Attachment Therapy Training, Somatic Therapy Training, Psychodynamic Therapy Training: SAP Training, Beyond One Way…
There is so much talk about identity politics in the political world—this is nothing new in the world of psychotherapy. The distinguished silos of understanding and practice, the dismissal of psychotherapeutic traditions, the identification and alignment with ‘one way’ is beyond a doubt, problematic. We can see this rigidity and problematic ideology in our political worlds, why is it so difficult to see that in our clinical worlds? In our clinical trainings?
The idea of somatics and working in and with the body is not new, and is making inroads through multiple previously isolated silos of clinical practice. The idea of working in and with the body has become romanticized in many clinical minds and worlds, and in those worlds has often assumed a superlative position to talk therapy. In other words, it remains misunderstood and misaligned. These polarizing positions speak to this problem of silo mentality, setting people up to defend their positions, and missing the necessity of working with both the story and the body, with the relational dynamics that are wired neurophysiologically and operate behaviorally, or relationally, often firing out of awareness.
Coming from a somatic or body-centred origin as a therapist, and having moved my orientation to bridge it with attachment theory in practice, and psychodynamic psychotherapy has made all of the difference in how I see and understand clinical work with people, people with trauma, particularly relational trauma.
In twenty years of clinical practice and teaching hundreds of therapists, I haven’t found there to be easy answers to what it takes to sit with, and heal human suffering. Clinically, I have needed a bigger and bigger canvas, read, an ever-expanding tapestry of theory and practice not only to hold the unbearable, but to understand and traverse the depth and vastness of the abyss, to meet and companion people back from the outskirts of the void that trauma creates.
From my perspective, one that I teach in the Somatic Attachment Psychotherapy two-year online training, not only is the body necessary for processing trauma, but so is the story, the narrative, the content. People need to be witnessed. With relational injuries (insecure attachment), typically passed down through generations, we are working with elements of mystification and distortion of one’s understanding of self, other and how relationships work, we are working with an autonomic nervous system that has difficulty with regulation, we are working with a system that defends against integration, we are working with folks that have trouble mentalizing, and some folks with insecure attachment may have a lack of emotional literacy and capacity. That’s a good amount of injury to work with on both sides of the clinical chair.
There is no one way to practice, and there is no one way to heal. That is clear. Nor, can only one silo of psychotherapy respond to histories rife with anguish, unbearable, distorted and mystified experience. To bear witness and hold someone with a history of relational trauma requires the therapist to enter into the clinical space ready and able to work with the whole of the self—the body and psyche, the relational dynamics that are present and replicated from early relational experience, and work beyond silos with an ever-expanding clinical canvas that allows for diversity, nuance, and integrated thought and practice. My invitation here is to reach across the aisle (I know this sounds political, but isn’t everything political), to invite curiosity and integration, to expand your canvas—your particular understanding and brand of psychotherapy.