Registration for the EQUUSOMA® Level 2 Practical Intensives in FRANCE is only for eligible Level 1 students who have completed their requirements. If you have not yet registered for and completed Level 1 (online), please do so here. If you are registering for Level 1 Online in 2023, the Level 2 dates below do not apply (the earliest you may be eligible to register for Level 2 will be 2024).
Details
Location: The Place of Grace near Moussac (30 minutes to the Mediterranean Sea)
Language of Instruction: English (with some interpretation available in French and German; however, students must be proficient in English)
Official licensing via Somatic Experiencing® International. EQUUSOMA® is an independent offering and does not constitute an equivalent to Somatic Experiencing® training.
Registration for the Level 2 Practical Intensives taking place in France in 2023 is via custom invoicing due to the possibility of combining registration for the Intensives with a new Master Class being taught by Rachaël Draaisma and Sarah Schlote pertaining to calming signals and scentwork for horses from a neuroscience, trauma, somatic, and attachment perspective. Information about the master class is available in Letter and A4 format, and in the registration form below.
- EQUUSOMA Practical Intensive I: April 30 to May 5, 2023
- Master Class Webinar: July 28-30, 2023
- Master Class Seminar (in person): September 7-8, 2023 (with 1 day off before PI#2 below)
- EQUUSOMA Practical Intensive II: September 10-15, 2023
Dates may be subject to change pending registration numbers.
**There is no obligation to register for both the master class AND the practical intensives. They are presented here simultaneously for students who are interested in registering for both.
Level 2 Program Overview
Each practical intensive is made up of 2 components: a 2-day immersion workshop experiencing EQUUSOMA® as recipients/clients (as opposed to learners), followed by 4 days of training.
Practical Intensive I (41 hours)
- 2-Day Workshop: Many Hands and Hooves of Support™: “When we feel held, we can let go.” This workshop provides students with an opportunity to receive support for whatever their bodies may be carrying into the practical intensive, to help set the conditions for learning for the training portion of the practical intensive. The workshop offers group and individual process time on the theme: “what support do I need?” Students will experience working with thresholds and pendulations related to the vulnerability of having and voicing needs and requesting support, at their own titrated pace. Opportunities will be provided to experience social coherence and “being held” by the interspecies group field, through intentional attention, proximity, consensual physical contact, and coregulating SE™ touch while seated, standing, or on a treatment table in the presence of equines (based on student consent/choice and availability). Equines have the freedom to participate or not based on their own needs, in this nature-based adaptation of an SE™ touch tradition.
- 4-Day Training: The training portion of the practical intensive will provide more detailed information about equine-human trauma recovery, reviewing principles and concepts taught throughout Level 1 as a refresher. Students will experience how to work with anticipatory activation, titration, and thresholds when approaching relational boundaries and exploring consensual touch (or no touch), both human to human and with equines. An introduction to somatic touch skills is provided. Students will work on honing their observational skills for tracking subtle and more obvious signs of activation, shutdown, and social engagement, as well as voluntary and involuntary micromovements and preparatory actions related to incomplete or thwarted responses in equines and humans. Biological completion (physiological renegotiation) and dyadic completion (relational renegotiation) will be reviewed, within the context of SE™, nervous system theory, and attachment theory related to humans and equines in various contexts (such as EAPL, horsemanship, horse training, riding, equine behaviourism, clicker training, equine bodywork, and so on). Students will be introduced to the 7 actions of SE™ and their application. Practice rounds of equine-human trauma recovery will further allow students to explore facilitation/co-facilitation with the support of training assistants, applying the principles and concepts they learned throughout Level 1.
Practical Intensive II (41 hours)
The second practical intensive has the same breakdown as the previous one, with a second round of 2 days of Many Hands and Hooves of Support™, followed by the 4-day training portion:
4-Day Training: Day 1 will focus on reviewing equine-human trauma recovery, as well as a refresher practice round as a soft entry into the training portion of the intensive. The remainder of the module will explore the 9 steps of SE™ in relation to humans and equines (biological completion and physiological renegotiation pertaining to orienting/fight/flight/freeze/fold); adaptations when relational trauma is intertwined (dyadic completion and relational renegotiation pertaining to find/fawn); the activation cycle and nervous system theory in practice; and adapting the Humane Hierarchy and operant conditioning through an SE/nervous system/attachment theory lens. The 7 actions of SE™ will be revisited and further refined. Students will also learn how unresolved trauma can show up in or influence EAPL, round pen experiences, groundwork, equestrian disciplines, and clicker training. 3 methods of pressure-release will be reconsidered through the lens of SE™, nervous system theory, and attachment theory, and a map for when each might be used and how they might be adapted in service of biological and relational renegotiation (as opposed to behaviour shaping) will be provided. Additional areas of exploration include social coherence; working with incomplete fight responses; clarity of intention and attention in relation to invitational language and somatic inquiry; refining the sandwich model in practice; and an introduction to the periphery to core model of titration to further refine student titration skills when working with thresholds and the vortices. Practices will explore what comes up in the process of approaching relationship with the intention of haltering and leading (or not), with a focus on renegotiation for both species. Practice rounds of equine-human trauma recovery will further allow students to explore facilitation/co-facilitation with the support of training assistants.
To Register
- Contact Kim at liaison@equusoma.com to discuss your progress in completing the Level 1 requirements and to request a copy of the 2022 EQUUSOMA Policy Handbook to review, if you do not have one already
- Complete the registration form in either Letter or A4 format and send it to Jen at info@equusoma.com who will calculate your total amount owing based on your selections and produce a custom invoice.
- Complete and submit the updated 2022 Student Agreement if you have not done so previously, in either Letter or A4 format to Jen at info@equusoma.com.
Important Details:
- Payment may be completed in instalments – please ask Jen when you submit your registration form.
- Scholarship spots for Level 2 practical intensives in 2023-2024 are dependent on registration numbers given the higher expenses involved in running in-person trainings at equine facilities.
- If you are unsure about completing your Level 1 requirements in time, please contact Kim at liaison@equusoma.com to discuss options.