Non-regressive
It never sends clients back to relive their trauma. It works in the present moment with how the past organises our experience today.
NeuroAffective Relational Model · Turkey
Beyond trauma, toward connection.
NARM® is a neuroscience-informed, relational and present-moment psychotherapy model developed by Dr. Laurence Heller for healing developmental and complex trauma (C-PTSD). NARM Turkey brings this transformative approach to Turkish-speaking mental health professionals.
Advanced clinical training for mental health and helping professionals
Authorized NARM organization & director for Turkey: Istanbul Healing Academy
45+years of clinical experience
20days of intensive practitioner training
10+languages of the foundational book
5core life themes
Why NARM?
A model that transforms the present without reliving the past
NARM grew out of psychodynamic psychotherapy, attachment theory, Gestalt therapy and somatic approaches — yet moves beyond them within an original, relational framework.
Non-cathartic
Instead of emotional discharge, it supports emotional completion — a gentle, safe process of nervous-system re-regulation.
Non-pathologising
Symptoms are not disorders but survival strategies that once kept us alive. NARM orients toward strengths and resources.
Five Core Life Themes
The five adaptive survival styles we develop to get by
When our core needs go unmet early in life, we give up parts of ourselves to protect our bond with caregivers. NARM compassionately illuminates the survival styles that organise around these five themes.
Connection
BağlantıThe capacity to be in touch with our body and the world — to feel we belong here.
Attunement
UyumlanmaThe capacity to know and express our needs, and to take in the abundance life offers.
Trust
GüvenThe capacity to trust ourselves and others, and to build healthy interdependence.
Autonomy
ÖzerklikThe capacity to set boundaries and speak our own truth without guilt or fear.
Love–Sexuality
Sevgi–CinsellikThe capacity to love with an open heart and to integrate a loving relationship with a vital sexuality.
The Essence
How does NARM work?
It is not what happened in the past that creates our symptoms — it is the persistence of survival patterns that once protected us. NARM works with these patterns on four levels simultaneously: cognitive, emotional, felt-sense and physiological.
Get to know the model in depth
i.
Works in present time
The focus is not the past story, but how patterns are lived in this very moment.
ii.
Orients to resources and strengths
It starts from the client's aliveness and resilience, not their deficits.
iii.
Engages deeply with identity
It supports freedom from identity distortions built on shame and self-blame.
iv.
Supports somatic re-regulation
By tracking subtle nervous-system shifts, it accompanies the re-regulation of all body systems.
“Just as a plant spontaneously moves toward the sun, there is in each of us an impulse moving toward connection.”Dr. Laurence Heller · Creator of NARM
The Turkey Program · 2026–2028
The 2-Year NARM Practitioner Training
Advanced clinical training for professionals working with developmental and complex trauma. Four modules of five full days each, with 4–6 month practice periods in between.
Ralf Marzen
Istanbul Retreat · Beykoz
4 modules × 5 days
English · consecutive Turkish interpretation
€1,100 + VAT / MODULE
€3,950 + VAT for all 4 modules upfront — save €450
The Program's Trainer
Ralf Marzen
Offering trauma therapy and trauma-healing sessions in central London, Ralf Marzen works with NARM, developed by Dr. Laurence Heller, Dr. Peter Levine's Somatic Experiencing and Dr. Raja Selvam's Integral Somatic Psychology.
He specialises in childhood and developmental trauma, and also works with shock trauma and stress — with wide client experience across anxiety, chronic tension, PTSD, grief, birth trauma and relationship difficulties. He also runs workshops and seminars on embodied trauma healing and trauma-informed psychotherapy, and sees bringing healing skills to wider audiences as an urgent need.
Creator of the Model
Dr. Laurence Heller
Holding a doctorate in clinical psychology, Dr. Heller developed NARM over a clinical career spanning more than 45 years. He first introduced the model — now taught worldwide — in Healing Developmental Trauma, translated into more than ten languages including Turkish.
“It is not what happened in the past that creates the symptoms we experience as adults — it is the persistence of our survival styles.”
Together with Brad Kammer (LMFT, LPCC), Training Director of the NARM Training Institute, he co-authored The Practical Guide for Healing Developmental Trauma, which details the model's clinical practice through its four pillars.
Authorized Organization for Turkey
Istanbul Healing Academy
The authorized NARM organization and training directorate for Turkey is Istanbul Healing Academy. Training programs are organized under the assurance of Istanbul Healing Academy, in full alignment with the international NARM Training Institute curriculum and standards.
istanbulhealingacademy.com
Resources
Start learning today
Healing Developmental Trauma
The foundational work on how early trauma affects self-regulation, self-image and the capacity for relationship.
Browse the booksTransforming Trauma
The official podcast of the NARM Training Institute — stories of individuals and communities thriving after complex trauma.
Explore the podcastNARM Inner Circle
Join the NARM community with monthly demo sessions, live webinars and case debriefs — keep your learning alive.
All resourcesBe the first to hear about the Turkey program
Training calendar, pre-registration and Turkish resources — straight to your inbox.