An in-person certificate training at the Gestalt Institute of Philadelphia with facilitators Karen Ginsburg, LCSW, Zachary Model, LMHC & Chrys Hakyung Kim, Psy.D.
110 CEUs available (Five Modules, 22 per module)
April 2027-April 2028
April 8-11, 2027, June 17-20, 2027, September 23-26, 2027, December 9-12, 2027, April 6-9, 2028
Wednesday through Saturday, 9:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. EST & Sunday, 9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. EST
In Person, Paradigm Arts Building, 12 N 3rd St, Philadelphia PA 19106
Apply here: https://form.jotform.com/262087723197162
Overview:
Developmental Somatic Psychotherapy emphasizes the moving, feeling, sensing body as the foundation for all experience. The training explores how subtle movement interactions reveal relational and existential themes. Participants learn to recognize and work with movement patterns that develop early in life – within relational, social, and cultural contexts – and that continue to shape how we meet others and make meaning today.
Grounded in bodily experience, the training offers a comprehensive framework for diagnosis, formulation, and intervention, integrating phenomenological, dialogic, developmental and field-sensitive perspectives. Experiential learning lies at the heart of the program: theory is explored and integrated through movement experiments that help participants deepen awareness of their own bodily experience and attend to the movements of the field – the relational dynamics unfolding between therapist and client.
Created by Ruella Frank, Ph.D, this approach draws inspiration from clinical phenomenology, developmental psychology, movement theory, and somatic education, and is centered within contemporary Gestalt therapy. Psychotherapists from all training modalities, as well as movement therapists are welcome to discover how this approach can be integrated into clinical practice.
Who Should Attend:
Therapists, coaches, massage therapists and body practitioners of all kinds
In this Workshop Participants will:
- Learn the six fundamental movement patterns that underlie all later movement and how these patterns reflect essential ways of being in the world
- Deepen their own sense and feel their own movements and use this as a way of diagnosing and relating to clients
- Understand the essential relationality of all experience and how to develop their own presence and awareness
Module One to Two: The Basic Theoretical Building Blocks of Developmental Somatic Psychotherapy
These modules will explore:
- Gestalt therapy – as a phenomenological approach: description over interpretation
- Kinesthesia, Kinesthetic Awareness: The qualitative dynamics of movement, developing our sense of the feel of our movements
- The Sequence of the Six Fundamental Movements and their psychological functions: In these modules we will explore, Yielding-with (being with), Pushing Against and Reaching for
- Kinesthetic Resonance: How we sense and feel ourselves with another, the basis of sociability
Module Three to Four: The Sequence of the Six Fundamental Movements and their psychological functions
These modules will explore:
- Grasping onto, Pulling towards and Releasing from
- Postural Dynamics: Bodily dimensions and their implicit co-created meanings, directions in space, shaping and being shaped
- Kinesthetic Remembering: A somatic developmental exploration of experiential time, the interaction between past, present and future as it emerges through movement
- Reflexivity of Contacting: The moving “I/Feeling “Me”, how our sense of self emerges through our moving bodies
- Psychopathology: How we diagnose the emerging situation through movement, recognizing themes, making choices
Module Five: Bodily understanding of developmental trauma. A new paradigm of understanding and working with patterns of developmental traumas as they emerge in the infant-caregiver and patient-therapist relationship
This module will include demonstration sessions with Ruella Frank, Phd, the founder of Developmental Somatic Psychotherapy
Program Leaders
Karen Ginsburg, LCSW, Lead teacher, a member of the GTIP faculty, brings her background as a performer, bodyworker, and Gestalt therapist, supervisor, and trainer to her work as a DSP therapist and teacher. She has a BFA in Acting and an MSW, both from New York University. She is also a licensed massage therapist in the state of NY, and is certified in Gestalt Therapy, Developmental Somatic Psychotherapy and Somatic Experiencing. She is a longtime student of, and assistant to, Dr. Ruella Frank, the Director of the Center for Somatic Studies and the creator of Developmental Somatic Psychotherapy.
Chrys Hakyung Kim, Psy.D., Co-Teacher, is a clinical psychologist based in New York City and a certified teacher and supervisor of Developmental Somatic Psychotherapy. He teaches DSP-informed workshops internationally, offering lectures, live demonstrations, and case supervision, and has served as a discussant in Ruella Frank’s workshops. Chrys integrates DSP with his background in Gestalt therapy and relational psychoanalysis, and his expertise extends to the research and treatment of perfectionism and addiction.
Zachary Model, LMHC, Co-Teacher, has trained extensively in experiential approaches to learning and growth since 2002, including Developmental Somatic Psychotherapy, Gestalt therapy, Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy, contemplative psychotherapies, and the Feldenkrais Method. He is a teacher and supervisor at the Center for Somatic Studies, where he has received ongoing training and supervision from Ruella Frank since 2017. He has contributed to stress and resilience research at Columbia University and Pace University, where he is also a doctoral candidate.
Tuition (includes the cost of CEUs):
- $4,500 full tuition
- Refund policy: Full refunds are available until March 25, 2027. Refunds will not be provided for missed sessions.
Continuing Education Credits
GTIP offers Continuing Education credits to: LSW, LCSW, LPC, LMFT, PSY. Should you be requesting CEUs, please indicate what license you hold and your license number on the registration form.
This session is co-sponsored by Bryn Mawr College Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research for a maximum of 110 credit hours. Bryn Mawr College GSSWSR, as a CSWE accredited School of Social Work, is a pre-approved provider of continuing education for Social Workers in PA and many other states.
GTIP is approved by the Pennsylvania State Board of Psychology to offer 110 hours of continuing education for psychologists. GTIP maintains responsibility for the program. The Pennsylvania State Board of Psychology requires Psychology workshop participants to furnish their license number to receive a certificate of attendance.
If you have any questions, please reach out to Christine Manturuk, Administrative Coordination, at christinem@gtip.org.
