Special Seminars

Upcoming Special Seminars:

All seminars to be held in Seattle, Washinton
scroll down to see all listings

Long-Term Client Relationships: Psychological Issues

Instructor Genjo Marinello

Thursday, August 5th: 6-9pm

Long-term client relationships require more consideration. Practitioners who are involved in such relationships will find that they may need outside supervisory support to deal with issues of:

• transference and countertransference
• psychological issues that surface
• growth of client participation
• resetting appropriate  boundaries
• changing body symptoms
• issues of client fear and past trauma
• changing conscious awareness
• spiritual development.

None of these factors can be adequately dealt with in basic bodywork education. Younger practitioners have very little life experience with which to accompany long-term clients. Many seasoned practitioners have worked primarily with short-term treatment and 3rd party criteria that rule relational factors. This culminates in many practitioners feeling out-of-their-depth when life-changing issues arise with clients. Many worry that they are moving outside their “scope of practice.” They start to recognize that something is missing, some deeper understanding of what is happening, some way of speaking about their client relationships, some common languaging and themes that presently do not exist in professional parlance.  Most continuing education for bodyworkers do not deal with long term relationships, but focus on short term “fixing.”

Students who attended The Future of Bodywork II: To Fix or Not to Fix were excited to discuss these issues. They enjoyed the input from panelist Genjo Marinello,
from his counseling and Spiritual Direction experience.

 

Genjo Marinello Osho is the abbot of the Seattle Zen temple, Dai Bai Zan Cho Bo Zen Ji.  He has been a Zen meditation practitioner since 1975, was ordained a monk in 1980, became a full priest (Osho) in 1990, and was named a Dharma Heir in his lineage in May of 2008. In 1989, Genjo completed a certificate program in Spiritual Direction through a program affiliated with the UBC Vancouver School of Theology; he also has a M.A. in psychology from Antioch University. Genjo has served as a teacher at the Center for Spiritual Development, Still Point, Seattle Holistic Center and for the Birankai International Aikido Association.

 

 

 

Supervision in Bodywork

Clinical, Personal, and Peer Supervision

Instructor Jack Blackburn, MT, LMP
Certified Spiritual Director

Thursday, September 9th: 6-9pm

Jack has been providing training and writings about different kinds of professional supervision for many years. He has published several articles on the subject, including guidelines on starting your own peer supervision group.

What supervision is: In the social sciences and helping professions the word takes on quite a different meaning from general usage. First supervision connotes a sense of clarity and being in a better position to see things, to perceive and correct issues as from above.  A supervisor in this sense is someone who has many years of experience and thus is aware of many of the problems that can arise. Jack has been in supervision himself for almost 18 years and was trained in supervision while in graduate school in the early '90s.

Secondly, in the helping professions the supervisor is one who "helps the helper" so to speak, serving at the behest of the practitioner, not the reverse. Thirdly the supervisor must have interactive skills that foster confidence and validation in the supervisee. Fourth the supervisor maintains strict confidentiality towards the practitioner's process. Fifth the supervisor can play a variety of roles to support the practitioner: mentor, coach, preceptor, advocate, tutor, consultant, counselor and sometimes therapist. Supervision is required in many of the helping professions because client sessions are mostly one-on-one and therefore intimate and personal.

 

 

Bodywork and End of Life Care

Instructor Meg Robsahm

Thursday, September 23rd : 6-9pm

 

In recent years, people are speaking out more about death, and about compassionate care for the dying. At the same time, the ancient healing modality of massage has been recognized as a viable resource in palliative care, as well as in health care. No other type of massage is as rewarding, or as emotionally involved, as that performed at the end of life.

Bodywork in End of Life will provide an introduction to the fundamental components of caring touch. Basic information on massage in the end of life setting will be shared. We will begin to explore our role in working with the dying and examine our own perceptions by asking "who do I become in the presence of the ill/dying." We will discuss how we can "just BE" with our clients, identifying ways to let go of our need to fix. Our collective experiences & stories will reminded us that caring touch can profoundly transform another's suffering; and add an unexpected dimension to our own lives.

This seminar will focus on the questions:

"What is Palliative Care and Hospice work?"
"How do I fit into the process of a person's transition t the end of life?"
It will also introduce the fundamental concepts of Care, Comfort, Connection, Compassion.

This will provide a foundation for Meg's upcoming 8-hour workshop "End of Life Care: Being Present without an Agenda." This class is scheduled on Sunday, November 7th. The Trillium Institute is honored to be sponsoring this new class series with such an accomplished instructor.

 

Meg Robsahm, M.Ed., LMP, NCBTMB, has been practicing since 2001 with a focus on chronic pain, stress relief, oncology and hospice massage. Her business, Compassionate Therapies, is located in Everett and Monroe, WA. In addition to teaching Massage for People Living with Cancer, she is a regular presenter for many organizations, on topics such as Oncology Massage, Hospice and Caring Touch. Meg is currently the President of the Society for Oncology Massage, www.S4OM.org an organization grounded in a philosophy of compassion and service. Meg is a 2007 Graduate of the Peregrine Institute of Oncology Massage Training. www.CompassionateTherapies.com

 

 

 

 

 

Previous Seminars:

 

Personal Presencing with Jack Blackburn

 

Taming the Tiger