Spira Aurum was conceived as an answer to our realization that in the practice of psychology, textbook application to real people with real struggles leads to stereotyping, pigeonholing and ultimately inaccurate diagnoses and far worse, ineffective treatment processes. Human beings are a complex collection of memory, culture, genetics, family and community, societal structures such as school and government.

A person cannot be separated from the family, community, school or culture which shaped them. It must all be taken into account to provide an effective approach to their difficulty and intervention efforts to help them.

To simplify and reduce an individual to a score on an aptitude test or a laundry list of symptoms is an injustice to the person who came to seek help and ironically renders the psychologist ineffective and therefore, irrelevant. A holistic and multi-dimensional approach to investigate, understand and address all the facets and intricacies of the individual and the difficulties they face is a necessity to produce true understanding, correct diagnosis and effective treatment and interventions.

Spira Aurum is Latin, meaning “golden spiral”, and it is the name that best captured the essence of the practice and what we envision it to become. It embodies the golden thread which runs through our collective work; a governing principle which guides our practice the same way it guides the ordering principle in nature. In the recognition that there are not only diverse people who differ in their personality, struggles, and pathology, but also the acknowledgement of the diverse methods and approaches necessary to understand and support the diversity in individuals. This shared ideal of an interconnected, authentic and diverse approach to psychology is the golden thread which runs through our collective work and thus, Spira Aurum was conceived.