If living through COVID-19 has taught us anything, it is that we must be mentally and emotionally strong to function through times of crisis, immense stress, uncertainty, and fear of the future. Couple this with the continuous human rights stressors and reaching one’s full potential is compromised. So, how can we equip ourselves and our clients with the tools to persevere through hard times like these?

The goal of this experiential skill development workshop is to introduce EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) or Tapping. This evidence-based somatic stress management tool has been shown to calm the brain and body. It’s also called Tapping because you tap on Acupuncture Meridian Points on your face and upper body. Tapping aids with anxiety reduction; it helps with trauma and other negative emotions by reducing unhelpful activation in the body and brain.

The beauty of adding Tapping to your toolbox is that it aligns and supports many of the Gestalt principles and theories. In addition to using somatic awareness, Tapping is not prescriptive, and it is a great way to keep the body from shutting down or detaching and staying with what is even amid internal distressing experiences.

The ability to self-regulate emotions and calm anxiety, fears, and trauma activation is empowering and transformational for our clients and ourselves. We all could benefit from learning EFT and add more ease, peace, and clarity to our lives.

Join us to learn about Tapping, in order to work to support a faster resolution to anxiety and people's experience of trauma. Special attention will be paid to integrating tapping into Gestalt practice as a complementary approach.

Learning Objectives:

• Explain the physiological effect of the stress response on critical thinking and behaviors;

• Describe How Tapping helps with self-regulation;

• Implement Functional Tapping (FT) for stress, anxiety, and grounding; and

• Share your understanding of ways tapping is philosophically compatible with a Gestalt approach.