events
Brainspotting: From Source-
A Shared, Unifying Journey
Experience a unique and inspiring week in beautiful Banff, Canada, with BSP Trainers,
Mark Grixti (Uk) & Roby Abeles (Oceania)
with special guest
Siohban Swider, musician -
Sound Healing & Yoga
May 13 - 18, 2025
Banff, Alberta Canada
APRIL 2, 2025
Reaching the Unreachable: High Acuity Brainspotting Initiative
Learn from the High Acuity Care BSP Initiative about working with some of the populations that struggle the most, but aren't able to do well with many therapies because their nervous systems are so hyperaroused.
Wednesday, April 2nd, 2025 7-9pm Eastern Time
Presentation will be via Zoom.
Registration:https://brainspotting.secure-registration.com/en/vnbd4v/event
Price: Brainspotting Canada Members $35 (Cdn) Non-members $70
People struggling with complexities such as developmental trauma, addiction, complex PTSD, major depression, complex grief, suicidality, self-harm and a host of other deeper issues are often not getting the help they need. They arrive at the different levels of care seeking answers, help, relief and a life line to stay alive but often are unable to get their needs met as therapies and interventions are being used with them that don’t match what their system needs.
The Brainspotting High Acuity Care Initiative (BSPHAC) was created to empower practitioners and agencies to better use Brainspotting with the individuals that need it the most – those struggling with higher acuities. Over the first 2 years, we worked primarily with adolescent residential agencies to help bring Brainspotting and parallel training to help integrate it into a population that desperately needs Brainspotting. This experience taught us there is a greater need for these skills in a host of different populations and setting so thus the expansion of this initiative to increase its impact.
BSPHAC seeks to provide a one stop shop for practitioners and agencies striving to provide services and support to higher acuity populations.
PRESENTER BIOS
Jeff Ryan LPC,CSAC is a Brainspotting trainer from Wisconsin in the US. He has been working since his introduction to Brainspotting to pioneer ways to apply Brainspotting people struggling with high levels of complexity and acuity. This has included pioneering ways to apply Brainspotting with people struggling with addictions and other unwanted behaviors. Since 2013, he has been providing trainings to therapists working with addictions through his training including Working with Addictions – A Brainspotting Centered Approach and in 2025 he will release Working with Addictions 2.0.
Steve Sawyer is a dual-licensed psychotherapist with a deep passion for the intervention and change process. With over two decades of experience working with hard-to-reach client populations, his expertise spans diverse therapeutic settings, including residential, community-based, outpatient, and wilderness therapy.
As a core therapeutic training development staff member with the Institute of HeartMath, Steve was honored with their Humanitarian Heart Award in 2018. He is also a prominent International Brainspotting trainer, and is the developer of the Developmental Trauma-Focused Model of Brainspotting. Steve's dedication to advancing trauma-informed care led him to establish the Developmental Trauma Training Institute in 2022.
May 21, 2025
Brainspotting Canada Annual General Meeting
Come and hear what's happened this year, what's planned for next year, and what's going on with Brainspotting Canada as an organization.
Wednesday, May 21, 2025 from 7-9pm Eastern Time
Presentation will be via Zoom.
Registration: https://brainspotting.secure-registration.com/en/vnbk4v/event
Price: Free
info@brainspottingcanada.com
June 11, 2025
Compassion Fatigue, with Allyson Coleman and Jenny Hughes
How do we protect ourselves and each other from compassion fatigue? This is a topic that speaks to almost all of us as it feels like the stress levels all around us go up way more than they go down. Join us to close out the academic year with attention to what we need as therapists and caregivers at many levels.
Wednesday, June 11, 2025 7:30-9:30pm Eastern Time
Presentation will be via Zoom.
Registration:https://brainspotting.secure-registration.com/en/v8d2rv/event
Price: Brainspotting Canada Members $25 (Cdn) Non-members $50
Past Events
2025:
January
Brainspotting Emergency Responders, Military Personnel, and their Families: How & why YOU can join the mission to support their healing with Jennifer Alexander,
February
BEYOND BRAINSPOTTING: Healing from Source - with Mark Grixti (UK) and Roby Abeles (Oceania)
2024:
January
Bridging Research and Clinical Work in Brainspotting with Dr. Jeanne Talbot
February
Bookends: What comes before and after Brainspotting? with Dr. Marjorie Robb
March
Two-eyed Seeing with Dr. Dell Ducharme and Ovide Caribou, Knowledge Keeper
April
Developmental Trauma and Performance Inhibition with Alessia Bruno & Ruth Chiles
June
Brainspotting Canada Association Continuing Education Series: CIT class of 2024 presentation
October
Brainspotting Canada Presents: Brainspotting with Gifted Creatives with Angie Dairou
Brainspotting Phase 2 - October 20 - 22, 2023
Brainspotting Therapy Phase 2 - Online training. October 20 - October 22, 2023
Please use link below for registration:
https://brainspotting.simplesignup.ca/en/events
Build on the foundational techniques learned in Phase 1. Learn multiple resourcing techniques including One-Eyed Brainspotting, Z-Axis work, Rolling Brainspotting, and Advanced Resource Model. Trainers Dr Marjorie Robb and Dr Jane Evans.
This course will be held via Zoom. Time will be Eastern Daylight Time. Zoom information will be sent out prior to the training.
Contact and support info: Drs. Marjorie Robb & Jane Evans - bsptrainingcanada@gmail.com
Who is eligible for this training? You must be a registered mental health professional who has completed Phase 1 training. Students who are near completion of training to become a registered mental health professional should contact us at: bsptrainingcanada@gmail.com to ensure eligibility and rate.
This Brainspotting Phase 2 training will begin with an extensive review of Attunement and Outside and Inside Window with an emphasis on how to clinically interact with clients during Brainspotting. Discussion time will be allotted to challenges of switching between virtual and in person methods of delivering Brainspotting Therapy if that is of importance to the group.
We will then learn refinements of the process including how and when to titrate activation up or down. We will discuss how to best meet the client "where they are" and increase the sense of safety and attunement. Trainees will be introduced to important 3 Dimensional Brainspotting concepts using the “Z-Axis” of Brainspotting, and Vergence which uses the Z-Axis to activate the vagus nerve through the oculocardiac reflex. Additional technical refinements will be presented including One- Eyed Brainspotting, “Rolling Brainspotting,” and Advanced Resourcing.
If you are a student in a mental health professional program, please contact us at bsptrainingcanada@gmail.com to see if you are eligible for the student rate. A student is defined as someone registered in a full time program and not working more than 3 days per week.
Brainspotting Canada presents: Lisa Larson - Healing Shame, Low Self-Worth and Imposter Syndrome with Expansion Brainspotting
Time will be Eastern Daylight Time
Please use link below for registration:
https://brainspotting.simplesignup.ca/en/events
Course Description: Profound shame and low self-worth are the destructive by-products of developmental trauma. As clinicians, our clients are not ready to graduate from therapy until they have an internal sense of worth and self-love. In this short presentation, Lisa Larson will share and demonstrate two Expansion Frames that she uses most frequently to slay the Shame demon. She will teach and demonstrate the “Truth and Lie” frame for pernicious negative cognitions, as well as the “Soul- Spotting” to help clients experience the innate goodness of their souls.
Trainer: Lisa Larson, LMFT is a certified Brainspotting Trainer and the founder of Pacific Brainspotting Trainings. She has been in the counseling field for 23 years. Her passion is healing the traumatized and mentoring other therapists to be outstanding trauma clinicians. Her specialties are trauma and PTSD in her work with individuals, couples, and families at her counseling center, Pacific Counseling & Trauma Center.
BrainspottinG Phase 1 - September 29 - October 1, 2023
Brainspotting Therapy Phase 1 - Online training. September 29 - October 1, 2023
Please use link below for registration:
Brainspotting with Kids w/ Dr. Marjorie Robb and Friends
Marjorie Robb and others will talk about the fun, creativity, and versatility that can happen when working with young people. We will include treatment vignettes, thoughts on getting ready to do brainspotting with kids, and discussion about the role of parents. There should be ample time for discussion.
Monday, January 23, 2023 from 7:00-9:00pm EST
via Zoom
Brainspotting Canada Presents: Wrapping Our Heads Around MAiD for Mental Illness
Dr. Jeff Kirby, ethicist at Dalhousie University, will be joining us to lead a discussion regarding the ethical dimensions of Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) for mental illness. Upcoming changes to the MAiD program in Canada will mean that patients with a sole diagnosis of a mental disorder will be eligible to apply for MAiD in Canada as of March 2023. Dr. Kirby was a member of the parliamentary advisory committee on “MAID and Mental Illness”; he resigned from the panel because of his concerns about the recommendations that were put forth in the committee’s final report.
Following Dr. Kirby's presentation (the first hour of the evening), there will be a question-and-answer session, followed by discussion of key take-aways from the experiences of three mental health professionals (and Brainspotting practitioners) who have direct experience working with patients who have expressed interest in MAiD for Mental Illness.
Monday, November 28th, 2022 7:00-9:00 EST
via Zoom
Mark Grixti - How We Attend Affects How We Heal
Brainspotting Canada is delighted to welcome Dr Mark Grixti, trainer for Brainspotting Therapy in the UK, to meet with us for our October webinar. Mark is a psychologist who works with children, adolescents and adults. He has made significant contributions to the development of Brainspotting Therapy worldwide. These include: the "whiteboard vimeo" explaining Brainspotting (BSP UK website); Brainspotting with Young People - An Adventure into the Mind (2016); a chapter in The Power of Brainspotting (G Wolfrun ed, 2018). Currently Mark hosts the podcast Awe in Trauma - highly recommended.