Touch & Movement in Trauma Therapy

CPD

Handouts

Faculty

Linda Curran, BCPC, LPC, CACD, CCDPD Related seminars and products: 13

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Linda A. Curran, BCPC, LPC, CACD, CCDPD, EMDR Level II Trained, is president of Integrative Trauma Treatment, LLC in Havertown, PA. She provides clients an integrative approach to trauma, and treats PTSD in adolescent and adult populations, including clients with eating disorders, sexual trauma, and self-injury. An international speaker on the treatment of trauma, Linda has developed, produced, and presents multi-media workshops on all aspects of psychological trauma.

Linda is the author of the best-selling Trauma Competency: A Clinician's Guide (PESI, 2010) and 101 Trauma-Informed Interventions: Activities, Exercises and Assignments to Move the Client and Therapy Forward (PESI, 2013). She is the producer of the best-selling Interview Trauma DVD series in which she collaborated with the world's leaders in Trauma: Bessel van der Kolk, M.D.; Peter Levine, Ph.D.; Babette Rothschild, MSW, LCS; Stephen Porges, Ph.D.; Janina Fisher, Ph.D.; and many more.

Speaker Disclosures:

Financial: Linda Curran maintains a private practice. She receives a speaking honorarium from PESI, Inc.

Nonfinancial: Linda Curran has no relevant nonfinancial relationship to disclose.

Betsy Polatin, MFA, SEP Related seminars and products: 1

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An internationally-recognized breathing/movement specialist and best-selling author, Betsy Polatin, MFA, SEP, has been teaching for more than forty years and is currently a master lecturer at Boston University's College of Fine Arts. Her background includes meditation, trauma resolution, and the broader healing arts. Her work is greatly influenced by the teachings of spiritual and Meditation Masters. Betsy leads international trainings where she presents her unique and revolutionary fusion of ideas: scientific knowledge combined with ancient wisdom and intuitive human creativity. Teaching experience includes: Touch and Movement in Trauma Therapy, Kripalu, The Embodiment Conference, Psychotherapy Networker, Performing Arts Medicine Association, U.S. Association for Body Psychotherapy, Science and Nonduality Conferences, and International Trauma and Yoga Conferences in the US and abroad. Since 2016, she has been co-teaching ongoing traveling workshops, themed "Trauma and the Performing Artist" and "Trauma in the Public Eye," with Peter A. Levine, PhD. She teaches Returning to Ourselves, the Wisdom of Trauma, with Dr. Gabor Maté. Betsy is the author of HUMANUAL, an Epic Journey to your Expanded Self and The Actor's Secret. As a well-known educator, she has published numerous articles in the Huffington Post. She maintains a private practice online internationally. Please visit: www.HUMANUAL.com.

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Betsy Polatin is a master lecturer at Boston University’s College of Fine Arts. She is an author and receives royalties.
Non-financial: Betsy Polatin has no relevant non-financial relationship to disclose.

Additional Info

Program Information

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Objectives

• Compare and contrast talk therapy’s top-down strategies with somatic therapy’s bottom-up processing and it’s treatment implications. 
• Distinguish between the sensorimotor aspect of trauma and the cognitive distortions that arise from them in relation to assessment and treatment planning.
• Explain the ‘Window of Tolerance’ and Porges’ Polyvagal Theory as it relates to symptom management.
• Consider the importance of attention to both interception and exteroception in Polatin’s 50/50 Awareness intervention as it relates to clinical treatment.
• Illustrate how how mindfully standing, walking, or having a client balance on one foot addresses issues that traumatized people have with proprioception.
• Point out how a body scan (or mindfully attending to bodily sensations) addresses issues that traumatized people have with interoception.
• Implement two interventions to assist clients in “staying present” to their interoceptive and proprioceptive experiences.
• Demonstrate at least one intervention drawn from either Feldenkrais or Alexander techniques to improve treatment outcomes. 
• Instruct client in the theory and practice of the “Reset Breath” for symptom management.
• Explain the necessity of both Titration and Pendulation in Levine’s Somatic Experiencing for managing trauma symptoms.
• Summarize the arguments for and against the judicious use of touch in trauma therapy.

Outline

Introduction to Betsy Polatin & Performance Training
Do Our Intentions Match the Results?
Entrenched Patterns
Performance & Trauma
Somatic Experiencing

• Allowing Our Bodies to Complete a Response
• Understanding Our Patterns
• Letting Go of a “Character”

The Actor’s Secret: A New Approach to Performance Training
The Alexander Technique

• The Importance of Support

Breathing Coordination

• 3 Dimensional Breathing

Somatic Experiencing

The Importance of Movement 
How Do We “Use” Ourselves 
Effort & Energy

• Can You Do Less?
• Toned But Not Tense

Client Demonstration

Touch & Movement
The Roles We Play
Changing Habitual Patterns through Touch & Movement
Resourcing

• Internal Resources
• External Resources

Experiential Exercise: “Resources” & Discussion

Trauma 101
“What Happened to You” vs. “What is Wrong With You”
Peter Levine’s View of Trauma
The Brain in the Palm of Your Hand (Dan Siegel)

• Interpersonal Neurobiology

Overwhelm/Shutting Down
Gestalt Therapy

The Arousal Cycle
Experiential Exercise: “Startle Exercise” 

• Reset Breath

Orienting: Betsy Polatin

• Living in the Present vs. the Past
• Experiential Exercise: “Orienting”
• Orienting Demonstration
• Differentiating

The Autonomic Nervous System: Linda Curran

• Stephen Porges: Polyvagal Theory
  • Tend/Befriend
  • Fight/Fright/Freeze
  • Collapse (Dorsal Vagal Response)
• The Levels of Physiological Arousal
• Experiential Exercise: “Tracking”
  • Reptilian Brain (Sensations)
  • Limbic (Feelings)
  • Cognitive (Thinking)
  • Containment & Support
• Tracking Demonstration

Stress Response

• Stress Event/Reaction
• Discharge Energy
• Equilibrium/Baseline

Freeze Response

• Sympathetic vs. Parasympathetic
• Defense Cascade
• Tonic Immobility
• Robert Scaer M.D. Interview

Regulation

• Interpersonal Regulation
• Self-Regulation

Experiential Exercise: Interoceptors & Discussion

Use of Self
“How” vs. “What” You Do
Definition of “Use”
Two Concepts

• Support 
• Suspension

Demonstration: “Support”
Wrap Up & Conclusion

Awareness through Movement Feldenkrais Method
Hands on Method
Awareness through Movement Lessons
Human Brains Organized Towards Efficiency, Healing, and Functional Organization
Trauma & Awareness through Movement 

• Shift Self-Awareness in the Body
• Effect on Nervous System

Experiential Exercise

Touch “When & Why” 
Harry Harlow Study

• Neglect & Attachment
• Importance of Touch

Touch & Resonance

• Asking Permission Before Touching

Experiential Exercise: “Energetic Boundaries” & Discussion 

Two Types of Touch

• Practitioner Hands on “to fix”
• Non-Fixing Touch

3 Ways of Approaching Touch

• Merging Touch
• Barely Touching
• Agency Touch

Experiential Exercise: “Hands On” & Discussion
Touch & Trauma Treatment

• Support

Communication about Touch
Experiential Exercise: “Get a Pen” & Ethical Decision Making Worksheet & Explanation
How to Communicate When We Don’t Want to be Touched
How Essential Touch is to Our Well-Being

• Skin Hunger

Boundaries

• Letters to Body Workers Regarding Touch

Suspension
Suspended From Above
Two Systems

• Compression System (Building Blocks)
• Suspension System (Expansion)

Body Alignment: Suspension System
Tensegrity
Experiential Exercise: “Suspension” & Discussion
Grounding

Introduction
Review of Ethical Decision-Making Worksheet
Follow-up: Letter to Body Workers

Working with Flashbacks
Guided Imagery is the Opposite of Flashbacks
Experiential Exercise: Guided Imagery: “Lemon Experiment” & Discussion

Breathing
Review of Suspension & Support
Carl Stough “Breathing Coordination”

• Proper Breathing Requires Attention
• Breathing Coordination Used to Reverse Emphysema

Different Models of Breathing

• Diaphragm Breathing
• Belly Breathing
• 3 Dimensional Breathing 
  • Sideways
  • Up & Down
  • Front to Back

Experiential Exercise: “3 Dimensional Breathing” & Discussion

Collapsed vs. Empowered Stance
Experiential Exercise: “Collapsed vs. Empowered Stance”
Dual Awareness

• Helping Clients be Aware of their Stance
• Helping Clients be Aware of their Emotions

Autonomic Nervous System

• Volitional Control

Dissociation

• Goal: Become Embodied & Present

Mentor: Mary Lou Schack, Ph.D.
Problems Have a Traumatic Base
Experiential Psychotherapy Session with Dr. Schack
Processing the Session

• Four Reactions to Trauma
  • Fight
  • Flight
  • Freeze
  • Find a Friend (Basic Human Instinct)
    • We’re Traumatized Because We Don’t Believe we Can Get Help

Awareness & Alexander Technique: Betsy Polatin
Experiential Exercise: “50/50 Awareness” 

• 50% Awareness in on the Inside
• 50% Awareness in on the Outside 

Experiential Exercise: “The Chair” with Betsy Polatin
Alexander Technique

• Experiential Exercise: “Can I Do Less?” & Discussion
• Knowing our Own Patterns
• Being Able to Shift Your Patterns

Embodied Self: Linda Curran

More about Betsy Polatin’s Background

• Dance
• Vocal Coach
• Movement, Trauma & Experience
• Working with Peter Levine

Wrap Up & Conclusion
Relationships before Touch
The Language of Trauma is Sensor

Target Audience

• Addiction Counselors
• Case Managers
• Counselors
• Marriage and Family Therapist
• Psychologists
• Social Workers
• Other Mental Health Professionals