New Sections begin each Fall and run September thru June
Somatic Psychology Training in
Contemporary Orgone (Reichian) Therapy
Four-Year On-Line Training
An in depth training program for psychologists, social workers, mental health counselors, and other health professionals who desire to become fully grounded in the theoretical and procedural fundamentals which are used in somatic psychotherapy and contemporary Orgone (Reichian) therapy practice. These fundamentals embody an integration of classical Orgone (Reichian) therapy, Gestalt Therapy, Person-Centered therapy along with contemporary developments in the fields of psychodynamic psychotherapy and attachment and affect theory.
Course of study: The program of study consists of four 10-month modules (descriptions below) spread over four years with twenty 2-hour video meetings per year; two meetings per month for 10 months (September through June). Forty hours per year total. Each module builds upon the previous one and modules need to be taken in sequence. Additional clinical supervision strongly encouraged but not required.
Format: Meetings include instructor presentations, discussion of assigned readings, clinical demonstrations, participant presentation of clinical case material, and analysis of videotaped therapy sessions.
Class size limited to 10 participants.
Continuing education: 40 CEU's per module –NASW.
Learning objectives:
1. Develop a thorough understanding of and ability to apply Reich’s functional conceptualization of the relationship between psyche and soma in the process of individual counseling.
2. Develop a thorough understanding of the evolution of contemporary Reichian therapeutic practice from its origins in psychoanalysis to its current form.
3. Develop the ability to use contact and emotional attunement as a ground from which to engage clients in individual counseling from a somatic perspective.
4. Learn to apply characterological and somatic interventions with clients in individual therapy to help them address problems with estrangement from somatic experience and identify and lessen defenses against emotional contact, experience and expression.
5. Learn to work in the ‘here and now’ and track and respond to clients’ moment by moment responses to changes in their emotional state by observing somatic changes evidenced by body movement and gestures, changes in respiration and facial expression, and changes in vocal tone and prosody.
Topics covered:
A. Theory:
B. Therapeutic Practice:
Prerequisites: a. A graduate degree in the field of mental health or other heath profession or current enrollment in such a graduate program. b. Prior or concurrent somatic psychotherapy, preferably from a Reichian perspective strongly suggested.
Fee: $2400/year; $2200 for students enrolled full time in a graduate program who have financial constraints. Payment options available. Some scholarships available.
Further information: contact me at my e-mail address: dschiff@dschiffphd.com.
Four year program outline:
I. Module One: Relational and somatically focused character analysis
A. Theoretical Underpinnings
B. Practical Underpinnings
II. Module Two: Addressing the biophysical (somatic) armor
III. Modules Three and Four: Theory and Therapeutic Technique - Intermediate studies
Yearly syllabi developed based upon the needs of each particular cohort group.