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Why I Love Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Approaches

Glenn Dillon
Glenn Dillon
September 25, 2019
Essential Trauma Concepts Trauma-Informed Care

Like many therapists, my education and training in clinical psychotherapy primarily comes from a psychodynamic framework. I learned all about relational and attachment psychotherapy, family systems theory, as well as some cognitive-behavioral approaches and basic mindfulness techniques here and there. I am so grateful for all of this foundational framework and I consider it all to be very helpful with clients. After all, I still primarily consider myself a “relational psychodynamic therapist.” Over the years, however, as I continued to encounter more and more clients suffering from unresolved trauma and who found previous traditional therapy to be unhelpful or limited at best, I realized that psychodynamic (and other) approaches were not enough to affect real felt change in these clients’ inner lives. It became clear that some element was missing that was needed to help integrate the various internal parts that had become fragmented for these clients due to past traumatic events and attachment dynamics. This missing element is the body & embodied awareness! Years ago, fate linked me to a monthly consultation group at CCIH with Amy Zajakowski-Uhll. She shared a strong trauma-informed perspective with us that included Sensorimotor Psychotherapy (SP) approaches based on the work of Pat Ogden. When the SPI (Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute) began their Level I course in Chicago for the first time in a decade, I enrolled and dove in to learn more.

Several years later, after completing both the Level 1 & Level 2 trainings for SP, I can say that SP has opened my eyes both professionally and personally. I learned about the various ways that trauma is processed and stored by the body and through the 5 senses. I learned about effective approaches for processing the trauma in mindfulness-based awareness that help clients move towards transformation and integration. Perhaps the best part is that I got to experience this for myself, as SP trainings always stress experiential learning. With the help of my supportive colleagues in the trainings, I got into contact with my “inner child” as he lives in my body and nervous system. I was able to begin to heal some of my own emotionally traumatic experiences that had been dormant inside of me for years and only understood by me through intellectual concepts (“my anxiety symptoms” or “my codependent nature”). This process of healing continues in my own personal therapy, of course, but my experience in the SP trainings helped me to truly understand the embodied and emotional effects of the trauma and work through it in a new, powerful and comprehensive way.

Having experienced it myself, I feel all the more confident using SP with clients who show an interest and are willing to try it. It is the sense of recognition that I see in my clients when they feel the healing shift from an embodied awareness that inspires me. It is hard to explain with mere words but SP helps to provide the language and its powerful. Like a picture, it’s worth a thousand words.

 

If interested in learning more about SP, check out the SPI website at https://www.sensorimotorpsychotherapy.org/home/index.html

To register for the next Level I training in Chicago starting in September 2020, click here: Level 1 Training Chicago

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Glenn Dillon

Glenn Dillon is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and sees clients in his full-time private practice at 5100 N. Ravenswood Ave in Chicago. Glenn works with adult clients in both individual and couples therapy around a wide range of issues including depression, anxiety, addictions, life transitions, LGBTQ issues, relationships & trauma. Glenn sees therapy as a collaborative healing process between client and therapist and enjoys helping clients to explore the nature of their problems and to discover avenues for positive change.

Glenn received his B.A. from the University of Virginia in 2001 with a major in sociology, and received his M.A. in social service administration (with a clinical concentration) from the University of Chicago in 2005. Following graduate school, Glenn worked for over 3 years as a counselor with Jewish Child & Family Services in Skokie, IL before starting his own private practice. Glenn has also taught online courses for the last 7 years as an Adjunct Professor for Ashford University in both Health & Human Services and Psychology. Glenn completed the Level 1 & Level 2 training program in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy (SP) in Chicago between 2014 and 2018.

When not working, Glenn enjoys reading, movies and traveling around the world.

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