Dear Global SE Community,
As we head into the summer, it is a time of unfolding and expansion. The flowers bloom, the days get longer, and it is a time for relaxation and rejuvenation for many. Our nervous systems have a chance to reset to a more down-regulated state.
One aspect of that expansion for SEI is that Somatic Experiencing as a modality is experiencing increased visibility and acclaim from general audiences outside the SE community. Several publications have been directed at lay and professional audiences in recent months. Most notably, SE was highlighted in the New York Times Magazine in their issue focused on Therapy. The article on SE was longer and more in-depth than articles on other somatic modalities. While many of us in the SE community may take issue with how SE was portrayed – and yes, we are writing an op-ed to address and add context to the article, which will again increase our visibility – friends of mine outside the SE community have commented on how positive the article was overall.
Sergio Ocampo, a board member and long-term assistant, recently had an article published (Alive in the body: Healing trauma and emotional overwhelm through Somatic Experiencing, Jan/Feb 2023) in the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT) journal The Therapist featuring Somatic Experiencing on the cover. I was also a featured keynote speaker at the CAMFT annual meeting (May 6, 2023), presenting on trauma, SE, and SEI, and as a result, SEI will be advertised in their quarterly newsletter through 2022.
SE was also recently featured in the podcast The Pulse supported by PBS: The Mind-Body Feedback Loop (May 19, 2023), focused on PTSD and featuring Sarit Rogers and Peter Levine (double click on “listen” and scroll to 43:00/55:01).
The Ukrainian Task Force Subcommittee, co-chaired by Melissa Sinclair (SEI) and Kateryna Vashtalova, now under the auspices of the SE Humanitarian Response Committee, had an extremely successful first Resilience Connection meeting on May 17 with 525 attendees — all Ukrainian and mostly child psychologists. Elsbeth Horbaty presented on the topic of “Resilience of NGO Workers and Volunteers.” The response from attendees was overwhelmingly positive and included a very active Q&A. The next meeting of the Resilience Connection will be May 31 at 7pm CEST, with Imke Hansen presenting on “Seeing the Situation in Ukraine through an SE Lens.” A special thank you to Kateryna Vashtalova for liaising with the Ukrainian community. Without her wonderful communication skills, this session would not have happened. Before the event, Kateryna handled advertising, registrations, and more; and during the event, she provided beautiful interpretation. If you wish to be on the mailing list or volunteer for the Ukrainian Subcommittee, please click here for more information.
Somatic modalities are gaining popularity daily, and people seek relief from trauma. Many SEPs note that clients find them when they have tried everything else. Hopefully, with this increased visibility, people will find us first!
As always, if you have any questions, comments or want to chat, please reach out to me: at msolloway@traumahealing.org
Sincerely,
Michele
With gratitude,
Michele Solloway, SEP, LMT, MPA, PhD
Chair, SEI Board of Directors