Training Event : Foundations of Somatic Therapies
Explore · Elevate · Radiate
Audience: Designed to inspire personal insight and professional growth for allied health professionals across disiplines.
Friday 24 July 2026
9.00am – 3.30pm
Cairns Cruising Yacht Squadron
48 Tingira Street, Portsmith
Investment: $160 (ask about 3+gp.or MHPN members discounted rates, [email protected])
Includes:
- Workshop materials
- Activities to liberate the senses
- Morning tea & light lunch (vegan & gluten free options)
- Post workshop supervision
- CPD: 5 points
Overview
The understanding that the body — the soma — plays a leading role in the management and relief of stress and trauma was brought to mainstream attention through Bessel van der Kolk’s The Body Keeps the Score. This perspective has existed for centuries and has informed treatment practices for just as long. So where did we get led astray –why have we separated ourselves into components of body or mind? What is a way back!
Historically, many therapeutic approaches have privileged cognition, often sidelining the body and emotional experience, or have focused on the physical body, with little regard to emotion and mind. While this can support insight, promote relief and understanding, it may not always facilitate meaningful change. Clients may know why they are suffering yet remain unable to shift how the suffering is experienced — leading to client/patient plateaus and practitioner frustration.
Somatic Interventions explore the dynamic relationship between body, brain, mind, emotion, and behaviour. Rather than operating as a stand-alone modalities, they integrate seamlessly with both mind and body-based therapies, balancing bottom-up practices with top-down approaches.
By attending to what is restricted in the mind/body connection, practitioners can support the release of stored stress responses, facilitate emotional processing, and strengthen interoception — the vital bridge between the prefrontal cortex and the body’s innate intelligence.
This immersive and experiential training combines professional learning with personal development, exploring how unconscious processes are expressed somatically and how unresolved patterns can manifest as physical and psychological distress. Participants will be introduced to foundational, hands-on techniques that engage the intelligence of the body, with the power of mind within restorative interventions.
Learning Outcomes
Participants will develop the capacity to:
- Refine nervous system regulation through breath and embodied awareness
- Support both client and practitioner in moving out of stress states
- Navigate central nervous system dynamics, with particular attention to the vagus nerve
- Apply stabilisation strategies for highly distressed presentations
- Integrate somatic principles into clinical practice
- Understand the opportunities and limitations of neuroplasticity
- Identify key contributors within the somatic therapy landscape for continued professional development
Training Event: Somatic Therapies and the Therapeutic Landscape
Embodied Discovery: Intermediate Level
Hosted by the Far North Queensland Branch of the Australian Psychological Society
Audience: Designed for mental health professionals, this training event supports personal insight and professional growth while exploring how practical somatic techniques can enrich and deepen existing therapeutic approaches and interventions.
Saturday 25 July 2026
9.00am – 4.00pm
Cairns Cruising Yacht Squadron
48 Tingira Street, Portsmith
Investment: APS Member $95; APS Student Member $60; Non-APS Member $160
Includes:
- Workshop materials
- Activities to enrich the senses
- Morning tea & lunch (vegan & gluten free options)
- Post workshop supervision
- CPD: 6 points
Overview
There is growing evidence supporting the role of the body’s intelligence in alleviating both psychological and physical distress. Somatic Psychology acknowledges that sustainable healing requires the inclusion of the body within any therapeutic model.
This integrative framework — often phenomenological in nature — aligns comfortably with the medical and neuroscientific foundations of psychoneuroendocrinology, offering a comprehensive understanding of mind–body interaction.
This session begins by exploring how early developmental, interpersonal, social, and environmental dynamics shape the nervous system and influence present-day functioning. Participants will examine how these factors impact interoceptive capacity and emotional regulation.
Building on this foundation, the workshop will focus on strengthening interoception and integrating somatic techniques into established therapeutic frameworks, including:
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapies
- EMDR
- Parts-based approaches
- Mindfulness-based interventions
The day offers rich opportunities for both personal insight and professional skill development, supporting practitioners to cultivate compassion within themselves and in their work with clients.
Learning Outcomes
Participants will be able to:
- Integrate somatic principles across multiple therapeutic modalities
- Demonstrate an applied understanding of the neuroscience of interoception
- Recognise how relational and environmental factors shape mind–body communication
- Expand their repertoire of somatic techniques for client support and self-regulation
- Optimise intrinsic movement practices for healing
- Apply somatic strategies within everyday life
Prerequisite:
This training is designed for practitioners with introductory knowledge of somatic-based therapies. Attendance at Training Event One is recommended, though those with equivalent foundational experience are welcome. A comprehensive review of Event One will be provided.
Please click on the button below to register for this event, spaces are limited:
A link to this event is also available on Psych Community and Facebook APS Far North Queensland Branch Group.
Presenter
Simone Fischer
Simone is a Registered Psychologist with over 25 years of experience across private practice, supervision, academia, and community mental health. As an AHPRA-approved supervisor, a private practitioner at Ramsay Psychology and a former Lecturer at James Cook University for 17 years, she brings to Nine Senses a blend of neuroscience, mindfulness, and innovative somatic therapies, grounded in both empirical rigour and lived embodiment.
Her early research — Mindfulness for Western Minds — (considering the investigations of Dan Siegal, Richard Davidson and Rick Hanson) explored psychological flexibility and the neural substrates of interoception. Over time, this inquiry evolved into a deeper recognition, that psychological flexibility and somatic flexibility are definitely linked and fundamental to enduring therapeutic change.
Simone’s somatic journey has been shaped by the pioneering work of Peter Levine, Jon Kabat-Zinn, and Pat Ogden, alongside the contemplative teachings of Alan Wallace and Thich Nhẩt Hanh. Her more recent training includes the Polyvagal framework of Stephen Porges, Somatic EMDR with Arielle Schwartz, the Compassionate Inquiry approach of Gabor Maté, developmental movement studies with Ruella Frank, and the foundational patterning work of Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen.
Her exploration of Somatic Intelligence motivates cultivating awareness of how the body responds to stimulus, and how this embodied discernment can be harnessed to navigate complexity and challenge. Her personal practices of yoga and Qi Gong, continue to inform and sustain her professional work.
Simone has delivered multiple professional training events in mindfulness and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) during her tenure as Chair of the FNQ branch of the Australian Psychological Society. She has presented on the Teenage Brain, trauma, and embodied regulation across diverse sectors including Youth Justice, ACT for Kids, Uniting Care, rural communities in Western Queensland, and veteran populations. She is currently the coordinator of the FNQ division of the Mental Health Practitioner Network, curating themes that explore Somatic Therapies and Altered States of Consciousness.
At Nine Senses, Simone is passionate about giving back the embodied knowledge she has gathered over just shy of three decades. She believes that regardless of discipline, a holistic, somatically-informed lens is essential — recognising the body as an instrument of discernment that has too often been overlooked.
Participants consistently describe her facilitation style as grounded, engaging, and seamlessly balanced between scientific depth and experiential practice.
Guest Presenter
Jenell Wilkie
Jenell is an experienced Psychologist who has been providing therapy on the Atherton Tablelands since 1996, currently working at the Brighton Clinic in Cairns and in private practice in Atherton. With a longstanding focus on trauma, her work centres on helping clients safely process and integrate overwhelming experiences through approaches that engage both mind and body.
An early adopter of mindfulness-based therapies in the 1990s—supported by her own daily meditation practice—Jenell trained at the University of Washington in 2009. She trained under the pioneers of contemporary mindfulness interventions, including Jon Kabat-Zinn (MBSR), Marsha Linehan (DBT), Steven Hayes (ACT), Alan Marlatt (MBRP), Mark Williams (MBCT) and Bruno Cayoun (MiCBT). These models share a common thread with somatic practice: cultivating present-moment awareness, nervous system regulation, and the capacity to observe internal experiences.
Since 2014, Jenell has specialised in EMDR, completing Master Class and advanced trainings, developing expertise in working with complex trauma and structural dissociation. At its core, EMDR is a somatically informed therapy—engaging bilateral stimulation, body awareness, and neurobiological processing to support integration and healing. As an accredited EMDRAA Practitioner and EMDR Institute Facilitator, Consultant, Jenell attends EMDR trainings and provides supervision to clinicians.
Jenell’s work beautifully aligns with the Nine Senses philosophy—bridging mindfulness, EMDR, and somatic awareness as complementary pathways to regulation, resilience, and embodied healing.
Her own published research in Psychological Science explored the impact of scent on pain tolerance, echoing the workshop’s exploration of the senses as gateways to healing and integration.
Guest Presenter
Gwyneth Rowlands
Gwyneth brings over 30 years of dedicated practice and study in mind–body disciplines to her role as guest presenter for this Nine Senses event. As Founder and Principal Teacher of the Body Mind Breath Centre in Cairns for more than 13 years, Gwyneth has been a steady and respected presence in the field of embodied wellbeing, and continues to teach throughout the Cairns community.
Her foundation in Qi (Chi) Gong and Hatha Yoga offers a deeply aligned complement to somatic therapy. Qi Gong, a gentle yet powerful practice combining mindful movement with conscious breath, has been shown to reduce stress, enhance immune function, support cellular vitality, and promote positive changes in brain health and cognitive functioning. These principles resonate strongly with the somatic approach of restoring regulation, awareness, and integration within the nervous system.
Drawing from decades of learning with highly regarded teachers around the world, Gwyneth has refined a graceful, inclusive teaching style that blends Hatha Yoga and Qi Gong into a fluid, accessible practice suitable for all levels. Her work beautifully supports the Nine Senses philosophy—cultivating embodied awareness, inner balance, and a deeper connection between mind, body, and spirit.
Her mission is to foster health and wellbeing within her community and to inspire participants to live more grounded, vibrant, and fulfilling live.
Guest Presenter
Helen Watson
Helen is a dynamic and engaging facilitator that guides a range of gentle, restorative practices that nurture and regulate the nervous system. Her sessions offer a dreamy blend of somatic movement, guided self-massage with therapy balls, conscious breathwork, and a deeply soothing rest journey—supporting participants to feel grounded, clear, and present.
Rooted in the wisdom of the Five Elements—wood, fire, earth, water, and metal—Helen weaves Eastern philosophy into embodied experience. This traditional framework recognises the interconnectedness of movement, the senses, emotion, environment, and overall wellbeing. Increasingly, Western empirical research is validating what these ancient systems have long understood: that gentle movement, breath practices, and sensory therapies positively influence nervous system regulation, stress reduction, and overall health.
Aromatherapy plays a central role in Helen’s work. Through thoughtfully crafted essential oil blends, she enhances mood, calm, and balance, creating a truly holistic sensory experience. Drawing on her background in Five Elements Qi Gong and Yoga, Helen offers an integrative approach that beautifully complements the Nine Senses philosophy of embodied awareness and whole-person healing.
Nine Senses acknowledges the Jirrbal as the traditional custodians of the land & waterways from where these practices of reconnection are shared. Practices inspired by the holistic approach to connection & sustainability from the world’s oldest living culture.
