Dear Global Somatic Experiencing Community,
Last year’s end of year letter was a chance to reflect on the strangest year many of us have ever faced, certainly as a global community. There was hope at the end of 2020 that 2021 as a shared experience around the world would bring in a shift toward some sense of normalcy along with, hopefully, lessons learned that we could carry forward. As we look back on 2021 now, those desires seem long ago on the global scale. Here at SEI, however, that is exactly what happened. And I want to share some of what we have done this past year as we have thought about SE as a modality and SEI as an organization and what we can all do as a community, together.
During the past year, SEI has continued to grow in ways that have set the stage for an incredible 2022. As you likely have seen, our board of directors continued to grow by adding three new board members; our board is now up to nine total members. We focused on diversity in our decision making for new board members, and our entire board is the most racially, gender, geographic, and professionally diverse board we have had, perhaps ever. Our staff continued to grow, and we added several new staff members, all of whom are ready to bring SEI to the next level. This included multiple new leadership positions: a Director of Training and Faculty Relations, a Director of Business Development and Fundraising, and a Constituent Services Manager. And we will soon add a new Director of Strategic Communications. Together, this new group of people is best poised to connect to the community and each other and help bring SE to more people.
Almost all our trainings remained either virtual or, in some cases, in a hybrid format. While this had its downsides, it also meant that assistants could join the team from around the world, greatly enhancing everyone’s experience. Assistants and students have navigated time zones to participate in a variety of trainings, and everyone benefits when more people with diverse backgrounds can attend. Virtual trainings also continue to make it possible for folks to attend who are unable to attend in person for a variety of reasons. While we certainly hope to be back to mostly in-person trainings soon, we will not stop offering the virtual trainings as an option. If we have learned anything from the pandemic, it is that everyone has different needs, and we have to attempt to meet those needs as best we can, in whatever format we can. Personally, I prefer in-person trainings, and they will be coming back! We had our first 2-day finale for folks who completed their Advanced II virtually and needed to complete the 2-day touch portion of the training. These 2-day trainings will continue in 2022, allowing all our PSEPs to complete their training to become SEPs.
We also have begun working to live up to our new name – Somatic Experiencing International. We are connecting more to our entire global community to determine how SEI can be a global organization without imposing one way of being and doing. As I mentioned previously, I had the incredible honor, along with Ana Paula Bastien, to attend the General Assembly of the European Association of Somatic Experiencing (EASE). We are working to add more people who live outside of North America to all our committees, including the board of directors. We will continue these conversations and this focus into 2022 and beyond.
I have now been on the board for 3.5 years. SEI has grown in what feels like exponential ways in that time. Despite Covid, and perhaps in part because of Covid, we have been able to take stock of who we are, what we want SE and SEI to be in the world, and how we can resolve trauma around the world. We all say this often – to be an organization dedicated to the resolution of trauma during the largest global traumatic event in our lifetimes is quite the responsibility. I can, however, say unequivocally that the people who make up SEI, from the board of directors to the staff, faculty, assistants, organizers and coordinators, and students, there is something unique about this community. No matter where we are in the world, no matter our backgrounds, no matter how we come together, there is something that binds us all. So many of us find our home here in this community because we find that we speak the same language – even if the words don’t sound or look the same.
I know that, for me, that connection to each and every one of you has made these past two years easier to navigate. 2020 forced us to pivot. 2021 gave us an opportunity to lay a foundation for a more diverse and expanded organization. 2022 is our opportunity to continue to connect and to continue to grow. Globally, this year was nothing like many of us had hoped after 2021, but here at SEI, it was exactly what we needed to be ready to move forward into a great 2022. Thank you, as always, for your connection to this community, and if you have any thoughts or questions, feel free to reach out to listening@traumahealing.org or to me directly at rmstahl@traumahealing.org.
Warmly,
Rebecca