Future of Bodywork Seminars

The Future of Bodywork

 

November 2009 Future of Bodywork Panel

The Role of the Client in Bodywork

***THIS CLASS HAS BEEN RESCHEDULED***
TO WEDNSEDAY, APRIL 25, 2012

 

Panel: Deane Juhan, Dave Campbell, Diana Thompson, BJ Erkan,
Jack Blackburn, Alison Day, with Michael Hamm as Moderator

Greater Tacoma Convention and Trade Center

This special symposium is the third in our series: The Future of Bodywork. As before, the evening will include a panel of bodywork practitioners and educators. One of the reasons for these symposiums is to create a forum where bodyworkers become more active in determining the future of the profession. Our experiences with clients call for broader paradigms and deeper understandings of the training it takes to accompany clients through different stages of their lives. There will be breakout groups formed around certain issues and much opportunity for discussion. The theme for this evening will center around the question: “What part does the client play in his/her own therapy?” We will look at different possible activations of client physical, verbal, and somatic interactions. We will also look at less interactive client responses like sleeping, chatting, dissociation, flashbacks, and panic attacks. We will also look at client self-care approaches away from the sessions. Are there ways of improving our therapeutic effectiveness that involve revising and expanding our scope of practice and paradigm of treatment by directly involving clients in their own healing?

Issues Affecting the Client’s Role:

• Third Party payments and treatment prescriptions overlook client participation
• Client expectations and practitioner perceptions of clients
• Prevailing treatment paradigms in bodywork, symptomatic relief and relaxation
• Somatic approaches and facilitation of client awareness
• Prevailing training limits lacking psychological understanding and counseling skills
• Lack of paradigm defining practitioner/client interaction and teamwork
• Lack of rigorous model for Body Mind Spirit approaches
• What approaches work best in recruiting clients into their own processes?
• How do we discover what is happening inside the client during the session?

 

At least 50 percent of what is happening during sessions is determined by the client. And 100 percent of what is happening between sessions is determined by the client. We know that many factors in clients’ lives determine how they progress in bodywork sessions. Some clients become very involved in their own process and some clients leave everything up to the practitioner and the insurance company. Many clients do not really know why we do what we do and many clients assume that we get paid our regular rates by third party payers. Clients do not know how much their attitude about their bodies, their emotional state and their external lives affect their body state and vice versa. How can we work with clients and include these factors in their process legitimately?

 

Deane Juhan www.jobsbody.com. Deane Juhan has been a professional bodyworker for 30 years. He is a Trager practitioner and instructor, with a private practice in the Berkeley area. The author of Job's Body: A Handbook for Bodywork and Touched by the Goddess: The Physical, Emotional and Spiritual Dimensions of Bodywork he has long focused on understanding the relations between mind, body and spirit and the creative forces at work in all self-development.. His workshops have been presented all across the US, Canada, Europe and Japan. Their content is focused on both cutting edge research into many aspects of the body-mind and his years of experience as a practitioner.

 

Dave Campbell, LMP www.BodylightLearning.com. Dave Campbell has been practicing over 20 years, specializing in CranioSacral Therapy, Visceral Manipulation, and Trager® Work. He has taught kinesiology and cadaver anatomy for 10 years, and teaches CE classes on intraoral massage and advanced somatic explorations. Dave is the author and illustrator of the book “Mastering Muscles & Movement: A Brain-Friendly System for Learning musculoskeletal Anatomy and Kinesiology.”

 

 

Diana L. Thompson, LMP www.handsheal.com. Diana, a licensed massage therapist for over 25 years, has a private practice specializing in post-operative care and treating chronic conditions. She authored "Hands Heal: Communication, Documentation and  Insurance Billing for Manual Therapists", has a regular column in Massage and Bodywork Magazine, titled "Somatic Research". She is a past President of the Massage Therapy Foundation, whose mission is to advance the knowledge and practice of massage therapy by supporting scientific research, education,and community service.

 

 

B.J. Erkan, LMP www.bothellintegratedhealth.com. BJhas been in private practice since 1994. He has taught massage technique and theory at Bastyr University, in private workshops, and to the exceptional practitioners he has had the privilege to mentor. In 1998 he co-founded Bothell Integrated Health,LLC with Patty Erkan, his wife of 25 years. Bothell Integrated Health's mission is "To heal, to educate, and to empower".  B.J.'s approach is to use mind/body education, often focusing on overcoming the patient's self imposed limitations, paired with effective bodywork, to achieve a lasting best outcome for the patient.

 

Jack Blackburn, LMP www.presencingsource.com.  Jack is a Certified Spiritual Director with a Master's in Theological Studies. He specializes in body centered spiritual growth and healing. He has been a Trager® practitioner since 1986. Has taught Trager electives classes since 1996, and teaches a variety of classes to care giving professionals. He is a NCBTMB Approved Continuing Education Provider and AMTA National Presenter. Jack is the founder of Trillium Institute which sponsors trainings by various teachers. He is a Focusing Trainer and teaches Bodywork Focusing classes for professionals. Jack is also a Reiki Master and teaches levels I, II, III and Advanced Reiki for Bodyworkers.

 

Alison Day www.zenshiatsuseattle.com. In her practice Alison draws on Asian and western medical theories. Her training has emphasized the role of the client in the treatment process. Curiosity and engagement are hallmarks of her sessions. She has maintained a lively practice in Seattle for ten years. She also teaches Zen Shiatsu. 

 

 

Michael Hamm, LMP, CCST www.neurofascia.com.  Mike teaches anatomy, technique, and research literacy at Cortiva Institute Seattle, and maintains a full time bodywork practice focused on orthopedic injury and trauma recovery.  Mike is a national presenter of CE workshops in research education and Neurofascial Release, and serves on the board of trustees for the Massage Therapy Foundation. He has published articles in various research journals and trade magazines, on subjects including nerve entrapment and research literacy education. When not teaching or doing bodywork, Mike plays music in a Seattle band.

 

 

Curious about the past Future of Bodywork Seminars?
The Future of Bodywork... To Fix or Not to Fix?

June 3rd, 2010

 

The Future of Bodywork...Where do we go from here?

Evening Seminar, November 2009

The Attendees - over 90 people

For more information Click Here

 

This special evening (Thursday, November 19th 2009)  included a panel composed
of long-time teachers and practitioners:
Brian Utting, Jeanette Wahl, Lauren Christman, and Jack Blackburn,
and was moderated by Michael Hamm
- representing much of the diversity in the bodywork community.

This first seminar was a chance to come together to discuss what is happening currently in our profession and consider the possibilities in the future. It was intended to probe certain questions that affect all bodyworkers: e. g. Where will bodywork fit in national health care; how can bodyworkers move beyond the perception that we are here to "fix" our clients? The seminar was attended by over 90 persons and we have received great feedback and suggestions for future seminars. 

 

To read further discussions about these questions,

please visit the Future of Bodywork section of Jack's Blog