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Relational Touch: Healing Relational Developmental Trauma

Upcoming Dates:
November 6–10, 2026, and February 5–9, 2027

When:
9:30am-5:00pm

Where:
San Anselmo, CA

Faculty:
Shirley Dvir, LMFT, and Jacki Hull, LMFT

$3,500

Regular registration

$3,150

Early bird registration by September 14th, 2026

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Relational Touch: Healing Relational Developmental Trauma

Course Title
Relational Touch: Healing Relational Developmental Trauma

Course Info

Touch, our very first language, is essential for healthy human development. Research shows that a lack of touch in childhood can severely impair clients’ emotional, psychological, neurological, and relational well-being throughout their lives.

Adult clients with Relational Developmental Trauma – trauma that occurred in the first years of life within the caregiver-child relationship – have histories of a lack of caring, loving, stable, and safe touch with their attachment figures.

Psychotherapy can address the verbal and emotional wounds of relational developmental trauma, and touch can deepen the healing of the preverbal somatic layers and, therefore, reach the unreachable.

While touch in psychotherapy is often considered taboo due to concerns about crossing boundaries, the somatic psychotherapy field recognizes the healing power of touch when done ethically and professionally.

Relational Touch in psychotherapy, developed by Shirley Dvir, introduces safe, embodied, relational touch for healing relational developmental trauma.

Relational Touch is touch that seeks true consent verbally and somatically from the client. It has no agenda, listens, and is done in full collaboration with the client.

In this training, participants will learn how to receive their clients, how to request true consent, how to work in a non-hierarchical manner, and how to listen with their hands while using talk therapy. They will also learn how to work relationally, track signs of relational developmental trauma, and offer a healing experience in the present moment.

Relational Somatic Healing is clinical modality suitable for healthcare professionals that focuses on healing Relational Developmental trauma. Healthcare professionals will be able to integrate the tools and practices offered in this program in ways beneficial to their clients or patients.

Note for CEU’s: This course includes activities not eligible for CEU credits, such as meditations, groundings, and small group connections and discussions. Participants are required to attend every session live. According to APA rules, no partial credits are given for missed training.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Describe the components of ethical and safe touch in clinical practice.
  2. Discuss the role of ongoing somatic consent in therapeutic touch work.
  3. Demonstrate how to ask for and receive somatic consent in clinical practice.
  4. Utilize clear professional boundaries between client and therapist when incorporating touch.
  5. Identify contraindications for the use of touch in psychotherapy.
  6. Discuss the impact of systems of oppression and privilege on therapeutic touch work.
  7. Describe the clinical benefits and therapeutic goals of touch in psychotherapy.
  8. Apply Being as an inner state of the therapist.
  9. Maintain centeredness and regulation while working with clients through touch.
  10. Utilize therapeutic holds in practice sessions.
  11. Demonstrate therapeutic presence while engaging in touch interventions.
  12. Identify the difference between open and closed systems in relational work.
  13. Assess the presence of developmental trauma in clients.
  14. Apply foundational knowledge of anatomy relevant to therapeutic touch.
  15. Identify the three layers of wounding: safety, nourishment and freedom.
  16. Utilize the practice of receiving to support therapeutic unfolding during touch sessions.
  17. Apply naming of the therapeutic process.
  18. Demonstrate ability to follow countertransference and own comfort level with touch.
  19. Utilize the Developmental Map to guide movement toward healing and repair.
  20. Facilitate safe and nourishing touch experiences in alignment with client readiness.
  21. Demonstrate understanding of protective parts and work with them in the context of touch.
  22. Assess the presence of the inner child of the client in the therapeutic process.
  23. Demonstrate the ability to work with the inner child through relational touch interventions.
  24. Assess the presence of acute trauma (Big T) and apply appropriate touch-based interventions within developmental work.

The Details

Prerequisites: Foundations of RSH

When: 9:30am-5:00pm

November 6–10, 2026, and February 5–9, 2027

Where: San Anselmo, CA

Faculty: Shirley Dvir, LMFT, and Jacki Hull, LMFT

Cost:

$3,500 Regular fee.
$3,150 Early bird rate by September 14th, 2026.
Additional $216 for 24 CE credits (optional).

Cancellation Policy:

Cancellations received in writing at least 14 days before the training will be refunded, less a 20% administrative fee. No refunds will be made on cancellations received after that date. Please send cancellation requests to the program admin at relationalsomatichealing@gmail.com.

Target Audience:

This course is designed for mental health professionals – PsyDs, LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs, and LEPs.

COVID-19 Policy:

  • Following the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) recommendations, there is no longer a statewide indoor mask mandate for the public in California. Therefore, masks are not required but are optional. Consider wearing a mask if you or your household members have health risk factors.
  • COVID testing is not mandatory; however, we request that anyone feeling unwell test themselves and stay home if necessary.

Accommodations for Disabilities:

We are committed to making every reasonable accommodation to support participants. If you need specific accommodations, please contact Yevgenia Kirnos Boccieri at relationalsomatichealing@gmail.com.

Grievance Policy:

We are committed to ensuring equitable treatment for every participant and to addressing concerns in a fair and thoughtful manner. If you have a grievance, please submit it in writing to relationalsomatichealing@gmail.com. We will review it and take appropriate action to help prevent further concerns.

Information on Continuing Education Credit for Health Professionals:

  • CE credits for psychologists are provided by Polaris Insight Center, which is co-sponsoring this program. Polaris Insight Center is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Polaris Insight Center maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
  • The California Board of Behavioral Sciences accepts CE credits for LCSW, LPCC, LEP, and LMFT license renewal for programs offered by approved sponsors of CE by the American Psychological Association. 
  • LCSWs, MFTs, and other mental health professionals from states other than California need to check with their state licensing board as to whether or not they accept programs offered by approved sponsors of CE by the American Psychological Association. 

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