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.

Description

This workshop will explore movement as the basis for contacting and relating – how we come to know ourselves, others and the situation we live through movement, and the implications this has for psychotherapy. 

From the beginning of life we express our needs, feelings and desires through our moving body 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 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. 
In this workshop we will bring this lived body dimension to the fore.
We will practice our kinesthetic awareness, and investigate the emotional and existential significance of these body-to-body communications. 

Participants will be introduced to Developmental Somatic Psychotherapy, the work of Ruella Frank, that is a relational and clinical phenomenological perspective of working with body and movement in psychotherapy.
The workshop will give an introduction to the training program in Developmental Somatic Psychotherapy, starting in London March 2023.
The training group will meet twice yearly:
March 2023 and September 2023
March 2024 and September 2024.

For more information about the training program email helena.kallner@gmail.com 

With

HELENA KALLNER, MA, MSc, UKCP reg. Psychotherapist, practices Gestalt psychotherapy in Stockholm. Helena is a senior teacher and supervisor of Developmental Somatic Psychotherapy™, presenting workshops and trainings internationally. She is presently a doctoral student at Metanoia Institute/ Middlesex University, researching psychotherapists’ use of movement and Kinesthetic Resonance. 

RUTH NIGHTINGALE, MSc, UKCP Registered Gestalt Psychotherapist, Supervisor and Academic Lecturer at Metanoia Institute.  Ruth is a recently qualified teacher and supervisor of Developmental Somatic PsychotherapyTM having originally graduated from this training in 2011.  Her continued passion for working with movement in psychotherapy stems from a lifetime of ‘knowing’ its importance to her physical and psychological well being.

Cost for the workshop: £195

To register: helena.kallner@gmail.com 

Registration commits participants to pay for the workshop.
The fee is non-refundable.