Trauma Training
Polyvagal Theory Training for Therapists: Understanding the Autonomic Nervous System and Trauma Healing
Trainer: Rebecca Kase
On-Demand: Available with lifetime access for asynchronous learning. | This course was recorded on March 1st, 2024.
Polyvagal Theory has become one of the most referenced frameworks in trauma therapy. It is also one of the most frequently misunderstood. Therapists encounter it in consultation, in the literature, and in their clients' responses in session, and often feel like they almost understand it, but can't quite translate the neuroscience into something they can actually use.
This six-hour polyvagal theory training with Rebecca Kase, author of Polyvagal Informed EMDR, is designed to close that gap. You will learn the core principles of the model in language that is clinically grounded and immediately applicable, without having to become a neuroscientist to use it. From the three autonomic pathways and the concept of neuroception to vagal tone, the vagal brake, the Preparation Hierarchy, and the social engagement system, you will leave with a coherent framework for understanding your clients' nervous system responses and working with them rather than around them.
This is not an EMDR training. It is open to therapists, healers, and helping professionals of any modality who want to apply polyvagal concepts to their work.
Practical Interventions You'll Learn
In this polyvagal theory training for therapists, you'll learn how to:
- Understand the vagus nerve and its role in healing, trauma recovery, and therapeutic outcomes, including why vagal flexibility matters and how to track autonomic symptoms in your clients
- Map the three autonomic pathways and identify the physical and psychological symptoms associated with each, so you can recognize where a client is in their nervous system at any given moment
- Create an autonomic blueprint with clients that supports their healing journey and gives them a framework for understanding their own nervous system responses
- Apply the concept of neuroception as a body-based surveillance system, and use this understanding to explain why clients respond the way they do in and outside of session
- Build vagal tone and vagal flexibility using the Preparation Hierarchy, including specific neural exercises and techniques that promote autonomic resiliency
- Leverage the social engagement system in your clinical work, understanding why therapeutic presence matters on a neurobiological level and how it directly supports healing
- Apply polyvagal concepts to case conceptualization, intervention planning, and outcome tracking across client presentations and modalities
What You'll Learn
By the end of this training, you will be able to:
- Analyze polyvagal theory as an emerging model, including the research supporting it and the relevant criticisms, so you can hold it with both enthusiasm and appropriate clinical discernment
- Describe the main components of polyvagal theory and explain them in accessible, non-clinical language your clients can understand and use
- Use the autonomic nervous system as a guide for assessing and tracking nervous system health across the three autonomic pathways
- Assess the impact of vagal functioning on physical and psychological health, and apply that understanding to client presentations involving chronic stress, trauma, anxiety, and dissociation
- Examine the concept of vagal tone and describe at least three skills that promote vagal flexibility and build autonomic resilience
- Describe the social engagement system and explain how it relates to human and animal bonds, therapeutic presence, and the conditions that support healing
Who is the course for?
This course is designed for therapists and helping professionals who want a solid, accessible foundation in Polyvagal Theory, not a surface-level overview, but a working clinical framework they can apply immediately. It is a strong fit if you are:
- A therapist who keeps encountering Polyvagal Theory in consultation, supervision, or the literature and wants to finally understand it deeply enough to use it with confidence in session
- Finding that some clients' nervous systems don't respond the way standard trauma therapy approaches predict, and wanting a neurobiological framework for understanding why
- An EMDR therapist who wants to understand the polyvagal foundations underlying the Preparation Hierarchy and Phase 2 readiness before moving into a more intervention-focused polyvagal training
- Wanting to be able to explain the autonomic nervous system to clients in language they can actually understand and use as part of their own healing
- New to polyvagal theory entirely, or someone who has read about it but hasn't found a training that makes it feel clinically usable
- Seeking NBCC and ASWB/ACE continuing education in polyvagal theory and nervous system regulation in a flexible on-demand format with 6 CEs
No prerequisites required. No prior polyvagal knowledge assumed.
One note: if you are already familiar with polyvagal foundations and are looking for specific clinical techniques and intervention tools, the Polyvagal Theory Interventions for Trauma Therapists course picks up where this one leaves off.
About Your Trainer, Rebecca Kase, LCSW
Trauma Therapist Institute Founder Rebecca Kase is recognized as one of the foremost EMDR trainers and trauma experts in the U.S. She is an LCSW, professional EMDR consultant and trainer, registered yoga teacher, and author of Polyvagal Informed EMDR: A Neuro-Informed Approach to Healing (2023). Rebecca has been practicing in the field of trauma counseling since 2006. She’s an expert in working with complex trauma and dissociation and has practiced in both nonprofit and private practice settings. In her own therapy practice, Rebecca incorporates yoga therapy, ego states, somatic approaches, Polyvagal Theory and EMDR into her work with clients, which includes veterans and adults with Complex PTSD. Rebecca is known as a skillful, clear and enthusiastic teacher. She’ll keep you engaged and make you giggle, even in an online trauma training course!
Additional Information
Agenda
Learning Objectives
Prerequisites
Continuing Education
Course Completion
Cancellation Policy
Free resource from Rebecca Kase
Understanding the Nervous System: A Practical Guide to Polyvagal Theory by Rebecca Kase.
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