We’ll be focusing first on physical symptoms and how to access the body as a doorway to the emotional life and intelligence of those we serve. We will expand our understanding of how and when to access the soma and integrate them with other intervention methods to support just about any difficulty people face.

We will work with movement, via posture, hand motions, body language, and dance - an important method so people can then learn to express what is in their body.

Learn how to integrate voice with the soma and movement; supporting people with accessing body intelligence and wisdom, with sound and verbal communication. We’ll also learn how to deepen people’s process through using sound and music.

Deep experiential learning that comes when one embodies and occupies split-off shadow aspects of themselves, building and strengthening the inner wiring, the pathway, to the freedom of accessing more of their whole selves.

So much goes on in the psyche that shows up as inner dialogue, especially and importantly when it comes to inner criticism, self-hatred, shame, introjected parental figures and internalized oppression. Playing it out in dramatic role play can be a powerful intervention to powerfully raise awareness and work out conflicts and tensions.

Using our eyes, ears, intuitions and the methods above to fill in the gaps that allow these stories to complete themselves.

Learning how to discern the client’s consent when it is not made explicit through watching for minimal cues and signals as we proceed with each intervention. We’ll spend significant time learning about these communications so that the interaction we are having with our client is not re-abusing or re-traumatizing.

Learn the functions of those who witnessed or didn't witness an abusive event or history. These witnesses are crucial keys to understanding how abuse lives in our clients and what the healing path looks like.

While a perpetrator causes the initial harm, the witness holds the greatest power in healing. Trauma isn't solely caused by the initial injury, but by the absence of validating witnessing. When pain is met with a loving witness—one who believes, validates, and supports without gaslighting or blame—healing begins, and shame doesn't freeze into trauma.

Conversely, without a loving witness, clients often internalize a shaming witness—a voice that tells them they are to blame or deserved what happened. This internalized shame and the lack of compassionate witnessing is the true root of trauma, freezing the healing process when natural reactions like pain, anger, and fear are suppressed and denied.

Therefore, unshaming, a skilled and aware form of witnessing, is presented as the essence of trauma healing.

The Earth is our home and our connection to the Earth is not only one of the great wisdoms of most Indigenous cultures, but also our indigenous selves. We’ll be working with a number of Earth-based interventions: 'go-to' Earth spots or locations in dreaming, directionality, polarities and magnetism. We'll be using these connections to work with trauma and help people find their path.

You'll learn to work with trauma using the course's core interventions alongside a multitude of methods and awareness-oriented facilitation options. We move beyond individual impact to address the broader context, recognizing that trauma ripples through families, communities, and entire societies. This expanded view is the foundation for lasting change, moving us toward addressing root causes and wholeness.

Key focus areas include:

1. Integrate Dissociation: We'll look at the intelligence of dissociation, learning to help clients find the optimal distance—moving closer to or safely away from—traumatic experiences.

2. Addressing Inner criticism and Internalized Oppression: Understanding these integral parts of the trauma story, offering pathways to liberate clients from these restrictive narratives.

3. Boundary Recovery and Re-traumatization: Learn to support people in recovering boundaries to prevent them from being re-traumatized again and again in their daily lives.

4. Finding the Inner Healer: Discover how to help people connect with and cultivate their inner healer and innate resources.

5. Working with Detachment: Explore methods for working with death and detachment as part of the healing and integration process.