Healing the Birth Story

Healing the Birth Story is a gentle protocol designed to transport the adult client back in time to observe the occasion of their birth. Blending implicit and narrative memory along with carefully-crafted imaginal interweaves, the client gets to connect with their prenate self, their birth mother and any others who may have been in the room (whether physically or in spirit) when they came into the world. Clients are invited to observe not only their own first-hand experience, but also consider the larger context of the family system – including any inherited or epigenetic trauma that may still be manifesting in the client’s nervous system today. Clients are given the opportunity to offer resourcing, healing and compassion to their younger selves, to their birth mother and any to other family members in the generational line, before being grounded back into the present time. Healing the Birth Story is an appropriate intervention for any clients with known birth trauma (from their own birth or from giving birth) as well as clients who present with a fear of death, broad unexplained phobias, attachment and adoption issues, enmeshment with their own children, generalized anxiety, spiritual issues and/or lack of wellbeing or connection to the world. This session will be taught through a combination of lecture and videos of the presenter working with a client. Participants will receive a copy of the protocol and for implementation in their own practice.

Learning objectives:

1. Identify three significant research studies that inform our understanding of the impact of historical and inherited trauma
2. Describe three benefits of using a contextual approach to treating individual trauma
3. Name three routes to helping a client access their innate implicit memory to uncover information surrounding their birth story.

Percentage of EMDR Content: 60%