The Somatic Therapy Center, in a USABP Spotlight Webinar Series Event, Present on Virtual Touch for Telehealth Care.
2 CEUs - Available
This live event is recorded for encore viewing by members and paid registrants
Overview
Touching is at the heart and soul of everything we do at The Somatic Therapy Center. We teach our clients as well as our students that touch is a full-contact therapeutic endeavor. Translated practically into our work as practitioners of Transformative Touch, this means we touch our clients with our hands as well as our hearts, our souls, our presence, and our words. Touch is woven into every moment of contact with our clients.
Covid’s arrival has disrupted one of the ways that we touch our clients, that is, physically with our hands. This loss of physical contact creates tremendous anxiety because gentle, caring touch is the bedrock of safety. It allows for and promulgates the release of oxytocin which is a critical hormone that ameliorates sensations of feeling unsafe.
In response to this loss, we turned to the myriad of other ways we could still provide touch for our clients to bridge the isolation that sheltering at home was creating. In March, when our physical offices had to close their doors, we opened up the exploration of sending our Transformative Touch through the airwaves in our phone and Zoom sessions. We were thrilled to discover that virtual touch worked. Most of our clients reported feeling the same sensations of connection to their bodies as the literal touch we had been providing in the office pre-covid. The next discovery was that even new clients, who had never had a Transformative Touch session before were also able to feel the touch and tune into their body's innate guidance. This has opened up the world in a way we had never imagined before. We are now doing virtual sessions across the globe and have come to the recognition that virtual touch is an efficient and effective way to heal during Covid times and even when Covid becomes a distant memory. Possibilities abound!
In this presentation, we are excited to share with you the possibilities, value, benefits of using virtual touch. We will provide simple step-by-step instructions on how to incorporate the beginning experience of touch into your sessions. A significant portion of the webinar will be dedicated to each of you having an experience of virtual touch.
Main Points of Workshop
- There are a myriad of ways that we touch and are touched.
- Virtual touch allows clients to tap into their natural somatic abilities to discern and differentiate.
- Virtual touch has a positive orienting effect on the practitioner as well as the client.
- Somatic proprioceptive language is essential in doing virtual touch.
- Virtual touch places us in a somatic relationship with our clients as opposed to just being providers of awareness.
- In virtual touch, the focus is on the expanse as well as the depth.
- Step-by-step instruction to introduce virtual touch in your sessions.
Learning Objectives
Participants will be able to:
1. Incorporate the beginning steps of virtual touch into their sessions.
2. Use touch words that speaks directly to the proprioceptive system of the body.
3. Identify three examples of somatic discernment that are essential to healing.
4. Describe the positive orienting effect of virtual touch.
5. Differentiate the relational aspect of virtual touch from self -directed body awareness
About the Presenter:
Joseph P. Weldon
Licensed Clinical Psychologist/ Master Somatic Therapist
SUMMARY:
A professional background in: designing and implementing group training programs; leading workshops, seminars, and teaching courses for educational institutions and professional associations; conducting individual, family, and group psychotherapeutic counseling sessions.
EDUCATION:
Licensed Clinical Psychologist since 1991
MS Counseling Psychology. PA State 1979 Counseling Certificate for Secondary Schools, Kappa Delta Pi (National Honors Fraternity), Villanova University.
BA Psychology and Education. La Salle College, 1977 Certified Teacher, Secondary Schools, Pennsylvania
PROFESSIONAL TRAINING
Master Rubenfeld Synergist. Rubenfeld Synergy Method®. NewYork, 1980 – 1983. Trainer/Supervisor: Ilana Rubenfeld. Three year certificate training program in therapeutic modality combining the teachings of Fritz Perls, F.M. Alexander, and Moshe Feldenkrais. Three post-graduate years of teacher training.
Certified Gestalt Therapist.1500 hours intensive training 1977-1980
Trainer/Supervisor: Dr. Neil Lamper. Three year certificate training program in gestalt psychotherapy for individual, family, and group Implementation.
Certified in Family Systems. Eastern Pennsylvania- Psychiatric Institute, 1980. Completed intensive certificate training in Family Systems. Specialization in single parent families, marital and family conflict, and substance abuse related problems.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Co-Founder of the Somatic Therapy Center and Transformative Touch-2016-present:
Overall responsibility for curriculum development and implementation of undergraduate and graduate levels of training in somatic therapy. Includes a graduate training program for teaching interns. Provides clinical supervision for Graduates of the Somatic Therapy Center
Co-Director Rubenfeld Synergy Training Institute 2002-2016
Overall responsibility for curriculum development and implementation of undergraduate and graduate levels of training in a body-integrated modality. Also includes a graduate training program for RSM teaching interns . Provides clinical supervision for Graduates of the Rubenfeld Synergy Training.
Rubenfeld Synergy Method Presenter- 1985 – 2016. Present 1,3,5,or 7 day Rubenfeld Synergy workshops throughout the US and Canada.
Senior Faculty Member: Rubenfeld Synergy Training Program. 1983-2016. Curriculum design and implementation in a four year certificate training program
Director -Wight- Weldon Associates: 1991 –present. Individual, Couples, and group therapy.
Guest Faculty Member: 2004-2006 University of Penn School of Social Work. Taught “Spirituality and Social Work” course
Senior Faculty -Connill Institute – 1995-2001.
Design and present “The disability Experience” as a part of diversity training for employees of major corporations.
Executive Board Member Rubenfeld Synergy Foundation. 1999-2004.
Overall responsibility for the future development and direction of all aspects of the Rubenfeld Synergy organization, including training, research and development.
Psychotherapist/ Group Leader. Shalom Inc. 1980-1984.
Provided crisis prevention and crisis intervention services; facilitated education leadership and awareness groups; conducted therapy groups; provided marriage and family therapy.
Faculty Member/ Group Leader. Psychology Dept. Trenton State University 1981-1983.
Developed and implemented personal growth lab workshops for student and staff. Handled follow- up work including report writing evaluations and individual therapy needs.
Faculty member Graduate Dept. Villanova University. 1979. Co-taught “ Counseling Theory and Practice.”
Counselor –CORA Services. 1977-1980. Conducted individual and group individual counseling sessions; facilitated client’s Adjustment needs ranging from severe social difficulties ( drug and alcohol abuse, social offenders, child abuse and truancy) to Minor adjustment problems. Developed Parent Workshops; Provided family and career counseling.
PROFESSIONAL PRESENTATIONS
“Trauma: The Brain, the Body and the Compassionate Witness” With Bessel van der Kolk and Noel Wight, Friend’s Conference on Religion and Psychology May 2018
“Integrating Holistic Perspectives into Clinical Practice”
University of Pennsylvania. Graduate School of Social Work.
“ Healing the Trauma of Sexual Abuse through the Combination of Talk & Touch” ” Co-presented with Noël Wight -USABP Conference 2016
“The Healing Power of Talk with Touch: an Intro to Transformative Touch” Co-presented with Noël Wight - Daylong workshop as part of a weeklong conference on Somatic Psychology, Kripalu , Lenox MA 2015
“Healing Trauma through Somatic Therapy.” Co-presented with Noel Wight at Prescott College, AZ 2014
“Healing Trauma through Transformative Touch.”
A webinar Co-presented with Noel Wight for The United States Association of Body- oriented Psychotherapy Webinar series 2014
“The Body as Life Resource” Co-presented with Noel Wight at Prescott College Somatic Psychology Colloquium 2014
“Deepening Somatic Awareness in the Therapeutic Context.” New York, NY
“Unlocking the Body’s Wisdom through Compassionate Touch” Esalen Institute, Big Sur, CA.
“Healing the Emotional Body” Co-presented with Ilana Rubenfeld at the National Conference for Eating Disorders- Renfrew, Philadelphia, PA
“Healing the Emotional Body”. National Conference on Eating Disorders- Renfrew, PA Co-presenter with Ilana Rubenfeld.
“Discover The Body of Emotions: Getting to the Heart of the Matter Through Talk & Touch” Philadelphia, PA. Cincinnati, OH. Co-presenter with Joseph Weldon
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