Yoga and the Traumatised Body

6:00pm - 8:00pm AEST 14 April  2023

In this 2-hour workshop, participants will have the opportunity to experience a trauma-sensitive yoga practice (on their chair).  

Presenter Shirley Hicks, a trauma-informed somatic psychotherapist and yoga teacher, will present the key somatic, trauma-informed principles that underpin the work, the latest research on how this practice facilitates neurological recovery for trauma survivors and how this could be integrated into the repertoire of trauma informed interventions for therapists working with trauma survivors.  

This workshop is suitable for both new and experienced counselling, psychotherapy and Indigenous Healing practitioners. This experiential workshop enables learning through the body's felt sense experience, rather than theory alone, which can sometimes entirely omit the body. It is through an embodied experience that this work can be best understood. 

The webinar provides an opportunity to enhance your self-care strategies through movement and breath, and from this embodied experience, you can consider how to introduce these principles into your work with clients. 

For practitioners working with trauma and the disregulated nervous systems that accompany trauma, these skills should be in every clinician's repertoire. They support you to stay present with the client in the work and this model of co-regulation is the foundation of safe and effective trauma recovery work.  

Whilst this is an expansive field of work, participants will leave with a "taste" of how this work feels for them and the therapeutic possibilities of nervous system regulation for their clients; nervous system regulation provides both safety and a stable foundation for recovery. 

The presenter: Shirley Hicks 

Shirley Hicks is a trauma informed somatic psychotherapist and yoga teacher based at Varsity Lakes on the Gold Coast, Queensland. She has been practicing for over 3 decades and co-founded Trauma Sensitive Yoga Australia in 2012. She has a specific interest in how the body remembers and deals with the traumatic events that happen in life. She is also a facilitator with the BlueKnot Foundation and runs therapeutic resilience workshops for mental health clinicians. 

Qualifications: ND., Grad Dip Counselling (ACAP), Dip Somatic Psychotherapy ( ACCSP), Master of Counselling (UNE), Diploma Dru Yoga ( Life Foundation), Certificate Trauma Sensitive Yoga ( Boston Trauma Institute). 

This webinar counts as 2 hours of Category A CPD (Continuing Professional Development) if you participate online, or 2 hours of Category B CPD if you are watching the recording.

You must attend 75% of a webinar in order to receive a CPD certificate.

PACFA Members $35 (incl. GST)
Student Members $25 (incl. GST)
Non-Members $50 (incl. GST)

Event Cancellations
Customers seeking to cancel their registration more than 5 working days (for courses) and 48 hours (for webinars) prior to the event date may request a credit to be applied to their account. Cancellations must be made in writing to [email protected]. Cancellations made with less notice than this are non-refundable or exchangeable. Credits will be accessible through the PACFA Portal and are valid for up to a year from the purchase date. This policy is at the discretion of PACFA and may change.