While the psychology world is deep in thought about the mind-body question, the question is being answered in the Somatic Psychology Program at JFK University. The passing 'decade of the brain' is rapidly giving way to an emerging era of intense interest in The Body. There is a great deal of professional excitement regarding the psychological and therapeutic potency of holistic approaches to the body, somatic experience, and the embodied self. A perfect storm of psychological, neurological, developmental science, medical, social and cultural activity is creating an enormous interest in holistic models of the person and of health practices. The JFKU Somatic Psychology Program in the School of Holistic Studies has been providing clinical training for MFT candidates in this arena for 20 years. In the JFKU Somatic Psychology program, the unitary relationship of mind to body is the working model and starting point for therapeutic change. It is our core concept in understanding human development and human problems. Students receive a strong foundation in counseling psychology theory and practice. Practical clinical training includes diagnosis, assessment, treatment planning and the application of psychotherapy practice to adults, couples, groups, families and children. Students balance classroom learning with experientially oriented workshops and they complete a year long supervised clinical training at the school's Center for Holistic Counseling or at an approved external field placement site. The Master of Arts program in Counseling Psychology offered here represents a state-of-the-art training in the theory and practice of psychotherapy from a Somatic Psychology perspective. This State Accredited program meets the educational requirements for licensure as a California Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT). Somatic Psychology at JFKU From a Somatic perspective, life experiences are embodied experiences; breath styles, movement patterns, musculature tensions, cognitive style, emotional expression, and relational patterns are shaped by and express past and present whole-body experiences. Our courses explore the body/mind connection and integrate somatic psychology perspectives with contemporary psychological and developmental theories and practices as well as integrating research from the related fields of traumatology, pre and perinatal psychology, psychoneuroimmunology and neurodevelopmental research. Somatic Psychology incorporates the body into its psychological investigations, considering bodily states of consciousness, postures and gestures, muscular patterns, chronic contractions and tensions, movement range and shapes, ways of breathing, skin and color tones, somatic habits, energetic qualities, use of space, and body pulsations and rhythms as a potential part of the therapy process. Our program is organized around a dynamic systems theory approach which considers the whole person and all of their constituent domains as relevant to psycho-emotional life. Somatic Psychology is an emerging, dynamic field within academic and professional psychology. The practice of psychotherapy in general is undergoing a profound paradigm shift in response to discoveries within Developmental Neuroscience, research in early child development, and the study of infant-parent interaction. Much of this new research points to the psychological importance of body-based, non-verbal experience across the life span but particularly in the first three years of life. Life experience from a pre-verbal/non-verbal period is recorded differently than a verbalizable, personal narrative. Clinicians working therapeutically with early experience and 'implicit knowing' must be conversant with the non-verbal qualities that mark most human communication, especially in the first years of life. This new understanding of consciousness, communication and the mind-body is changing the current dialogue within the field of psychotherapy. Enormous psychological, social, cultural and political forces support the splitting and fragmentation of mindbody unity. As we know, these pressures take a considerable toll on the mental, biological, and relational health of each of us. The JFKU Somatic Psychology Program brings together students, researchers, practitioners, and instructors who are interested in the personal and social practices and policy transformations necessary to alleviate these stresses. Our Program Design The Somatic Psychology Program has five interwoven areas of instruction and learning.
- Self Development and Self Awareness
- Theory and Practice of Psychotherapy from a Somatic Psychology Perspective
- Professional Development
- Personal and Technical Clinical Skills
- Supervised Fieldwork Experience
