VALENCIA

Ongoing training program in Valencia, Spain, organised by Terapiados

For more information: 
terapiados@terapiados.net

Developmental Somatic Psychotherapy:

- Exploring the Bodily Roots of Experience in Psychotherapy

Developmental Somatic Psychotherapy introduces a phenomenological and developmental approach to integrating body and movement in psychotherapy within a contemporary Gestalt therapy framework. Created by Ruella Frank, PhD, this approach is inspired by the work of clinical phenomenologists, developmental psychologists, movement theorists, and somatic educators. It emphasises how movement dynamics

between therapist and client reveal crucial relational and existential themes, offering valuable insights into the therapeutic process.

This five-module training program provides participants with a framework for diagnosing and treating clients through an understanding of movement dynamics. Participants explore how moving-feeling patterns, established early in life, serve as the foundation for psychological functioning. They learn to apply this understanding to the present therapist-client encounter.

The training is experiential, meaning theory is explored through movement-based experiments. These will help practitioners cultivate deeper awareness of their own moving-feeling-sensing experience, enhancing their ability to respond to shifts and changes in the therapeutic encounter. This includes attending to how needs, feelings, and desires are communicated through gestures, posture, vocal tone, and other forms of bodily expression—forms of interaction present from birth but that often remains elusive and overlooked.

This system offers practitioners a framework for observation, formulation, and therapeutic intervention that is dialogic, phenomenological, field-sensitive, and experimental.