Somatic Experiencing® Training

The SE™ Training is a 3 year program. There are three training levels – one level for each year of the training. The levels are referred to as Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced. Each training level consists of two 6-day modules, providing 12 days of classroom attendance per level, equating to a total of 36 days over 3 years.

For more details about our training program, please visit the following link.

  • Trainings are delivered over a 3 year period

  • Trainings are twice a year for 6 days and spaced approximately 6 months apart

  • Each module of the training is facilitated by an international senior faculty member from Somatic Experiencing ® International.

  • The training offers a range of learning methods to suit a diverse range of learner styles. Components to the training include theory, a combination of in person, practical and pre-recorded demonstrations of the approach and subject topic.

  • Each module scaffolds onto the previous for continuity and depth of learning.

  • Application skill development evolves in the practice sessions, which are run each day of the training and incorporate experiential exercises conducted in dyads, triads, and small groups. Each session is set up, guided, and supported by highly skilled SE™ training assistants.

Meet The Trainers

SE Professional Training Faculty Berns Galloway

Berns Galloway began his professional career as an elementary teacher in Canada before transitioning to psychotherapeutic group work, where he studied humanistic approaches and bodywork, earning a Master's degree from the University of Victoria in 1995. His career has included working as a mental health therapist in a non-profit agency, training and supervising volunteers and graduate students, and maintaining a private practice. Since discovering Somatic Experiencing (SE) in 2000, he has integrated SE bodywork into his therapeutic practice, enhancing its effectiveness. His early experiences working with First Nations peoples on Vancouver Island deeply influenced his appreciation for the somatic work's organic nature and the importance of connection. Berns now teaches SE Professional Training in the US and Canada, continually inspired by the richness of the SE approach.

SE Professional Training Faculty Maggie Kline

Maggie Kline has been a marriage, family and child therapist for nearly 40 years and is a retired school psychologist. Originally trained in Satir’s Family Systems, Gestalt, and Humanistic Psychology, she specializes in trauma recovery through the lens of Somatic Experiencing and embodied mindfulness. Maggie integrates S.E. concepts with art, dream work, movement, and attachment play when working with children and teens. She is a senior Somatic Experiencing instructor for SEI www.traumahealing.org teaching internationally and creator of Conscious Connections PlayShops. Maggie co-authored Trauma through a Child’s Eyes: Awakening the Ordinary Miracle of Healing (2007) and Trauma Proofing Your Kids: A Parents’ Guide to Instilling Confidence, Joy and Resilience (2008) with Dr. Peter A. Levine. Her latest book, Brain-Changing Strategies to Trauma-Proof Our Schools: A Heart-Centered Movement for Wiring Well-Being (2020) is intended to inspire an evolutionary shift to relieve trauma and stress in communities and cultivate a culture of kindness.

SE Professional Training Faculty Francine Kelley

A Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor and Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT500), this Jamaican-born practitioner’s journey to teaching Somatic Experiencing (SE) is both unique and inspiring. From her early interest in dance and yoga—sparked by her father's practice and her own curiosity—she cultivated a deep connection to her body. This connection grew through studies in West African, modern, and Caribbean dance, and later through yoga and meditation training during her decade-long career in Corporate Information Technology. Her counseling studies introduced her to Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Yoga for Anxiety and Depression, and Trauma-Sensitive Yoga. A serendipitous encounter with Ariel Giarretto's SE introduction, coupled with a poignant realization about her own life, ignited her passion for SE. Now based in Chicago, her integrative private practice blends SE, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, yoga, DBT, and somatic touch, supported by humor and personal engagement with clients. She also mentors BIPOC practitioners and supervises counseling interns at the Chicago Women’s Health Center. She is a mother to a college student and a high school senior.

SE Professional Training Faculty Lael Keen

Lael Katharine Keen, an Advanced Level Teacher for the Somatic Experiencing® Trauma Institute and a direct student of Dr. Peter Levine, has been teaching Somatic Experiencing® worldwide since 1998. She is a founding member of the Brazilian Trauma Association (ABT). Since 1995, Lael has also taught Rolfing® Structural Integration at both basic and advanced levels for the Dr. Ida Rolf Institute and is an instructor of the Rolf Movement Program. She co-founded the Brazilian Rolfing® Association (ABR). Lael holds a 6th-degree black belt in Ki-Aikido and integrates various body-mind disciplines into her work, including Matrixworks Living Systems, which she uses in all her group leadership. Residing in the south of Brazil, she and her husband run a training center in the Atlantic Rain Forest on the Island of Santa Catarina. Committed to lifelong learning, Lael has studied Anthroposophy since 2003 and is certified as an Anthroposophic Art Therapist and Biographical Counselor. Additionally, she is an Educator for the Bates Method of Vision.

SE Professional Training Faculty Linda Stelte

Linda Stelte, an SE International Faculty Member and Trauma Counsellor and Educator in Canada, teaches Beginning and Intermediate levels of the SE Professional Training in Canada, the US, and Australia, and provides case consultation at all levels. Introduced to Somatic Experiencing (SE) during her graduate work at the University of Victoria in 1998, she has integrated SE principles into her clinical practice and teaching of Human Development and Counselling courses at City University and Grant MacEwan University in Alberta, Canada, since earning her degree in 2000. Since 2014, Linda has led the development of a trauma and attachment program at a residential treatment center for children with complex trauma histories and mental health diagnoses, using SE principles. Based in St. Albert, Alberta, she also provides clinical support to an isolated First Nation Community on the West Coast of British Columbia, profoundly influencing her personal and professional life. Her extensive experience and passion for SE inform her private practice, teaching, and personal life as she continues to support trauma healing.