Professionals working in helping and caregiving roles are routinely exposed to high levels of emotional demand, cognitive load, and nervous system activation. Over time, this sustained exposure can contribute to dysregulation, burnout, and reduced capacity for presence. Increasingly, somatic approaches are being recognized as essential complements to cognitive and relational models of care, offering practical methods for understanding and supporting regulation through the body.
This one-day micro-credential workshop introduces participants to the foundational principles of somatics and the applied use of breathwork as a regulation-based practice within helping professions.
The workshop is designed for educators, healthcare workers, therapists, social service professionals, and others working in service-oriented roles who are seeking evidence-informed, body-based tools to support both personal wellbeing and professional effectiveness.
This program remains in keeping with the Emotional Health Practitioner learning series.
Course Objectives:
By the end of this workshop, participants will have developed a clearer understanding of how somatic awareness and breath-based practices can support regulation, presence, and sustainability in helping roles. The workshop emphasizes practical application, ethical consideration, and professional relevance, offering participants tools that can be immediately applied within their own lives and, where appropriate, within their professional practice. Leaners will be able to:
- Describe the core principles of somatics theory and how it completments cognitive and relational models of care
- Explain how emotional labour, stress, and prolonged caregiving demands are processed and stored in the body
- Differentiate between cognitive understanding and embodied, physiological experience
- Identify common nervous system patterns of activation, disregulation, and depletion experienced in helping roles
- Observe, name, and track shifts in their own nervous system state during professional work
- Understand the science behind breathwork and an evidence-informed self-regulation strategy for helping professionals
Evaluation:
Students will engage in a practical application of their learning and facilitate one-on-one breakout rooms online or in live online classes. Students will complete a written assignment outlining their intentions in teaching the material and demonstrating an appropriate understanding of the science, the practice and the appropriate use of these resources.
Course Details:
- Date: May 2, 10:00am – 4:00pm
- In person and virtual options available
- Cost: $445
- Location: Trent University Symons Campus
Early bird discount! Register before April 1st and save $50 - Use discount code EB50
Trent Alumni receive 10% off. Please email alumni@trentu.ca for more information.
Current Trent undergraduate students receive 20% off. Please email microcredential@trentu.ca for more information.
Current Trent staff and faculty receive 20% off. Please email microcredential@trentu.ca for more information.
NOTE: Only one discount code can be used per order
Students are entitled to a T2202 when they meet the following criteria:
- The student is enrolled in a qualifying educational program in a specified educational program that provides at least 12 hours of instruction within a calendar month.
- A program is not considered a qualifying or specified educational program if the student receives, from a person with whom they deal at arm’s length, a grant, reimbursement, benefit, or allowance for that program.
- A minimum course cost of $150
How to Register:
For further information on this course, please visit the Canadian Family Health Counselling website.