Self-Liberation Through Somatic Therapy | Mental Health Monday
With Melina McConnell

Monday, October 18 @ 11:00 am PST
Self-Liberation Through Somatic Therapy
In this presentation, Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, Therapist, and Trauma Specialist, Melina McConnell will guide us to:
- Understand the importance of resourcing, stabilization, and orienting (short grounding exercise)
- Identify what somatic therapy is
- Explore how a somatic approach is helpful for the different kinds of traumatic stress and our attachment patterns
- Understand the difference between shock trauma and developmental trauma, and how they show up differently somatically
- Recognize fear and immobility, how they manifest in the body, and the importance of healing from this coupling dynamic
- Learn Vagus Nerve toning exercises we can try at home
Join us LIVE for a Q & A session following the presentation.
ABOUT MELINA MCCONNELL
Melina is a firm believer that we are innately designed to heal and that taking a mind-body approach is essential in healing the effects of human experiences. Trauma steals our sense of safety, curiosity, competence, and sense of belonging, leaving us with symptoms of nervous system dysregulation and other (often) painful body manifestations. Using the gentle and titrated approach of Somatic Therapy, Melina addresses the underlying causes of these symptoms by encouraging the movement of stuck survival energies, renegotiating boundary breaches, and repairing attunement ruptures from early life moving clients towards wholeness and health. Melina has advanced training in therapeutic touch and includes this as a regular part of her practice.
Melina maintains a private practice in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada assisting individuals in the areas of trauma (developmental trauma, shock trauma, c-PTSD, PTSD), human development and attachment, anxiety, depression, chronic pain, and addictions. Melina is a Registered Counsellor with the Canadian College of Professional Counsellors and Psychotherapists, a Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner (SEP) with the Somatic Experiencing® Trauma Institute (SETI), a Somatic Touch Trauma Therapist and a registered Addictions Counsellor with the Canadian Addiction Counsellors Federation. She is a teaching assistant for the Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute, and is continuously honing her skills. Over the course of 2021, she will complete Steve Terrell’s Transforming the Experienced Based Brain (TEB) early developmental trauma touch training, as well as continuing with other advanced, specialized somatic therapy trainings.
Melina’s passion is to assist clients in feeling strong, safe, and resilient from an embodied nervous system perspective. She believes that mind and body are not just connected but are one in the same.
CONNECT WITH MELINA
Website: melinamcconnell.com
We believe that when women heal, families heal, and communities do too.
The SHE RECOVERS Foundation Weekly #MentalHealthMonday Educational Series is composed of hour-long, live, recovery-focused educational sessions featuring today’s leaders in women’s wellness, mental health, and addiction recovery.
All #MentalHealthMonday sessions are broadcasted on Facebook and added to our Youtube Channel for future viewing.
With Great Thanks
This series is made possible by Alkermes.
The SHE RECOVERS Foundation was awarded funding in 2021 as part of the Alkermes Inspiration Grants® program to re-launch #MentalHealthMonday in the fall of 2021. This critical grant support will help us to continue delivering our innovative #MentalHealthMonday Educational series and better meet the increasingly diverse needs of our growing community. We are humbled, grateful, and invigorated by this honor.
