An In-Person Experiential Workshop for Mental Health Professionals

Somatic Skills

for

Hard Times

Bring this transformative somatic workshop to your organization, clinic, or professional community. This experiential workshop is designed to care for the nervous systems of clinicians and mental health professionals while building resiliency for stress and traumatic events.

In today’s world, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed.

You find yourself absorbing your clients' stress, doom scrolling between sessions, feeling distant from your own body while caring for others. You try to maintain professional boundaries while the weight of collective trauma affects your own nervous system. You're not sure how to stay present for your clients when you're struggling to regulate yourself.

You’re Feeling:

  • Secondary trauma and burnout

  • Difficulty maintaining your own regulation while supporting others

  • Disconnection from your body and personal needs

  • Professional fatigue and compassion overload

What Your Team Will Experience in This Workshop

This experiential workshop offers clinicians the opportunity to first embody somatic skills for their own nervous system care, then explore applications for supporting their clients.

Morning Experience (3 hours):

Participants will journey through embodying these skills and caring for their own nervous systems through live demonstrations and experiential practice.

Afternoon Reflection Session (1 hour):

Participants will reflect on their learning and plan practical applications to support their clients in their clinical work.

What's Included in This Workshop:

Guidance: Live demonstration of breathwork, floor work, and creative outlets

Release: Exercises to process stress and a container to renew your energy

Resources: Practical tools clinicians can use immediately for self-care and client work

Expertise: Facilitated by a somatic and creative arts therapist with over 15 years of experience

Community: An in-person retreat experience to connect with colleagues and enjoy the benefits of co-regulation

Renewal: Multi-discipline approaches including music and poetry to soothe your soul and lift your spirits

 MEET YOUR WORKSHOP FACILITATOR

Hello friend,

I’m Kim.

(she/her) A fellow journeyer in caring for the whole self to show up with love and strength in the world.

Growing up, I felt I had a purpose and calling to do good in the world, but right along side this drive I also felt distant from my body. I didn’t have the words to describe my ambition or my embodied disconnect. The message I internalized from the outside world was to use my brain to “be smart” and “be a good student”. My body was for utilitarian purposes: get up early to go to school (I’m so dutiful!) and run that mile in gym class (I really didn’t like that).

Meanwhile, I was attracted to performing arts and immersive experiences that made me FEEL! Feel emotions but also feel like maybe I was more than a person that just accomplishes tasks. I could feel glimpses of being an integrated, wondrous, multidimensional human who had impact!

Is it too much to want to be connected to all of myself to show up whole-hearted in the world?

In college I chose to study dance and theater. I felt myself drawn to art with a purpose. From there I eventually found my way to a graduate training in dance/movement therapy and counseling.

In my holistic, embodied coursework I learned how to use expression and movement first in service of storytelling in college, and then in service of healing in grad school. Have you ever just followed a pull from inside and been so pleased with where it takes you? Cue a bundle of self discovery!

For over 15 years I have been an embodied therapist for those who want to connect not just in their mind but also hear the call in their bodies and hearts for deeper connection and understanding with themselves.

The interest in mindbody connection has skyrocketed in the past several years from people with an eager thirst to know more.

I want to help you go deeper. I’ve created Somatic Skills for Hard Times as a space to learn new embodied and creative skills to care for yourself, affirm your boundaries, and process your stress, all within community.

Your yearning to care for yourself and others can be attended to with a holistic approach. 

You can gain more somatic tools for those gut-wrenching days to renew your energy.

What Workshop Participants Are Saying:

  • "The somatic skills for hard times workshop was incredibly rich and deeply supportive- not only for my own nervous system but for the clients I work with. Kim brought a compassionate presence and offered practices that were both accessible and profoundly regulating."

    — Jamie Farrelly, LICSW

  • "Somatic Skills for Hard Times was just the retreat I needed, as everything feels so heavy these days. Kim led our small group through movement, writing, and drawing exercises in a safe, comfortable, and welcoming virtual space, complete with soothing background music.

    Overall, it was an energizing experience, as both periods of activity and periods of rest as well as natural light from the sun restored everyone's energy. I enjoyed hearing that others were experiencing similar feelings and came away from the retreat with a powerful awareness that there is actually more in my control than I realized, so I now have more skills to draw upon during hard times."

    — Elizabeth Houston, M.Ed

Workshop Content Overview

This experiential workshop is facilitated in a trauma-informed, retreat style using elements of Polyvagal Theory, Bartenieff Fundamentals, Dance/Movement Therapy, Creative Arts Therapy, Interpersonal Neurobiology and more to foster recuperation, process stress and encourage renewal.

Morning Session (3 hours):

Experiential learning where clinicians participate in somatic practices for their own nervous system regulation and renewal.

Afternoon Reflection (1 hour):

Processing the morning experience and exploring practical applications for client work, including adaptation of techniques for different populations and clinical settings.

Workshop Investment & Requirements

Workshop Fee: Starting at $1,000

  • Payment schedule: 50% deposit to secure date, 50% final payment one week before workshop

  • Suitable for groups of 10-30 mental health professionals

Your Organization Provides:

  • Workshop venue with adequate floor space for movement

  • AV equipment (projector, microphone, internet access)

  • Communication to participants about required items: yoga mat or blanket, favorite notebook, art supplies (colored pencils, markers, etc.)

Kim Provides:

  • All workshop facilitation and content delivery

  • Handouts and additional art materials

  • Evidence-based, continuing education appropriate content

  • Q&A time

  • Opportunity to schedule additional support

eculyptus leaves.png
eculyptus and candles.png
eucalyptusunsplash.jpg

“Kim has a calm, supportive presence, which I find very grounding. I trust her and have confidence in her perspectives and approaches. Kim is creative and shares her knowledge in an engaging, easy to understand way. She creates an environment that encourages learning, exploration and self-development.”

-Joanna Gardy, LMHC

“Kim understands the gap between the somatic approaches and traditional verbal therapy. She has tools and a vision to help practitioners on either side to close the gap. I admire her passion!”

— Yu-Ling Hu, Board Certified
Dance/Movement Therapist

What Other Experts Are Saying:

  • “Kim is very present cognitively and emotionally and possesses the elusive ability to “hold space” with attunement and empathy - even in the online format!”

    — Mariah Meyer LeFeber, PhD, LPC, BC-DMT

  • “Kim is incredibly knowledgeable about the field of mental health and dance/movement therapy/body based work. She has a calm grounded presence that she brings to the room that helps you feel heard and supported.”

    — Tara Rollins, LPC, Board Certified Dance/Movement Therapist

  • “It’s clear to me that Kim has knowledge, skills, and wisdom that come from doing this work for a long time. I always feel like Kim has wise, insightful comments and insights.”

    — Jess White MA, R-DMT, LPC Associate

Who Should Host This Workshop?

This workshop is perfect for:

  • Mental health clinics and private practice groups

  • Hospital behavioral health departments

  • Community mental health organizations

  • Professional development programs for clinicians

  • Graduate training programs in mental health fields

  • Professional associations seeking continuing education offerings

Participants should be:

  • Mental health professionals (therapists, counselors, social workers, etc.)

  • Comfortable with experiential learning and body-based practices

  • Seeking both personal renewal and professional development

  • Interested in expanding their clinical toolkit with somatic approaches

Request Workshop Information

Ready to bring this transformative workshop to your organization? Complete the form below and Kim will be in touch within 2 business days to discuss your specific needs.

Support your team's well-being while enhancing their clinical skills.

As mental health professionals caring for others, your team deserves the opportunity to receive care and build resilience for themselves.