Somatic Experiencing® Professional Training
Nervous System Healing • Trauma Resolution • Mind–Body Integration
A Nervous System–Based Approach to Trauma and Stress
This professional training invites you to deepen your capacity to work with trauma and long-term stress by understanding how the nervous system responds to overwhelming experiences. Rather than prioritizing narrative, diagnosis, or symptom management alone, the learning emphasizes physiological regulation, safety, and embodied awareness as essential foundations for sustainable change.
The program is designed for professionals who want to integrate a body-based, neuroscience-informed approach into their existing work and develop greater confidence when supporting clients affected by stress, trauma, or burnout.
Somatic Experiencing® was developed by Dr. Peter A. Levine, a psychologist and trauma researcher whose work has significantly influenced contemporary understandings of trauma and the nervous system.
Drawing on decades of interdisciplinary study in psychology, neuroscience, biology, and somatic awareness, Dr. Levine observed that trauma symptoms are not caused by the event itself, but by the way the nervous system becomes overwhelmed and unable to complete natural survival responses. This insight led to the development of Somatic Experiencing® as a body-based approach to trauma resolution.
SOMATIC EXPERIENCING® PROFESSIONAL TRAINING
Program Overview
Somatic Experiencing®, developed by Dr. Peter A. Levine, is a powerful body-based method that helps individuals resolve trauma by working with the nervous system rather than reliving painful experiences. SE supports the body’s natural capacity to regulate, restore balance, and build resilience.
The Somatic Experiencing® training combines conceptual learning with theoretical foundation for understanding trauma physiology, while remaining strongly rooted in experiential learning. Participants develop practical skills that can be applied immediately, while also cultivating the self-regulation and presence essential for ethical trauma-informed work.
LEARNING METHODS INCLUDE:
- Interactive teaching and discussion
- Live demonstrations
- Guided partner and small-group practice
- Case examples and reflective inquiry
- Optional recommended readings for deeper study
Because embodied learning is central to this work, participants are encouraged to develop their own somatic awareness and regulation capacity alongside professional skill development.
Training Schedule
The professional training is sequential, and each level builds upon the previous one. Completion of a two-day introductory workshop (Introduction to Somatic Experiencing®) is required prior to enrolling in the Beginning Level. This introductory program provides an overview of SE principles and supports informed entry into the full training.
- Introductory Workshop (Prerequisite)
Introduction to Somatic Experiencing® OnlineMay 23-24, 2026
November 14-15, 2026 - Beginning Level
Module 1: March 25-30, 2027
Module 2: September 16-21, 2027 - Intermediate Level
Module 1: January 11-16, 2028
Module 2: October 10-15, 2028 - Advanced Level
Module 1: February 22-27, 2029
Module 2: September 20-25, 2029
The Somatic Experiencing® Professional Training is delivered in three progressive levels, allowing skills and understanding to develop gradually over time. Each level combines theory, experiential learning, and guided practice, supporting both professional application and practitioner capacity. The Somatic Experiencing® Professional Training follows a structured, sequential curriculum designed to support gradual learning and integration over time.
- The full training consists of six-day modules delivered over three years
- Modules are taken in sequence, allowing concepts and skills to build progressively
- Each module integrates lecture-based teaching, live demonstration, and guided practice with fellow participants
This extended format supports depth of learning, professional integration, and the development of practitioner capacity.
The Beginning Level introduces the core principles of Somatic Experiencing® and establishes a foundational understanding of trauma as a physiological process. Participants learn to recognize how the autonomic nervous system responds to threat and how incomplete survival responses contribute to ongoing symptoms.
This level focuses on developing:
- An understanding of trauma and stress physiology
- The ability to track sensation and bodily responses
- Awareness of defensive responses such as fight, flight, freeze, and shutdown
- Skills for supporting nervous system regulation and completion
- Safe pacing and modulation of activation
- Early integration of polyvagal concepts
- Application of the SIBAM framework as a lens for experience
- Boundary awareness and stabilization skills
- Brief, practical interventions that support symptom reduction
- Considerations for integrating SE principles into professional practice
- Introductory understanding of touch within appropriate scope of practice
The Intermediate Level expands clinical understanding by exploring distinct categories of trauma and how they present within the nervous system. Participants learn to assess patterns of activation, collapse, and defensive organization, and to tailor interventions accordingly.
This level includes learning related to:
- Early and developmental trauma
- High-intensity and life-threatening experiences
- Accidents, injuries, and medical trauma
- Inescapable or overwhelming events
- Natural disasters, war, and collective trauma
- Emotional and relational trauma
Participants deepen their capacity to recognize trauma-specific patterns and apply SE principles with increased precision and clinical confidence.
The Advanced Level focuses on working with complex trauma presentations and syndromal patterns, emphasizing stabilization, coherence, and practitioner skill refinement.
Learning themes include:
- Stabilization and pacing with complex and highly sensitive clients
- Advanced application of nervous system regulation principles
- Deepening understanding of autonomic dysregulation and syndromes
- Polyvagal theory as it relates to complex presentations
- Refinement of titration and pendulation skills
- Working with eye orientation and visual responses
- Expanded use of SE touch within scope of practice
- Working with joints, diaphragms, and visceral support
- Ethical and professional considerations in advanced application
Teachers
Pete Hamill
Pete Hamill is a consultant, facilitator and coach with an international background in leadership and organizational development. He is interested in leadership and personal development, including the role that conflict plays in organizations and society. Pete works on Roffey Park’s MSc in People and Organizational Development and their Post-Graduate Certificate in Coaching, as well as consulting with a range of organizations, including KPMG, BP, Barclays Bank, the Equality & Human Rights Commission, the Institute of Cancer Research, Lloyds Banking Group, AXA, Control Risks, and Virgin Atlantic.
Pete is certified as a Master Somatic Coach and has completed a Certificate in Humanistic Counselling with the Gestalt Centre in London. He has also completed an MSc in Change Agent Skills & Strategies at the University of Surrey, where his dissertation focused on conflict. He has published a book entitled Embodied Leadership: The somatic approach to developing your leadership.
Stephanie Meux
For over 25 years Stephanie Meux has been committed to the study of pathways and modalities that foster embodied awareness and somatic transformation. Her studies have lead her to become a licensed bodyworker, dance and movement facilitator and to develop and run her own equine guided education programs. She has also had the great fortune to produce educational programs and events in both the corporate sector and for organizations dedicated to personal transformation and leadership development.
Joining the Strozzi Institute team as a faculty teacher is an exciting opportunity to align her commitments to contributing to the field of somatics and supporting the cultivation and delivery of transformational programming to leaders and organizations, in service to a more whole and just future for all beings.
When not looking at a computer screen, Stephanie can be found spending time with her horse, playing out in nature or dancing.
Tyler Grillo
Tyler Grillo (Berkeley, California) is a Strozzi Institute Certified Somatic Coach, who is committed to partnering with people on their transformative journey towards deeper fulfillment and aliveness—a process he sees as inherently linked to broader social transformation. He knows that everyone has a gift to offer the world, and works to create a space where these gifts can be realized, wrestled with, and actualized. Grounded in an understanding of our diverse human experiences, he sees our shared desires for dignity, safety, and belonging as intimately connecting us. Having grown up in the mountains of Colorado, he also has a deep connection with nature. In his coaching work, Tyler offers a welcoming and trusting space for folks to explore what they most care about, what new actions they want to take in their lives, and the practices that allow them to embody their fullest selves. While engaging with clients, he is constantly wondering, “What’s trying to come to life? What’s trying to be expressed?” His coaching is also shaped by his shamanic practice and commitment to social justice. Tyler previously served as Course Manager and Program Manager for Strozzi Institute, bringing a depth of knowledge of the Institute’s somatic methodology to his coaching.
Tesfaye Tekelu
Tesfaye Tekelu is co-founder of two non-profit organizations: Aikido Ethiopia and Awassa Youth Campus (which works with youth empowerment, conflict-resolution, gender equality and HIV awareness in Ethiopia) and Institute for Social Advancement (which works in education, in the US and Southern Africa).
Tesfaye is responsible for introducing Aikido in East Africa, and currently holds a second degree black belt. Prior to moving to the US in 2010, Tesfaye served as Executive Director for AYC and as head instructor for Aikido Ethiopia (AE) for six years. He is still actively engaged in both organizations as a Board member and program coordinator. He also served as a circus and theater leader and Finance head from 2002-2005 at the Hawassa Children’s Center in Hawassa, Ethiopia, where he organized, performed and lead the circus and theater group tours throughout Ethiopia.
