Certification Training: The Power of Polyvagal Theory and Somatic Techniques for Trauma Recovery

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All members of the PESI, Inc. planning committee have provided disclosures of financial relationships with ineligible organizations and any relevant non-financial relationships prior to planning content for this activity. None of the committee members had relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies or other potentially biasing relationships to disclose to learners.  For speaker disclosures, please see the faculty biography.

Speaker

Amy Stenger-Sullivan, MA, LPCC-S Related seminars and products

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Amy Stenger-Sullivan, MA, LPCC-S, is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor-Supervisor, Certified Trauma Specialist, EMDR Therapist, SoulCollage® facilitator, and founder of Rooted Compassion Counseling and Consulting, LLC. With over three decades of experience in bodywork and mental health, Amy leads a team of therapists who integrate the Polyvagal Theory (PVT) into trauma-informed care. Her work with the PVT began in 2005 and deeply shaped her personal and professional journey, eventually leading her to join Deb Dana’s team as senior trainer in 2021. Amy now delivers her own training series and is co-authoring a forthcoming book on the PVT and children’s therapy with Norton Publishing.

Drawing on her background in EMDR, somatic healing, and attachment science, Amy helps clients move toward emotional safety, post-traumatic growth, and resilience. She is widely known for her warm, humorous, and highly accessible teaching style, making complex material practical and transformative for clinicians across disciplines.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Amy Stenger-Sullivan is the owner of Rooted Compassion Counseling and Consulting, LLC and has an employment relationship with Rhythm of Regulation. She receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Amy Stenger-Sullivan is a member of the American Counseling Association, the Ohio Counseling Association, EMDRIA, and the Greater Cincinnati Counseling Association.

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Objectives

1. Identify the core principles of Polyvagal Theory and their relevance to trauma, attachment, and emotional regulation. 
2. Identify signs of sympathetic activation, dorsal vagal shutdown, and mixed nervous system states in clinical practice. 
3. Utilize somatic and expressive techniques—including EMDR resourcing, breathwork, and expressive writing—to support nervous system regulation. 
4. Use polyvagal-informed strategies to enhance co-regulation, rapport, and therapeutic presence. 
5. Develop treatment plans that integrate Polyvagal Theory with modalities like EMDR, CBT, and DBT. 
6. Utilize ethical awareness and clinical judgment when working with trauma-related dysregulation and autonomic states. 
7. Evaluate autonomic nervous system states using polyvagal-informed mapping and tracking tools. 
8. Determine how trauma impacts nervous system functioning across developmental, complex, and attachment-related trauma presentations. 
9. Integrate expressive arts and sound-based regulation strategies to enhance client self-awareness and resilience. 
10. Identify the risks of inadvertent reactivation of defense states in trauma treatment. 
11. Integrate attachment-based approaches to support rupture and repair within the therapeutic relationship. 
12. Develop safe interventions for clients experiencing mixed autonomic states using a trauma-informed, client-centered lens.

Outline

Trauma and the Nervous System

• Polyvagal theory as a framework for understanding relational trauma
• The response of the nervous system to:
  • PTSD
  • Complex trauma
  • Developmental trauma
  • Attachment-related trauma
• Autonomic nervous system states: Connected, mobilized, immobilized
• Signs of sympathetic activation vs dorsal vagal shutdown
• Mixed states in polyvagal theory: Relevance to trauma and emotional regulation
• Five steps to access safety in mobilized and immobilized states
• Experiential activity: Tracking your own nervous system states

Assess and Address Nervous System States

• A new look at existing assessment tools
• Tools for mapping and tracking nervous system states
• Determine states of felt safety, stabilization, processing and re-integration
• Trauma and stressor-related disorders in the DSM-5TR™
• Assess trauma’s comorbidities
• Signs of mixed nervous system states
• Limitations of the research and potential risks
• Experiential activity: Tracking your own mixed states

A Path Toward Healing: Polyvagal-Informed Intervention

• A framework for individualized treatment planning
• Breakthrough roadblocks: Three tips to work through unresolved mixed states
• Integrate polyvagal principles into EMDR, Somatic Experiencing, CBT, DBT, and more
• Progress tracking: Nervous system attunement and shifts
• Video demonstration: From assessment to intervention

Build Therapeutic Rapport via the Social Engagement System

• Attachment-based strategies for rupture and repair in relationships
• Stuck in shutdown: Eight ways to help clients break free
• What client resistance says about nervous system states

Leverage the Nervous System to Build Resilience and Self-Regulation

• Somatic approaches to unpack stress and trauma memories
• EMDR resourcing and bilateral stimulation
• Five easy-to-implement expressive arts activities to foster emotional release
• Outside-the-box mindfulness and grounding strategies
• The art of therapeutic containment
• Experiential activity: Harness the power of sound to promote regulation and flexibility
• Four helpful journal prompts and expressive writing techniques
• Interoceptive activities to build self-awareness
• The window of capacity: Three exercises to foster growth over time
• Hands-On Learning: Tracking body messages through Art

From Theory to Practice

• Tips to avoid oversimplification or misinterpretation of mixed states in clients
• Beware: Potential risk of inadvertent activation of defense system
• Core guidelines, ethical considerations, and research limitations

Target Audience

• Counselors
• Social Workers
• Psychologists
• Psychiatrists
• Therapists
• Addiction counselors
• Nurses
• Marriage and Family Therapists
• Physicians
• Other Mental Health Professionals