Level 1 & 2 Certification:
The Ethics & Fundamentals of Psychotherapeutic Touch™
Friday – Sunday, February 18-20, 2022
Boulder County, Colorado
Most clinicians receive very little training on the ethics of touch in psychotherapy. More often than not, what little education that is provided is biased against Psychotherapeutic Touch. While there are many clinical situations in which touch is inappropriate, the position clinicians and organizations take against psychotherapeutic touch is greatly influenced by fears of litigation, Western cultural norms, and a lack of education. Psychotherapeutic Touch Trainings aim to provide unbiased clinical research and information on touch in therapy.
This training aims to fill-in the educational gap that is left by the majority of clinical educational institutions. It is not intended to convince clinicians to begin to use basic psychotherapeutic touch, but rather to eliminate the secrecy around touch in therapy and provide information so that clinicians can make informed decisions about their use of touch in psychotherapy. Many clinicians avoid touch without understanding the potential impact of touch aversion or refusal within the therapeutic relationship. Other clinicians are touching clients without clear understanding of the potential impact of their touch. This training will help clinicians to become more aware of how touch has influenced them, explore their own use of touch within the clinical setting, understand when touch is clinically warranted and contraindicated, develop skills to speak with clients about touch, learn basic touch-based interventions, and learn appropriate documentation of all touch interventions. This training is generally aimed towards Psychotherapeutic Touch with adult populations, though some exploration of touch with minors and those who cannot consent will be explored.
This is both a didactic and experiential training. Some of the experiential exercises include physical contact. You are encouraged to participate as much as you can without allowing your physical or emotional boundaries to be violated. Just as with clients we will respect physical contact boundaries. This means you have a right to not use physical contact in the majority of the experiential aspects of this training. You will, however, be required to participate in some touch training exercises such as Averting Client-Initiated Touch.
Please note, completing this training does not prepare clinicians for Advanced Psychotherapeutic Touch. Advanced Psychotherapeutic Touch requires years of hands-on training and expertise in Somatic Attunement. You will be provided a resource list of training programs that offer psychotherapeutic touch as a therapeutic component.
In this training, mental health clinicians will:
- Learn about different religious and cultural values around touch, including gender and “untouchable” considerations
- Understand power dynamics of physical contact in terms of race, gender, position, etc.
- Understand history of touch violations within psychotherapy
- Define and understand touch consent within the context of psychotherapy
- Understand purpose and clinical validation prior to using touch with clients
- Review National Counseling and Psychological Associations’ Ethics and Licensing Board Regulations on the use of Touch in Therapy
- Be able to name the ethical considerations related to using touch in psychotherapy
- Review ethics of touch in psychotherapy and demonstrate a clear understanding of those ethics, including cultural and gender considerations
- Explore their own touch history including family influences, cultural values, beliefs, and somatic responses to touch
- Understand the impact of the covid pandemic on mental health through the lens of physical contact and touch hunger.
- Learn the importance of touch in development and the human experience
- Learn the basic history of touch in psychotherapy
- Understand basic arguments for and against touch in psychotherapy and develop their own informed opinion of psychotherapeutic touch
- Be able to clearly define the boundaries, benefits and contraindications of psychotherapeutic touch
- Learn psychotherapeutic touch interventions including touch refusal training, proxemics and using intermediary devices
- Develop skills to comfortably discuss touch with clients
- Learn to gracefully avoid client-initiated touch
- Understand the impact of no-touch policies
- Understand the pros and cons of touch contracts and the elements that make a good touch contract.
- Learn how to appropriately document psychotherapeutic touch interventions
Requirements for Course:
Participant must be a licensed mental health professional, on track for licensure, or enrolled in a masters’ level mental/behavioral health program. If you don’t meet these requirements, but feel this training is appropriate for you, please contact me directly to discuss your situation.
Investment:
- Workshop fee is $895.00.
- A $45 discount is available for 60-day advanced registration and payment.
- An additional $50 friendship discount is available for each participant referred to the program. Please ask about details for this option.
- There is one work-study position available for each training based on financial need. Please inquire.
Cancellation/Refund Policy
- A full refund less a $75 processing fee will be provided for cancellations greater than 45 days from the date of the Training.
- A refund of $350 will be provided for cancellations occurring 21-44 days from the date of the training.
- There is no refund available for cancellations that occur within 20 days of the program. However, program fees are transferrable to another party. Exceptions may be made in cases of illness or emergency at the trainer’s discretion.
Registration:
Due to the experiential nature of this training, this course is limited to 40 participants. To register for this course, please contact Sabrina Santa Clara via phone or email (online registration coming soon!)
Certifications:
This is a unique opportunity in that Level 1 & 2 trainings are combined. Beginning in 2023 the trainings will be separated into level 1: Didactic information which will be available in an online format and level 2: practical applications which will be in a live format.
Upon completion of several quizzes and completion of this course you will receive Level 1 certification in Psychotherapeutic Touch™. To receive a level 2 certification this coursework is the first step. You will also be required to:
- create a written touch contract
- complete and document 10 sessions in which you used Psychotherapeutic Touch™ with clients and
- send in a video of a minimum of a 40 minute session in which you have used specific elements of Psychotherapeutic Touch™
There is an additional charge for the review of the documentation and continuing education requirements every two years to keep the certification active.
If you can’t make this training, but would like to be put on a mailing list for future psychotherapeutic touch trainings, please join the mailing list. You’ll also receive a free ebook on 16 Skills to Help You Calm Down: Moving from Freaked-Out to Chilled-Out.
