Beverley will immerse participants of this workshop in the value of experiential techniques in individual, group and family work and will demonstrate a variety of these techniques with participating professionals. Techniques will include: family sculpting, empty chair work, mindfulness, meditation, work with symbols and sociometry.

1. B E V E R L Y R O E S C H L . C . S . W ,
C I R Q U E L O D G E
S U N D A N C E , U T A H
Invigorating Your
Clinical Practice With Experiential
Techniques

2. Introductory exercises
 Find your tribe!
 Determine quickly what you have in common and
why this is the “perfect” group for you.
 Engage in a brief guided meditation led by the
instructor.
 Complete your picture on the paper supplied.
 Follow the directions of your instructor and discuss
your image with your tribe.

3. Synchronicity=Meaningful Coincidences
 “Synchronicity is an ever
present reality for those
who have the eyes to see”
-C.J. Jung

4. Meditation
 “Meditation is the ultimate
mobile device, you can use it
anywhere, anytime,
unobtrusively.” Sharon
Salzberg
 Meditation is a simple and
powerful technique: It
stabilizes brain chemistry,
reduces emotional volatility, it
helps you cultivate present
state awareness (to mention a
few ). You learn how to be
present with what is .

6. Symbols
 “Symbols stand for
something unknown that
cannot easily be made
clear or precise”

7. SOME BENEFITS OF MEDITATION
 70 to 80 thousands thoughts
daily: Most are repetitive and
automatic and engrained.
 Meditation increase our
awareness of these thoughts
and help us interrupt and
slow down our racing and
scattered minds.
 You spot unexamined
assumptions that get in the
way of your happiness.
 You’ll stop limiting yourself.
 You’ll discover a deeper sense
of what is important to you.
 You’ll be in closer touch with
the best parts of you.
 Your brain changes to support
recovery. Reduction in
amydala (due to lowered
stress levels) and
strengthening of prefrontal
cortex.
 Reduce reactivity
 Increase wellbeing.
 Increase ability to manage
physical and psychological
pain.
 Increase immunological
response.
 Increase present state
awareness and attentiveness.

8. Other ways to work with symbols
 Sand tray figures: This
expressive technique can
help one portray , rather
than verbalize feelings
and experiences that may
often be inaccessible or
difficult to express in
words.
 A therapist can keep a
modest shelf of sand tray
items in the office to use
with individuals, groups
and families.

9. Using symbols on cards
There are countless inspirational cards,
angel cards, feelings cards that are
available at book stores and on Amazon.
They can be used to draw out
individuals, groups and family members
as they discuss the symbols on the cards.

10. What is experiential therapy?
 “Experiential therapy is a
treatment approach that
combines theory with
action, It is a technique
that therapists can use to
touch people’s lives
deeply and intimately. Its
effect can be profoundly
healing.”
 Sharon Wegsheider-
Cruse

11. Why experiential therapy?
“ I hear and I forget
I see and I remember
I do and I understand”
Confucius

12. Experiential Techniques
 Experiential techniques involve actions, movements ,
activities
 Many of these techniques can be incorporated into your
practice as a strengthening and deepening adjunct to the work
you are doing.
 They are often quite simple and fun.
 They are often multisensory in nature, seeing, hearing, doing.
 They can be very helpful when progress in verbal therapies is
stifled or plateauing.
 In regards to trauma it often helps ups find a way to express
what has happened to us when we are hard to utter.
 We engage these techniques in soothing and safe
environments.

13. Some examples
 Guided visualizations
 Plays and Poetry
 Video therapy
 Drumming circles
 Tapping: Emotional Freedom Technique
 Aroma Therapy
 Role play of all kinds
 Expressive Journals
 Sociometry
 Dream work
 Groups around a campfire.
 Sculpting clay
 Creating Mandalas

14. Gestalt Empty Chair Work

15. Working with the many voices in your head.

16. Family Sculpts

17. Sentence Stems
This technique has been around a long time
and has been used across many disciplines.
Sentence stems in therapy are quick, to the
point and can be used to guide an
individual sessions deeper or can be use
round robin style in a group thematically to
get the conversation going on relevant
issues and involve everyone.

18. Genograms

19. “We are all just walking each other home”
Ram Dass
Walk and Talk sessions

20. Indoor and Outdoor Labyrinths

21. Some Advanced Techniques
 Equine Therapy
 Psychodrama
 Holotropic Breathwork
 EMDR
 Brain Spotting
 Ropes Course
 Art Therapy
 Voice Dialogue
 Marshall Arts
 Native American Sweats
These and many more require advanced training and
certification.

22. Some favorite mentors
Dr. Alan Berger: An LA therapist
who specializes in Gestalt
techniques and training.
Dr. Beverly Berg. A marriage and
family therapist and developer of
Conscious Couples workshops.

23. Inner Child Work
 Richard Lipfield is a
therapist in Mill Valley
California who does
powerful, experiential
inner child work. He is
famous for the small
chair that he asks his
clients to sit in as they
access their experience of
childhood.

24. More why of experiential techniques
 According to Van der
Kolk“If clinicians can help
people not become so
aroused that they shut
down physiologically,
they’ll be able to process
the trauma themselves.”
Experiential exercises,
journaling, guided imagery,
and psychodrama can
stimulate memories and
provide a safe arena in
which they can be shared
and processed.”
 Tian Dayton

25. The Rich Resource of RTR
 Tian Dayton’s Relationship
Trauma Repair Curriculum is
an incredibly detailed and
generous account of
numerous experiential
techniques made readily
accessible for the therapist. In
this slide we see Tian working
in a group with a sociometry
technique that is a floor
exercise that can be employed
at many levels of therapeutic
intensity. This technique
alone is extremely powerful
and easy to duplicate and can
be used with individuals and
families and groups.

26. In conclusion
“Experiential activities create pristine learning
moments. By using hiking paths, sculpting clay,
horses and campfires the inner soul and spirit
can manifest itself in an honest and open
fashion. “ Dave Beck, Director of Experiential
Programming, Cirque Lodge.

27. References
 Berg, B.((2014) Loving Someone in Recovery. New Harbinger Loving Someone Series.
 Berger, Allen.( 2010 ) 12 smart things to do when the booze and drugs are gone.Hazelden
 Bradshaw, J (1988 ) Bradshaw on the Family. Deerfield Beach, Florida. Health
Communications.
 Craig, G. (2008) The EFT Manual. Energy Psychology Press.
 Dass, R., Gorman, P. (1985) How Can I Help? Boirzoi Book: Alfred Knopf, Inc.
 Dayton, T. (2004) The Living Stage: A Step by Step Guide to Psychodrama, Sociometry
and Experiential Therapy. Deerfield Beach, Fl: Health Communications, Inc.
 Jung, C.J.(1964) Man and His Symbols. Dell Publishing
 Malchiodi, C.A. (2005) Expressive Therapies, Guilford Publications
 Moreno, J. (2014) Impromptu Man. J.L. Moreno and the Origins of Psychodrama.
Bellvue Literary Press.
 Salzberg, S .(2010) Real Happiness and the Power of Meditation, Wortham Publishing
 Satire, V. ( 1988 ) The New People Making, Palo Alto, CA, Science and Behavior Books
 Stone, H and Stone S. ( 1993 )Embracing Our Selves: The Voice Dialogue Manual.
Nataraj Publishing