Full Course Description

Somatic Therapy for Treating Intimate Relationships: Healing disconnection, betrayal, trauma and more through the body

Learn how to use body-based strategies to help clients experiencing relationship distress identify the true source of the issue, repair ruptures, allow constructive solutions to emerge, and reconnect emotionally and sexually. Beneath words, two nervous systems communicate through tone and body language. When couples become emotionally charged or shut down it’s because they’re feeling threatened, by something inside of them or something between them and their partner. Their nervous system engages to protect. This step-by-step training will give you the somatic interventions you need to track the “language of the body,” intervene effectively at the first sign that their nervous system is signaling danger, and utilize powerful somatic interventions to keep therapy moving forward and help clients achieve the deep healing they are seeking.

Program Information

Target Audience

Counselors
Social Workers
Psychologists
Psychotherapists
Therapists
Marriage & Family Therapists
Addiction Counselors
Case Managers
Physicians
Nurses
Other Mental Health Professionals

Outline

Module 0: Introduction to the Course

Module 1: The Interaction of Two Nervous Systems: A new perspective on relationship work

What the nervous system can tell us about relationship dynamics
Three principles of the Polyvagal Theory that are critical to working with relationships
Experiential Exercise Demonstration: Identifying the influence of polyvagal states
Unlocking implicit memory using body-based interventions

Module 2: Incorporating Body-Based Interventions into Couples Therapy Sessions

In-Session Demonstration: How to start a mind-body informed couples session
How to facilitate a conversation between two nervous systems
How to teach mirroring from a nervous system perspective
Skill Demonstration: Mirroring
In-Session Demonstration: How to teach Mirroring in a dyad

Module 3: Learning the Language of the Body and Mind-Body Interventions to Repair and Heal relationships

What the body can tell us that words can’t
Decoding the language of the body • A guide to body-based experiential exercises for relationship work
Four interventions to facilitate regulation and avoid shut down
In-Session Demonstrations: Three couples demonstrate body-based interventions
Case Example: Memory Reconsolidation

Module 4: Full Session Demonstration

Module 5: Somatic-Informed Sexual Difficulties in Relationships

What every therapist needs to know about sex and sex therapy
Evaluation and assessment
The impact of emotional health on sexual relationships
Common topics in sex therapy
Case Examples

Limitations of the research and potential risks

Objectives

Describe how the structure of a couple’s therapy session can support nervous system regulation.
Identify three nervous system states according to Stephen Porges’s Polyvagal Theory.
Demonstrate how to help clients establish a ventral vagal state of nervous system regulation in a session.
List at least four questions that can be used for therapeutic exploration, using physiological aspects of the body.
Demonstrate two strategies that can be used to intervene effectively when clients are stuck in a state of hyper- or hypo- arousal to help them find their way back into a more settled nervous system state.
Utilize two interventions that utilize a focus on body sensations to help couples identify the vulnerable feelings that are the source of their conflict.
Describe a somatic-based technique for couples who are focused on improving their sexual relationship.

Copyright : 02/01/2024

Bringing the Body into Therapy: Clinical Tools from Relationship Repair and Somatic Experiencing

When it comes to tapping into clients’ natural resources for healing from trauma, the body is an invaluable tool. Not only does it store information about our early attachment experiences, but it shows the signs of epigenetic and transgenerational influences. The body reveals how trauma negatively impacts relationships with friends, partners, colleagues, and loved ones. But research and experience show that trauma behaviors aren’t set in stone. Pulling from the latest developments in Somatic Experiencing and neuroplasticity, this recording will teach you a dynamic toolkit of body-oriented approaches for treating early developmental trauma as well as helping clients improve nervous-system regulation and repair relationships. You’ll explore:

The neurophysiological and embodied underpinnings of healthy relationships
How to create a vibrant experience of resilience and wholeness in your work
How implicit memory shapes our physiological and psychological responses to trauma and recovery
Three skills to work with the autonomic nervous system to rebound from trauma and overwhelm

Program Information

Objectives

Appraise the concepts of attachment theory, interoception, and the window of tolerance in the treatment of psychological trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Evaluate the theory that traumatic memories are stored primarily in implicit memory.
Formulate a treatment process based on the approach of Somatic Experiencing for the treatment of trauma and discuss risks and limitations.
Practice three skills to work with the autonomic nervous system to rebound from trauma and overwhelm.

Outline

Introduction to Rupture and Repair cycles in attachment relationships, Interpersonal Neurobiology from a somatic perspective
Present Somatic Experiencing and the Window of Tolerance in the Autonomic Nervous System Model
Introduce interoception-based tracking and stabilization tools
Utilizing interoception in Relational repair models with demonstration
Explore attachment theory from a physiological lens
Mirroring intervention for attachment disruption

Target Audience

Psychologists
Physicians
Addiction Counselors
Counselors
Social Workers
Marriage & Family Therapists
Art Therapists
Nurses
Other Behavioral Health Professionals

Couples Therapy Meets Sex Therapy: Toward an Integrated Approach

You can’t help couples really achieve more intimacy without exploring the sexual dimension of their relationship. But generally, clinicians who focus on attachment tend to pay less attention to sexuality, and vice versa. This recording will focus on a dialogue between two clinicians with contrasting approaches as they offer their perspective on effective ways to address the pressures that can reduce sexual fulfillment in contemporary relationships. You’ll explore the increasing prevalence of nontraditional couples who practice kink, polyamory, and open relationships. Discover how to develop a more integrated couples approach by:

Integrating sexuality issues into Emotionally Focused Couples therapy
Identifying attachment issues that can significantly impact a couple’s sexuality
Helping couples develop a sexual life with or without sexual desire

Program Information

Objectives

Determine how to integrate sexuality issues into EFT couple therapy.
Evaluate attachment issues that can impact a couple’s sexuality.
Determine how to help couples develop a sexual life with or without sexual desire.

Outline

Explore how to integrate sexuality issues into EFT couple therapy.
- Discussion of how to increase couple communication and connection as safe context to integrate sexuality issues.
Identify attachment issues that can impact a couple’s sexuality
- Presentation about how to conduct a relational sexual history including identification of attachment wounds associated with adult sexuality.
Describe how to help couples develop a sexual life with or without sexual desire
- Discussion of expansive models of sexual response that do not require sexual desire as a necessary component.

Target Audience

Counselors
Social Workers
Psychologists
Psychotherapists
Therapists
Marriage & Family Therapists
Addiction Counselors
Case Managers
Physicians
Nurses
Other Mental Health Professionals