Body-Focused Interventions for Trauma in Schema Therapy (Part 2), 26 - 27th March 2026

26-27th March, 2026 (online)*
9.30am - 05.00pm UK time

Janis Briedis, Consultant Psychologist

This advanced experiential workshop builds on previous introductory body-focused workshops, going deeper with ways of bringing body focus to schema therapy. The workshop will be based on the latest research from neurobiology and attachment theory, looking at ways in which they can enrich schema therapy model.

Many clients with complex trauma histories and attachment wounds will present with non-verbal aspects of the trauma which can be difficult to access through traditional methods of chair work, imagery or verbal dialogue. Early trauma in particular can manifest as relational habits or symptoms in the body, and can also lead to medically unexplained symptoms. Unresolved traumatic past events, presenting as physical manifestations of schemas and modes, can be frightening, unpleasant and confusing both to the client and the therapist.

The focus of the workshop will be, while helping clients stay within their Window of Tolerance, to help access, understand and befriend these 'messages in the body', and promote a somatic sense of Healthy Adult.

Topics covered at the workshop:

• Advanced tracking skills – reorienting from spoken to somatic language - reading the client's and therapist's own bodies
• Framing – choosing a focus in the sessions
• Guiding the client towards compassion and curiosity about the body – encouraging client to read body signals rather than fight them, taking a non-pathologizing stance
• 5-step model of accessing and working with somatic material
• Helping clients transform their relationship with their body where there are strong feelings of fear, shame, disgust and dissociation
• Working with modes that are particularly entrenched and stuck
• Using somatic interventions safely – using titration and somatic resourcing skills to access trauma safely
• What to do when animal defences get triggered in the sessions?
• Pacing when working with traumatic memories – one small step at a time
• Therapists working with their own triggers

*Pre-requisite: attendance of 'Body-focused Interventions in Schema Therapy - Part 1' or an equivalent.