Foundational somatic learning and clinical consultation for psychotherapists:

A 10 week online program

Integrating Somatics

Are you a therapist who wants to learn and integrate somatic tools and approaches into your existing practice? Do you want to support your clients in building accessible relationships to their own embodiment?

Integrating Somatics supports therapists in learning foundational somatics to apply in their current practices.

This is a 10 week online program for mental health professionals  who don’t know where to begin or go next, to learn and confidently integrate somatic approaches to achieve more embodied and trauma informed offerings to their clients.  We will learn together through lecture, practice, and case consultation.

Integrating Somatics may be of interest to you if…

You feel pulled to learn more about embodied, therapeutic approaches but don’t want to completely shift professional paths in this direction, invest thousands of dollars or many years of study.

You have no experience, or some experience and knowledge of somatics and therapy.  Maybe you’ve taken some workshops, or an online course but want to learn more and practice!

You want a program that’s rooted in a politicized embodiment- one that approaches working with bodies in the contexts and conditions that shape us individually, collectively and systemically.

You want support in the applying what you’re learning to your own client work in a group setting.

You feel stuck or stagnant in your work. Maybe you don’t know what else to ask your clients after, “Where do you feel that in your body?”  and want a deeper understanding of what you’re doing and where to go next.

You’ve personally experienced the benefits or power of working somatically and believe that it could really support the people you work with.

I’ve always been drawn to the workings of the body and how to turn towards, recognize and feel into our implicit ways of knowing. The practice and time that is often required to uncover and strengthen these skills in our somas is largely not supported in western, capitalist culture or valued in clinical training.  This can contribute to a lack of trust or fear of “doing something wrong” by engaging more of our bodies within therapy.

Learning the language of the nervous system and body inherently increases what is possible.

Through this 10 week course you will learn how to:

⦾ Honor and recognize the brilliance of all embodiments, while working to support your client’s interests. (An embodied strengths based approach towards being more free!) I am committed to rooting this in a disability justice, and anti-oppressive framework.

⦾ Build  embodied observational skills which will help shape your offers and invitations to clients.  (How we see and sense our own and client’s experience)

⦾ Learn and actually apply polyvagal theory to help organize and interpret your embodied observations within sessions.

⦾ How to pace your offerings and inquiries  based on your client’s nervous system to minimize overwhelm.

⦾ Trauma informed practices of stabilization- (building ability to feel/tolerate  less threat or non threatening experiences in the body)

⦾ Work with natural movement of expansion and contraction within the body.

⦾ Learn practices to build embodied boundaries and preferences.

⦾ Practice invitational and consent based language to support your clients navigating things they may not be familiar with. 

⦾ Learn how to talk about what you’re doing- and support your client to do the same.

Artwork by Greg Dunn

Structure and Outline

This 10 week program will include both teaching/practice modules and group consultations that will alternate each week.

Teaching/Practice Modules- Each teaching/practice module will focus on a theme or framework through teaching material and introduce a related practice.  There will be time for experiential practice as a group,  sometimes in dyads with another participant.

Group consultation- Each group consultation will offer 2 participants the opportunity to present a case or topic area in which to explore ways of understanding and integrating somatics into their current work. Each participant will have 35 minutes for discussion.

Week 1- Teaching/Practice-

-Welcome and grounding with each other and overview of program. -Introduction to non-hierarchical embodiment frameworks. -Somatic orienting and welcoming practices for clients.

Week 2- Teaching/Practice-

-Sensation tracking and Interoception. -Deepening skills in therapist observation and invitation to sensation. -Exploring the why and how & approaches for when clients have difficulty noticing sensation (hyper/hypo).

Week 3- Group Consultation-

-Participants share prepared case presentations.

Week 4- Teaching/Practice-

-Polyvagal Theory: Observing Nervous Systems to Offer Effective Invitations and Interventions

Week 5- Group Consultation-

-Participants share prepared case presentations.

Week 6-Teaching/Practice-

Expansion and Contraction -How to perceive movement in the body. -Working with internal threat and safety referencing maps. -Titrated techniques for movement and change.

Week 7- Group Consultation-

-Participants share prepared case presentations.

Week 8-Teaching/Practice-

Special Topics/Practices and Exercises. -To be determined by group interest. Examples include somatic preferences and boundaries, supported Collapse, working with grief, etc.

Week 9- Group Consultation-

-Participants share prepared case presentations.

Week 10- Integration and Closing

The program will meet virtually, live, weekly for 90 minutes.  The modules are built for participants to attend at the time of our meetings. Please consider your availability given the times and dates.  If you are sick or unexpectedly cannot attend, recordings of the teaching/practice will be sent, however group consultation meetings  will not be recorded. 

Wednesdays, Live on Zoom from 2-3:30pm EST. Next group starting January 8th through March 12th, 2025.

Meeting Dates are: January 8, 15, 22, 29, February 5, 12, 19, 26 and March 5 & 12th 2025.

Dates and Time

$1,450 Payment plans are available.

Cost

Enrollment is on a rolling basis until full. This is a smaller group learning environment and will be capped at 8 participants. If interested, click the button below and you will be led to a short application form and then notified about enrollment or to be placed on a waitlist.

Enrollment

About Sara…(they/them)

I’m  a white, queer, trans/nonbinary, neurodivergent (ADHD), somatic psychotherapist and practitioner living on Lenni-Lenape Land, now also known as Philadelphia. I’ve been working therapeutically with bodies for over 15 years, and within a psychotherapy setting with a speciality in complex/developmental trauma for the past seven. I am grateful to have built a steady ground of experience and knowledge from which I practice and teach.  I integrate my skills as a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner and other somatic lineages, psychotherapist, a former bodyworker & massage therapist, and long time dance artist to support people to find accessible, compassionate relationships to themselves through their own unique embodiments. (You can read more about my training and practice lineages HERE). I geek out on nervous system physiology, traumatology, embodied anatomy and functioning, the study of therapeutic touch, movement, and building consent based practices of exploration. I am committed to this work being integral to not just personal development and healing but also collective liberation. I love supporting clinicians in their learning and do so through individual consultation, assisting in the teaching of clinicians of various somatic certification courses and institutes and now, through my own offering with Integrating Somatics!

FAQs

  • No. This is a learning program with group consultation and is different than clinical supervision.

  • I am not offering CEU’s at this time.

  • This program is designed for in person learning and practice. There will not be required reading or expected work to be completed between modules. At times, resources and further information will be offered for your own engagement.

Integrating Somatics is not for you if..

-You are looking for a certification or credentialing program in somatics.

-You are a seasoned somatic practitioner.

-You want specific somatic training only related to a certain specialization/area of your practice. (Some examples- complex trauma work, working with DID, working with WS and oppression).  While the learning we do together may be applicable to many areas of practice, the course itself does not offer in-depth areas of specialization. 

-You’re not licensed in your field of therapy

Have questions? Be in touch! You can send questions to syassky@sarayassky.com. Want to join me? Click apply now. I look forward to connecting!

You can also sign up for my email list below.

Artwork by Greg Dunn