We avoid it, dread it, or get swept up in it. And rarely do we feel skilled in it. Process-Oriented Psychology, also known as Processwork, offers a refreshingly different lens. Developed by Dr. Arnold Mindell in the 1970s as an extension of Jungian psychology, Processwork views conflict not as a problem to eliminate but as a natural, meaningful process containing the very information needed for growth and resolution. As David Hatfield writes, Processwork holds that “the solution to a problem is contained within the disturbance itself.”
One of the most practical tools to come out of this tradition is the four-phase model of conflict, used by Processwork facilitators in everything from couples therapy to large-group facilitation in polarized communities. The model doesn’t tell us how conflict should go. It describes the styles or stages people actually move through.
The point of the four-phase model isn’t to march people from phase one to phase four like a checklist. It’s diagnostic. By noticing which phase a person, a couple, a team, or even a country is in, we can offer interventions that actually fit the situation. Instead of, say, demanding rational problem-solving from people who are still locked in polarization, or pushing avoidant people into a fight they’re not yet equipped for.
Processwork’s deeper invitation is to befriend conflict rather than fear it. Conflict, approached with curiosity and skill, carries information we genuinely need about ourselves, our relationships and the systems we live in. The four phases give us a map for staying present to that information.
In a world that feels more polarized by the day, learning to sit in the fire of phase two long enough to reach phases three and four may be one of the most important skills any of us can develop.
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Maraya Karena is a Process Work Diplomate, Counselor and Consciousness Researcher based in Portland, Oregon.
“My passion is to study consciousness itself. To develop tools and models that support us to navigate everyday life. To make the reality we share more reflective of who and what we truly are. To find the pulsing, living heart of this life journey. And to engage with it fully and completely. I explore poetry, dance, embodiment, sex, social issues, futurism, philosophy, mysticism, joy and agony all to learn a little bit more about what is really going on and how we can most authentically express ourselves.”
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