Renegotiating Developmental and Relational Trauma

Touch is at the foundation of our relational experience. Scientific evidence has shown that attuned, caring touch is critically important for normal brain development as well as for healthy emotional and cognitive maturation.

NeuroAffective Touch® is a professional somatic training that introduces psychotherapists and bodyworkers to the use of touch as a vital bridge to body-mind integration. The training addresses attachment, emotional, and relational deficits that cannot be reached by verbal means alone. NATouch™ techniques can be implemented with a client being either seated or lying on a table.

NeuroAffective Touch® was created by Dr. Aline LaPierre,
clinician, author, teacher, and past Vice President of the United States
Association for Body Psychotherapy (USABP).

NeuroAffective Touch® is a polyvagal-informed model that uses intentional mindful touch to bring the unconscious memories held in the body into conscious awareness. Working with the polyvagal nervous system, NATouch™ helps establish a new somatic foundation from which to rework trauma-based unconscious behavioral responses and rebuild self-awareness and identity.

Integrating the body, brain, and nervous system with traditional psychotherapy is now at the forefront of clinical advances for healing attachment wounds and early developmental deficits. Experience how including the body and the therapeutic use of touch can enhance your practice and your perspective as a clinician.

NeuroAffective Touch® Foundation Training

To enhance your clinical outcomes by integrating body and mind in the resolution of attachment trauma and emotional/relational deficits.

• Develop the key somatic and bodywork skills necessary for working with attachment deficits
• Access pre-verbal and non-verbal states
• Move beyond the traditional psychodynamic understanding of identity as residing in the mind by working simultaneously top-down with the mind and bottom-up with the body
• Use neuroception, interoception, and proprioception to work with implicit procedural memory and resolve dissociative states
• Teach clients practical self-care touch exercises to stabilise their nervous system

Those who do not intend to use bodywork or touch within their practice will learn how to teach their clients interventions that connect and resource them in the body.

Cellular Imprinting

“Literally my cells started to change. They felt like clear bubbles. I stayed in that state to feel it, to take on that new imprint.”

NeuroAffective Touch® works with early somatic deficits by communicating directly with the body to nurture clients at the non-verbal level where they received their first imprints. Attuned, resonant touch helps address the three essential developmental states necessary for emotional well-being:

“I exist”
“I am loved”
“My needs are important”

In cases of early emotional and relational trauma, the therapeutic use of touch establishes a non-verbal bottom-up foundation of SAFETY, TRUST, and CARE from which a new mindful top-down narrative can emerge.

The training includes a focus on personal psychobiological awareness to help practitioners develop an embodied presence that heightens their capacity for sensory attunement and resonance in their clinical work.

The curriculum is comprised of five parts, covered in a three x 3-day Online Program and one x 5-day in-attendance Touch Intensive Masterclass:

1. Healing Our Deepest Core – Nurturing Infant States
2. Touching the Emotional Body for Nervous System Regulation
3. Emergence and the Growth of Self
4. Re-negotiating Hypervigilance
5. Restoring Connection with the Developmental Blueprint

Visit the Curriculum for a complete overview of the training and learning objectives.

Hybrid Training Format

The training combines both an Online Program and a Touch Intensive Masterclass.

• three live-streamed online modules; each consisting of 3 days (5 hours per day).
• one in-attendance Touch Intensive Masterclass with 5-days of in-person experiential practice.
• three exchange practice sessions with a colleague, one after each online module, online or in-person.
• three online large group case consultations of 2½ hours each, facilitated by Dr. Aline LaPierre.
• two online study groups of 3½ hours each.
• a comprehensive 200-page training manual.
• access to the lecture key notes power point slides.
• video links to all the lectures and demos to review in your own time.

As many practitioners are now doing more sessions online, the content will bring an enhanced focus on self-touch and self-care protocols for clients, as well as guidance for establishing a somatic contemplative practice. This will give you in-depth interoceptive experience of your own body and help you teach your clients how to work with their bodies.

Online Program – Module Content

If you are unable to attend modules 1, 2 or 3 at the time of delivery and would like to join the training, please email info@seaustralia.com.au

19 – 21 February, 2022 with Group Case Consult: 19 March, 2022

• Work with the core developmental needs: I am loved, I am wanted, my needs are important.
• Fulfill early needs for support and protection that elicit the safety necessary for embodiment and nervous system regulation.
• Work with the relational movements of yielding, reaching, grasping, and pulling that underlie infant nonverbal messages
• Meet tender attachment needs without creating dependency
• Refine your intentional touch skills, add virtual touch and self-directed touch.

28 – 30 May, 2022 with Group Case Consult: 25 June, 2022

• Learn to work with relational shocks to the heart.
• Support the lungs and cellular breath to move from fear-based contraction to life-affirming expansion.
• Address trauma held in the serotonin-producing organs of the digestive system
• Release the shoulders, thoracic inlet and cranial base to bring mind and body back into collaborative relationship.
• Deepen your somatic resonance and personal embodied awareness

24 – 26 September, 2022 with Group Case Consult: 29 October, 2022

• Establish congruence between ventral and dorsal vagal systems.
• Connect interoception to the muscles of the face.
• Help hypervigilant ears to stop listening for danger, and the eyes to stop looking for threat.
• Open the throat and vocal chords for self-expression.

Touch Intensive Masterclass – Module Content

Melbourne: TBA 2022 & either Brisbane or Sydney: TBA, 2022.

The modules will be scheduled when international travel is permitted without quarantine.

• A review of the material from the first three modules but with the focus on hands-on touch practice and protocols plus additional material.
• Hands-on protocols for theory and clinical material learned in Modules 1, 2, and 3
• Learn to map and deconstruct somatic patterns of numbing, bracing, neglect, abuse, and collapse to reconnect with the developmental blueprint.
• Practice body-mind dialogues and somatic languaging that elicits body-mind re-connection.
• Fine-tune your touch skills to attune to developmental needs.

Tuition Fees & Enrolment

If you are unable to attend an online module at the time of its delivery and would like to join the training, please email info@seaustralia.com.au

Study Groups
The 3½ hours Study Group offers a combination of Q&A with clinical discussion, new material with presentation of hands-on techniques, and a live session demonstration followed by a debrief period. The focus is on deepening the understanding of NATouch™ principles and methods.
- a choice of attending 'live' online or viewing the videos of previous study groups.
- the study groups will count towards the optional NATouch™ Practitioner Certification.

A complimentary set of three Nurture To Heal™ Therapeutic Pillows will be provided for each participant. The application and use of the pillows will be demonstrated in the experiential practices.

Nurture To Heal™ Therapeutic Pillows are a therapeutic comfort resource that enhances somatic awareness, supports self-regulation and encourages soothing self-care. Psychotherapists, bodyworkers and those who can benefit from some tender self-care or who struggle with nervous system regulation have found them useful. The pillows may be used in a sitting position or lying down. All Nurture To Heal™ Therapeutic Pillows are made of luxurious deep red stretch velvet. Filled with food grade organic flax seeds, they are soft and malleable. They can be warmed in the microwave or cooled in the freezer.

The Round is the all purpose pillow. Originally designed to soothe those anxious gut feelings, the Round has a great comforting weight and presence. Whether used on top of an area to protect and soothe, or underneath to support, it is helpful on all parts of the body. Try it under your wrists, knees, neck, ankles.

The Long can be placed over your chest and belly for midline support. For spinal support, lie on your back on top of the Long. Spread the seeds evenly or bunch them in specific areas for extra support. Centre your spine on the pillow from your tailbone to the base of your cranium.

The Mini was originally designed for the eyes but it is also nurturing when placed on or below the clavicular joint, on the hyoid (Adam’s apple) and thymus gland, on the forehead, and on various places on the abdomen while lying face up. It can also lend its gentle relaxing presence to the top of shoulders while seated.

The NeuroAffective Touch® Training welcomes health professionals from a wide variety of backgrounds within the mental health, somatic and bodywork fields including: psychotherapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, counsellors, bodyworkers, massage and somatic therapists, art, movement or breath therapists, nurses, health practitioners and coaches.

Integration

“I’m taking away the integration of body, mind, heart, spirit. As a psychotherapist, it’s the last piece I needed to bring it all together.”

This training will be valuable to those who wish to integrate body and mind to assist in the resolution of emotional trauma and relational deficits. Learn to use body-mind collaborative languaging to cognitively integrate changes in bodily states and assist your clients in connecting non-verbal states to verbal narratives.

Talk Therapists progressively build their confidence in integrating bodywork and body-focused interventions in their clinical practice.

Bodyworkers and body-centred practitioners expand their awareness of psychological developmental aspects.

Applicants should have a professional qualification in a health-related field and have either an active therapeutic practice or a workplace setting where they intend to use NA Touch beyond their personal process.

Upon registering, please use the application form to describe your professional background. All applications will be reviewed as it is our goal to provide a safe and proficient learning environment for all participants by having an awareness of each individual’s professional experience.

Healing Journey

“I got an amazing level of healing and I’m excited about incorporating it into my work and life. I’m on a journey. Thank you!”

For attendance at each 3-day online module an Attendance Confirmation is provided for 15 hours of professional development. The Touch Intensive Masterclass provides 30 hours of professional development.

Participants must have paid a tuition fee, signed in, attended the entire module, completed an evaluation and signed out in order to receive a CPD certificate.

CPD requirements vary across Professional Associations. Please contact your Association for specific requirements.

Upon completion of each NATouch™ component a participant will receive the relevant Certificate of Completion. After completing both the Online Program and the Touch Intensive Masterclass a Certificate of Completion is issued for the NeuroAffective Touch Foundation Training.

If you have a question that requires immediate assistance, first check our FAQs. All Frequently Asked Questions are listed with a detailed answer.

If your question has not been answered please email info@seaustralia.com.au Please allow up to seven business days for a response.