Therapy & Coaching

Using the Enneagram with Clients

The Enneagram brings unparalleled benefits to mental health practitioners, spiritual directors and others working one-to-one with clients by:

  • Providing accurate descriptions of the core structures of nine personality types
  • Offering type-specific perspectives and understanding of the relationship between psychological issues, spiritual qualities and somatic patterns
  • Complementing all traditions and virtually all forms and schools of therapy and change
Learning personality development through the eyes of David Daniels and Helen Palmer is being given the gift of deep insight into how temperament and attachment intertwine – both personally helpful and professionally useful in understanding our many layers of perception, emotion and habits of mind. Thank you for providing such exciting new vistas.
Daniel Siegel, MD
Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, UCLA Center for Culture, Brain and Development, World-renowned expert in Attachment Theory
I’ve used the Enneagram as a clinical diagnostic tool for 28 years. It’s the roadmap for both clients and therapists that reveals the core of behavioral fixation and then teaches how to characterologically and spiritually transcend that abyss. My clients have loved it and have benefited from it tremendously.
Kathleen C. Tamm, MA, MFT
The Institute for Personal Change

Mental Health Practitioners
Learning from Each Other

In the Narrative Tradition, the Enneagram types speak for themselves and their lived experience. We use the panel method as a starting point to understand the path of healing, development, and ultimately the integration of psychological life with the spiritual qualities of being.

With this learning approach, the therapist or coach can directly experience the difficulties and strengths of each type, providing great insights for working with clients. Practitioners also gain deep self-understanding and build capacities to work with counter-transference and “walk the talk.”

Why the Narrative Enneagram?

Explore: Narrative Enneagram Practitioner Certification

Therapists, coaches, counselors, mental health practitioners, spiritual directors and others who wish to apply the Enneagram in their one-to-one client work are encouraged to explore our Practitioner Training and Certification. You will learn:

  • How to quickly assess clients by identifying core personality issues
  • Effective life-changing strategies and interventions for each personality type
  • Awareness-building practices to use personally and with clients, which includes cutting-edge somatic techniques to enhance presence, self-regulation and resilience
  • The keys to each type’s core motivation, driving energy and focus of attention
  • A fundamental basis for working with personal suffering, character structure, core adaptive strategies, transference and counter-transference
  • The neurobiology of instinctive patterns of survival and working with the associated aversive emotions
  • Practices for individuals and couples to build upon their key strengths and resolve relationship issues and life challenges through spiritual and psychological development
Practitioner Certification