Professional Development Workshops
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53 days to the eventFri, 13 JuneMelbourneThe Body as Guide: An Experiential Journey in Therapeutic-Healing- 123 days to the eventFri, 22 AugMelbourneThe Body as Guide: An Experiential Journey in Therapeutic-Healing
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT 3-DAY INTENSIVE
The Body as Guide: An Experiential Journey in Therapeutic-Healing
Weaving body-based healing and creative arts therapy into your client work
WHO IS THIS TRAINING FOR:
Practitioners in the Health & Well-being space. This can include mental health practitioners, youth workers, social workers, counsellors and therapists. Interested in the mind-body-heart connection, seeking a deeper understanding of body-based healing for themselves and for their client work. Therapists seeking ways to understand how the body can be a resource and a guide. Those working with clients struggling with anxiety, depression, dissociation, low self-esteem, trauma. Those wanting to support clients to understand how to work with their emotions, shift and transform through awareness, movement-based interventions and creative-reflective processes.
This course is appropriate for people working with children and adults, private work or community group programs.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN:
In this highly experiential engaging three-day intensive, participants will be guided through the processes to experience first-hand benefits. The group work will involve in-depth discussion and practice de-briefs as they learn the practical application of weaving these modalities into their work with clients.
Facilitator Cathy Williams leads by example illustrating safe space creating and holding, and best practices for facilitation. Case studies and role-play scenarios will be explored giving participants opportunities to practice this in a safe learning environment.
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Learn the Somatic theories and practical application of body-based creative therapeutic processes
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Experience and understand the many ways such processes can be implemented to support your existing work with clients
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First-hand experience of the processes, transformative potential and benefits of body-based, movement and expressive art modalities
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Learn facilitation skills, client-entered approaches and trauma-informed measures for creating and supporting safe therapeutic environments and how to support clients fostering connection with their body as a resource and guide
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Gain confidence in your own body-awareness, identification, allowing and being with, expression of and integration using creative arts modalities and practices
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Be inspired with creative possibilities to expand both your personal and professional tool kit for self-regulation and client support
LEARNING METHODS:
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Interactive and practical presentation
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Lead by example, embodied experience of processes
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Individual exploration in collective environment
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Paired and small group debrief and discussion
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Somatic body-based methods
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Expressive Art Therapy methods
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Case study analysis
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Role play scenario
TRAINING CONTENT SUMMARY:
DAY ONE
The first day is about awareness - learning how we ‘arrive’ in our bodies, bring our attention to the present moment. Create a pause and stillness to be with our feeling senses and open a dialogue with the body. Begin to get curious about the many ways our body communicates with us, start to recognise and familiarise ourself with its signals. We map this out through body scans, body maps, categorising tables. We feed our body different inputs and explore safe self-touch. We relax into our current state and allow intuitive movement, stretching and play to come in, creatively capturing our experiences.
DAY TWO
On the second day we widen our lenses from our personal experience of the work to the clients perspective and my approach/philosophy when it comes to client-centred work and creating safe containers. We discuss the role of the therapist/facilitator and different things to note observe and how to guide the therapeutic journey and space for another. Participants will be guided through further practices to support processing and understanding feelings, and ways body-healing and expression can be implemented here. Case-studies will be explored to offer practical example and participants will have an opportunity to role play as both client and practitioner.
DAY THREE
We will discuss the practical application of the explored processes in both a 1:1 setting and group work settings. There will be opportunity to workshop common challenges and discuss ‘where to begin’ in bringing this into your personal practice and client work from this weekend.
INTENTION OF THIS TRAINING:
This training is highly experiential. It has been designed this way so that you first deeply know and understand the process experience and journey yourself before you begin to weave in such modalities to your client work.
You will explore the shadow parts of your psyche, traverse uncomfortable emotional states, rekindle a relationship with your body and become highly curious and reflective. From this space you will be equipped to have a more sustainable connected and aware relationship with your full Self: body ~ heart & mind.
You will be exposed to a series of practices that will open up your dialogue with your body and senses, enquire into your emotional states, increase observation and awareness and explore the connection between sensations, feelings, thoughts. Through experiencing, debriefing/reflecting and discussing you will learn the many ways these practices can support your work with clients and the many things to consider when facilitating such processes.
The beauty of these practices is that they don’t need to be complicated. They are simple yet effective, you will feel the connection and benefit immediately and be encouraged to use them regularly in your own day to day world.
You will become so familiar with the practices, understand the benefits and therefore as a facilitator and practitioner you will come to the practice and the client work with an increased self-awareness and regulated system being able to provide informed considered support and guidance to your clients.
WHAT IS INCLUDED:
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Participant workbook
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Training resources
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20 hours of in-person learning, practice and discussion
Additional Optional Extra ($660)
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3-month Community of Practice hub (3x zoom calls)
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3x Follow up Support Calls with Cathy
