Module 1
NARM's theoretical foundation, organising principles, overview of the five survival styles and the Connection survival style.
Professional Training · 2026–2028
The 2-Year NARM Practitioner Training
Advanced clinical training for professionals working with developmental and complex trauma. Led by Ralf Marzen at the Istanbul Retreat centre in Istanbul-Beykoz; four modules, five full days each.
4modules
5full days per module
20days of in-person training
2year journey
Training Calendar
Four modules, two years
Modules are spaced 4–6 months apart, allowing time to digest and practise; learning deepens between modules through practice groups.
Module 2
The developmental process, exploratory questions, somatic mindfulness; the Attunement and Autonomy survival styles.
Module 3
The Trust and Love–Sexuality styles, the psychobiological process of shame, polyvagal theory and identifying the core dilemma.
Module 4
The working hypothesis, working with identity, working with couples and integrating NARM into clinical practice.
2-Year Practitioner Training Curriculum
Learning that deepens across four modules
Each module is an intensive five-day immersion: theoretical presentations, live demonstration sessions, small-group practice and debrief sessions interweave throughout.
Theoretical Foundation and Connection
- NARM theoretical orientation
- Working with shock and developmental trauma
- Working with an integrative top-down and bottom-up approach
- NARM organising principles
- Overview of the 5 adaptive survival styles
- Distortions of the life force
- Cycles of distress and healing
- Pride- and shame-based identifications
- Reframing attachment and attachment loss
- Introduction to NARM's four pillars
- Establishing a therapeutic “contract”
- The NARM relational model
- The Connection survival style
- Connection: clients whose access to sensations and feelings is at risk
The Developmental Process, Attunement and Autonomy
- The developmental process: attachment and separation–individuation
- Asking exploratory questions
- Somatic mindfulness
- The Attunement survival style
- Identifying and using resources
- Working in the present moment with dual awareness
- Reflecting positive shifts
- The Autonomy survival style
- Working with anger and aggression
- Working with shame and guilt
Trust, Love–Sexuality and the Shame Process
- The Trust survival style
- Core and default emotions
- Anger and aggression
- Narcissism and objectification
- Narcissistic and sadistic abuse
- The enabling institution
- The Love–Sexuality survival style
- The psychobiological process of shame (“shame as a verb”)
- Tracking expansion and contraction / connection and disconnection
- “Drilling down” / deconstructing experience (in the service of disidentification) — NARM linguistics
- Deepening the link between survival-style issues, symptoms and related disorders
- Polyvagal theory
- The trait – survival style – personality disorder continuum
- Identifying the core dilemma: core themes and survival strategies (behaviours, symptoms, etc.)
- Countertransference and the pitfalls of goal-oriented, solution-focused psychotherapy
Identity, Integration and Advanced Applications
- How to develop a working hypothesis
- Freeze and intrapsychic conflict
- Self-hatred and self-rejection
- Overview of NARM's distinct orientation to working with personality disorders
- The therapist's countertransference enactments and re-enactments
- Unmanaged empathy and therapist effort
- The interplay of survival styles: primary and secondary patterns
- Survival styles in relation to intimacy and sexuality
- Developing the capacity for pleasure
- Working with couples
- Working with identity
- Disidentification: aloneness and freedom
- Supporting increasing complexity, capacity and flexibility
- Addressing the physical structure of the adaptive survival styles
- Working with the social engagement channels: eyes, ears, face and touch
- Integrating NARM effectively into our clinical practice
- Approaching identity from both a psychological and a non-Western perspective
Trainer
Ralf Marzen
Ralf Marzen offers trauma therapy and trauma-healing sessions in central London. He works with individuals experiencing anxiety, chronic tension or pain, sleep or eating disorders, anger problems, addictions and other stress-related symptoms.
Drawing on powerful methods such as NARM, developed by Dr. Laurence Heller, Dr. Peter Levine's Somatic Experiencing and Dr. Raja Selvam's Integral Somatic Psychology, he helps people transform the mental-emotional patterns connected to bodily tension and discomfort.
He specialises in childhood and developmental trauma, and also works with shock trauma and stress. His clients come from many walks of life; the areas he works with include post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, sexual trauma and abuse, grief, numbness, medical trauma, accidents, prenatal and birth trauma, and relationship difficulties.
He also runs workshops and seminars on Embodied Trauma Healing and trauma-informed body therapy and psychotherapy. He works passionately to bring a deeper understanding of trauma and healing skills to wider audiences — and believes there is an urgent need for this work.
Venue
Istanbul Retreat · Beykoz
All modules take place at the Istanbul Retreat centre, in the nature of Istanbul-Beykoz. Away from the pace of the city, this setting offers ideal ground for digesting five intensive days of training.
Participants may attend with or without accommodation, as they prefer.
Investment
Training fees
€1,100 + VAT / module
- Separate payment before each module
- €4,400 + VAT in total for 4 modules
- Flexible budgeting
€3,950 + VAT / 4 modules
- The whole program in a single payment
- €450 total saving
- Priority for a place
For payment details, fill in the application form or write to us.
Who Can Join?
Who is this training for?
The NARM Practitioner Training is designed for professionals who work — or want to work — with developmental and complex trauma:
- → Psychologists, psychiatrists and counsellors
- → Marriage and family therapists, social workers
- → Somatic psychotherapy practitioners (SE™, Hakomi, etc.)
- → Physicians and other health professionals working with trauma
- → Coaches and helping professionals working with trauma
What You Will Gain
- ✦ Distinguishing interventions for developmental versus shock trauma
- ✦ Working simultaneously with nervous-system dysregulation and identity distortions
- ✦ Working with early adaptive survival styles in present time
- ✦ Integrating “bottom-up” and “top-down” approaches
- ✦ Supporting disidentification from distorted identity patterns
- ✦ A coherent theoretical framework for working with affect and emotions
The Turkey Program
Under the assurance of Istanbul Healing Academy
The Turkey program is run by Istanbul Healing Academy, the authorized NARM organization and director for Turkey. The training language is English with consecutive Turkish interpretation; practice groups run in Turkish.
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International certification
Graduates earn the NARM Practitioner title and eligibility for the international practitioner directory.
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Learning in a retreat setting
Modules take place at Istanbul Retreat in the nature of Beykoz, with an optional residential stay.
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Small group, intensive supervision
Places are limited; every participant receives regular feedback in practice groups.
First module: 3–7 December 2026
Places are limited. Pre-registration is non-binding and gives you priority at final registration.