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Australia 2023

Training Overview

All of our three-module Somatic Resilience and Regulation programs are held in a hybrid online format, which includes pre-recorded lectures and demonstrations, followed by Q&A and experiential practice sessions held live on Zoom. These programs are scheduled to be compatible with different international time zones to provide for a regionally-focused training, as noted on the training location schedule.
Graduate programs are held in person at the locations specified in the program listing.

A somatic approach to supporting recovery from developmental trauma

This three-module program will focus on understanding the effects of trauma during early development. We will present techniques for working with both children and adults, including recognizing developmental trauma in its adult disguises. By understanding how trauma affects the developing child, we can better understand our adult clients' symptoms of early trauma and be more effective in our work with them.

This course is intended as an integrated somatic approach for supporting and restoring clients’ resilience and self-regulation. The primary orientation is on more deeply understanding the impact of developmental trauma. The techniques we practice include the use of what we call intentional touch methods, which can be applied with or without the direct use of touch, making them applicable for both in-person work and online work.

The program consists of pre-recorded videos of lectures and demonstrations, with Q&A time and experiential practice of the specific somatic techniques during the live portions of the program.

In this three-module series, we will cover the following material:

    • How developmental trauma interrupts self-regulation, attachment, and physiology
    • The relationship of attachment and bonding to traumatic stress physiology
    • The somatic effects of developmental trauma
    • The interplay between the social engagement system, physiology, and attachment dynamics
    • Why the ACE (Adverse Childhood Experience) study is so important in generational and community healing
    • Using somatic techniques for supporting resilience, regulation, and repair
    • Ethics and protocols

Prerequisites:

Somatic Resilience & Regulation is a program to provide clinicians and practitioners with an orientation specifically to developmental trauma.

Prior knowledge and experience in a bio-physiological model of trauma resolution is required as a pre-requisite for this training; such as Somatic Experiencing, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy or the Hakomi Method.

Also suitable is the completion of a relevant somatic based trauma resolution training such as:

  • Touch Skills for Therapists Training - Kathy Kain
  • Transforming the Experience-Based Brain - Stephen Terrell
  • NeuroAffective Touch Foundation Training - Aline La Pierre
  • Somatic Experiencing Intermediate level

If you have attended any other equivalent trauma resolution training that is not listed above, please provide details on the application form.

Following is a list of topics that will be addressed in each module. We use an experiential and emergent design model for teaching, which means that topics evolve from the group exercises and discussion. The following gives an approximate order for the material presented, but there will be variation for each group experience.

Module 1

  • Overview of developmental trauma and its impact on physiological regulation
  • Four components of attachment and their relationship to survival
  • Introduction to attachment patterns: secure, anxious, avoidant, disorganized
  • Overview of the relationship between attachment patterns and survival
  • Understanding how your attachment pattern shows up in the therapy room
  • How neuroception and interoception affect attachment and traumatic stress responses
  • Looking at attachment and survival through the lens of the Polyvagal Theory
  • Introduction to the Window of Tolerance and its relationship to management strategies
  • Shame and its inhibitory impact
  • Common behavioral and physiological management strategies induced by early trauma
  • Intro to ACE (Adverse Childhood Experience) study and its importance in treatment
  • Somatic techniques for supporting regulation and safety
  • Somatic/touch methods for supporting resilience and restoration of social engagement
   Lecture videos:
  • Window of Tolerance, Faux Window of Tolerance, Defensive Accommodations
  • Normal Birth Sequence
  • Attachment Styles – Overview
  • Bowlby’s Four Points and Attachment Styles
  • APGAR
  • Parent Attachment Styles
  • Neuroception, Interoception, and Safety Memory
  • Polyvagal Theory, Homeostasis, Allostatic Load
  • Feeling of Threat
   Demo Videos:
  • Working with Body Layers session
  • Kidney and Adrenal/Safe Haven session
  • Identifying our Attachment Style (small group discussion)
  • Brainstem within Safe Haven/Secure Base session.

Module 2

  • Auto-regulation, co-regulation and self-regulation
  • Closer look at anxious and avoidant attachment patterns and their relationship to regulation and survival response
  • Introduction to neurosequential development in developmental trauma
  • Window of Tolerance, and the “Faux Window” management strategies commonly used
  • Adaptive/maladaptive responses: threat response behaviors (immobilization, mobilization, social communication or engagement, submission), physiological dysregulation
  • ACE study: indications of dysregulation and lack of resilience
  • Understanding when social engagement is too much for your client
  • Applying somatic approaches to the repair of shame
  • Introduction to working somatically with low tone physiology (dorsal system)
  • Supporting increased regulation and capacity for social engagement/bonding
Lecture videos:
  • Adverse Childhood Experience Study
  • Allostatic Load and Dorsal Vagus
  • Microbytes
  • Pace and Regulation
  • Neurosequential Development
  • Shock vs Developmental Trauma
  • Neuroception Review
Demo videos: 
  • Allostatic Load session
  • Microbytes session
  • Building Regulation/Relationship session
  • Neuroception practice

Module 3

  • Closer look at disorganized/disoriented attachment patterns
  • The overlap between disorganized attachment patterns and complex trauma
  • Somatic methods for working with severe dysregulation and highly sensitive survival physiology
  • Understanding the re-regulation that’s necessary in working with disorganized attachment and complex trauma
  • Somatic adaptive behaviors and their impact on the ANS and overall regulatory functions
  • Working effectively with the dorsal vagus system to promote re-regulation and greater access to the ventral vagus and social engagement system
  • The dorsal system in relation to somatic over- and under-coupling
  • Traumatic transference and counter-transference
Lecture videos:
  • Romanian Orphanage Study (2 videos)
  • Deeper Dive into Attachment
  • Comparing Disorganized Attachment and Syndromal Clients
  • Transition from High to Low Tone Dorsal
  • Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis and Developmental Trauma
  • Signaling and Neurotransmitters and Trauma
  • Thymus and Trauma
  • Mediastinum (lecture and demo session)
  • Traumatic Transference and Countertransference
Demo Videos:
  • Transition from High to Low Tone Dorsal
  • Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis
  • Sternal Stimulation/Thymus
  • Mediastinum
Bonus Videos:
  • Disorganized Attachment
  • Trauma and Neurotransmitters
  • Demo of Pre-HPA/Brain Stem

Training Format

The training is presented using a hybrid online format.

Distant learning provides pre-module online lecture and demo videos for studying in your own time. 

For each module, there are two days of Skill Building experiential triad practice to integrate the theory plus there will be opportunities for sharing your experiences with other students and to ask questions of the trainers. The Skill Building Experience is attended ‘live’ during real-time on the Zoom platform.  The Skill Building Experience days are not recorded.

Prior to each module’s Skill Building Experience weekend there are two ‘live’ online Q&A segments with the trainers, one a week before and the other one day prior. The segments are recorded and posted.

The Video Lectures and Demos are available to view 5 weeks before each module’s Skill Building Experience and are to be watched prior to attending.

Referral Network

After completion of all three modules, you can request to be listed on the “Co-Regulating Touch” referral network, at no charge.

When And Where

Location(s):

Hybrid Distant Learning

Students must attend Skill Building Experience during real-time on Zoom.

Date(s):

The dates for the Skills Building Experiences are below. Dates are shown in US and Australia formats.

Module 1

September 16-17, 2023 (Australia)
September 15-16, 2023 (US)

Module 2

December 9-10, 2023 (Australia)
December 8-9, 2023 (US)

Module 3

February 24-25, 2024 (Australia)
February 23-24, 2024 (US)

Time(s):

Module 1:

Lecture Videos LIVE:
12th AUG
 
Q&A (1.5 hrs each):
AU: 9th SEP - 8.30am AEST
US: 8th SEP - 3:30 PM PST
 
AU: 15th SEP - 8.30am AEST
US: 14th SEP - 3:30pm PST
 
Skill Building Experiential:

September 16-17, 2023 (Australia)
September 15-16, 2023 (US)

AU: 8.30am - 3.00pm AEST
US: 3:30pm - 10:00pm PST

 

Module 2:

Lecture Videos LIVE:
3rd NOV
 
Q&A (1.5 hrs each):
AU: 1st DEC - 8.30am-10am AEDT
US: 30th NOV - 1:30pm-3:00pm PST
 
AU: 8th DEC - 8.30am AEDT
US: 7th DEC - 1:30 PST
 
Skill Building Experiential:
December 9-10, 2023 (Australia)
December 8-9, 2023 (US)
AU: 9th DEC - 8.30am - 3.00pm AEDT
US: 8th DEC - 1:30pm - 8:00pm PST
 

Module 3:

Lecture Videos LIVE:
20th JAN 2024
 
Q&A (1.5 hrs each):
AU: 17th FEB - 8.30am-10am AEDT
US: 16th FEB - 1:30pm-3pm PST
 
AU: 23rd FEB - 8.30am-10am AEDT
US: 22 FEB - 1:30pm-3pm PST
 
Skill Building Experiential:
February 24-25, 2024 (Australia)
February 23-24, 2024 (US)
AU: 24th FEB -8.30am - 3.00pm AEDT
US: 23rd FEB - 1:30pm - 8:00pm PST

Payment And Related Information:

Tuition:

Please use the registration link in the Register section below to view tuition details.

Cancellation Policy:

Please use the registration link in the Register section below to view cancellation terms.

Inquiries:

Instructors:

Kathy L. Kain
Stephen J. Terrell, PsyD, SEP

Click here to learn more about Kathy and Stephen.

Continuing Education Information:

CE Information is being updated.

Register:

To register for this training, please register on the Somatic Experiencing Australia website by clicking here.