20HR Trauma Informed Facilitator Training

Understanding Trauma for Safer Spaces 20hr Facilitator Training Weekend intensive:

16-18 May 2025

*For those that cannot attend this training in-person, online participation is possible.

Register for May 2025

About this Training:

This training is more than an education, it is a transformational learning experience.  

A training that will offer you immediate tools, methods and interventions in order to instantaneously cultivate a more trauma informed approach in your current studio, classes, business, organization, and offerings.  

A holistic approach to discovering the connections between empowerment and resilience with personal exploration, invitational language, safe space creation, supportive solutions, and facilitating choice making.

Join us to begin the shift from simply offering practices to embodying your special role as a facilitator of restoration, wellness and community building by offering trauma informed yoga to all humans in diverse communities.

What is Trauma-Informed?

Trauma-informed means taking into account past trauma and the resulting coping mechanisms when attempting to understand the behaviors of those we are working alongside. It means bringing empathy and compassion to every interaction and creating a safe and accessible space for all.

During this training participants will learn: 

·     How trauma anatomically affects the nervous system

·     How to identify trauma symptoms and trigger responses

·     Tools to promote biological resiliency, self-regulation and resolution

·     Protocol and best practices in the field

·     Invitational language

·     Community building and outreach methods

·     Ahimsa and the importance of self-care

·     How to create a safe space

·     Teaching methods for classrooms, yoga studios, healthcare practitioners, etc…

This 20Hr Training is designed for: 

• Experienced, new and novice yoga teachers and yoga business owners hoping to integrate trauma informed and accessible yoga in studio, online and community settings.
• Health, social, service, and community professionals hoping to integrate yoga, embodied, and mindful somatic practices with a trauma informed approach into their existing practice, organizations, and work.
• Activists, humanitarians and social justice advocates hoping to add somatic awareness, embodied practices and community connection to their social justice and systemic change agendas.

Weekend Schedule:
Friday

Welcome to your Training
Our Trauma Informed Perspective
Resourcing
The Importance of Self Care and Self Compassion in this work

Saturday
Defining and Understanding Trauma
Trauma Anatomy and Physiology
Foundational Polyvagal Theory
Regulation and Nervous System Balance
Mind/Body Connection – Disassociation, Disembodiment, and Re-Embodiment
Reactions, Responses and Triggers

Sunday
Creating your trauma informed space
Trauma Informed Communication and Touch
Trauma Informed Methods, Tools, and Interventions
How to apply this information to your Work, Communities, and Trauma Informed Life
Scope of Practice
Personal Mentorship
Closing

Daily Schedule (*subject to change)

Friday 5:30pm – 8pm (short breaks included)

Saturday 10:00am -5:00pm (one hour for lunch and short breaks included)

Sunday 10:30am – 4:30pm (one hour for lunch and short breaks included)

Equity in Investment – Choosing your tier

We are committed to offering trainings, mentorships and opportunities that are of the highest quality, affordable and accessible while striving to keep equity and mutual exchange at the soul of how we serve.   

We recognize that we live in systems of inequity and we strive to find ways of finding balance within this. We feel that the deepest engagement and greatest benefit comes when there is a meaningful mutual exchange.  

For these reasons, we offer tiered pricing. There is an invitation to reflect on your access to resources and privilege, the value of this work, what you can genuinely afford, and what you might pay for comparable training programs. By committing to what is truly within your means you make it possible for others to show up within theirs and we are all grateful for this.

All prices are in SA Rands

TIER 1: R5500.00 – For those who are financially well-resourced and who are able to contribute to our scholarship fund. Reflects the value of the course in Western economic markets.

TIER 2: R4200.00 – For those on medium incomes and access to financial resources who also are able to contribute to our scholarship fund. Use code TIER2U at registration.

TIER 3: R2900.00 – For those on lower incomes with caring responsibilities. Use Code TIER3U at registration.

Dates:  16- 18 May (Friday evening to Sunday afternoon)

Venue: Shakti Yoga Therapy Centre, Fourways (Johannesburg) or online via Zoom

Facilitator: Kirsten Wilkinson, MA, E-RYT, YACEP, TCTSY-F, Mind/Body Practitioner (https://www.legacymotion.org/)

What is Included:

• Experiential, embodied and collaborative learning.
• Course Manual and guided learning resources
• Lead Facilitator Support

20 Continuing Education Hours provided through Yoga Alliance – YACEP

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About:

Welcome, my name is Kirsten Wilkinson, but some people call me Kaye. I have a few letters behind my name that represent the professional certifications that I have earned. I hold a Masters Degree in Dance and Research from American University in Washington, DC and a BA in Dance and Kinesiology from the University of Colorado at Boulder. I am a TCTSY-Facilitator, which is a 300 hour professional certification. I have completed various trainings in yoga for specific communities including certifications through YogaEd, The Prison Yoga Project, Off the Mat – into the World, Yoga for Humankind, and Veterans Yoga Project. I have thousands of hours teaching Hot Yoga, Trauma Informed Yoga, Vinyasa Yoga, Yoga Nida, and yoga for children and teens. I am a Mind/Body Practitioner, which is a 300hr professional certification that blends psychology and somatic therapy modalities. I am also a certified Qi Gong and iRest Facilitator as well as Thai Yoga Massage Certified. I am constantly learning and am currently working towards my certifications in Yin Yoga and Prenatal Yoga. I am also a current student in the 3-year Somatic Experiencing Practitioner professional certification program as well as working towards my Licensure in Clinical Psychology and Dance and Movement Therapy. In 2021 I began my PhD in Somatic Therapy and Psychology. I will be beginning my training in NARM (NeuroAffective Relational Model) in 2022.

I facilitate movement based modalities with trauma impacted youth, displaced populations (refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants), survivors of torture and terror, veterans and active duty military and their families, first responders and their families, humanitarian aid professionals and volunteers, survivors of violence and oppression, individuals who have a history with substance abuse and body dysphoria, and anyone who is seeking a way of discovering their true potential, restoring their feelings of relative safety and transcending anything that is not currently serving you. My work is through a trauma informed lens and I feel much gratitude to be able to hold space for you in our journey together.

Qualifications
MA, TCTSY-F, E-RYT, RCYT
Somatic Experiencing Intermediate Level
iRest Certified
Qi Gong Certified
Ayurvedic Health Certified
Thai Yoga Massage Therapist
Website: Healing Motion