| Summary: | Aims and objectives. The aim of this study was to explore how clients perceived, and experienced NEST group therapy. Study design. A qualitative longitudinal design was adopted to explore the impact of treatment over time. Participants. Six participants, abuse survivors, five females and one male, aged between 25 and 61 years, all from Northern Ireland bar one who lived in the Republic of Ireland, volunteered to participate in the study. Data generation. Data was yielded from recorded semi structured interviews conducted with the six participants from two NEST groups, pre, middle and end of therapy and at three and six months post treatment, a total of thirty. For the purpose of verifying findings, focus group discussions were held and recorded with each group post interviews for the first four data collection phases, eight in total. Procedures. Ethical approval to conduct this study was obtained from NEST Board and the University of Ulster Filter Committee. Data analysis. Transcribed interviews and focus discussions were analysed using grounded theory (Strauss and Corbin, 1998) with the assistance of Nvivo 9. Results. The core category of the study "From the Pupa to the Butterfly, a new way of living, a new way of being" describes the metamorphosis of change r witnessed in participants. From pre NEST treatment when "My life was really nothing", positive changes were experienced by participants in several areas of functioning including emotional wellbeing "1 feel that I've got wings and it's just amazing", self esteem, "A sense of wholeness", cognitive "I have a new vision", coping capacity, "The eyes to the soul, I see, I know where I am going" and relational improvement "Reaching out to others". NEST had a positive and powerful impact on participants conceptualised in the category "NEST saved me, I got soul from NEST."
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