​Somatic Therapies for the Clinician: A Bottom-Up Approach for Exploring and Expressing Your Authentic Self in Clinical Work

Friday, November 8 - 9:00 am-12:00 pm at the Northwest Area Foundation (60 Plato Ave E, Suite 400, St. Paul, Minnesota)

​​Description

How do you ethically access and express your full “self as therapist”? How do you stay present and grounded while in empathetic relationship with clients? This experientially-focused training seeks to hold space for clinicians to explore personal authenticity as it arises in professional therapeutic relationships. Participants will be provided foundational information on somatic and dance/movement therapies and will engage in body and movement-based experientials to learn techniques to bring to their clinical practice.

Objectives

Learn what somatic therapy and dance/movement therapy (D/MT) are and how they differ from other therapies.

Understand basic neurobiological principles and how they apply to somatic therapies.

Consider both utility and ethical limitations in utilizing somatic clinical interventions across intersecting sociocultural identities and diagnoses.

Learn grounding techniques to increase clinician self-awareness.

Explore creative movement as a way to create internal connection and transformation

​H​ave an opportunity to ask practicing D/MTs questions.

Bios

Keimi Umezu, MSW, LICSW (she/her/hers) is a clinical social worker and therapist. Keimi is passionate about justice and community healing. She is a graduate of St. Catherine University/University of St. Thomas Master of Social Work program and is currently in the MN-Alternate Route Dance/Movement Therapy program. Keimi has worked in a variety of settings since 2007 including schools, clinics and hospitals. Keimi has experience working with diverse populations including: children/adults/families experiencing homelessness, children/adults/families experiencing/in recovery from trauma, adults experiencing severe and persistent mental illness and co-occurring disorders.  Keimi works from a strength-based perspective utilizing a variety of modalities including CBT/DBT and ACT while integrating mindfulness, movement and other expressive arts processes that help create healing.