Applications · 8 minute read
What the six phases look like in a real session
A walk through Ground, Name, Map, Meet, Turn and Keep as they happen in an ordinary hour, including what I do when a session goes sideways.
By Prof. Catalina A. Oprea · 11 September 2026
Ground: agree what this is
I begin with the boring part, because the boring part is protection. What we are doing, what we are not doing, what I keep in records, and when I refer somebody elsewhere.
If something in that conversation suggests medical or psychological care is needed, that becomes the plan instead.
Name and Map: their words, then the sequence
In Name, the client describes the problem in their own language and we pick three markers we can count. Not calmer. How many times, how long, and what happened next.
In Map, we look at how it actually runs. The trigger, the picture in the mind, and the exception: the time the usual thing did not happen. The exception is often the most useful minute of the hour.
- What happens immediately before it starts?
- What do you see or say to yourself?
- When did it not happen, and what was different?
Meet and Turn: attention, then rehearsal
Meet is quiet, focused work. I check absorption, agree hand signals, and keep the client in charge of stopping at any moment.
Turn is where the new response is practised, not installed. We rehearse the specific moment, attach it to a cue the client will actually meet this week, and repeat it until it feels ordinary.
Keep: one small practice and a review
We finish with emergence, one daily practice small enough to survive a bad week, and a date to review the markers. Small and repeated beats ambitious and abandoned.
When a session goes sideways
Sometimes a client becomes uncomfortable, or something appears that belongs with a healthcare professional. Then the sequence stops. I return to Ground, we slow down, and I make the referral clearly rather than pushing through.
Knowing when to stop is not a failure of the method. It is the method working.