Presence Psychotherapy is an integrative trauma therapy that incorporates spirituality, internal inquiry, and relational attunement to facilitate healing. Developed by Michelle Lepak, LCSW, this model, rooted in evidence-based practice, helps clients orient to Four Dimensions of Presence to experience the essence of who they are beyond their trauma, to sense compassion and support in and around them, and experience oneness. Presence Psychotherapy helps clients utilize Presence Awareness to access and process the multiple layers and nuance of trauma rather than bypass trauma.
The model, published in the APA's Journal of Integrative Psychotherapy, introduces the concept of Four Dimensions of Presence to process trauma and experience well-being: Grounded Presence, Spacious Presence, Relational Presence, and Transcendent Presence.
This intensive 5-day training with Michelle includes didactic presentations, live demonstrations, and experiential practice to help participants gain tools and knowledge to:
- Identify the qualities and therapeutic aspects of the Four Dimensions of Presence: Grounded Presence, Spacious Presence, Relational Presence, and Transcendent Presence
- Recognize and utilize clients' personal connections to spirituality in trauma treatment to heal trauma
- Explain how Presence Awareness can help heal attachment wounds, provide regulation during trauma processing, and reprocess negative beliefs and emotions resulting from trauma
- Practice the skill of listening for and facilitating client's Presence awareness through client's narrative
- Describe how to help clients regulate affect between sessions utilizing Four Dimensions of Presence techniques
- Define implicit, explicit, procedural, semantic, emotional, and sensory trauma memory
- Practice utilizing Four Dimensions of Presence to heal attachment wounds
- Demonstrate how to utilize the Four Dimensions of Presence to heal negative trauma-induced beliefs
- Facilitate Transcendent Presence awareness to processing trauma without creating spiritual bypass
For a full list of what you will learn, please see presencepsychotherapy.org/training.
Presence Psychotherapy offers a thorough trauma treatment protocol based on the acronym ORBITS, which stands for:
- Orient to presence
- Reside in presence
- Body sense awareness
- Inquire, invite, illuminate
- Turn the view
- Sit in presence
This training will describe how Presence Psychotherapy can easily integrate other therapeutic models. The training will also explain Presence Psychotherapy's Expanded concept of Compassionate Presence and will demonstrate how to include aspects of clients’ spirituality, such as nature, animals, spiritual beings, and totems in trauma work.
This training is for beginning, intermediate, and advanced mental health professionals who are licensed to provide treatment and to pastoral care clergy.
