A high percentage of clients in outpatient treatment and a higher percentage of inpatients report histories of neglect, trauma, and/or attachment failure. In addition to being diagnosed with PTSD, this client population often presents as affectively dysregulated, chronically depressed, exhibiting symptoms of bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, and borderline or other personality disorders. Level I of The Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Training Program in Affect Regulation, Attachment, and Trauma equips therapists to better understand the symptoms and issues of these challenging client populations and to work with them in a more effective way. With a better understanding of the presenting problems of these clients and equipped with interventions that speak directly to how their issues are driven by the body and the nervous system, students will be able to directly impact the direction of treatment not only for these client populations but also in their practice settings.

The Level I Training presents simple, body-oriented interventions for tracking, naming, and safely exploring trauma-related, somatic activation, creating new competencies and restoring a somatic sense of self. Students will learn effective, accessible interventions for identifying and working with disruptive somatic patterns, disturbed cognitive and emotional processing, and the fragmented sense of self experienced by so many traumatized individuals. Techniques are taught within a phase-oriented treatment approach, focusing first on stabilization and symptom reduction. Sensorimotor Psychotherapy can be easily and effectively integrated into psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, and EMDR-focused treatments.