2017 Certification Program (starts in January)
Update May 2016: 2017 trainee application packet has been released. See below.
Bioenergetics is a specialization in relational, affective, somatic psychotherapy taught as a comprehensive post-graduate study program for psychiatrists, psychotherapists, social workers, psychiatric nurses, and other health professionals. Using a primarily experiential format, this program integrates psychodynamic psychotherapy with a relational body perspective.
SCIBA has developed a pre-clinical phase that will be completed over a period of two years (although in many countries this takes three years to complete). This portion of the training consists of a minimum of 240 hours of classroom training. The pre-clinical phase is open to individuals who wish to learn more about Bioenergetic Analysis for their own personal growth or who anticipate continuing on to the clinical phase and possible certification. This is a change as now psychotherapists AND people in auxiliary fields can take the pre-clinical phase, including chiropractors, nurses, acupuncturists, etc.
The pre-clinical phase of the IIBA training curriculum focuses on:
1. The Fundamentals of Bioenergetic Analysis
2. The Process of Human Development
3. Character/Personality Development
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We are now accepting applications for the January-December 2017 training year in San Diego.
For more information, please contact
Terri Martin
SCIBA Faculty Chair
Phone: (619)518-1229
Email: terrimartin@cox.net
Location: San Diego, CA
SCIBA follows the curriculum set by the International Institute for Bioenergetic Analysis (IIBA). This four year curriculum consists of nine weekend trainings per year, yearly attendance at the four day annual Southern California Bioenergetic Conference, individual psychotherapy with a Certified Bioenergetic therapist, and supervision leading to certification.
The first two years of training focus on basic Bioenergetic theory, concepts of biological energy functions, the formation of character structure, and Bioenergetic techniques. The third and fourth year of training focus on the therapeutic process with emphasis ontransference, counter-transference, and integrating Bioenergetic techniques with the theory of character analysis.
The program teaches students:
• How the body both records the dynamic process which underlies personality and maintains one's way of being in the world.
• How traumatic, relational and childhood experiences and conflicts can lead to formation of inflexible and restrictive patterns of relating to self and others and how these patterns are reflected in the form and motility of the body.
• How to distinguish between shock trauma and developmental trauma and the treatment implications thereof.
• How to facilitate a therapeutically empathic relationship with a client that supports learning new patterns of relating and being in the world.
• How to use various physical and cognitive interventions that encourage the client to alter and expand his/her relationship patterns.
• How to deepen their awareness of their relational patterns and how these patterns affect interactions with clients.
• How to expand and maintain authentic contact with self and other.
• How to work with transference and counter transference on the body level.
Registration:
Please see the application packet for more details.
Bioenergetics Professional Workshop Series
If you'd like more information about our Professional Workshop Series, please click here.
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Training and Certification
You will learn more about:
• attachment theory and object relations theory
• developmental trauma vs. shock trauma and how to treat
them
• transference and countertransference
• working with sexuality
• somatic resonance and use of the body in emotional healing
• how to use various physical and cognitive interventions that
encourage the client to alter and expand his/her limited
relationship patterns
By becoming a Certified Bioenergetic Therapist you will differentiate your practice. You will be networking for referrals and resources among an international community.
Becoming a Certified Bioenergetic Therapist can change all that. Training opens up the world of the client's body-mind to the therapist. Used appropriately it can facilitate breakthroughs in healing, often offering shortcuts to understanding and resolution. The bioenergetic therapist learns to "read" the body respectfully, knowing that it tells the story of a life. Therapist and client move beyond mere symptoms to work with the client's deep bodily armoring against emotional pain, conflict, and trauma. Therapy can bring discharge of long-held emotions, along with greater vitality and pleasure to the client's life.
CBT's in training experience hundreds of hours of personal bioenergetic therapy, group process, and supervision. This sometimes intense process makes it hard to hide from oneself, inviting profound personal change. The benefits for oneself as a human being are highly valued by the CBT, even apart from the benefits to one's professional life.
Bioenergetic therapists belong to an international as well as a local community of practitioners. They need not be lonely in their practice of therapy as they are never far from colleagues who can offer support, suggestions, supervision, or a nudge back onto the path when they feel uncertain in their work. Bioenergetic training and continuing development create career-long collaborations among colleagues and often lifelong friendships as well.
CBT training is a challenging commitment, but CBT's consider the rewards well worth every step of the journey
A prerequisite for acceptance into the clinical phase of the training is a graduate degree that leads to a license to practice psychotherapy or, enrollment in a course of study toward that end. Before continuation into the third year (clinical phase), trainees must be a registered intern or licensed to practice psychotherapy and be able to work Bioenergetically with clients. In addition, clinical supervision is required during the course of the professional program and may begin as early as the second year. Furthermore, training applicants are required to have 20 hours of individual Bioenergetic therapy experience prior to enrollment in the program. For a list of Certified Bioenergetic Therapist (CBT) see the link for certified therapists.