Foundations of Somatic Therapy for Trauma: The 9 Key Techniques for Effective Body-Based Therapy

CPD

Planning Committee Disclosure - No relevant relationships

All members of the PESI, Inc. planning committee have provided disclosures of financial relationships with ineligible organizations and any relevant non-financial relationships prior to planning content for this activity. None of the committee members had relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies or other potentially biasing relationships to disclose to learners.  For speaker disclosures, please see the faculty biography.

Handouts

Faculty

Abi Blakeslee, SEP, CMT, MFT, PhD Related seminars and products

---

Abi Blakeslee, SEP, CMT, MFT, PhD

I am a SE faculty and a marriage and family therapist. I have a master’s in counseling and Depth Psychology and a Ph.D. in Clinical and Somatic Psychology. My dissertation, with a committee that included Dr. Daniel Siegel, generated original research on the role of implicit memory in Somatic Experiencing. My clinical experience is with individuals, couples, children, and families treating a broad base of issues. I draw from over a decade and a half of experience with SEI, teach throughout the country and internationally, and consult worldwide. I am currently conducting evidence-based research on SE to promote its use in trauma-informed statewide care initiatives. you can access several SE research publications I have written on my website. I reside in Bozeman, Montana (right outside of Yellowstone National Park), and currently specialize in providing SE individual and group consultations for SE students of all levels. I have faculty-level online group case consultations on Saturday of most months. You can join by going to my website www.abiblakeslee.com. I focus on giving practical details in building SE skills and how to integrate various frameworks into your SE practice such as psychodynamic therapy, object/relations, the psychobiological principles of attachment, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, EMDR, and SE touch skills. Please feel free to email at somatics4healing@yahoo.com, or sign up to receive information about trainings, lectures, and SE research at www.abiblakeslee.com.

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Abi Blakeslee is the founder of Implicit Psychotherapy, maintains a private practice, and has employment relationships with Somatic Experiencing International and Ergos Institute for Somatic Education. She receives a speaking honorarium and product royalties from Psychotherapy Networker and PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Abi Blakeslee is a member of the American Association for Marriage Family Therapists, the United States Association for Body Psychotherapy, the Women in Neuroscience, and the Society for Neuroscience.

Objectives

1. Differentiate somatic psychology from cognitive-based therapy approaches.
2. Analyze perspectives and different schools of thought on somatic therapy approaches to develop a robust understanding of body-based treatments.
3. Develop and understanding of polyvagal theory and therapy interventions to integrate into somatic approaches.
4. Determine how to gather embodied goals that can be achieved during a session.
5. Develop skills (grounding, centring, posture, container, expansion, etc.) to help regulate the autonomic nervous system.
6. Formulate questions and reasons that invite conscious awareness of bodily sensation.
7. Utilize different forms of attention to access interception.
8. Identify signs of down-regulation and up-regulation in the nervous system, as well as other states of arousal.
9. Articulate the difference between implicit and explicit timelines and the therapeutic impact.

Outline

• Introduction to Somatic Psychology
• The new science of interoception
• How therapeutic change happens in the NOW
• Let your client be their own expert
• What is a “bottom up” approach?
• Create kinesthetic awareness
• Identify choice points for working with the nervous system
• What to do when your clients can’t “think their way out”
• Create harmony between parts of self
• How to use metaphor to help clients regulate

• Mapping the internal body and the story of the nervous system
• What is the Insular Cortex and how can you engage it for healing trauma
• How does information reach conscious awareness?
• Countering the negativity bias in the brain
• Breaking the loop of chronic stress
• Explore the seat where the complex emotion and self-insight arises 

1. Grounding
2. Multiple Examples of Orienting 
3. Centring
4. Posture
5. Containment and the Body as a Container for affect and life experiences 
6. Expansion
7. Self Contact and the use of Character Structures and Developmental Repair Messages
8. Mirroring
9. Gentle Movement

• Introduction to the Window of Tolerance and Range of Resiliency Model
• Create clear goals for somatic work using the Window of Tolerance Model
• Observe Exercises that teach clear biological markers and interoceptive experiences of the Sympathetic, transitional states, and parasympathetic nervous system
• Learn how to support and observe down regulation in your client’s body
• Introduction to Implicit and Explicit Memory Research
• Work with implicit and explicit timelines
• Re-integrate clients to a sense of present time

Target Audience

• Counsellors
• Social Workers
• Psychiatrists
• Psychologists
• Case Managers
• Addiction Counsellors
• Therapists
• Marriage & Family Therapists
• Psych Nurses
• Other Mental Health Professionals