Polyvagal Theory in Clinical Practice: Healing Trauma Through Nervous System Regulation with Deb Dana

Discover the Power of Polyvagal Theory in Clinical Practice

The autonomic nervous system is at the heart of daily living, powerfully shaping how people experience safety, connection, and survival. How we move through the world—turning toward, backing away, sometimes attaching, other times isolating—is guided by this system.

For therapists, understanding this system is vital to guiding clients out of survival-driven patterns and into states of safety and engagement.

With the development of Polyvagal Theory, therapists now have a guide to the states of connection, mobilization, and collapse. They can reliably help clients reshape their responses and rewrite the stories that are carried in their autonomic pathways. This updated map of the nervous system shows the way to help clients move out of adaptive survival responses into the autonomically regulated state of safety. This is an essential element in the process of change.

Polyvagal Theory in clinical practice provides an invaluable framework for reshaping adaptive survival responses. It offers practical strategies to help clients rewrite the trauma narratives that are embedded in their nervous systems.

Join renowned clinician and author Deb Dana, LCSW, for this transformative, multi-part, 12-hour on-demand course. Deb Dana, a leading expert in applying Polyvagal Theory in clinical practice, is known for her ability to make complex concepts accessible and immediately applicable.

Through experiential learning, you will:

• Deepen your understanding of the nervous system.
• Develop an understanding of the organizing principles of Polyvagal Theory.
• Develop a clear autonomic map for your clients.
• Gain tools to help them move toward connection and resilience.
• Explore the essential question, “What does the nervous system need in this moment to find safety in connection?”

What You’ll Learn:

Working individually and in dyads, this hands-on workshop offers evidence-based techniques to integrate Polyvagal Theory in clinical practice. You will gain tools and insights, including:

• Techniques to track and interpret autonomic states in yourself and your clients
• Skills to safely explore patterns of action, disconnection, and engagement
• Strategies for shifting from survival responses to regulated states of safety and connection
• Techniques to build autonomic regulation and resilience
• Practical methods for using co-regulation to enhance therapeutic outcomes
• Skills to help clients reshape their autonomic pathways and reframe trauma stories

Why Polyvagal Theory in Clinical Practice Matters

Polyvagal Theory highlights how trauma disrupts the nervous system, replacing connection with protection. By understanding this process, therapists can address core issues that drive behaviours and beliefs. Through Deb Dana’s guidance, you’ll learn to ask, “What does the nervous system need right now?” and develop practices to create safety, promote regulation, and build resilience.

About Your Speaker: Deb Dana, LCSW

Deb Dana is a trusted voice in trauma therapy and a leading authority on Polyvagal Theory in clinical practice. As a clinician, consultant, and author of groundbreaking books like The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy and Polyvagal Exercises for Safety and Connection, she has helped countless professionals integrate Polyvagal principles into their work. Her engaging teaching style and practical insights make her workshops essential for therapists looking to deepen their impact.

Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from Deb Dana and transform your therapeutic approach to healing trauma. Register today!

1. Analyze three organizing principles of Polyvagal Theory.
2. Develop an understanding of how the autonomic nervous system shapes behaviours and beliefs.
3. Summarize the impact of trauma on the nervous system.
4. Determine ways neuroception shapes behaviour.
5. Construct an autonomic map to identify the emergent properties of states.
6. Apply strategies that utilize the co-regulating pathways of the Social Engagement System in clinical work to improve clinical outcomes.
7. Assess client responses through autonomic state and state shifts.
8. Categorize the distinct stories that emerge from autonomic states.
9. Utilize tools to help regulate your own autonomic state to create an environment of safety for clients.
10. Utilize micro-moments to build the capacity for regulation.
11. Summarize the adaptive qualities of survival responses.
12. Categorize cues of safety and danger and apply practices to shift the balance.
13. Apply polyvagal-informed processes to help clients move from dysregulation to regulation.
14. Assess client profiles and patterns of interaction to inform clinical choice.
15. Assess clinical interactions through a polyvagal perspective.
16. Utilize active engagement with the ventral vagus to promote healing in clinical work.

This training offers 12 hours of direct contact (not counting breaks or lunch). It is the participant’s responsibility to check with their individual state boards/regulatory body to verify CE requirements for their license to practice.

Attendees of this in-person seminar will receive instructions on how to obtain their Certificate of Participation after the course has finished.

The Certificate of Participation includes:

• Name of participant.
• Title of training.
• Name of presenter plus their credentials.
• Number of hours of training.
• Date of training.
• Confirmation of 100% attendance at the workshop.

Get details about CE credits for Canadian and non-US international participants.

Get details about CE credits for US participants.

Please check with your regulatory body/organization to ensure that this certificate is sufficient proof for you to claim CE credits.