BIPOC Somatic Attachment Therapy Training (2021 -2022)

(56 CE Hours may be available)

All BIPOC-Identified therapists on a clinical track are welcome to apply for this introductory training.

You will actively learn and use somatic and attachment-based skills/concepts to facilitate transformation in clients’ core beliefs and patterns of relating to self and others.

The training covers the didactic material of Karen Rachels’ workbook and also allows you the direct experience of practicing basic somatic skills with compassionate, constructive feedback. Making the transition from a non-somatic approach to a somatic one can be challenging. The class aims to normalize these challenges, help you ease into the transition at your own pace, and integrate what you feel fits into your own practice.

Dates: 14 separate Sunday afternoons between August, 2021 and November, 2022: 8/29/21; 10/3/21; 10/31/21; 11/28/21; 1/16/22; 2/13/22; 3/13/22; 4/17/22; 5/29/22; 6/19/22; 7/17/22; 8/21/22; 9/11/22; 10/30/22 or 11/27/22. Necessary absences can be discussed with the training team.

Time:  2:30 pm to 6:30 pm, Pacific time, for large group training.

Location: Online. Only didactic material will be recorded. Personal material that arises during didactic training and practice will not be recorded.

Class Prerequisites:

1. Identify as a BIPOC therapist. Please note the lead trainer is an older, female, white Ashkenazi Jew. The core training is based on an integrated approach she synthesized. Everyone else in the training will be BIPOC-identified, including all three assistants, who are participating in every aspect of the planning and teaching.
2. Be on a clinical track. If not licensed, be in clinical supervision with a licensed practitioner.
3. Have some familiarity with nervous system regulation. 
4. Be able to recognize your own activation and dysregulation, resource yourself, or receive support from the training team in order to return to learning mode
5. Be willing to use your authentic experience as a “client” in order to facilitate the learning of all participants as somatic therapists

Training Team: 

Karen Rachels, LMFT, Lead Trainer (bio)

Karla Amanda Brown, LMFT, Training Assistant (bio)

Paulo Rebello, LMFT, Training Assistant (bio)

H. Ameeta Singh, LMFT, Training Assistant (bio)

Required Texts:

1. Karen’s workbook, Body, Brain, Love: A Therapist’s Workbook for Affect Regulation and Somatic Attachment. You can order it through her website (www.karenrachels.com) or through Barnes and Noble (free shipping). If you register for the class, you can add $25 to the deposit and the book will be sent to you. Please avoid ordering the book through a third-party seller.

2. My Grandmother’s Hands:  Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending our Hearts and Bodies, Resmaa Menakem. You can order it through the author’s website, https://www.resmaa.com/merch-2.  It is also available through many online sources, in paperback or electronic format. A good Bay Area bookstore with an online to support is Marcus Books in Oakland, a Black-owned store.

CEs: May be available for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs and PhDs, $40.

Number of Participants: 12 maximum

Description of Somatic Attachment Therapy: The goals of SAT are to acquire a secure attachment and to develop a coherent narrative of one’s life story. Accomplishing these two goals is dependent on the ability to both observe and experience one’s own internal and interpersonal process in a complete way, i.e., one that utilizes the information from our bodies, our hearts, our intellect, and our spirit in a moment-to-moment, present-focused relationship with a securely-attached, co-regulating, attuned other. Somatic Attachment Therapy aims to facilitate this observation and experience by tracking and working with the markers of client attachment tendencies as well as our own and using a somatic-based approach to deepen awareness and the capacity for change.

Unique Aspects of a BIPOC SAT Training: The SAT training team aspires to make this space one where each body of culture feels included and centered. We seek to offer our training in a way that what is taught is culturally contextualized and immediately useful. We will be regularly engaged in identifying, understanding and managing the intersectional impact that race, ethnicity, immigration, white supremacy, racism, xenophobia, oppression, internalized oppression, internalized racial superiority and multigenerational trauma has on attachment security, attachment trauma and resilience for BIPOC clinicians and clients. The nervous systems of BIPOC have endured varying layers of pain from a variety of directions and over multiple generations. These concerns and experiences are not typically addressed in other training programs. We aspire to do things differently. 

Structure of Training: We will teach specific skills through active practice. Didactic material will be integrated with the practice. Each participant will work as “therapist” and “client” during the course of each training day. While Karen may do the bulk of the teaching, assistants will be teaching some material with her support. By the end of the 56 hours of didactic/practice training, participants will have some familiarity and comfort using the following skills

Didactic Preparation Prior to Training

Didactic Study during Training

Practice Opportunities During and After Training: We strongly encourage you to participate in a practice group with one of the training assistants during the training. Ongoing practice outside of training hours will help you solidify what you have learned and become more comfortable in your seat as a somatic attachment therapist. These opportunities will be described during the training. And, there will be practice group opportunities following the training. We made a group decision to not require these practice groups in deference to all of our busy lives. However, ongoing practice is crucial to soaking in learning and is strongly recommended.

Contact: If you are interested, please email Karen Rachels, karenrachels@gmail.com. She will connect you with a member of the training team for a phone or Zoom conversation.