Reiss-Davis Graduate School is pleased to kick off the 2023-24 Continuing Education offerings with a presentation and training by noted clinical psychologist, Dr. Helena Vissing. Dr. Vissing is a Somatic Experiencing® practitioner and author of the recent book "Somatic Maternal Healing," published by Routledge. Dr. Vissing's presentation will explore the principles of attunement and how they can be integrated with a psychodynamic approach. We're pleased to offer a preview of some of Dr. Vissing's thinking on the subject of attunement, psychodynamics, and somatic skill sets. There are many ways we can use the somatic techniques of Somatic Experiencing®. The primary focus is to create therapeutic safety. That's the number one thing because no therapeutic change can happen if we don't have established relative safety. And the somatic techniques of Somatic Experiencing® are very helpful for that because there's such a focus on attunement where we are creating safety, not just with our verbal and mental efforts but non-verbally and through co-regulation. So, these tools are good in that direct relational work, and it's also something we can do just for ourselves in our own handling of the overwhelm it is to do the work working with families. We have to contain a lot, process a lot for our clients. So the somatic techniques help us attend to our own reactions in the moment as it's happening to make sure that our own nervous system's reactions don't get in the way of the therapeutic work.
