Reclaiming the Inner Child: Techniques for Emotional Repair

Dr. Albert Wong is the Director of the Trauma Certificate Program at Somatopia. He maintains a private counseling and consulting practice centered around somatic psychotherapy and is the founder of the online somatic education platform, Somatopia: www.somatopia.com.

Manuela Mischke-Reeds. MFT is an international teacher of somatic psychology, somatic psychotherapist, a founder of Hakomi Institute of California and Embodywise (non-profit) that cultivates learning from the wisdom teachings of the body. She is the developer of the Innate Somatic Intelligence Trauma Therapy Approach (ISITTA), an in-depth trauma training program for therapists and practitioners.

Manuela has 25+ years of clinical experience with trauma clients, coaching executives, first responders. She lectures and trains professionals on the topics of Hakomi Therapy, mindfulness-somatic psychology, trauma healing, embodied mindfulness for trauma and stress, Movement Therapy, Somatic Psychedelic assisted Psychotherapy.

Manuela is the author of several books, including 125 Somatic Psychotherapy Tools for Trauma and Stress (PESI 2018), 8 Keys to Practicing Mindfulness: Practical Strategies for Emotional Health, Well Being (W.W.Norton 2015), Trauma-sensitive movement (2025), Embodied Psychedelic Therapy (2025).

Sergio Ocampo is a licensed psychotherapist, educator, and co-developer of Dynamic Somatic Touch (DST), an integrative trauma-resolution approach addressing emotional overwhelm, trauma, chronic pain, and illness. His work blends somatic and cognitive therapies including Somatic Experiencing, EMDR, family systems, generational trauma, and depth and spiritual psychology. An adjunct faculty member at Antioch University and contributor to The Embody Lab, Sergio holds leadership roles within Somatic Experiencing communities and teaches internationally, emphasizing that trauma is temporary and resolvable.

Deanna Jimenez is an Assistant Professor in the Somatic Psychology Department at California Institute of Integral Studies and a somatic/transpersonal psychotherapist in private practice. Her work explores the intersection of mental health, race, culture, and spirituality, with a focus on supporting individuals and couples engaged in transformative justice and social change. Drawing from transpersonal psychology and embodied practice, she supports clients in building grounded, spiritually rooted resilience while challenging systems of oppression.

Dr. Richard Schwartz began his career as a family therapist at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he discovered that family therapy alone did not achieve full symptom relief. Patients described being plagued by "parts"—inner networks resembling families. As they separated from their parts, they shifted into a state of curiosity, calm, confidence, and compassion he called the Self. From these explorations, the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model was born in the early 1980s. Schwartz now lives in Brookline, MA, and is on the faculty of Harvard Medical School's Department of Psychiatry.

Pat Ogden, PhD is a pioneer in somatic psychology, the creator of the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy method, and founder of the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute. Dr. Ogden is a clinician, consultant, international lecturer and the first author of two groundbreaking books in somatic psychology: Trauma and the Body: A Sensorimotor Approach to Psychotherapy and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy: Interventions for Trauma and Attachment (2015). Her third book, The Pocket Guide to Sensorimotor Psychotherapy in Context, advocates for an anti-racist perspective in psychotherapy practice. Her current interests include couple therapy, child and family therapy, social justice, diversity, inclusion, consciousness, and the philosophical/spiritual principles that underlie her work.

Peter A Levine, Ph.D., is the developer of Somatic Experiencing®, a naturalistic and neurobiological approach to healing trauma. He holds doctorates in both Biophysics and Psychology. He is the Founder and President of the Ergos Institute for Somatic Education and the Founder and Advisor for Somatic Experiencing International. Dr. Levine is the author of several best-selling books on trauma, including Waking the Tiger, Healing Trauma (published in over 29 languages). He has received Lifetime Achievement awards from Psychoth erapy Networker and from the US Association for Body-Oriented Psychotherapy. He continues to teach trauma healing workshops internationally. Learn more at somaticexperiencing.com.

Stephen W. Porges, Ph.D. is Distinguished University Scientist at Indiana University where he is the founding director of the Traumatic Stress Research Consortium in the Kinsey Institute. He is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina, and Professor Emeritus at both the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Maryland. He served as president of the Society for Psychophysiological Research and the Federation of Associations in Behavioral & Brain Sciences and is a former recipient of a National Institute of Mental Health Research Scientist Development Award. He is the originator of the Polyvagal Theory, a theory that emphasizes the importance of physiological state in the expression of behavioral, mental, and health problems related to traumatic experiences.

Frances Booth, LICSW, is a Certified IFS therapist, consultant, and international trainer, colleague to Richard Schwartz (founder of IFS) and Susan McConnell (author of Somatic IFS). Her somatically focused clinical practice specializes in trauma, anxiety, depression, cancer, eating, and attachment disorders. A graduate of Cornell University and Simmons School for Social Work, she has held adjunct faculty positions at Smith College, Tufts Medical School, and William James College. Her trainings include mindfulness at Insight Meditation Center, mind/body work with Joan Borysenko, and Wavework with Dayashakti at Kripalu.