Somatic Therapy Training in Canada
Where Somatic Therapy, Attachment Theory, & Relational Psychodynamic Practice meet.
Somatic Therapy and Somatic Attachment Psychotherapy
Somatic Therapy allows clinicians to work directly with the body and through the right brain and right hemisphere, to access, process, regulate, and integrate traumatic material that is often difficult to access through more traditional talk therapy or left hemispheric practice. This way work working brings the body into clinical practice, offering an orientation that attends to the neurophysiological underpinnings or framework that the psyche is built upon. It is a potent clinical orientation that accesses material embedded and unprocessed in the body, the residue from traumatic experience, incident, relational, developmental, or intergenerational.
Somatic Attachment Psychotherapy is a body-centered approach to therapy, that recognizes how trauma, attachment wounds, and emotional experiences are held in the body, affecting nervous system regulation, self-perception, and relational patterns. The Bringing the Body into Practice Somatic Attachment Psychotherapy 2-year training expands upon traditional somatic therapy training and practices, focusing on working with insecure attachment, uniquely combining somatic practice with attachment theory and application to practice, affect regulation, embodiment practices, the Polyvagal Theory, and psychodynamic relational practice.
The Somatic Attachment Psychotherapy training is unequalled for the reparation of early attachment injuries and insecure attachment.
Attachment Theory and Somatic Attachment Psychotherapy
Attachment Theory helps therapists understand how the legacy of intergenerational transmission of trauma through the early caregiving relationships (attachment relationships) unfolds and impacts the development of the self, psyche and the body, throughout the lifespan and across generations. In applying this theoretical knowledge clinicians can identify and work with long held patterns of relational injury including insecure attachment.
We know that insecure attachment has several features associated that makes therapy for both client and therapist more complex. Clinically, we know that insecure attachment: distorts the Internal Working Model(s) of the self (the self-concept and relational dynamics), dysregulates the Autonomic Nervous System and inhibits self-regulation capacity, impairs affect identification and regulation, distorts the narrative, and there is a lack of integration capacity, with the psyche and bodyself thwarting processing in order to preserve homeostasis or prevent the unbearable tsunami of affective material that previously threated the stability of the self.
The heart of the Somatic Attachment Psychotherapy training program is the reparation of insecure attachment, uniquely and boldly combining attachment theory and application to practice with somatic therapy, and relational psychodynamic practice.
Relational Psychodynamic Practice and Somatic Attachment Psychotherapy
Psychodynamic practice attends to the relational dynamics showcased in the content material clients bring to therapy, as well as the dynamics in therapeutic relationship. These relational patterns, often replications of early relational dynamics wired and learned through the attachment caregiving dynamics, are often embedded in ways of being, doing and thinking.
Because relational dynamics are wired in concert with the developing self, the body and psyche are impacted, therefore both must be attended to in order to process, integrate, and reorganize attachment trauma. In combination with the embodied therapist, psychodynamic processing through the therapeutic relationship can offer disruption, recognition, and reconfiguration of patterns operating outside of awareness.
The training program understands the necessity of working in tandem with the narrative and the body, with specific attending to the relational dynamics in the here and now, in order to offer clients embodied witnessing, embodied relational meeting or contact, and novel relational experience to disrupt early and distorted relational experience and consequentially distorted self-concept.
This unique combination of somatic therapy, attachment theory and application to practice, and relational psychodynamic practice makes Somatic Attachment Psychotherapy a distinctly bold and potent orientation for the reparation of early attachment injuries, including insecure attachment.
Somatic Attachment Psychotherapy Training
Created and Taught by Lisa Mortimore, PhD, and Stacy Adam Jensen, MEd
This distinctive clinical orientation and training weaves together diverse clinical knowledge to attend to and address the significant and long-standing implications of attachment injuries, including insecure attachment.
It is a rigorous and expansive learning program for clinicians who want to deepen and sophisticate their clinical knowledge, understanding, and therapeutic practice. This two-year online program offers:
- Six 4-day online clinics (24 days total), total of 156 hours of continuing education
- An immersive blend of theoretical learning, clinical skills, and coached experiential practice
- Daily practice sessions in each clinic where skilled facilitators offer mentorship and support to as you learn and integrate the material into your practice
- Digital copy of training materials for each clinic
- Academic readings to support your learning for each clinic
- A comprehensive reference list to support your ongoing learning
- 12+ group case consultations between clinics
- A supported cohort environment and larger BBP community
- Certificate of completion for the Somatic Attachment Psychotherapy Training
Online Somatic Therapy Training Curriculum
Year One:
- Build embodiment and nervous system regulation
- Integrate the body into clinical practice
- Learn to identify and address attachment patterns
- Appreciate the legacy of intergeneration transmission of attachment trauma, its formation, clinical presentations, and application to clinical practice in service of the reparation of insecure attachment
- Integration of clinical theory that attends to: attachment and attachment repair, trauma research, interpersonal neurobiology, affect regulation, psychodynamic relational practice, embodiment, and somatic processing
- Understand and apply The Polyvagal Theory, window of tolerance, and their intersection with attachment and regulation to clinical practice
- Identify the physiological underpinnings of psychological presentations
- Utilize the body and somatic process to access, metabolize and reorganize material in the ANS and the psyche.
- Work with with innate protective and defensive strategies that have been thwarted and immobilized by trauma
- Discern and apply right hemispheric processing (sensation, sensory motor, emotion, image/imagination, symbolic/archetypal) to work with metabolization, re-organization, regulation, and integration of material
- Appreciate therapist attachment patterning and its implications for clinical practice
- Explore the formation of chronic shame and impact across the lifespan
- Understand the link between insecure attachment and chronic shame
Year Two:
- Work with disruption, regulation, and reorganization in service of evolving the internal systems, (the internal working models, the ANS, and relational capacity)
- Understand and work with saturation and embodied or somatic countertransference
- Increase your capacity to recognize and work with chronic shame and dissociation as it presents clinically
- Work with relational psychodynamic process, including clinical observations, insights and self disclosure in the context of reparation of attachment wounds
- Identify and work with dissociation, fragmentation, dissociated self-states, and dissociated patterns of hypo arousal
- Explore relational dynamics, including rupture and repair dynamics in clinical practice
- Examine collusion, collisions, recapitulations, breaches, enactments, and their repair
- Map addictions, mental health issues onto the window of tolerance to understand how the ANS and trauma are implicated
- Work with the intersection of incident trauma and attachment trauma injuries. We will cover: medical trauma, motor vehicle collisions, and sexualized violence
- Appreciate the impact of cultural or community trauma upon next generations and utilize lineage or cultural wisdom and teachings in support of repair
- Identify and attend to the sophisticated and nuanced complexity of relational dynamics in clinical practice
Who Should Attend This somatic therapy training?
This training is designed for psychotherapists with a graduate degree in a clinical discipline. It is ideal for clinicians seeking a sophisticated and nuanced orientation to clinical practice.
Somatic Therapy FAQ
What is somatic therapy?
Somatic therapy is a body-centered therapeutic approach that explores the connection between the mind and body to treat trauma, stress, and emotional dysregulation. It helps clients become more aware of bodily sensations and uses movement, breath, and other physical practices to support healing and integration.
While our training integrates somatic and attachment-based methods, it complements but is distinct from Somatic Experiencing (SE) and similar body-based therapies.
How does somatic therapy work with trauma and attachment?
Trauma and early attachment injuries are often stored in the nervous system, not just the mind. Somatic therapy works directly with the body to help release these patterns, regulate the autonomic nervous system (ANS), and repair disrupted attachment. This process supports the client in developing a more secure sense of self and deeper relational capacity.
Who is somatic therapy for?
Somatic therapy is beneficial for anyone experiencing the effects of trauma, anxiety, chronic stress, or relationship challenges. It’s especially effective for individuals with complex trauma, developmental wounds, or persistent emotional patterns that have not fully responded to traditional talk therapy.
Our program is suited for clinicians already practicing within their regulated scope of practice and looking to deepen their somatic therapy skills.
Is somatic therapy evidence-based?
Yes. Somatic therapy draws on research in neuroscience, attachment theory, and trauma studies — including Polyvagal Theory and Interpersonal Neurobiology — to inform its practices. Many approaches used in somatic therapy are grounded in well-documented psychological and physiological frameworks.
What’s the difference between somatic therapy and traditional talk therapy?
While traditional talk therapy primarily engages cognitive processes, somatic therapy also includes bodily awareness, movement, breath, and sensation. This holistic approach allows clients to access and process experiences that may not be fully reachable through words alone.
Can I become a somatic therapist with this training?
Our two-year Somatic Attachment Psychotherapy Training is designed for clinicians who already hold a graduate degree in a mental health discipline. It provides advanced somatic therapy training with a strong clinical foundation in attachment, trauma work, and relational practice. Graduates receive a certificate of completion and are equipped to integrate somatic approaches into their existing therapeutic framework.
This training is ideal for therapists seeking advanced skills in relational and body-based psychotherapy.
Ready to Deepen Your Somatic Therapy Practice?
Join the Somatic Attachment Psychotherapy Training and embark on an unparalleled learning journey into the clinical worlds of Somatic Therapy, Attachment Theory and application to practice, and Relational Psychodynamic Practice.