Below you’ll find a variety of resources for helping professionals who want to work in a somatically-based, trauma-informed way.
Trauma and Somatics Resources
International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation
Trauma Center (founded by Bessel van der Kolk)
Headington Institute (This group partners with humanitarian organizations and emergency responders to support wellbeing and trauma healing)
The following resources support our ISITTA Trauma Training content.
The Wisdom of Trauma
In this inspiring documentary on trauma healing, Dr. Gabor Maté gives us a new vision: a trauma-informed society in which parents, teachers and mental health clinicians aren’t concerned with making diagnoses, fixing behaviors or judging and suppressing symptoms. Instead, he encourages us to seek to understand the sources from which troubling behaviors spring in the wounded human soul.
Hakomi Resources
The resources below include articles and books by Hakomi faculty, a directory of Hakomi practitioners, and guidelines that Hakomi Institute requires Hakomi practitioners to follow when advertising their services as a Hakomi practitioner.
Articles by Hakomi Faculty
Applying Hakomi Principles and Techniques to Mainstream Psychodynamic, Behavioral and Systemic Couples Psychotherapy, Rob Fisher, MFT and Jaci Hull, MFT, Certified Hakomi Trainers
Categories of Psychological Wounding, Neural Patterns, and Treatment Approaches, Jon Eisman, Senior Certified Hakomi Trainer
Dancing with the Unconscious: An Approach Freud Never Dreamed Of, Rob Fisher, MFT, Certified Hakomi Trainer
Loosening the Grip of Addiction: A Mindful Recovery, Julie Murphy, RAC, LMFT, Certified Hakomi Trainer
Mindfulness-Based Family Therapy, Shai Lavie, MFT, Certified Hakomi Trainer
Mindfulness in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, Rob Fisher, MFT, Certified Hakomi Trainer – From “The Therapist” CAMFT Journal (California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists), September 2011
To the Use of Mindfulness in Couple’s Psychotherapy, Rob Fisher, MFT, Certified Hakomi Trainer
Transference/Countertransference Systems – A Practical Model of How to Assess Them and How to Intervene, Rob Fisher, MFT, Certified Hakomi Trainer
Trauma States, Mindfulness and the Body, Manuela Mischke Reeds, MFT, Certified Hakomi Trainer
Working Experientially and Somatically with Couples, Rob Fisher, MFT, Certified Hakomi Trainer
Mindfulness-Based Psychotherapy: How Do Our Clients Benefit?, Shai Lavie, MFT, Certified Hakomi Trainer
In Search of a Lost Self: Reclaiming Our Missing Experiences, Shai Lavie, MFT, Certified Hakomi Trainer
Articles by Hakomi Community Members
The Hakomi Method—What Is It? (And Why Does It Have Such a Weird Name?), Katie Cofer, MFT
Mindfulness, Brain and Body in Psychotherapy: The 2008 Hakomi Conference Experience, Katie Cofer, MFT
The Power of Mindfulness, Tom Moon, MFT
Can Mindfulness Practice Slow the Progression of HIV?, Tom Moon, MFT
Other Resources by Hakomi Faculty
Selected Bibliography on Mindfulness and Therapy, compiled by Greg Johanson, PhD, Certified Hakomi Trainer
Hakomi Forum Professional Journal, edited by Greg Johanson, PhD, Certified Hakomi Trainer
Body Centered Psychotherapy, The Hakomi Method, Ron Kurtz. LifeRhythm 1990.
To order this book directly from the publisher, call 707-937-1825.
Grace Unfolding, Psychotherapy in the Spirit of the Tao Te Ching, Greg Johanson and Ron Kurtz. Bell Tower, 1991.
The Practice of Wholeness: Spiritual Transformation in Everyday Life, Lorena Monda, Certified Hakomi Trainer. Golden Flower Publications, 2000.
Experiential Psychotherapy with Couples: A Guide for the Creative Pragmatist, Rob Fisher, MA, MFT, Certified Hakomi Trainer, Zeig, Tucker & Theisen, Inc., 2002.
Hakomi Mindfulness-Centered Somatic Psychotherapy: A Comprehensive Guide to Theory and Practice, Halko Weiss, Greg Johanson, Lorena Monda, Certified Hakomi Trainers. Norton, 2015.
8 Keys to Practicing Mindfulness: Practical Strategies for Emotional Health and Well-Being, Manuela Mischke-Reeds, LMFT, Certified Hakomi Trainer. Norton, 2015.
The Somatic Therapy Toolbox: 125 Worksheets and Exercises to Treat Trauma & Stress. Manuela Mischke-Reeds, MFT, Certified Hakomi Trainer. PESI Publishing, 2019.
Hakomi graduates (students who’ve completed two years of Hakomi Comprehensive or Professional Training) and practitioners certified in Hakomi Mindful Somatic Psychology are required to advertise their Hakomi-related services according to the guidelines outlined in the document below.
For questions about the guidelines above, please contact us.
DEIB Resources
Developing an awareness of cultural differences, examining your implicit bias, and learning how to work with diverse clients are essential skills for helping professionals. Listed below are introductory resources in diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. We’ve kept this list short to avoid overwhelming you, in the hopes that you’ll actively consult some of these resources over time.
My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem
Written by a somatic psychotherapist of color, this book offers a compassionate deep dive into healing racialized trauma in three specific groups: white people, people of color, and police. It also includes a compelling discussion of intergenerational trauma and its effects from medieval times to the present day.
Me and White Supremacy: A 28-Day Challenge to Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor by Layla Saad
This practical and challenging workbook will support you to engage in a process that’s essential for any helping professional: examining, owning and dismantling implicit bias towards groups that our culture marginalizes so you can stop inflicting (often unconscious) damage on people of color.
White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism by Robin DiAngelo
This book underscores the need for white people to develop the psychological stamina required to have honest and meaningful discussions about race-related issues, a capacity that the author sometimes refers to as “racial stamina.”
White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh
Peggy McIntosh coined the phrase white privilege, and first discovered the concept of “privilege” or “advantage” as a feminist studying why men had so many social advantages and privileges compared to women. Understanding the concept of privilege—even if the word initially stirs defensiveness in you—is important for all human beings, and essential for helping professionals. Peggy McIntosh’s article on this topic is a classic, must-read article on the topic.
9 Phrases Allies Can Say When Called Out Instead of Getting Defensive by Sam Dylan Finch
The ability to receive clients’ feedback about culturally insensitive behavior on your part in a non-defensive way is an essential skill for helping professionals. This article will get you pointed in the right direction.
What Exactly Is a Microaggression? by Jenee Desmond-Harris
Understanding microaggressions you’re unconsciously engaging in, how they impact your clients, and how they point to unseen implicit bias and lack of cultural awareness is essential for helping professionals (and all human beings). This article is a good starting point for learning more about the topic. Another way to learn common microaggressions is to go to Google images and type in “microaggression images” to see people from different cultural groups holding signs containing common microaggressions.
Understanding Non-Binary People: How to Be Respectful and Supportive
The title of this article is self-explanatory—a resource offered by the National Center for Transgender Equality.
Avoiding Ableist Language
A list of terms that people with disabilities often find offensive and unsupportive.
An Incomplete Guide to Inclusive Language
Although written for high tech companies, this is one of the simplest and clearest overviews we’ve seen on how to use more inclusive, culturally respectful language.
UNTraining
This training is legendary in the San Francisco Bay Area and helps people to unpack implicit bias. This group currently offers “untraining” in racism for four groups: white liberals, people of color, people of Chinese descent, and white Jewish people. The founder of this training shares principles in common with Hakomi and is widely known for being nonjudgmental, nonshaming, compassionate and focused on developing self-love.
Free Racialized Trauma E-Course from the Cultural Somatics Institute
A course designed by Resmaa Menakem to “somatically abolish White Body Supremacy in 9 generations.”
Online Course: Healing From Internalized Whiteness
This 10-week online training is primarily for white-identified people; it’s a trauma-informed, healing-engaged, spiritually-grounded, and communally-held approach to anti-racism work.
Podcast: You Can’t Resolve What You Don’t Acknowledge: The Illusion of Race
This is an interview conducted by a member of our Hakomi community, Sam Sebastian with Dr. Joel A. Brown, a diversity and inclusion strategist who works on cultivating cultures of belonging, meaning, and innovation.
Website: Mindful Diversity
There are several good articles and a great resource list on this website offered by Angella Okawa, a Hakomi-trained coach, psychotherapist and educator in the Bay Area.
Website: Robin DiAngelo: Critical Racial and Social Justice Education
The resource page on Robin DiAngelo’s website is chock full of wonderful, practical and accessible articles.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Considerations for Hakomi
A thoughtful article by Deah Baird, a Certified Hakomi Trainer from Portland, about the importance of practicing Hakomi with ever-deepening cultural awareness and humility.