Introduction to Psychotherapeutic Touch

Course Description:

Attuned touch can enhance healing and the therapeutic process, yet, most clinicians receive little to no training on the ethical use of touch in therapy beyond the fear-based and unfounded rhetoric that “touch is a slippery slope to sexual abuse.”

This lack of education and fear is at odds with the value of touch in psychedelic therapeutic communities. And, with the recent violations within the field, it has never been more critical that our community of integrative psychedelic professionals receive comprehensive training on ethics and skills of psychotherapeutic touch.

This four-hour introductory course offers an opportunity to explore your own touch culture and history and how that impacts your clients. You will learn fundamental ethics and practices around communication and consent, as well as rupture and repair. You’ll gain some practical skills for working with clients while attending to the special considerations of working with clients in the Non-Ordinary States of Consciousness.

This heart-centered, community focused training is both didactic and experiential. Because ‘unknow

n observers’ can decrease safety and community, participants are requested to participate with videos on.

Learning Objectives:
At the end of this program, participants will be able to:

• Identify the ethical guidelines on the use of touch in psychotherapy from your state licensing boards

• Discuss the clinical arguments for the use of touch in psychotherapy, and the absence of touch in psychotherapy

• Demonstrate multiple self-awareness practices for understanding the impact of clinicians unprocessed touch history on their clients

• Describe key considerations to identify in clinical assessments for the use of touch in therapy

• Demonstrate with clarity the basic communication skills related to providing psychotherapeutic touch and obtaining consent

• List the basic components and critical nature of touch refusal training

• Explain consent of touch for the client and clinician, as it pertains to people in Non-ordinary States of Consciousness