Pesso Boyden System Psychomotor Therapy (PBSP) is a powerful, gentle, flexible method for changing old, dysfunctional patterns. This workshop will present PBSP theory and help participants tune in to body signals and witness healing of deficits and wounds. The primary tool for this will be having participants role-play “ideal parents” who would have provided the client with the right input at the right age.

PBSP therapy is a particularly useful approach for providing transformative and healing experiences for people who have experienced wounding and trauma within their attachment relationships. We know that “what fires together, wires together”, and that painful experiences, particularly those that are repeated throughout our lifetime, become ingrained patterns and maps for our ways of moving through the world. Deconstructing these patterns and creating new maps can be incredibly challenging, as well as powerfully liberating.

PBSP provides opportunities for us to see in the present moment the structure of the ‘old map’ that has been written into our bodies, minds, nervous systems and hearts, as well as the possibility of what a new map can look and feel like.

We anticipate a mix of therapists new to PBSP and those more experienced to join this workshop, so we would like to note that some of the specific PBSP skills we may focus on include 'microtracking' (witnessing and voices), reversals/ideals and unbounded states/limits.

Learning Objectives:  
1. Learn the five basic needs addressed by PBSP
2. See how developmental deficits and attachment wounds and trauma show up in the body
3. Gain exposure to exercises/interventions that a) help discover unconscious emotion and b) help re-instate the ‘pilot’—forebrain/executive function
4. Experience the healing process of a PBSP structure 

Other important details:

• Schedule:

  • We will meet Friday, April 26th from 5-8p and Saturday and Sunday, April 27th and 28th will meet from 9a to 5p with an hourlong break for lunch.

• Cost:

  • The cost for the weekend training is $550 and is payable via PayPal or Venmo. Please submit your information via this form and you will be contacted to make payment. Payment options are also available.

• Cancellation/Refund policy:

  • Refunds are available if registration is cancelled prior to March 25, 2023.

  • Past March 25, 2023, refunds will only be available if we are able to fill your spot in the training (and the training is full) less a $25 administrative fee.

• Accommodation options: For folks traveling to Minneapolis, we will have limited accommodations available at the workshop site for an additional fee. Please let us know at the below link if you will be needing accommodations.

  • Private room for 3 nights: $275

  • Shared room with king bed for 3 nights: $375

This training weekend will be facilitated by Gus Kaufman, Ph.D.

Gus Kaufman, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist who works with individuals, couples, families and groups as well as providing clinical supervision, and training. Since 1978 Dr. Kaufman had been a trainer and supervisor both nationally and internationally of Pesso-Boyden System Psychomotor Therapy. His dissertation research Body Signals of Childhood Loss was a pioneering work in demonstrating how ‘the body keeps the score.’ Gus has been an adjunct professor and clinical field supervisor in the Department of Psychology at Georgia State University.

Dr. Kaufman has co-founded five nonprofits, including Men Stopping Violence, for which he conducted classes, training and public education (locally and nationally). He is a respected and renowned writer, fundraiser, and organizer of community action to end male violence toward women. Gus was instrumental in developing a 12-session curriculum on abuse which was used for all prisoners (approximately 40,000) in GA correctional facilities. Gus co-founded the Rainbow Project: Ending Violence in Our Relationships which focused on public education and intervention aimed at ending abuse in gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender relationships.

Virtual panel. Hosted by the American Council on Exercise.