We met with our web guru David Michels from Geeks on the Beach and he invited us to give our readers a peek behind the scenes. We thought, hmmm, this might be fun, and even more fun, we decided to write each other’s bios and include a glimpse from behind the scenes. So, here it goes, meet Lisa Mortimore, PhD and Stacy Adam Jensen, MEd and Riley …
Lisa Mortimore is the driving force behind the Bringing the Body into Practice, Somatic Attachment Psychotherapy training- a training that is the ever-evolving synthesis of her clinical will and wisdom. In addition to weaving her heart and soul throughout her teaching, she brings to the program clinical and academic rigor, a tremendous capacity to work relationally and translate that into her clinical teaching, and a strong side of laughter. I appreciate the way she’s always pushing her clinical understanding- forging new connections and bridging between diverse clinical knowledges. It is a true pleasure to witness Lisa’s capacity to bring her heart and care into her clinical teaching, and see the fruit come to bear as students embody and deepen their practice across the two-year training. On the one hand she holds the vision what is possible, and in the other hand she lets it unfold, inviting therapists to make the material their own.
When Lisa isn’t teaching, writing, or formulating new clinical connections, you’ll find her with her hands in the mud on her pottery wheel, riding her bike, or practicing culinary alchemy in the kitchen (that’s a fancy way of saying- cooking without a recipe).
The first thing I want to say about Stacy is that he’s all heart, clinically and personally. What I mean by that is that he leads, understands, and relates through his heart. I think this is what sets him apart from other therapists and educators that teach about insecure attachment and chronic shame. Stacy works hard to bridge learners into not only relating to those who have chronic shame, but as he says, “the goal in my teaching is to humanize those who suffer with chronic shame”. Over and over again, I’ve seen how this stance, his orientation, opens therapists’ hearts as they engage with the material and that open heart extends into their practices. It’s like he pedals kindness and preaches belonging, definitely salve to those who suffer from such difficult experiences of non-recognition, misattunement, and shame.
As an educator and therapist, I see the way Stacy formulates and responds to human suffering in ways that relay, I get it and I get you, but there’s a way that he goes beyond that, to relay, and together we can find our way to solid ground. I appreciate that ground because he also brings it to our work, so when things get a little chaotic behind the scenes, when the cat needs feeding, someone’s at the door, and we are teaching online, oh, and what are we going to eat for lunch, he brings it down a level, and Riley (the cat) gets fed, and so do we 😊
When Stacy’s not mucking about with clinical material, teaching, or in his practice, he’s living life on two wheels, bicycle wheels that is.
You’ll also note the black feline in the illustration, that’s Riley, she’s pure sweetness, and occasionally makes an appearance at the trainings (online), to make sure us humans have things under control.
So that’s us, a little peek behind the scenes of the BBP trainings.