Gathering on the Margins

This workshop will explore trauma and resilience from physiologic, developmental and social perspectives. Healthy intrapersonal, interpersonal, and collective connection and belonging are reliant on healthy boundaries. Conversely, the boundaries created by systems of oppression and developmental trauma create disconnection and harm. 

We will use the concept of “margins” to gain a somatic and conceptual understanding of the gateways and barriers to connection and wholeness. We will create a space for conceptual, relational, and embodied experience, aiming to expand our collective understanding of what is possible.

This workshop will draw from the teachings of Dr. Kathy Kain, Dr. Leticia Nieto, Betty Martin’s Wheel of Consent, Dr. Stephen Porges’ Polyvagal Theory, Somatic Experiencing, and our own unique personal and professional experiences.

In this workshop we will:

  • Explore the impacts of social memberships: Examine the commonalities and differing effects of social experiences and memberships on our sense of belonging.

  • Explore the impacts of early life developmental experiences: Gain insight into how physiology and development influences beliefs, thoughts, behaviors, and values. Developmental building blocks needed to  access safety and belonging.

  • Consensual, Nonsexual Touch: There will be an opportunity to engage in consensual, nonsexual touch work to explore embodied connection with both self and others. Choice will be paramount in whether you participate with touch or not.

  • Power dynamics: How power dynamics manifest both cellularly and interpersonally, and how they impact relationships, access to resources, and sense of safety.

  • Responsibility and response-ability: Somatic impacts of responsibility and how capacity for response affects interactions and experience of self.

  • Stress vs. Safety: The difference between action driven by stress chemistry and actions taken within a sense of safety and belonging.

  • Boundaries, Self-Protection, Needs, and Wants: Differentiating between an individual’s access to boundaries, self-protection, and the ability to meet their needs, both in stressful situations and when feeling safe.

  • Types of Safety:Both internal and circumstantial access to safety, and how these affect connection.

  • Human Need for Belonging: Exploration of what different people need in order to belong, considering factors like personal history, social history, and identity.

  • Self-Protection Beyond Stress Responses: How self-protection goes beyond the classic fight, flight, freeze, and fawn responses -  it’s more than the nervous system.

  • Developmental Trauma and Societal Oppression: The intersection between developmental trauma and the trauma caused by societal oppression.

  • Shame and Belonging: Shame, the “sticky friend” that often leads to disconnection, as both a barrier and a gateway to belonging to ourselves and others.

  • Recognizing Physiological Cues: How to recognize physiologic and somatic cues that signal different states of stress and safety in your body and in the bodies of others.

Recommended attendees: All who work in the helping professions - bodyworkers, psychotherapists, acupuncturists, naturopaths, teachers, doctors, sexological bodyworkers and sacred intimates.

When: April 25th and 26th 10am - 6pm

Where: In-person in South Seattle

Early Registration Fee: $400-550 before March 24

Registration after March 25 $450-$600 sliding scale (+$25 for CEs)

Cancelation policy: There will be no refunds after April 15. If you must cancel your registration prior to April 15, we will issue a refund less a $150 administration fee.

Ongoing: Those who attend this workshop will be welcome to join a drop-in monthly consultation and practice group

This workshop will be co-taught with Anne Phillips. AnnePhillipsTherapy.com

You can register here