Experiential Learning Circle II

October 2026- April 2027

ELC II: The Therapist as Instrument: Deepening Self Awareness in Embodied Trauma Work

This advanced 6-module series builds on and deepens our understanding of ourselves and how that self shows up in our work with clients. Through the Embodied Resiliency Model, we will look at how the therapist’s own presence, history, and attachment patterns can become a tool for healing rather than a hidden influence. Through experiential and relational explorations, we will become curious about our own attachment wounds, to strengthen our capacity to work with early trauma — particularly the attachment relationship, and the developmental wounds our clients carry.

Modules 1-5 include two parts, worth 4 Continuing Education hours each. (Module 5: 2 CEs)

Part 1 — In person part that includes core teachings and concepts with corresponding experiential exercises.
Part 2 — Online part that integrates the teachings through case conceptualization. Participants will have the opportunity to present a case, or a personal experience, pattern, or relational bind, viewed through the lens of that module’s focus.

ELC II builds on the foundational needs of Safety and Nurturance for healing relational, developmental and attachment trauma .

The teachings encourage us to stay open, curious, and available to learning about ourselves — the same stance we ask our clients to hold.

As “wounded healers,” we bring our own attachment histories and insecurities into the room. This work asks us to:

Develop embodied self-awareness
Build awareness of our insecure attachment styles and patterns, past and present
Draw on our own experiences of earned secure attachment
Stay open and curious about how our attachment dynamics show up in our professional and personal relationships
With curiosity and humility address relational ruptures with our humanness
Cultivate compassion for our own vulnerability

We are all works in progress.

The Details

DATES: October 2026 – April 2027

*Earn Up to a total of 19 NBCC Approved CEs *

Open to ELC 1 graduates who are psychotherapists who hold a license or are license-eligible.
CEs available for LPCs/LMFTs/LCSWs

6 monthly classes on Fridays, 9 AM -12 PM in person.
5 online consultation groups on Thursdays, 4:30-6 PM

LOCATION: HeartMind Resiliency 3108 Semmes Avenue Richmond, VA 23225

COST: $850

Early Bird Pricing: register by August 14th $800

$150 deposit
1st payment October 5th: $350
- ($300 for early bird rate)
2nd payment January 5th: $350

ADA Needs: Please contact us at BeWell@hmrwellness.com, if you have ADA needs, if you need special accommodations or have questions.

REGISTER: Email BeWell@hmrwellness.com

Learning Objectives

Module 1

(October 16th, 2026 and Online consultation group October 29th, 2026)

4 Continuing Education Hours

Foundations & Agency: A deeper exploration of the Embodied Resiliency Model (ERM) and how it relates to the foundational needs of safety and nurturance. Exploring the importance of the therapist’s attachment dynamics through self discovery.

Module 2

(November 6th, 2026 and Online consultation group November 19th, 2026)

2.5 Continuing Education Hours

Attachment Dynamics 201: Creating an embodied understanding of multiplicity of self states and Self in Presence. Exploring the continuum of motivational needs: Exploration vs Attachment.

Module 3

(December 4th, 2026)

2.5 Continuing Education Hours

Mindfulness, Mentalizing & Reflective Functioning: Identifying the concepts of mindfulness, mentalizing & reflective functioning – where they overlap and diverge and how this pertains to our work. Exploring how our attachment dynamics show up in the therapeutic space and in our clinical interactions.

Module 4

(January 15th, 2027 and Online consultation group January 21st, 2027)

4 Continuing Education Hours

From Wounded Child to Wounded Healer: Creating a compassionate understanding of our own childhood survival strategies and unresolved developmental trauma and exploring how this has influenced our career choices and capacities in the therapeutic dyad.

Module 5

(February 19th, 2027 and Online consultation group March 4th, 2027)

4 Continuing Education Hours

Intersubjectivity and The Third: Deepening our capacity to hold a secure state of mind in our session work through exploring binocular vision, making room for two, and flexibility. Being with another’s experience while remaining curious about our own internal somatic and affective states.

Module 6

(March 19th, 2027)

2 Continuing Education Hours

Enactments, Rupture & Repair: Exploring how enactments are both constant and inescapable, as well as both obstacles and opportunities. There is a two-way street of influence as our unconscious patterning is impacted by our clients as they are simultaneously impacted by us.

HeartMind Resiliency has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7893. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. HeartMind Resiliency is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.

Meet the Teachers

The circle leaders, Waller Thompson, EdD, LPC, SEP and Elizabeth Holt, LPC, ATR-BC, SEP are highly trained and experienced in multiple healing arts modalities and approaches that span mental health, education, somatics, art, psychobiology and traumatology, trauma touchwork/bodywork, and sound and movement practices.

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