Therapy Skills Training
Somatic Toolkit for Trauma Therapy
Two-day experiential CPD training for psychotherapists, counsellors and mental health professionals
With Vanessa Bear & Alex Jenkins
Develop your understanding of trauma and explore practical, embodied approaches to help clients feel more stable, grounded and in control.
Our Somatic Toolkit for Trauma Therapy brings together theory and experiential learning, with a particular focus on working safely with trauma.
We explore a wide range of techniques, tools and practices that can be used throughout the trauma therapy journey, from initial assessment and history-taking onwards.
The training is designed to complement your existing therapeutic approach, providing opportunities to experience different practices for yourself and consider how they might be useful with your clients.
What Will We Explore?
Over the two days, we'll explore:
Understanding trauma, PTSD and complex PTSD, and how overwhelming experiences can affect the mind and body.
Understanding the body's protective responses, including fight, flight, freeze, friend and flop.
Recognising our own and our clients' responses to stress, threat and overwhelm.
The importance of safety, the therapeutic relationship and stabilisation before working directly with traumatic memories.
Approaches to assessment and history-taking that help reduce the risk of overwhelming or re-traumatising clients.
Practical ways to support clients who experience flashbacks, nightmares, panic and dissociation.
Developing embodied and creative resources, including sensory awareness, movement, balance, muscle toning, grounding and imagery.
Using approaches such as pendulation and titration to help clients work with manageable amounts of distress.
Recognising the impact of trauma work on us as therapists, including approaches to looking after our own wellbeing.
The training includes a mixture of teaching, demonstrations, individual experiences, opportunities to work with others, and time for questions and discussion.
We encourage you to reflect on your own experiences of the practices and consider how you might adapt them for different clients.
Who Is This Training For?
This training is for psychotherapists, counsellors and mental health professionals who would like to develop their understanding of trauma and broaden their range of practical, body-based approaches.
It may be useful whether you are relatively new to trauma work or have been working with people who have experienced trauma for many years.
The training complements existing therapeutic approaches, rather than teaching a separate model of psychotherapy.
If you work with people who have experienced trauma in another professional capacity and are unsure whether the course would be suitable, please get in touch.
Upcoming Training
Somatic Toolkit for Trauma Therapy – Online
Friday 5 and Saturday 6 February 2027
9.30am–4.30pm each day
Online, with regular breaks and a 45-minute lunch.
Cost
Early bird: £245 (until 16 January 2027)
Full price: £275
View details and book your place
If you are booking through an organisation, please contact us if you would prefer an invoice or an alternative payment arrangement.
Meet Your Trainers
Vanessa Bear (Nes)
Vanessa is a UKCP-registered Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist and Adult Psychotherapeutic Counsellor, and a Certified Somatic Trauma Therapist.
She has additional training in EMDR with adults and children, yoga therapy, sensorimotor drawing, Movement for Trauma, sandtray and other embodied and creative approaches, which she incorporates into her clinical work and training.
Vanessa has assisted Babette Rothschild with her Somatic Trauma Therapy training since 2019. She regularly delivers workshops and professional training, with a particular focus on safe trauma recovery, stabilisation and therapist self-care.
She is the co-author, with Babette Rothschild, of the 8 Keys to Safe Trauma Recovery Workbook and Help for the Helper Workbook, and the author of Wild & Well-Being: 70 Exercises for Nature-Based Self Care, all published by W. W. Norton.
Alex Jenkins
Alex is an experienced integrative trauma-focused psychotherapist and Certified Somatic Trauma Therapist. She is also a Positive Psychology practitioner and researcher, and develops and delivers psychoeducational courses and training.
Alex assists on Babette Rothschild's Somatic Trauma Therapy training courses, including adaptations supporting Polish and Ukrainian therapists working with the impacts of war.
Alongside her private practice, GET Therapy Ltd, Alex works with Greater Manchester Rape Crisis and We Are Survivors through the OutSpoken service.
She is registered with the National Counselling & Psychotherapy Society (NCPS) and the Association for Counselling & Therapy Online (ACTO).
Feedback From Previous Training
"An invaluable training experience delivered engagingly and with clarity and conciseness."
"I now feel confident and better equipped to integrate this approach into my client work."
"The course struck an excellent balance between theory, practice and experiential work, which demystified an area I had previously found challenging."
"A well paced informative and practical course."
Training for Your Organisation
We can also explore offering Somatic Toolkit for Trauma Therapy as private training for teams and organisations.
This may be useful for counselling services, psychotherapy organisations, charities and other teams whose work involves supporting people who have experienced trauma.
We can discuss your group's needs, whether online or in-person training would work best, and possible dates and locations.
Contact Us
If you have questions about the training, would like to discuss whether it is suitable for you, or are interested in arranging training for your organisation, please get in touch.
Vanessa Bear & Alex Jenkins
Therapy Skills Training