Upcoming Seminars

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Course Information

Relational Development, Rupture and Repair: A Somatic Developmental Perspective of Attachment and Bonding

In this workshop, we will explore the neurophysiological and somatic underpinnings of healthy relationship and how to support and educate clients using an experiential model of learning. This workshop is a stand-alone workshop that will give you specific tools to be able to guide a shift in the somatic and psychological structure of an individual and then the relational field. For those of you who have been looking for somatically oriented ways to work with infants, couples, families, adult attachment and systems, this short but effective training will greatly enhance your practice.

How we communicate and receive others is learned during our first attachment experiences with our primary care takers such as our parents and, perhaps, even prior to our own conception through epigenetic and transgenerational influences. Relational dynamics with friends, partners, colleagues, loved ones, adversaries and others all stem from these early connections and experiences.

Often, we have experienced and learned less than optimal verbal and non-verbal communication skills. These dynamics are software, not hard wired, and therefore are changeable via neuroplasticity. In our workshop, we will look at how early attachment and bonding experiences set the stage for communication and relationships early and later in life with the body and physiological states being the primary vehicles of communication.

There is no conflict of interest or commercial support for this program.

This program is for 24CE

 

Presenters

Dave Berger, MFT, PT, LCMHC, MA, SEP and Abi Blakeslee, LMFT

Dave Berger, MA, MFT, LCMHC, PT, SEP
Dave Berger, MFT, PT, LCMHC, MA, SEP is a physical therapist and somatic psychotherapist. Dave is also a consultant and teacher of Somatic Experiencing®, a neurobehavioral intervention for recovery from the effects of emotional and physical trauma. Dave’s own BASE™: Bodywork and Somatic Education Training for trauma therapists is an integration of his life’s clinical work. As a therapist, teacher, consultant and mentor, Dave’s passion and commitment to deep healing guide his work. Click here to learn more about Dave.

Abi Blakeslee, PhD, MFT, CMT, SEP
Dr. Abi Blakeslee, SEP, CMT, MFT, Ph.D., integrates Somatic Experiencing with clinical research, the psychobiological principals of attachment, psychodynamic therapy, and somatic bodywork in her practice and teaching. She has conducted original research on the role of implicit memory in Somatic Experiencing with a committee that included Dr. Daniel Siegel.
 

Target Audience:

Psychologists, Psychoanalysts, Psychiatrists (←only partial credit for MDs via APA), Social Workers, MFTs, Counselors, Substance Abuse Counselors,

 

Course Objectives:

  • Relational Development is a somatic/body structure process

  • Attachment and bonding are a process of rupture and repair that includes emotional, physiological and body structural components

  • Development in a traumatic environment impacts relational rupture/repair cycles later in life, but that is changeable through neuroplasticity

  • Adult relationships can be shifted toward health using somatic or body-oriented approaches to couples counseling

  • Knowing the relationship between body structures, neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, behavioral development and therapeutic attunement builds a practitioners’ strengths working with relational healing

 

Agenda

1 four-day workshop, 24 CE’s

Teaching methods will include lecture, video, demo’s, experiential exercises and practice

 

Friday 9:30-5:30  (6 hours)

1.5 hour 9:30-11 Lecture and Experiential Exercises: Conception and Early Development, Introduction of Rupture and Repair from a Somatic and Relational perspective, The Neuroanatomy and the Insular Cortex

11-11:15 Break

1.25 hour 11:15-12:30 Lecture and Experiential Exercises: 5 Structures of Attachment

12:30-2 Lunch

1.5 hour 2-3:30 Developmental Movement and Demonstration

3:30- 3:45 Break

1.5 hour 3:45-5:15 Practice

.25 hour 5:15-5:30 Q & A, Wrap-up, Review

 

Saturday 9:30-5:30  (6 hours)

1.5 hour 9:30-11 Lecture, Experiential Exercises: Continuation of Additional Structures of Attachment, Essential Mirroring Theory and Exercises

11-11:15 Break

1.25 hour 11:15-12:30 Practice Time: Touch Readiness Exercises

12:30-2 Lunch

1.5 hour 2-3:30 Lecture: Theory and History of Attachment, Somatic Approaches to Working with Attachment Styles in Practice

3:30-3:45 Break

1.5 hour 3:45-5:15 Individual Attachment Demo

.25 hour 5:15-5:30 Q & A, Wrap-up, Review

 

Sunday 9:30-5:30  (6 hours)

1.5 hour 9:30-11 Lecture and Experiential Exercises: Polyvagal Theory in Relational Dynamics, Repair Response Cycle

11-11:15 Break

1.25 hour 11:15-12:30 Couples Demo and Deconstruction with Large Group

12:30-2 Lunch

1.5 hour 2-3:30 Triad Practice

3:30-3:45 Break

1.5 hour 3:45- 5:15 Triad Practice

.25 hour 5:15-5:30 Q & A, Wrap-up, Review

 

Monday 9:30-5:30 (6 hours)

1.5 hour 9:30-11 Lecture, Experiential Exercises and Demos: Posturtude, Embodied Emotions, Archetypal Postures, Somatic Dyadic Skill Sets Review

11-11:15 Break

1.25 hour 11:15-12:30 Couples Demo

12:30-2 Lunch

1.5 hour 2-3:30 Practice

3:30-3:45 Break

1.5 hour 3:45- 5:15 Practice, Small Group Process and Q & A

.25 hour 5:15-5:30 Lecture on the Social Synapse