The Emerson Level I Training Program is open to professionals and non-professionals alike. The purpose of the Emerson Level I Training Program is multiple:

• To foster education in pre- and perinatal psychology;
• To promote personal growth through pre- and perinatal psychology;
• To train and supervise individuals in the treatment of pre- and perinatal trauma for infants, children, and adults;
• To encourage the direct experiencing of all treatment techniques as an aspect of training, before the techniques are used with clients or others;
• To promote the psychological and spiritual development in all workshop participants and trainees; and
• To provide advanced training in small groups.

The Emerson Training Program has been thirty years "in the making." Dr. Emerson spent thirty years in pre- and perinatal practice, fifteen of them training other professionals. During this time, he kept detailed records and followed up all individuals with whom he worked. He is dividing this material up into training manuals and video programs, and it is from these sources that he is teaching and conducting workshops.

Program Components

The Level I Training Program consists of 61 days of course work. Fifty two days are completed by taking workshops in various parts of the United States, Canada, and/or Europe. The other 9 days of course work can be completed at your home through reading, video course work, and audio course work. Course work can be completed in any order and over any length of time; however, you must attend at least one workshop a year in order to maintain status as a trainee.

On the following pages you will find a list of the courses. Each subject area is followed in parenthesis by the number of days of course work that you must accumulate within the area. Each Level I workshop will satisfy some requirements for your course work. For example, a 3-day workshop will give you three days of credit, divided among various subject areas. A workshop may give you a full day of theory course work, half a day of evaluation course work, half a day of trauma impact course work, and a full day of somatic course work. A special yearly workshop schedule sent out to trainees lets you know which courses and how many days of various subject areas will be provided by each workshop, so you can identify in advance which workshops you would like to attend.

In addition, there will be a reading list for Level I trainees. At the end of Level I training there will be an open book exam (or an optional oral exam) and one two-hour supervision with Dr. Emerson (in person or via video-conferencing). Following completion of the Level I training program you may enter the Level II training program.

Advantages to Enrolling in the Training Program

1. Courses apply to certification. Anyone may attend a Level I workshop. However, only trainees will receive credit towards certification for attending the workshop. Certification allows you to use these techniques and their names in your practice.
2. Priority Registration. Trainees have priority registration, meaning that if workshops are full, they will be guaranteed a spot in the workshop if they contact the coordinator within four weeks of the workshop.

3. Access to Level II Workshops and Training Days. Level II Training Days usually follow Level I workshops. Level II Workshops are scheduled separately. As a Level I trainee you have the opportunity of taking select Level II Training Days and Workshops. You will receive Level II credit for Training Days and Workshops if you have already completed 45 days of Level 1 training.

4. Access to Individual Supervision. Completion of Level I training allows trainees to schedule personal telephone consultations with Dr. Emerson regarding their work with clients. These consultations pertain to pre- and perinatal trauma, and appropriate utilization of techniques and approaches that were learned in the training program. Consultation times range from 15 to 60 minutes, and charges are on a sliding scale.

5. Acceptance into Level II and III training programs. Acceptance into Level II and III training requires the completion of the Level I Training Program.

6. Placement on the Referral Network. When Level I is completed, trainees are placed on the referral network, and may receive referrals from Dr. Emerson's office for treatment of pre- and perinatal trauma.

7. Professional Advertisements. When training is completed, trainees may add the training experiences to their resumés, and include training certification (and level) in their professional advertisements.

Course Work

I. Theory Courses (2 days)

a. Overview Course, Pre- and Perinatal Psychology

b. Pre- and Perinatal Memory (Evidence for prenatal and birth memories, theories of memory, false memory, cellular and somatic memory)

c. Cathartic Theory and Research

d. Overview of Treatment Models

e. Theories of Trauma Impacts

f. The Archetype of Birth

II. Evaluation Courses (3 days)

a. The Evaluation of Prenatal/Birth Trauma and Shock in Infants

b. The Evaluation of Prenatal/Birth Trauma and Shock in Children

c. The Evaluation of Prenatal/Birth Trauma and Shock in Adults

III. Trauma Impacts Courses (4 days)

a. Definition and Types of Obstetrical, Stage, and Permeation Traumas

b. Obstetrical Traumas and Their Life-Long Impacts

c. Pre and Perinatal Stages and Their Life-Long Impacts

d. Prenatal Traumas and Their Life-Long Impacts

IV. Theory and Evaluation of Somatic Trauma (6 days)

a. The Anatomy and Physiology of Trauma and Shock

b. Trauma Vectors, Trauma Postures, and Trauma Movements

c. Birth-simulating Massage

d. Energetic Conjunct Points, Pathways (for birth traumas) and Trauma Sites (for prenatal traumas)

e. Physical Conjunct Points and Pathways

f. Pre & Perinatal Stages and Their Somatic and Psychological Components

V. Empathy Courses (6 days)

a. Discovering Empathic Styles, Blocks, and Resistances

b. Video-feedback Training in Empathy and Shadow

c. Deepening Empathy and Compassion: Shadow Work

VI. Treatment Techniques Courses (10 days)

a. The Treatment of Traumas during Infancy: Approaches and Techniques

b. The Treatment of Traumas during Childhood: Approaches and Techniques

c. The Treatment of Traumas during Adulthood: Approaches and Techniques

d. The Resolution of Trauma and Shock: The Repatterning Model (Desensitizing and reconstructive work)

e. The Resolution of Trauma and Shock: Bonding, Empathy and Compassion

f. The Resolution of Trauma and Shock: The Cathartic Model

g. Resolution of Trauma and Shock: The Spiritual Model

h. Birth-simulating Massage

i. Trauma Vectoring

j. Trauma Posturing

k. Trauma Movement Therapy

l. Pre and Perinatal Videoreflection Therapy (Shadow work)

m. Pre and Perinatal Sandplay Therapy

n. Pre and Perinatal Art Therapy

o. Archetypal Shadow Work

p. Trauma Site Activation for Prenatal and Birth Traumas

q. Pre and Perinatal Guided Fantasy

r. The Somatic Model

VII. Practical Applications Courses (3 days)

a. Introducing Trauma Work

b. Incorporating Approaches and Techniques in Your Professional Practice and/or Personal Life

c. Legal, Ethical, Professional, Scope of Practice, and Practical Considerations

d. Practical Content and Role-playing: Introducing and Facilitating the Work
 

VIII. Practicum Courses (3 days)

a. Infant/Child Practicum: This course offers hands-on work with infants and children, and Dr. Emerson will facilitate and provide participants with supervision.
b. Adult Practicum: This course operates in conjunction with the Core Regression course, and allows workshop participants and trainees to receive supervised facilitation.

IX. Core Regression Courses (15 days)

The Core Regressions course is based on the theory that it is important to experience the techniques that you plan to put into practice. Course participants will experience the approaches and techniques developed over a twenty-five year period by Dr. Emerson, which can be used to treat pre- and perinatal traumas in infants, children, and adults. This course allows participants and trainees to recall and experience their lives from preconception through postnatal bonding.

Courses X and XI are Home Courses. The requirements for these courses will be satisfied through either reading, workbooks, exercises, exams, audio tape teaching, and/or video teaching. Home courses need to be pre-arranged with Dr. Emerson and will require nominal fees.

X. Outcomes of Treatments (3 days)

a. The Outcomes of Trauma and Shock Resolution: Psychology and Spirituality

b. The Outcomes of Trauma and Shock Resolution: Human Potential

XI. Somatics (6 days)

a. Elementary Birth and Obstetrics

b. Elementary Cranial Osteopathy

c. Resolving Birth Trauma: Structural Anatomy

d. Developmental Embryology (trauma impacts and developmental agendas for all prenatal stages)

e. Elementary Bodynamic Psychology

f. Elementary Polarity Therapy

Fees

Level I Training Program

Cost of 52 days of workshops - $5720*

Cost of 9 days of home studies - variable nominal fee

*This cost does not include any additional Level I workshops beyond the 52 days of training. The $110 per day fee covers Dr. Emerson's training fee only. Some workshop coordinators and institutions provide meals and lodging at workshops for an additional fee, and some charge up to $150 per day for the basic workshop without meals or lodging. Trainees need only pay the $110 per day fee at such workshops, plus additional fees for meals and lodging if they are available.

Work Scholarships and/or Payment Plans

Two work scholarships are available per workshop or Level II training/supervision group (see below). Both offer 50% reductions in workshop fees; both require that you have attended at least six workshops by Dr. Emerson; both require a work-trade (tape transcription is most preferable); and both require that applicants send letters of application. The letters of application should describe financial status and need for a scholarship, and require your filling out a standard loan application (even though the scholarship is not a loan). The loan application should list assets, debits, existing loans, credit references, etc. When a loan application is done, scholarships may be applied for repeatedly without submitting additional loan applications. At this time workshops may be paid for according to a payment plan.

This plan is subject to change.

Applying

Applications are reviewed twice a year, once in the Spring and once in the Fall. The deadline for Spring acceptance is March 31 and for Fall is October 31.

To apply for the Level I Training Program contact our office and request an application. If you have not taken three workshops with Dr. Emerson, you can only be accepted provisionally until you have completed three workshops.
 

Emerson Training Seminars
4940 Bodega Ave.
Petaluma, CA 94952

707-763-7024
e-mail: starvapor@aol.com

"William is a master teacher and I believe he is the foremost personality theorist of our time....The didactic part of training is intensely juicy and interesting, penetratingly personal to the listener, emotionally provocative, and therefore, spiritual. The road less traveled takes you through your suffering to the other side and William is a consummate guide on the path. He is so connected inside that he's the only master teacher of his caliber I have ever met who is the same person as a teacher as he is as a friend. There's no 'therapist self' and 'regular self' with William."
         -Alice Rose, Ph.D.

   "Studying with Dr. Emerson has enriched and transformed my life. His landmark work with infants provides profound hope and healing for coming generations.
         -Raymond Castellino, D.C., R.P.P.
          Co-Executive Director of BEBA

   "When I first saw Dr. Emerson work with a young baby it was like opening a new window to a whole new world of healing and human potential. His training has been invaluable to me in helping me learn more about that new world and how to facilitate babies and children in their healing. I highly recommend his training program to you. We need more of us doing this work."
        -Wendy McCarty, Ph.D., M.F.C.C., R.N.