Harness Your Potential with Story Image Therapy
Generate greater self-awareness and lasting change using the universal power of symbolic stories and images supported by science
Science-based Storytelling
Stories are powerful because the brain understands life through images, emotions and meaning — not just facts. When we hear a story, areas linked to memory and empathy are activated, making insights easier to remember and feel. Storytelling also connects us to the ancestral wisdom (and wounds) carried within us.
The benefits of a storytelling approach in SIT include:
Greater self-awareness and emotional understanding
Reduced stress and a calmer nervous system
Stronger empathy, creativity and problem-solving
Personal and professional growth
Deeper cultural and ancestral connection
Stories don’t just inform us — they help us see ourselves and the world in new ways.
Why Choose Story Image Therapy (SIT®)?
Story Image Therapy is different from regular talk-based or cognitive therapies because SIT helps people become more conscious of their unconscious thoughts, feelings and behaviours. This facilitates:
Deeper Self Awareness
Gain greater insight into your unconscious thoughts and patterns through ancient storytelling wisdom.
Lasting Transformation
Grounded in academic and personal research, SIT is proven to drive real long-term results and change.
Enhances Resilience
Build emotional strength and confidence via symbolic imagery and psychospiritual philosophy.
SIT to Write and Reflect
Story Image Therapy combines therapeutic reading and writing to support deeper self-understanding. As science shows that symbolic stories and images gently activate emotions, memories and unconscious patterns, this is why they are used as prompts for writing.
SIT includes several types of simple writing practices e.g., journalling, free writing, pen poetry, letter writing, and guided questions and prompts. By reflecting on their experiences through symbolism, and expressing unconscious insights in their own words, people can find meaning and express insights quickly.
Reading further opens the door to insight, while writing helps integrate it. The use of symbolic characters also creates emotional distance, making it safer and easier to explore difficult experiences with compassion and clarity.
Why Symbolic Imagery?
According to Carl Jung, the Swiss psychiatrist and founder of analytical psychology, working with symbols and images—such as a journey, a doorway, or a shadow—connects us to deeper inner awareness. Accessing our active imagination also supports changes in how we think, feel and act as we bypass our conscious defences, thus unlocking our unconscious patterns.
Externalising inner experiences through the healing power of symbolic imagery is now additionally supported by modern neuroscience.
Benefits include:
Deeper self-understanding and insight
Safer emotional awareness and processing
Greater clarity, creativity and decision-making
Reduced stress and a calmer mind
Better integration and inner balance
A safe way to explore difficult experiences
Stronger sense of meaning and purpose
Frog and Scorpion SIT
The Frog and Scorpion SIT series by Dr Toula Gordillo is used in Story Image Therapy to support self-reflection and emotional growth. Each book can be read alone, but the series works best when read together and guided by a trained SIT coach, counsellor or therapist.
Each book focuses on a different area of life through the symbolism of a frog and scorpion. The series includes:
Frog and Scorpion in the Boardroom
Goals, planning, boundaries and balancing logic with emotionFrog and Scorpion in the Bedroom
Intimacy, vulnerability, self-esteem and relationshipsFrog and Scorpion in the Living Room
Family dynamics, childhood patterns, roles and responsibilitiesFrog and Scorpion in the Dark Room
Addictive patterns, unhealthy coping, fear and fantasyFrog and Scorpion in the Dream Room
Imagination, healing and connection to spiritual and ancestral wisdom
