Integrating Somatic Techniques in Therapy

Deb Dana, LCSW is a clinician, consultant, and author specializing in complex trauma. Her work is focused on using the lens of Polyvagal Theory to understand and resolve the impact of trauma and creating ways of working that honor the role of the autonomic nervous system.

She is a founding member of the Polyvagal Institute, consultant to Khiron Clinics, and an advisor to Unyte. Deb is the developer of the signature Rhythm of Regulation Clinical Training Series and is well known for translating Polyvagal Theory into a language and application that is both understandable and accessible for clinicians and curious people alike.

Deb’s clinical work published with W.W. Norton includes The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy: Engaging the Rhythm of Regulation, Polyvagal Exercises for Safety and Connection: 50 Client Centered Practices, the Polyvagal Flip Chart, the Polyvagal Card Deck, and Polyvagal Practices: Anchoring the Self in Safety. She partners with Sounds True to bring her polyvagal perspective to a general audience through the audio program Befriending Your Nervous System: Looking Through the Lens of Polyvagal Theory and her print book Anchored: How to Befriend Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory.

Deb can be contacted via her website: www.rhythmofregulation.com

Bessel A. van der Kolk M.D. is a pioneer clinician, researcher, and teacher in the area of posttraumatic stress. His work uniquely integrates developmental, neurobiological, psychodynamic, somatic, and interpersonal aspects of the impact of trauma and its treatment.

His #1 New York Times Science bestseller, The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Treatment of Trauma (translated in 38 languages), transforms our understanding of traumatic stress, revealing how it literally rearranges the brain’s wiring—specifically areas dedicated to pleasure, engagement, control, and trust. He shows how these areas can be reactivated through innovative treatments including neurofeedback, psychedelic therapy, psychodrama, mindfulness techniques, parts work, yoga, and bodywork. Dr. van der Kolk and his various collaborators have published extensively on the impact of trauma on development, such as dissociative problems, borderline personality and self-mutilation, cognitive development, memory, and the psychobiology of trauma. He has published over 150 peer-reviewed scientific articles on such diverse topics as neuroimaging, self-injury, memory, neurofeedback, Developmental Trauma, yoga, theater, and EMDR.

He is the founder of the Trauma Center (now the Trauma Research Foundation) in Boston, MA; past President of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, Professor of Psychiatry at Boston University Medical School, and Principal Investigator Boston site of MAPS-sponsored MDMA-assisted psychotherapy study. He regularly teaches at universities and hospitals around the world. Visit traumaresearchfoundation.org and besselvanderkolk.com for more information.

Linda Thai LMSW (she, her) is a trauma therapist who specializes in cutting-edge brain- and body-based modalities for the healing of complex developmental trauma. As an educator and consultant, she is gifted with the capacity to contextualize, synthesize, and communicate complex and nuanced issues pertaining to trauma, attachment, and the nervous system, including the impact of oppressive systems on identity, mental health, and well-being.

Linda is passionate about breaking the cycle of historical and intergenerational trauma at the individual and community levels and deeply believes in the healing power of coming together in a community to grieve. Born in Vietnam, raised in Australia, and now living in Alaska, Linda is a former child refugee who is not only redefining what it means to be Vietnamese, to be Australian, and to be a United States-ian… she is redefining what it means to be wounded and whole and a healer.

Peter A Levine is the developer of Somatic Experiencing®, a naturalistic and neurobiological approach to healing trauma. He holds doctorates in both Biophysics and Psychology.

He is the Founder and President of the Ergos Institute for Somatic Education and the Founder and Advisor for Somatic Experiencing International. Dr. Levine is the author of several best-selling books on trauma, including Waking the Tiger, Healing Trauma (published in over 29 languages).

He has received Lifetime Achievement awards from Psychotherapy Networker and from the US Association for Body-Oriented Psychotherapy.
He continues to teach trauma healing workshops internationally.

Peter’s new book, An Autobiography of Trauma:
A Healing Journey, is available in leading bookstores. Learn more about Peter and Somatic Experiencing® (SE™) at somaticexperiencing.com.

Frank Anderson is a world-renowned trauma expert, Harvard-trained psychiatrist, global speaker, and acclaimed best-selling author of Transcending Trauma. Dr. Anderson has a long affiliation with Bessel van der Kolk at the Trauma Research Foundation and is a lead trainer at the IFS Institute under Richard Schwartz. He is passionate about teaching brain-based psychotherapy and integrating current neuroscience knowledge with cutting-edge models of therapy.

Dr. Anderson believes that traumatic events can have a lasting effect on the health and well-being of individuals and that addressing these events will help lead people down a path of hope, love, and forgiveness.

He is the director and co-founder of the Trauma Institute and Trauma-Informed Media, organizations that provide educational resources and promote trauma awareness. As a result of his early childhood experiences and personal journey transformation, he is dedicated to bringing more compassion, unity, and trauma healing to the world.

He splits his time between Boston and Los Angeles where he lives with his husband and two sons.

To explore Dr. Anderson’s work and discover his latest book To Be Loved – a deeply personal memoir about healing – visit his website at FrankAndersonMD.com and follow him on Instagram at frank_andersonmd.

Dr. Cathy Malchiodi is a research psychologist, a clinical mental health counselor, a licensed professional art therapist, and registered expressive arts therapist. She is the founder and director of the Trauma-Informed Practices and Expressive Arts Therapy Institute. Dr. Malchiodi is a sought after trainer and consultant on trauma and the body and evidence-informed expressive arts and sensory-based approaches. She is the author of over 20 books, including Trauma and Expressive Arts Therapy: Brain, Body, and Imagination in the Healing Process and the Art Therapy Sourcebook.

Cathy is the originator of Bilateral Movement Desensitization and Resensitization BMDR™ (Bilateral Movement Desensitization and Resensitization), the Circle of Capacity model of trauma intervention, and Restorative
Embodiment™, a set of body-oriented, sensory integration practices to support recovery and restoration.

Founder & Director, BioDynamic Breathwork & Trauma Release Institute, Co-Founder & Director of the Integral Body Institute in Poland, Lead Facilitator BBTRI Trainings.

Developer of the BioDynamic Breath & Trauma Release System®, Giten shares a mastery of body-oriented therapies that has evolved from over 20 years of learning, exploration, and work with countless clients and groups around the world. His passion for life, humility, and love for people has inspired his own personal journey and the creation of his “6-Element” approach to healing. Giten continually leads practitioner trainings and experiential workshops with his unique blend of creativity, depth and playfulness, while growing the BioDynamic Breath & Trauma Release Institute and its global community of friends and colleagues.
Giten is a Licensed Massage Therapist since 1994 (Swedish Institute of Massage Therapy, New York), and certified Breath & Body Oriented Therapist since 2001 (Diamond Breath School, Miasto Meditation Institute, Italy), as well as a former Osho Multiversity Therapist (OSHO Meditation Resort, Pune, India). He was born in Ukraine and lived in New York for 24 years, before finding his current home in the Santa Cruz Mountains, California.

Sharon Stanley is a psychotherapist, educator, author, and consultant. Over the past 23 years, she has developed and taught an emerging curriculum for healing trauma to thousands of mental health professionals. She has had the privilege of teaching psychotherapists from Canada, the United States, South America, the Middle East, and Europe.

Through the educational experience of Somatic Transformation, Sharon invites psychotherapists to explore emerging research and practices in both their professional and personal lives, expanding their knowledge and growing their own somatic practices. She then applies their findings to the ongoing development of Somatic Transformation.

Sharon’s doctoral studies at the University of Victoria involved research into the development of empathy in caregivers working with traumatized children. It identifies the transformative effects of Somatic Transformation as an amplification of empathic connection. She was engaged in a study group with Dr. Allan Schore, a renowned neuroscientist, for 18 years.

Sharon lives and practices psychotherapy on Bainbridge Island, just outside of Seattle. Her book, Relational and Body-Centered Practices for Healing Trauma: Lifting the Burdens of the Past, is used by psychotherapists interested in a developmental, body-centered, relational approach to healing trauma. The second edition of this work is scheduled to be released by Routledge on March 13, 2025.

Jacquie Compton (she/they) RP, RCAT, is a trauma therapist, educator, clinical consultant, and poet. She is an art therapist, a certified advanced practitioner in sensorimotor psychotherapy, and an SPI-approved clinical consultant.

Jacquie is a faculty member and clinical supervisor at the Toronto Art Therapy Institute, where she teaches courses on trauma-informed practice, embodiment, anti-oppressive practice, and cultural humility in art therapy. She is also a trainer with the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute.

With over 16 years of clinical experience, she continues developing a trauma-focused, decolonizing practice incorporating art-based and somatic-based approaches.

Her approach is deeply rooted in anti-oppressive, anti-racist, decolonizing, feminist, and trauma-informed practices. Jacquie believes in the embodiment of practices beyond the therapeutic relationship and welcomes others to experience the beauty of being in a relationship with themselves, others, and the world around them with and through the wisdom of body.

Dr. Alexia Rothman is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Atlanta, GA, since 2004. She is a Certified Internal Family Systems therapist, an international speaker and educator on the IFS model, and an IFSI-approved professional consultant. Dr. Rothman has received extensive training in IFS, primarily from Dr. Richard Schwartz.

She has served on staff for multiple Level 1, 2, and 3 experiential IFS trainings, and she offers workshops on the IFS model throughout the U.S. and internationally. She co-hosted the IFS-informed podcast miniseries, Explorations in Psychotherapy, and co-hosts the IFS podcast, IFS Masters.

Dr. Rothman is a United States Presidential Scholar who graduated summa cum laude from Emory University as a Robert W. Woodruff Scholar. She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where she was an Edwin W. Pauley Fellow and a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow. She has held adjunct faculty positions at Emory University and Agnes Scott College.

Tracy Jarvis, MSc, is a renowned psychotherapist, trainer, and consultant with more than 20 years experience in the field of psychology and mental health. More widely, Tracy is co-developer of the new Psychology and Trauma MSc at University College London. She is the Founder and former Managing Director of PESI UK (previously Psychotherapy Excellence), a not-for-profit organisation and the largest clinical content provider in the UK and Europe.

In addition, Tracy is part of the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute training team and has a specialist private practice in PTSD and complex trauma. She teaches, advises, and consults on trauma and clinical strategy for various organisations worldwide, emphasizing the importance of a bio-directional treatment approach to treating psychological trauma. www.tracyjarvis.net.

Andreia Pacheco, Ph.D., is a Portuguese psychologist and psychotherapist, certified L3 Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapist, and an IFS-I clinical approved consultant. She has also completed her Somatic IFS and Intimacy from the Inside Out (IFIO) post-advance training. She has a background as a published international researcher and a University Professor and has supported many IFS (L1 and L2) and IFIO international trainings as a Program Assistant.

Shankari (she/her) is a Level 2 Internal Family Systems (IFS) Practitioner and Somatic Coach, with specialized training in Somatic IFS, Somatic EMDR, Neurobiology, and IFS Unattached Burdens & Guides. With 15 years at the Esalen Institute, she focused on Gestalt, Shamanism, Somatics, Psychedelic Integration, and Trauma-Informed works. Shankari has taught extensively at Esalen and is an IFS Institute Program Assistant and Life Architect Practice Facilitator for its 55-hour Integrating Somatic Techniques in Therapy training. Her diverse background includes Info Tech (IT), Community Herbalist, Process Acupressurist, Software Development, and California Certified Massage Therapist.

In her 1:1 private practice, Wild Wisdom Guide, she facilitates client-led deep process explorations of relational and attachment issues. Through IFS parts work, she weaves expressive arts techniques and nondual meditation to support differentiating from and connecting to the client’s true inner healer. Shankari’s Personal Growth Groups combine IFS Healing Circles, Gestalt, and Psychodrama for transformative experiences. She loves to be immersed in nature through long walks in the mountains & mesas of Taos New Mexico, the jungles & beaches of Costa Rica, urban treks in Portland Oregon, and wandering the redwood groves & following the streams down to the ocean in her beloved Big Sur, California.

Learn more: WildWisdomGuide.com

Rachael brings an integrated mind-body approach, offering clients TRE (Certified 2019) and/or Somatic IFS (Susan McConnell’s 54-hour training in 2021).

Often working in tandem with psychotherapists, she combines the somatic mindfulness and compassion of IFS with the natural, gentle shaking of Tension and Trauma Releasing Exercises to alleviate trauma and stress. This approach facilitates self-knowledge, relief from pain or anxiety, greater embodiment, and calm.

Denisa Udžanová, MA is trained in Internal Family Systems Therapy and Somatic Internal Family Systems Therapy. She studied sociology, linguistics, and literature and is continuing her education in psychotherapy. Her enjoyment of studying has led her to develop an interdisciplinary lens toward the complexities of life and a vast array of human experiences. In the therapy room, she works with people with developmental trauma, PTSD, attachment wounds, and legacy burdens, as she accompanies them on their journey towards healing, inner resourcefulness, and the Self, to help them feel anchored from the inside and to experience a degree of wholeness. Denisa believes in the possibility of self-led choices and an innate capacity for Self-Led and authentic change.

Part of her quest for therapy and the complexities of life is curiosity about the somatic representation of human experience. She is interested in observing and learning how the body communicates experience from the inside and on the outside.

Depending on how she feels, Denisa enjoys reading, hiking ‘to lose herself’ and to wander, being comforted by tranquility and earth-rooted connectedness, and unrestricted authentic joy and freedom. She also favors libraries and city walks, fitness, sound baths, breathwork, etc. She likes all that feeds her imagination, sense of wonder, and appreciation for everyday life.

Karla Amanda Brown (she/her), Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, is the Founder & CEO of Soul Centric Counseling as well as Soul Centric Collective, a platform dedicated to increasing global interest and access to the healing power of group psychotherapy. As an African American Silicon Valley CEO, Karla leads while guided by values of gratitude, love, and belonging. She works to empower and enhance the quality of life for the clinicians and patients with whom she works.
While headquartered in the heart of technological innovation and disruption, as well as one of the world’s largest economies, Silicon Valley is also filled with systemic occurrences of micro-, mezzo- and macro-aggression, racism, and rampant inequity, which has created a profound multi-generational health and wealth gap. Karla is committed to using her life, resources, and access to provide opportunities for vastly underrepresented community members such as persons of global majority, queer, disabled, and those with other marginalized identities.

A few noteworthy advanced education mentions are that Karla has trained with:

– Internal Family Systems Institute as a Level 3 IFS Therapist for individuals and people in relationships
– Accelerated Experiencial Dynamic Psychotherapy Institute
– NeuroAffective Touch Institute
– Psychobiological Approach to Couple Therapy Institute
– Center for Healing Shame
– Integrative Psychiatry Institute as a Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy Provider
– Center for Optimal Living as a Harm Reduction Therapy Provider
– Body Temple Yoga School
In addition to numerous Level 1 & 2 IFS offerings, Karla has assisted for Brainspotting, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Somatic Attachment Therapy, and Alchemy Community Therapy Center trainings.

Emmalou is a Level 3 IFS trained somatic systemic psychotherapist based in the Uk, holding an ongoing commitment to embodied anti-oppressive transformative justice praxis, in service of liberatory emergent growth, personally and within community. They have supported Level 1 and 2 IFS trainings as a Programme Assistant domestically and internationally.

With a background, qualifications and ongoing training across areas of Somatic Psychotherapy & Psychology, Somatic Abolitionism, Embodied Social Justice, Creative Connection® Expressive Arts Group Therapy, Soul Collage®, Hakomi, Systemic Ritual and Family Therapy.

Visit Emmalou’s website for more information: Ensou.

Tina Vreys works as a psychiatrist and psychotherapist in Breda, the Netherlands. She combines working in a private practice with working in an institution for mentally disabled patients with severe psychiatric pathology. Also is she the chairman of the Dutch department of psychiatrists with a private practice. In her private practice Tina focusses on early childhood trauma and complex PTSD, combining IFS with other treatment modalities as EMDR, psychofarmacology and insights from the polyvagal therapy and somatic experience.