The Embodied Education Institute of Chicago (EEIC) offers regular continuing education workshops. See each individual course for available continuing education credits. Broadly, these workshops are designed for anyone interested in enhancing their clinical knowledge and practice. You can find our upcoming workshops below. If you have an idea for a continuing education workshop and/or are interested in facilitating a continuing education workshop through EEIC email us at embodiededucationinstitute@gmail.com.
Please view our student contract here.
Registration instructions are available at the bottom of the page. An application is not required for workshops.
Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7458. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Embodied Education Institute of Chicago is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.
The Body as Teacher: Cultivating Body Awareness & Language
Instructor: Kim Rothwell, BC-DMT, LMHC, LCPC, CADC
Date: October 17-19, 2025 Friday 6-9pm; Sat/Sun 9:00-4:00pm
Cost: $425 + $25 if CEs are requested
Email embodiededucationinstitute@gmail.com with any questions
Course Description:
This class is designed to support the embodiment and resilience of counselors in their clinical work with clients by supporting mindful embodiment and processing of somatic counter-transference. Authentic Movement is a practice in which a person moves with eyes closed in the presence of a witness. The mover allows her attention to “drop in” to the embodied experience of sensation, impulse, emotion, and imagery, allowing movement to unfold from a deep inner wisdom. The witness holds the space by keeping eyes open and creating a safe container for the movement to unfold. By coming into contact with ones own embodied experience with curiosity, openness, and acceptance, we are better equipped to work with the somatic countertransference present in the therapeutic relationship.
Not approved by the ADTA for credit towards the AR-DMT
Trauma and the Moving Body: An Introduction to Polyvagal -informed Dance/Movement Therapy© for Clients and Therapists
Instructor: Amber E. Gray, Ph.D., MPH, LPCC, BC-DMT, NCC
Date: December 12-14, 2025 Friday 6-9pm; Sat/Sun 9-4pm
Cost: $425 + $25 if CEs are requested
Email embodiededucationinstitute@gmail.com with any questions
Course Description: This 15-hour introductory course provides theoretical, scientific, and contemplative rationale for the use of dance movement therapy with survivors of trauma and as a measure of protection, self care, and increased compassion. The emphasis of this class is client-therapist co-regulation as both a self-care and a clinical skill that supports DMT’s ability to support clients through their own post trauma restorative process without re-traumatization. Drawing from a contemplative human rights framework and Polyvagal Theory, empowerment and developing a reciprocal alliance are themes of this course. This class also provides participants with a practical introduction and overview to using DMT in work with survivors of trauma, as well as for therapists’ own resilience and well-being. The course teaches DMT practices to support relative safety and stability in the reciprocal therapeutic relationship. A contemporary, evidenced-based phasic approach to working with complex trauma provides the foundation for theoretical material.
1 credit hour/15 contact hour course approved by the ADTA; 15 NBCC hours
Level 1: Somatic-Concentric Sex Therapy Training-Chicago
Instructor: Melissa Walker MA, R-DMT, LPC, CST
Location: 1802 W Berteau, Suite 205, Chicago.
Upcoming Date: TBA
Cost: $825 to register on line NBCC & AASECT CEs additional $25
Register with a friend and use this coupon for $50 off: sharethelove50
Somatic-Concentric Sex Therapy is designed by Melissa Walker MA, R-DMT, LPC, CST (she/her) who crafted a union of sex therapy with somatic psychotherapy and dance/movement therapy. Melissa designed it with the working therapist in mind. You will learn an experiential model for understanding and working with the sexuality of your clients that includes assessment tools, interventions, applications for the individual and those in relationship, as well as an embodied ethical decision-making method to work through the boundary issues that inevitably arise in therapy.
After this course, you will have the tools to get clients out of the talk therapy space and into their bodies as you guide them through a somatic-based experience that will help them ally with their sexuality. The goal is for these tools to be incorporated into your practice with your own style and flair as you too will be guided through experientials that help you learn this model from the inside out.
Bring your excitement, your curiosity, and your wisdom as we learn together how to rewrite sex-negative, disembodied sex/ual/ity. The possibilities are truly endless.
- Understand and articulate a somatic and dance movement therapy approach to sex therapy * Support your clients to develop a practice of secure attachment with their body
- Learn the Erotic Bodyfulness practice*
- Understand arousal anatomy as a part of total body connectivity
- Learn a model of Whole-Person Sexual Response
- Assess a client's sexual problems using an integrated clinical somatic tool that incorporates body movement observation and assessment which also integrates the impact of their sociocultural location.
- Address common presenting sexual problems such as desire difference, arousal non-concordance, anorgasmia, or arousal anatomy difficulties.
- Apply this inclusive somatic model to a diversity of client experiences & presentations
- Navigate ethical dilemmas that arise in therapy
- Support your clients to craft their own supportive community & therapeutic team
15 NBCC hours+ ASECT Credits $25 at checkout
2024 Chicago Somatic Concentric Sex Therapy
For more information, email: embodiededucationinstitute@gmail.com.
Listen to Kim Rothwell's interview of Melissa here
Intro to Somatic Concentric Sex Therapy-Bellingham, WA
Instructor: Melissa Walker MA, R-DMT, LPC, CST
Location: Presence Studios, 1412 Cornwall Avenue Bellingham, WA
Upcoming Date: cancelled
Cost: $725 to register on line NBCC & AASECT CEs additional $25
The Somatic-Concentric Sex Therapy (S-CST) model offers an inclusive and trauma-informed model to guide you in working with clients' sexual issues with a method that integrates the body, the mind, the social self, and emotional attachment styles. With the foundation of Sex Therapy, Somatic Psychotherapy, and Dance/Movement Therapy, this experiential method engages the many layers of the somatic and social self to uncover the shame and misinformation that creates wounds, stalling mind-body integration so that you can support them in total body connectivity and a securely attached relationship with their sex/ual/ity.This learning experience is strength-based, emphasizing embodied consent to support moment to moment body autonomy and self-advocacy. It will show you how to assess and map out the exciting and easeful aspects of sexuality with the unconscious and fractured aspects, activating resilience to open exploration and discovery of a whole-bodied erotic self.
In this introductory weekend we will cover the foundational elements of S-CST as well as its application for couples therapy work. You will learn how to theoretically and experientially incorporate somatic sex therapy into your work with clients through presentation of the model, numerous experientials, group discussion, and practice.
*This model does not include touch, except for direction on how to facilitate consensual, non-sexual touch between members of a couple as a part of in-session experientials.
- Understand arousal anatomy as a part of total body connectivity to address arousal non-concordance as well as other often misunderstood expressions and body-to-body dynamics.
- Learn a model of Whole-Person Sexual Response
- Practice Relational somatic sculpturing to bring the underlying dynamic into the workable space
- Body movement assessment & interventions for experiential clinical work that also teaches practices for clients to take home.
- Combining Erotic Maps to support the couple with how they shift from challenging aspects of their sexual intimacy into easeful and exciting ways of relating.
For more information, email: embodiededucationinstitute@gmail.com.
Listen to Kim Rothwell's interview of Melissa here
Level 2: Somatic-Concentric Sex Therapy Training: Experiential Relationship Work
Instructor: Melissa Walker MA, R-DMT, LPC, CST
Location: 1802 W Berteau, Suite 205, Chicago.
Upcoming Date: TBD
Cost: $825 to register on line
15 AASECT & NBCC CEs additional $25
Packaged together with Level 1 training both courses $1500 total
Working with couples can be challenging. The dynamic of a couple can often dominate the room with dysregulated nervous systems, entrenched beliefs, and an unwieldy relationship attachment styles. You may have found that talking through each issue and providing accurate and insightful sexual intimacy education simply doesn't address the underlying difficulties.
Your clients may have shifted their beliefs and intentions, but they still act out the same painful dynamic. This is because the relational dynamic does not just live in their minds or known vocabulary —The relational dynamic lives itself out moment to moment in the ways that the intimate partner’s bodies organize in each other’s presence and the habits they play out when they are in contact with
each other.
We can support our clients to create lasting change when we address the ways that their bodies relate to each other through the patterns of muscle tension, movement habits, breath quality, and gaze while understanding how their sociocultural experiences have influenced how they inhabit their bodies. This is a holistic and empowering way of working.
This Level 2 training will present a map for working with a relationship dynamic that is grounded in the experiential model of Somatic-Concentric Sex Therapy. We will explore:
- Embodied consent in committed relationship
- Relational somatic sculpturing to bring the underlying dynamic into the workable space
- Body movement assessment interventions for experiential clinical work that also teaches
practices for clients to take home. - Combining Erotic Maps to support the couple with how they shift from challenging aspects of
their sexual intimacy into easeful and exciting ways of relating. - Applying Erotic Bodyfulness practice to both affection and sexual intimacy
- How to support a rhythm of secure attachment within relationship
- How to help clients meaningfully engage with the structure of their monogamous or non-
monogamous relationship to support their connection and growth
For more information, email: embodiededucationinstitute@gmail.com.
Listen to Kim Rothwell's interview with Melissa here
Pediatric Eating Disorders & OCD: The Body as a Feared Place
Instructor: Kristen Mennona, LPC CEDS BC-DMT RYT GLCMA
Location: Chicago
Cost: $785
Upcoming Date: TBA
Obsessive Compulsive disorder and eating disorders thrive in an environment of fear, body avoidance and relief seeking behaviors. The body's fear response will be examined from evolutionary, physiological and neurobiological perspectives. Modern-day eating disorders and OCD will be explored as escape strategies for uncomfortable bodily sensations. Dance/movement therapy will be applied as a method to build body trust, instill courage and restore aliveness through a mindful, embodied, improvisational, and playful approach. A special focus on embodying imperfection, practicing gratitude and building a “window of tolerance” for uncomfortable bodily sensations will help students craft a body map of their own fear response system. Forming an embodied relationship to fear allows participants to increase their body threshold for body discomfort. This course centers the practitioner's self-discovery as a guide on how to help others.
Additional Information Available Here
15 NBCC hours
For more information, email: embodiededucationinstitute@gmail.com.
Listen to Kim Rothwell's interview with Kristen here
Performance as Therapy
Instructor: Kris Eric Larsen, LCPC, BC-DMT, GL-CMA
Location: 1802 W. Berteau Suite 205, Chicago
Cost: $350
Upcoming Date: TBD
Performance involves preparation through engagement on many levels, intrapersonal and interpersonal. It includes being
immersed in the creative process, feedback on the emerging creation and its integration. While there is an ongoing reflective
dialogue between the process and the product, it also involves active decision making and community building.
As therapists we often ask how we can sustain connection to our creative selves while in the midst of working in a field of
suffering. We also wonder how we can engage our clients in new perspectives that are based in creativity and the role of
community in group process and healing. Performance as Therapy is a developed framework seeking to expand the practice of
creative arts therapies and also that of counseling as it involves many of the techniques found in humanism, group process and
positive psychology while bridging the gap between verbal and non-verbal processes. It asks the question “What is the role of
self in creativity and how this relationship is fundamental to therapeutic performance, multicultural expression and human
existence?”
This workshop will explore the 4 concepts of creative process and art making, developed by the workshop presenters.
Participants will be guided through the 4 concepts as they explore the journey from finding the inner impulse to create all the
way to community performance.
For more information, email: embodiededucationinstitute@gmail.com.
Experiential Anatomy/Kinesiology
(NBCC credit not available)
Instructor: Kristina Fluty, MA, GL-CMA, MPA
In person with online options
1802 W. Berteau, Suite 205, CHciago
August 22-24, 2025; Friday 6-9pm; Sat/Sun 9-4pm
Cost: $425
For movers, dancers, movement practitioners/artists, dance/movement therapists, teachers, and anyone who wants to deepen their embodiment and understanding of the amazing ways our bodies move. Engaging experiential and somatic modes of learning this course will cover basic human anatomy and kinesiology with an overview of bones, major muscle groups, and general workings of the musculoskeletal system. Students will begin to understand the complexities of the body through movement, reading, drawing, discussion, writing, video, and touch exercises. We will integrate what we learn from tuning into our individual sensed experience, observations of the world (and bodies) around us, and material information from the fields of anatomy and kinesiology. It is important to note that study of “the body,” our bodies, does not exist outside of the particular societies and cultures in which we live. Our work in this course acknowledges the impact and influence of culture on traditions of teaching anatomy, and the importance and relevance of our individual experiences of gender, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, ability, on lived embodied experience and body knowledge.
1 Credit Hour / 15 classroom hours
For more information, email embodiededucationinstitute@gmail.com
Cultural Humility and Responsibility through the Power of Story
Instructor: Bria Campbell, BC-DMT, LCPC
on-line - Two Weekend Format
Fall, 2025
Cost: $850
As dance/movement therapists we are bound by our code of ethics, which serves as our guide to upholding professional values and standards of conduct. Multicultural competence and promotion of social justice are included in the code. Additionally, dance/movement therapists are expected to examine how their own cultural background influences their place within the therapeutic relationship. In this course, students will be invited to examine and expand their own belief systems and world views in service of providing ethical and competent care for clients. The vehicle for this process will be conducted through story; the stories we have been told and the stories we tell ourselves, which all live in our bodies, our movement, and in our relationships. The code of ethics also charges dance/movement therapists with cultivating awareness of oppression, power, and privilege. In this course students will explore how power, privilege, oppression, and collective liberation intersect with our work as dance/movement therapists. Students will explore how key features of oppression show up on societal/cultural, institutional, interpersonal, and individual levels. By observing and making contact with the ways in which we have been affected by dynamics of privilege and oppression we can begin to repattern habitual ways of being that may interfere with cultivating connection with others. In this course, systematic oppression will be looked at through the lens of trauma providing students the opportunity to apply trauma-informed and healing centered approaches to their therapeutic work.
2 credit hours / 30 classroom hours - pending approval by the ADTA
30 NBCC CEs for additional $25 paid at checkout
For more information, email: embodiededucationinstitute@gmail.com
LABAN MOVEMENT ANALYSIS I: OBSERVATION
Instructor: Stacey Hurst, BC-DMT, LCPC, GL-CMA
Online/In person course
Date: September 6-7, 2025 9-6pm
Cost: $425
Call Stacey at 312-543-2133 or email shurst.eeic@gmail.com with questions
Course Description: Laban Movement Analysis (LMA) and Bartenieff Fundamentals (BF) give dance/movement therapists a common language to study movement and its developmental aspects, informing our relationship to self, other, and the environment. LMA I contextualizes LMA and BF in history and within the field of dance/movement therapy. This course provides a framework for how to structure and approach movement observation, an understanding of the cultural and therapeutic implications of Body Knowledge/Body Prejudice, and a forum for the student to identify their own movement preferences and limitations. LMA I will also provide a general overview of the core principles of movement and of Rudolf Laban’s taxonomy of human movement. The course will be grounded through both didactic and movement experientials to support multiple learning preferences. LMA I will provide the foundation for all other LMA classes to follow.
1 credit hour / 15 classroom hours - Approved by the ADTA/15 NBCC CEs
To register, please visit the Class Registration page and add relevant courses to your cart. Select your trimester and payment option (pay in full, deposit, or payment plan). You may register for future trimesters that do not yet have dates scheduled to reserve your spot, but please note that your deposit is nonrefundable. If you have any questions regarding classes, payment plans, or other concerns, please reach out to embodiededucationinstitute@gmail.com.
Discount codes are not available for workshops and continuing education classes, except for Experiential Anatomy/Kinesiology and Laban Movement Analysis [which fall under the AR-DMT category as well].
The student contract is available here.