Psychotherapeutic Touch

What Are The Ethics Of Touch In Therapy And Why Should We Talk About It?

Are you a therapist who was trained to believe that touch between clinician and client was unethical? Do you touch clients, offer a hug or a hand of comfort, but feel like you have to keep that secret from other judging clinicians? Do you feel comfortable with the psychotherapeutic use of touch with your clients but still fear the possibility of litigation or crossing boundaries? Have you fully explored your own relationship to touch, and if so, are you confident that your own touch wounding is not impeding the therapeutic process?

Touch ethics in therapy can create many challenges for clinicians who simply want to provide the best care possible for their clients. For instance, you may not know how to refuse client-initiated touch without shaming the individual you’re working with. Or maybe you struggle to identify indications and contraindications for implementing touch with clients. Or it could be that you feel comfortable implementing touch into your practice, but you have no idea how to accurately document psychotherapeutic touch™ interventions.

Whether you just started your practice or have been practicing privately for years, it’s time to talk about the touch aversive stance of clinical culture. As mental health clinicians, we need to have a common language to adequately discuss physical contact and its place within the therapeutic container. My specialized training and certification programs do just that.

The culture of the United States is, in general, a very low-touch (barring subcultures or mixed US cultures). Touch avoidant cultures run contrary to the human biological need for physical attunement and connectivity, which can greatly affect the potential for healing within our clients. Western approaches to mental health may acknowledge that touch is essential to a human’s social, emotional, and physical development and that it acts as an integral part of genuine communication and connection. However, Western approaches to psychotherapy typically leave that vital element out of the therapeutic relationship. Moreover, psycho-medical culture often fails to acknowledge the touch hunger that many of our clients suffer from (and perhaps that we, as healers, suffer from as well).

Our own personal influences, be they cultural, religious, familial, or educational (as it applies to the prevailing culture of psychotherapy), can all affect how we connect to our clients. When your own experiences of touch violations are factored in, it’s no surprise that the traditional approach to therapy is missing a crucial component of the healing process.

As professionals, we need to be able to address all aspects of wounding within our clients. Yet, how can we do that if we haven’t explored our own relationship to touch and the wounds we have suffered—be it touch violations or touch isolation? We must take this most basic of human needs out of the shadows and openly explore how touch wounding lives within our clients, within ourselves, and how this affects our capacity to heal others.

Psychotherapeutic Touch includes within its framework a set of standards that defines the boundaries of appropriate touch within the safety of the therapeutic container. It also explores the area beyond physical touch, such as proxemics, and how that may impact therapeutic outcomes.

While the importance of connective, attuned touch in both childhood and adulthood has been clinically validated, most educational programs have failed to provide adequate education on the ethics and clinical use of touch in therapy. The trainings I offer bridge that gap in awareness and education and will create an understanding that can help you provide better care for your clients.

My training program creates a container, a safe space in which to objectively explore touch in therapy without fear of judgment or persecution. Our work together is designed to help you understand the ethics of touch and to be comfortable discussing your boundaries and touch policy in therapy with clients in a manner that still maintains your therapeutic relationship.

Never has there been a time in which this training is more critical. With the advent of psychedelic psychotherapy in which touch is considered a valid therapeutic intervention, its imperative that those using physical contact with clients are appropriately educated and have the skills necessary to provide effective, attuned and ethical touch interventions.

These certification programs ensure that clinicians and psychedelic assistance providers have what’s needed to ethically offer touch-based interventions.

Introduction to Psychotherapeutic Touch™:

This four-hour live zoom training will make you rethink what you thought you knew about touch in therapy, opening a doorway into the rich field of touch in psychotherapy. This training is not part of a certification program. However those who have taken it are eligible for a discount on the Certification program. Link here for more information about this training and upcoming training dates.

Introduction to Psychotherapeutic Touch™ for Integrative Psychedelic Professionals

All the information of the basic Introduction course with an an emphasis of working with folks in NonOrdinary States of Consciousness. This training is not part of a certification program. However those who have taken it are eligible for a discount on the Certification program. Course information and upcoming training dates.

Psychotherapeutic Touch™ Consultation

Individual consultation and consultation groups are only available for those who have taken the Level 1 training (an exception may be made for those with other relevant training/experience). Upcoming consultation groups will be posted on the events page – or small groups may inquire to begin their own.  Consultation groups will eventually be a requirement for recertification.

Psychotherapeutic Touch™ Certification: Level 1
The Ethics of Touch in Psychotherapy and Psychedelic Attendance

This 8-hour online workshop  includes the knowledge base required for the Level 1 Certification.
Find out details and training dates here.

Psychotherapeutic Touch™ Certification: Level 2
The Fundamentals of Touch in Psychotherapy & Psychedelic Attendance

This live 16-hour comprehensive workshop reviews the basics from level one and puts them into action. This training is highly experiential and didactic. It deepens the material from level one and brings interventions that include physical contact. Find out more about the training here.

Level 3: Advanced Training & Certification in Psychotherapeutic Touch™

This live level 3 training will be available in late 2025 and will only be available live for those have completed level 1 & 2 trainings in Psychotherapeutic Touch and who have additional training in other forms of somatic healing modalities that include touch such as Hakomi, Somatic Experiencing, Rubenfeld Synergy Method, Somatic IFS, massage therapy, etc.

Customized Training

The field of Psychotherapeutic Touch is much broader than just “do I make physical contact with my clients or not?” It include an understanding of proxemics, energy, culture, racism, dominance, patriarchy, secrecy, violation, boundaries and so much more.

I have created training programs on touch-contracts, clinical documentation of touch interventions, intersection of touch, race, gender and power, why organizational no-touch contracts lead to increased litigation, to name a few. I can customize trainings that target your organization’s specific needs. I also provide training at conferences and educational events as well as small group training and one-on-one consultation.

The training I provide can truly help you clarify the intricacies of touch in psychotherapy, regardless of your stance on the practice. If you would like to know more, I encourage you to contact me to see how I may be able to benefit your approach to healing.

Your workshop has opened up a new doorway in my practice that I have neglected. I have started exploring the relationship to touch with all of my new clients and many of my longstanding ones. Thank you.

C Silberstein, MD in practice 35 years

Touch in our culture is so fraught – I had parts come up in this training that need to be explored. Learning about what’s culturally and historically in the way of touch was insightful. Excellent training. Sabrina is clear, confident, informed and has a warm and nurturing presence.

Karen Grayson, LPC & Spiritual Growth Coach, 20 years in practice