THE SAP LAB:
The Relational Matrix: Transference, Countertransference & Enactment Dynamics in Clinical Practice
6 FRIDAYS with Lisa Mortimore, PhD and Stacy Adam Jensen, MEd
STARTS JANUARY 2027
A Master Class in
Relational Dynamics
The relational dynamics inherent in psychotherapy can be complex and potent—providing significant grist for the mill, but also, at times, derailing the therapeutic process. Whether we speak of transference and countertransference, the relational matrix, or enactments, therapists must attend to these dynamics as they play out in therapy. Their relational history—both therapist and patient—accompanies them, for better and with challenge, into the therapeutic relationship.
Foundational in these dynamics is the inescapable reality of therapist vulnerability. When relational dynamics emerge, they naturally reverberate within the therapist’s own hidden psychological shadows. This vulnerability is deeply personal, encompassing the therapist as a person—the intersectionality of their identity, their attachment injuries, lifespan traumas, and capacity to mentalize and regulate. It is also structurally amplified within the relational matrix, built directly into the very architecture of psychotherapy. Within this matrix, complex, unconscious patterns can easily sow confusion, create impasses or ruptures, and replicate unconscious patterns of relating.
This master class treats these moments neither as clinical failures nor obstacles to the work. Rather, when they arise, they become central to the process—vital entry points for illuminating these out of awareness patterns that echo early relational experiences.
Beyond the clinical room, this vulnerability is further heightened by contemporary socio-cultural and regulatory changes. In an “age of grievances” combined with a changing professional landscape, these terrains have implications for therapist safety.
This SAP LAB is an opportunity for therapists to deepen their capacity as embodied relational therapists. By increasing their clinical understanding of relational dynamics—with a particular focus on their own material that can become entangled in clinical work, often in repetitive and unconscious ways—therapists nuance and sophisticate their clinical acumen to work adeptly with the reparation of early attachment injuries.
SAP LABS
SAP LABS are designed to work with transformative processes to deepen the therapist’s capacity. A blend of theoretical learning and experiential process engages both hemispheres for a potent and transformative embodied learning experience.
In preparation for each meeting, there will be a reading to invite you to attune in specific ways to some of the material we will be working with and discussing. You will also need to reflect and prepare a case for your own process of reflection. Following the discussion of an article we will deepen our exploration of relevant literature via a lecture. We will then work with a case consultation and clinical demonstration to bring the material to life and expand our understanding and application to practice. Creative process—whether that is writing and/or art process—will be utilised to integrate and make relevant the material to your clinical practice.
Across the 10 days of this training you will deepen your awareness of the relational dynamics resonant to you, both conscious and unconscious. You will learn new ways to hold and open to their unfolding, and you will increase your capacity to disentangle from the webs of relational dynamics and therapist shame.
Your enrollment in the SAP LAB offers you the opportunity to attend the BBP group consultations during the training to further integrate and deepen the material into clinical practice.
Labs for Your Clinical Advancement
The SAP LABs offer psychotherapists an opportunity to explore a particular topics relevant to sophisticated clinical practice. The curriculum is designed to expand your clinical and conceptual understanding, allowing for direct application to your current practice.
There will be opportunity for some of the participants to do demonstrations to explicate the learning for the group.
As with all of our programming, we will work from a pedagogy of kindness, safety and respect. Our goal as educators is to bring alive complex and sophisticated clinical theory and application to practice.
Topics to Explore
- Therapist Vulnerability
- Therapist as Container
- Transference & Countertransference
- Somatic Countertransference
- Therapist Shame Dynamics
- Enactments
- and more…
Fees & Dates
6 FRIDAYS 2027 9 – 5 PT
January to June – dates to come
Fees: $1800 plus GST; payment plans available
- Applicants require a graduate degree in a MH/clinical discipline, an active psychotherapy practice, and must have at minimum 75 hours of somatic psychotherapy training with an attachment and psychodynamic orientation integrated into their somatic psychotherapy practice–prior learning assessments are necessary and entry will be determined by The Savoy Clinic, Ltd.
- All BBP offerings are online
Somatic Therapy Trainings FAQ
What is somatic therapy?
Somatic therapy attends to body and both right and left hemispheres to attend to injuries of the body and mind. It has various applications, is profoundly potent in treating trauma - relational, incident, and complex.
How does this orientation differ from Somatic Experiencing (SE)?
The heart of Somatic Attachment Psychotherapy (SAP) is the reparation of attachment injuries. SAP uniquely weaves somatic psychotherapy with attachment theory and application to practice through a psychodynamic, relational lens. In this way, the SAP orientation is distinct from Somatic Experiencing (SE) and other body-based modalities.
Who are these courses intended for?
These courses are intended for psychotherapists seeking to advance and deepen their clinical practice. Participants need a graduate degree in a clinical mental health discipline.
How is this orientation grounded in evidence-based practice?
Somatic Attachment Psychotherapy draws upon diverse research in neuroscience, attachment theory and research, trauma studies, Polyvagal Theory, and Interpersonal Neurobiology. It also draws on the rich psychoanalytic lineage arcing over the past century. Our curriculums integrate these frameworks into clinical application.
What’s the difference between somatic therapy and traditional talk therapy?
Talk therapy primarily engages cognitive and left-hemisphere processes whereas somatic attachment psychotherapy, integrates both right and left hemispheric processes, working directly with the autonomic nervous system, attachment patterning and relational dynamics, affect regulation, mentalization, and embodiment for the reparation of trauma, specifically relational/attachment trauma.
Can I become a somatic therapist through your offerings?
No. Our offerings are for clinicians who have a graduate degree in a clinical mental health discipline. They provide sophisticated and nuanced theoretical, conceptual and application to practice in the areas of somatic practice, attachment repair, and relational practice. Our work is uniquely embodied and relational.