I am beginning to see the colours of life from my own perspective - vibrant and real, crisp and true. I see that much of what I thought was real was a mask I wore to fit in and to blend. Living with Autism and trying to keep up with a very differently shaped world was exhausting. This part of my journey as a neurodivergent adult is only now unfolding. Stay with me as I learn more and share more here.
So when & why did the name International School of Resource Therapy arrive?!
I continued to run my online RT training programs, but in 2022 I decided I wanted a name for what I was doing. I was no longer with Gordon and I was no longer virtually running Resource Therapy International, so it was time to give my online training impulse a formal name. At first I thought - The Emmerson School of Resource Therapy would make a good name. After all the impulse was about teaching purely Emmerson's school of thought. Much like the Ericksonian school of thought might be taught by people other than Milton Erickson. But after some months it became clear that this name was not suitable because some people thought it was a school that surely Gordon Emmerson owned. Since it was not owned or operated in any way by the originator himself, I decided to change the name to suit the impulse even more precisely. I was naming a school that was primarily pure RT for an international online community. Suddenly it was a no brainer, and the International School of Resource Therapy was formally named by the end of 2022.
A legacy of accurate sharing
The foundations of the International School of Resource Therapy is my legacy to RT. I had seen over the years that even though there were many therapists becoming trained in RT and as RT Trainers themselves, there were too few who would teach RT in its purest form. To me (and I believe to Gordon Emmerson), RT was and is a complete therapy that does not need to be altered, re-imagined, or mixed together with other therapies for it to be successful. I saw proof of this in my own work as a therapist coming from person centred and psychodynamic modalities such as the eminent Dr. Yehuda Tagar's, early model known as Philiphonetics in the 1990s to NLP in early 2000 and many other models learned in my studies at the Academy of Hypnotic Sciences in Melbourne, where I first saw Gordon Emmerson still teaching Ego State Therapy in 2010. I began like everyone else, mixing modalities and sharing competently across my toolbox of therapies. But I soon found, and sometimes to my disappointment - for what has a single therapy to do with taking care of everything on its own anyway! - that RT when used purely and correctly is on its own better at successfully treating the client's issues than mixing it up in a cocktail of therapies. Once I realized this... in my forever search for the 'perfect' solution in therapeutic practices, I became absolutely passionate about teaching it properly.
In those early days, when Gordon and I travelled to Ubud so that Gordon could write his many RT books, we both felt strongly that the words in the books would endure long after the egos teaching the work watered and misinterpreted their meaning. We held strong that the books would carry the legacy of RT on their own. And I truly hope they do. In the meantime, I along with a number of others (I hope) will teach RT as it was intended to be taught and learned.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and travel the journey with me. The truth is often a long story that need not be told. But when others diminish or discredit the truth and thereby do injustice to authenticity and the deeds of others... - Well, sometimes an Autie like me will want to go ahead and clarify. I hope this has helped the interested reader to understand a little if not a lot about why and how the International School of Resource Therapy actually came to be.
