Working Somatically with Trauma
Next-Level Trauma-Informed Training:
Going Beyond Fight, Flight & Freeze
Learn to recognise trauma responses in the body, work safely with the nervous system and bring practical somatic skills into the therapy room.
Live online | 9am–5pm | £195
Saturday 21st November 2026
Saturday 17th April 2027
You know about fight, flight and freeze. But what does trauma actually look like in the person sitting in front of you?
You've learned the theory of trauma. You've understood that experiences of threat can stay with us long after the danger has passed. And you've probably worked with clients who understand exactly why they feel the way they do, yet their body continues to respond as though something isn't safe.
That's where knowing the theory stops being enough.
Because trauma responses rarely arrive in the therapy room neatly labelled. They look like the client who suddenly can't find their words. The person whose breathing changes as they tell you they're fine.
The client who talks faster and faster while becoming increasingly disconnected from what they're feeling. The person who goes completely still. The client who understands their patterns intellectually but continues to experience anxiety, overwhelm, shutdown or disconnection that they can't think their way out of.
When you can recognise what is happening in the body, you have more information about what your client needs next. And that changes the way you work.
Trauma-informed practice needs to go beyond knowing the theory
Fight, flight and freeze gave us an important starting point. But trauma-informed practice has to go further. Knowing that someone is having a survival response doesn't automatically tell you how to respond to it.
A grounding exercise isn't always grounding. Slowing someone's breathing isn't always regulating. Asking someone to notice their body isn't always safe. And helping someone become calm isn't necessarily the goal.
Effective somatic trauma work requires us to notice what is happening, understand the response and work with the nervous system rather than against it. That's what we'll do together during Working Somatically with Trauma.
Move from understanding
trauma to knowing how to work with it
This practical, experiential training day takes you beyond trauma awareness and into the reality of working with trauma responses in the therapy room.
You'll develop greater confidence in three key areas:
Recognise
Learn what fight, flight, freeze and dissociative responses actually look like in real people.
You'll become more attuned to changes in breathing, movement, posture, voice, attention, connection and bodily experience so you can recognise the signs that tell you something has shifted.
Understand
Discover what is happening in the brain and nervous system when threat is detected and why the body can continue responding to danger even when the person logically knows they are safe. Instead of seeing a collection of symptoms, you'll develop a clearer understanding of the survival response underneath them.
Respond
Learn practical somatic ways of supporting connection and regulation while maintaining choice, consent and relational safety. You'll know more about what to do when a client becomes overwhelmed, disconnects or dissociates and when the safest therapeutic response is to slow down or stop. Recognise. Understand. Respond.
What we'll work with during the day
Spotting trauma responses
We'll revisit fight, flight and freeze properly. Not as three simple boxes, but as physiological survival responses that influence breathing, movement, attention, speech, connection and behaviour. You'll learn what to look and listen for so that you can recognise what's happening beneath the words.
Connecting with the body safely
Somatic work doesn't mean telling every client to close their eyes and notice their body. You'll learn practical ways of inviting body awareness while maintaining choice and autonomy including how to respond when connecting with the body feels difficult, uncomfortable or overwhelming.
Supporting regulation
Regulation isn't simply another word for calming down. We'll explore practical somatic skills for supporting regulation and connection, alongside understanding why the same intervention can feel settling for one person and completely wrong for another person.
Working safely and ethically
Knowing when not to intervene is as important as knowing what to do.
We'll explore consent, pacing, overwhelm and scope of practice so that you can integrate somatic skills without forcing a response or pushing a client beyond what feels manageable.
Knowing what to do when someone dissociates
A client disconnecting in front of you can leave even an experienced therapist wondering what to do next. You'll learn to recognise signs of dissociation, understand what may be happening and respond in ways that support reconnection without increasing overwhelm.
Using your own nervous system
You don't leave your nervous system at the therapy-room door. Your pace, voice, presence and ability to remain connected influence what happens between you and your client. We'll explore co-regulation in practice and how your own embodied presence can support relational safety.
Don't just learn it. Experience it.
Somatic work makes far more sense when you experience it in your own body. So this isn't a day of sitting on Zoom taking notes while I talk at you.
We'll move between accessible nervous-system science, real clinical examples, demonstration, experiential exercises, discussion and practice. You'll have time to experience somatic skills yourself. You'll practise using them with another practitioner.
You'll notice what happens when you're on the receiving end.
And you'll explore how to take that understanding back into your own therapeutic work.
There will be regular breaks and a proper lunch break, giving your brain and nervous system time to integrate what you're learning.
Leave seeing trauma differently
By the end of the day, you'll have a clearer understanding of:
How survival responses actually present in the therapy room. What to notice in the body beyond what a client is telling you. How to introduce somatic work safely and ethically. Practical ways to support connection and regulation. Why regulation doesn't always mean becoming calm. How to recognise and respond when someone dissociates. How your own nervous system contributes to co-regulation and relational safety.
Most importantly, you'll leave with greater confidence in recognising what is happening and knowing how to respond.
Choose your training date
Saturday 28 November 2026
9am–5pm | Live online
Saturday 17 April 2027
9am–5pm | Live online
Ready to take your somatic practice further?
Working Somatically with Trauma gives you the knowledge and practical skills to take your trauma-informed practice beyond fight, flight and freeze. When you want to go deeper and develop a complete method for understanding what is happening for an individual client and deciding what they need, when they need it and why the next step is the:
Somatic, Person-Centred Method™ Practitioner Certificate
The SPCM™ Practitioner Certificate is my comprehensive specialist training integrating nervous-system science, somatic practice and person-centred therapy. Across 32 hours of live training, you'll develop the depth, clinical discernment and practical understanding to integrate somatic work into your therapeutic practice while keeping the individual and the therapeutic relationship at its heart.
Learn with Sarah Jones
Sarah Jones is the creator of the Somatic, Person-Centred Method™ and an accredited psychotherapist, EMDR therapist, clinical supervisor and trainer specialising in trauma, the nervous system and somatic, person-centred practice.
Sarah developed SPCM after recognising a gap between what therapists were being taught about trauma and the nervous system and what actually happens when you're sitting opposite a complex human being.
Her teaching makes neuroscience accessible and clinically useful, bringing together nervous-system understanding, somatic practice and the therapeutic relationship so practitioners can move beyond knowing about trauma and become more confident working with it.
Take your trauma-informed practice beyond fight, flight and freeze.
Recognised.
Respected.
Recommended.
★★★★★
Hundreds of 5 star reviews
from clients and practitioners
Ready to understand your nervous system?
Take the free Survival Pattern Assessment today and take the first step towards feeling safer, calmer and more connected.