Description:

Developmental Somatic Psychotherapy, created by Ruella Frank, Ph.D., is a clinical phenomenological and movement-oriented approach to psychotherapy within a contemporary Gestalt therapy framework.

From the very outset of life we begin to orient through movement, and we express our needs, feelings and desires through our moving bodies in relation. The movement repertoire that develops early in life becomes our first language. This lived body experience remains fundamental throughout life, as we continuously learn and develop through moving-feeling and knowing ourselves always in relation to the other. Although this dimension of communication is with us from the beginning of life, it often remains elusive and hidden to us. 

DSP theory teaches how lived body, the root of psychological function, is a keen aspect of our intelligence, although it is not always valued as such. When we bring movement to the foreground, it reveals crucial information about the situation we are living. This training program teaches the practitioner to cultivate their kinesthetic awareness and develop their ability to understand their patient through movement.  

The training program

Students will learn how to attend to movement dynamics within the therapist-patient dyad. They will study an experience near vocabulary describing fundamental movement patterns and the felt quality of movement. This comprehensive system offers the practitioner a framework for observation, formulation and therapeutic intervention, which is dialogic, phenomenological, field sensitive and experimental. 

Developing a clear experience of their own body and how they move and feel in relation to others supports therapists to pay attention to the, often subtle, nonverbal dialogue that is continuously emerging within the therapeutic relationship. Practicing this feel-knowing is at the heart of the program, and all theory is explored experientially. 

Pre-Requisites:

Practitioners from all psychotherapy training modalities are welcome. Applicants must have a minimum of two years supervised practice, and/or a minimum of two years training in their modality. They must have experience from personal psychotherapy.

Supervision:

Individual and group supervision is offered between modules. This is not a requirement but supports the learning process. Costs for supervision are not included in the training fee.