Somatic EMDR Training: Advanced Trauma Therapy Practitioner Program

 

Trainer: Alison Leslie, LCSW, SEP
Live Virtual Training: May 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th, June 4th | 10:00 am Central | Available for synchronous, live learning
On-Demand: Available one week after the live event

From Survival to Flourishing: Somatic EMDR in Practice

EMDR reprocessing works. But for many clients, the trauma isn't just stored in memory networks. It's held in the body, in the freeze that shows up the moment you approach a target, in the flooding that follows sessions no matter how carefully you pace, in the shutdown that keeps them "fine" while nothing underneath actually shifts.

When that's happening, the client doesn't need a different protocol. They need somatic interventions that build enough regulation and stability for the EMDR protocol to do what it's designed to do: metabolize the trauma as it's reactivated, not just stir it up.

If you're ready to bring somatic trauma therapy into your EMDR work with interventions that honor EMDR fidelity and the lived wisdom of the body, this advanced Somatic EMDR Training for EMDR therapists is for you.

In this experiential, EMDRIA-approved training with Alison Leslie, LCSW, SEP, you'll learn how to integrate somatic trauma therapy principles into every phase of EMDR. You'll leave with concrete maps, scripts, and somatic interventions you can immediately use with trauma clients on your caseload.

Live Training Dates:

May 7th | May 14th | May 21st | May 28th | June 4th

10 am - 1:15 pm Central

Live Q&A Dates

May 13th | May 27th

1:00 - 2:00 pm Central

This program consists of on-demand, asynchronous lessons along with live Q&A.

Count me in for Somatic EMDR Training
Alison Leslie Trainer Trauma Therapist Institute

Built for Learning. Designed for Belonging.

Shame-Free Space for Learning™

Because the best learning happens when you feel safe. Ask freely, show up fully, and learn in a relational, non-judgmental environment built for practitioners like you.

Expert Clinical Training

Expect real case examples, clear guidance, and a teaching style that makes even complex topics feel approachable so you can confidently use what you learn in session right away.

Where Learning Meets Community

Join a community of clinicians learning side by side, sharing real case insights and peer support so you can grow your skills with confidence alongside your peers in meaningful connection.

Practical Interventions You Will Learn

By the end of this somatic EMDR practitioner training, you’ll be able to:

  • Pendulate autonomic activation and safety so clients can process trauma without flooding, shutdown, or dissociation.
  • Stabilize dysregulated clients in real time using somatic orienting and grounding when sessions start to unravel.
  • Unblock stuck EMDR processing with targeted somatic interweaves when reprocessing stalls.
  • Track subtle body cues (breath, posture, tension, micro-movements) to guide moment-to-moment clinical decisions.
  • Access implicit trauma memory through felt sense work when clients can’t verbalize what’s happening.
  • Build true dual awareness so clients stay present while engaging traumatic material.
  • Design individualized Phase 2 preparation plans using body-based regulation tools.
  • Read autonomic state shifts to confidently adjust pacing, set length, and intervention choice.
  • Support completion of unfinished fight/flight/freeze responses without retraumatizing clients.
  • Integrate somatic interventions within EMDR fidelity so your work stays creative, ethical, and evidence-aligned.

These are not add‑ons or “nice extras”. They’re practical, repeatable tools you can bring into your EMDR sessions with children, adolescents, and adults starting this week.

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What You'll Learn

Trauma doesn’t just live in the story. It lives in sensation, posture, impulse, and the body’s ongoing attempts to stay safe.

In this intensive somatic EMDR and trauma therapist training, you’ll learn how to:

  • Recognize somatic signs of unresolved trauma and developmental injury in EMDR case presentations, including when clients are hypo‑ or hyper‑aroused, stuck in fawn, or have little explicit memory.
  • Apply the eight phases of EMDR therapy through a somatic lens, from history taking and preparation through reprocessing, closure, and re‑evaluation.
  • Develop somatic‑informed case conceptualizations that integrate the AIP model, polyvagal theory, and the capabilities approach (what was possible/not possible in each “nest” of a client’s life).
  • Use specialized resourcing strategies, including orienting, self‑touch, micro‑movement, and felt‑sense language, to stabilize clients whose bodies learned that the world is unsafe.
  • Formulate EMDR targets that incorporate somatic and developmental themes, not just single events, while remaining culturally responsive and non‑pathologizing.
  • Implement specific interventions for blocked or dysregulated processing, including when clients freeze, dissociate, or can’t feel their bodies during sets.
  • Work effectively with implicit and fragmented trauma memories, including pre‑verbal, medical, and attachment wounds where there is “no story, just a body response.”
  • Support clients in moving from survival to flourishing, helping them build new neural pathways for safety, connection, play, and agency - not just symptom reduction.

You’ll gain a clear map for somatic EMDR, step‑by‑step tools, and repeated practice so you can bring this work confidently into your sessions.

I Want Advanced Somatic Tools

What's Waiting for You Inside This EMDR Addiction Training

On-demand specialized EMDR training, neuro-informed teaching, and a supportive clinician community.

Attachement Focused EMDR

Addiction-specific EMDR protocols

Apply DeTUR, FSAP, CravEx, and Connecting the Consequences to addiction and compulsive behavior.

Volkow's three-phase addiction model

Apply the Binge–Withdrawal–Preoccupation framework to EMDR case conceptualization.

The Buzzkill™ protocol

Learn Gerard Ilaria's signature EMDR innovation for rapid craving reduction.

Q&A and chat

Submit questions and connect with peers through the on-demand course community.

Future template rehearsals

Build relapse prevention plans for high-risk situations like bars, social media, and people-based triggers.

Learn on your schedule

On-demand access means you go at your own pace. Lifetime access is included, so you can return whenever you need it.

Expert clinical insight

Case-grounded teaching from a clinician with 35 years of trauma practice and the developer of the Buzzkill™ protocol.

Free community membership

Join TTI's shame-free community of practitioners for ongoing conversations, support, and resources. No cost, no catch.

Who Is This Training For?

This advanced EMDR therapist training is designed for:

  • EMDR‑trained clinicians who sense that their clients’ bodies are holding more than the standard protocol is currently reaching.
  • Trauma therapists who want to integrate somatic trauma therapy training into EMDR without abandoning fidelity to the 8‑phase model.
  • Practitioners working with developmental and attachment trauma, complex PTSD, dissociation, and chronic threat, including clients who:
    • go numb or freeze as soon as certain targets get close
    • flood after sessions despite careful preparation
    • have highly implicit, pre‑verbal, or body‑based trauma memories
  • Therapists who want a more embodied, polyvagal‑informed way to pace EMDR with children, adolescents, and adults.
  • EMDR consultants and supervisors seeking a stronger somatic framework to support consultees who feel stuck with “hard‑to‑move” cases.
  • If you’re committed to helping clients not only process trauma but also feel more at home in their bodies and lives, this somatic EMDR practitioner program will give you the structure and skills you need.

(Prerequisite: EMDR Basic Training)

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Alison Leslie Trainer Trauma Therapist Institute

About Your Trainer, Alison Leslie, LCSW, SEP

Alison Leslie, LCSW, SEP is a trauma-informed clinician, trainer, and consultant in Bloomington, IN. Alison owns the private practice Empower Healing Counseling and Consultation and is known for creating safe spaces where clients and therapists feel seen, supported, and empowered. She specializes in EMDR, somatic therapy, and the healing power of the human-animal bond, one of the few practitioners blending these modalities at an expert level. Known for her warm, curiosity-based teaching approach, Alison helps mental health professionals reconnect with their clinical confidence and trust their own intuitive wisdom, especially when working with complex cases.

Additional Information

Agenda

Day 1

  • 10:00 am - 10:10 am: Welcome, objectives, and presenter introduction
  • 10:10 am - 11:30 am: Foundations of Somatic EMDR, Somatic Channels, Conceptualization with Compassion, The Nest Metaphor, Defining Trauma, EMDR Phase 1 through a somatic lens
  • 11:30 am - 11:45 am: Break
  • 11:45 am - 1:00 pm: Experiences of Trauma, Introduction to Autonomic Nervous System states, Overview of regulation and dysregulation
  • 1:00 pm - 1:15 pm: Wrap-up, key takeaways, and Q&A

Day 2

  • 10:00 am - 10:10 am: Welcome and review
  • 10:10 am - 11:30 am: Ventral Vagal, Sympathetic, and Dorsal states; Mixed states; Faux Window of Tolerance; Experiential autonomic state activity
  • 11:30 am - 11:45 am: Break
  • 11:45 am - 1:00 pm: Phase 2 Preparation, Creating Adaptive Neural Networks, Exteroception/Interoception/Neuroception, Predictive Model, Menu of Safety
  • 1:00 pm - 1:15 pm: Wrap-up, key takeaways, and Q&A

Day 3

  • 10:00 am - 10:10 am: Welcome and review
  • 10:10 am - 11:30 am: Healing in attuned spaces, Presence and Co-Regulation, Joining vs. Merging, Therapeutic Nest, Orientation systems
  • 11:30 am - 11:45 am: Break
  • 11:45 am - 1:00 pm: Orienting practice, Felt Sense, Language of Sensation, Invitational Language, Small-group skill practice
  • 1:00 pm - 1:15 pm: Wrap-up, key takeaways, and Q&A

Day 4

  • 10:00 am - 10:10 am: Welcome and review
  • 10:10 am - 11:30 am: Pendulation and Titration, Experiential practice, Finding the Whispers, Somatic preparation skills
  • 11:30 am - 11:45 am: Break
  • 11:45 am - 1:00 pm: Witnessing the Body (posture, language, facial expression, physiology), Self-of-the-therapist awareness, Tracking skills
  • 1:00 pm - 1:15 pm: Wrap-up, key takeaways, and Q&A

Day 5

  • 10:00 am - 10:10 am: Welcome and review
  • 10:10 am - 11:30 am: Supportive Experience protocol, Experiential practice, Interweaving Phase 1 and Phase 2
  • 11:30 am - 11:45 am: Break
  • 11:45 am - 1:00 pm: Exploring the Nests of Our Lives, Well-built vs. poorly built nests, Capabilities Approach, Integration, and case application
  • 1:00 pm - 1:15 pm: Final wrap-up, key takeaways, and Q&A

Learning Objectives

  • Evaluate the empirical strengths, clinical benefits, methodological limitations, and current gaps in the evidence base for integrating somatic-informed interventions within EMDR therapy for trauma treatment.
  • Analyze how somatic channels of experience (sensation, imagery, affect, behavior, and meaning) inform clinical decision-making for target selection and pacing during EMDR desensitization, consistent with treatment fidelity.
  • Apply somatic-informed preparation strategies to enhance client readiness, stabilization, and dual awareness prior to trauma reprocessing.
  • Implement orienting and grounding interventions to support present-moment awareness and maintain dual attention during EMDR processing.
  • Integrate felt sense tracking to facilitate access to implicit memory material and inform adaptive cognition development during EMDR processing.
  • Utilize structured sensory language to improve accuracy in somatic tracking and enhance emotional and interoceptive awareness during trauma treatment.
  • Apply principles of graded exposure, titration, and attentional modulation to reduce overwhelm while supporting sustained trauma processing.
  • Analyze autonomic nervous system cues to guide clinical pacing, set length, and selection of somatic interweaves during EMDR desensitization.
  • Facilitate adaptive completion of defensive and orienting responses through somatic inquiry and movement-based interventions when clinically indicated.
  • Apply time-orientation and environmental anchoring techniques to support neuroceptive safety and reduce dysregulation during stalled trauma processing.
  • Integrate vocalization, imagery, and sensorimotor strategies to support autonomic regulation and processing flow when clinically appropriate.
  • Summarize current empirical evidence supporting EMDR efficacy while articulating how somatic-informed adaptations remain consistent with treatment fidelity.
  • Examine biopsychosocial and cultural factors within the Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) model to guide EMDR case conceptualization and treatment planning.
  • Analyze implicit and explicit memory processes within maladaptively stored memory networks as conceptualized in the AIP model.
  • Develop individualized Phase Two preparation plans incorporating somatic and interoceptive techniques based on client history and capacity.

Prerequisites

  • EMDR Basic Training
  • You can enroll in this course if you are still in Basic Training, but have completed all lecture and practicum hours.
 

 

Continuing Education

15 CEs are available upon completion of all course material.

Trauma Therapist Institute is an approved continuing education provider. ACE, NBCC and EMDRIA CEs are available for this course. APA CEs are not available for this course.

Participants must complete the full training to receive CE credit.

ACE Approved Provider

Trauma Therapist Institute, #1869, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 1/16/25 - 1/16/28. Social workers completing this course receive 15 clinical continuing education credits.

NBCC Approved Provider
Trauma Therapist Institute has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7033. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. TTI is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.
EMDRIA Approved Provider

Trauma Therapist Institute is an EMDRIA Approved Training Provider. TTI courses are individually approved. CE Certificate will contain course approval number.

Course Completion

To receive a CE certificate, participants must complete the entire course, complete the post-test with a score of 80% or above, and complete the course evaluation. You may retake the post-test as needed. Once completed, a CE certificate will auto-populate to your online account.

 

Cancellation Policy

Please reference our cancellation policy here (bottom section of this page).

$297

  • Lifetime access to the course - Refresh your skills anytime at your own pace. Get on-demand access after the live date.
  • Immediate clinical application - Walk away with tools you can use in your next session.
  • CEs - Earn EMDRIA, ASWB and NBCC CEs.
Register now!