3 DAY TRAINING
Healing Early Trauma Imprints for
Babies & Small Children
March 13 - 15, 2027
Summerland, British Columbia
Babies and small children are communicating long before they have words.
The question is whether we know how to listen.
This experiential three-day training explores how our earliest experiences, from preconception through early childhood, can shape the nervous system, relationships and the ways we move through the world.
Through somatic practice, developmental understanding and deep listening, we'll learn to listen with our hearts and our hands, developing the attunement, knowledge and practical skills to better understand what a baby or child's system may already be showing us.
Open to practitioners, parents and those called to this work.
Babies and small children are communicating long before they have words.
Babies and small children experience their world through their bodies, relationships and developing nervous systems.
They may not be able to tell us what happened, what overwhelmed them or what they need in the way an adult can.
But that doesn't mean they aren't communicating.
Their bodies communicate.
Their movements communicate.
Their responses and relationships communicate.
Over three days, we'll begin learning how to notice and understand this language with greater attunement and precision.
Because when we stop beginning with
What should I do? and begin with What is this child communicating?
The way we approach the work can change completely.
The babies & children who find their way to this work may be experiencing...
IN BABIES
Difficulty settling, frequent upset, feeding or latching challenges, digestive discomfort or reflux, sleep challenges, muscular tension, torticollis, plagiocephaly, tongue/lip ties, sensory sensitivity or the effects of a difficult birth, separation or cesarean experience.
IN YOUNG CHILDREN
Sleep challenges, tummy aches, separation anxiety, fears, nightmares, sensory or emotional overwhelm, behavioural challenges, difficulties with regulation or experiences connected to birth, attachment, injury or other early hardships.
Rather than beginning with a symptom and trying to make it disappear, we learn to become curious about the child in front of us.
What are they showing us?
What happens when we listen before we intervene?
About the Training
This three-day training is rooted in Craniosacral Therapy, pre- and perinatal psychology, relational somatic work and spiritual principles.
It includes teaching, live demonstration, hands-on practice, embodied exploration, group work and plenty of space for questions, conversation and connection.
When we talk about healing early trauma imprints, we're not talking about erasing what happened.
We're exploring how our earliest hardships can be met with gentleness, compassion and attuned presence, so experiences that were once overwhelming don't have to remain held in quite the same way.
This work asks us to listen without rushing toward an outcome.
To become curious about what the body remembers.
And to offer something that may have been missing the first time: time, presence, relationship and care.
What to Expect
DEMO
SESSION
We will typically welcome one baby and their parent into the training for a live demonstration.
Rather than simply watching a “treatment,” we'll slow the process down together.
What is the baby communicating?
What changes when we wait?
What happens when we follow rather than direct?
What are we noticing through the body, movement, relationship and response?
THERAPEUTIC
TECHNIQUES
This training isn't only theoretical. You'll leave with practical ways of bringing this understanding into your hands, your practice and your relationships with children.
Over our three days together, you'll learn:
6 Craniosacral Therapy holds specifically for working with babies
4 Somatic Practices for supporting young children
How to listen through your hands with greater attunement and precisionHow to begin noticing what a baby's body may already be communicating
How to approach the work without imposing your own story or agenda
How to meet what arises with greater neutrality, patience and care
All craniosacral holds are practised hands-on with adult partners, allowing you to develop a felt sense of the work before exploring how these principles translate to babies.
ADVANCED
LEARNING
We'll explore early development through the lenses of pre- and perinatal psychology, Craniosacral Therapy, attachment, trauma and the nervous system. From experiences surrounding conception, pregnancy and birth through separation, feeding, attachment and early childhood experiences, we'll consider how what happens early can continue to influence the developing child.
For many participants, this information changes the way they understand babies and children entirely.
PERSONAL
PROCESSING
To listen deeply to another person, we also need to become increasingly familiar with ourselves.
Learning about early trauma can naturally bring us into contact with pieces of our own history. You may recognize aspects of your birth, childhood, attachment experiences or parenting as we move through the material.
We approach this with care and create opportunities for embodied exploration and reflection throughout our three days.
You don't need to have “healed everything” before you come.
But you do need to be willing to look.
Healing Early Trauma Imprints is an educational and experiential training, not a professional certification in Craniosacral Therapy or psychotherapy.
Practitioners may integrate the learning within their existing professional scope, while parents may attend to deepen their understanding of their own children and offer attuned support within family life. The introductory Craniosacral Therapy techniques taught do not qualify participants to practise Craniosacral Therapy professionally.
This is a warm, relational learning environment rather than a therapeutic retreat. Because personal material can sometimes arise, participants are asked to arrive with enough support and capacity to care for themselves throughout the training.
A Note on Scope ~
Held in Summerland, BC
There's something special about stepping away from your usual rhythms to learn this work together.
Surrounded by orchards, mountains and the landscape of the South Okanagan, Summerland is a beautiful place to spend a few days learning together, with plenty to explore and enjoy outside of training hours.
Our 90-minute midday break gives you time to eat, rest, connect with other students or step outside before returning to the work.
Accommodation and travel are not included in tuition.
We'll gather at Rising Earth Collective in Summerland, BC,
a beautiful practitioner-owned space in the heart of the
Okanagan Valley.
Exact address + additional details will be provided upon registration.
Why I Teach This Work
I didn't arrive at this work only through study.
My years in clinical practice, Craniosacral Therapy and pre- and perinatal psychology have given me frameworks for understanding early experience. But my own birth, early attachment history, birth of my daughter and the many years I've spent navigating my own healing, have shaped the way I understand this work just as deeply.
I've experienced what it means to carry our earliest experiences forward.
And I've witnessed, both personally and clinically, what can happen when those places are finally met with gentleness, patience and attuned care.
This work isn't always easy.
It asks for patience. Neutrality. A willingness to listen rather than assume. And sometimes, the courage to look at our own history while we're learning to sit beside someone else's.
But I believe deeply that it's worth it.
At the end of these trainings, I hear some version of the same thing again and again:
“Everyone should know this.”
I feel the same way.
Part of my intention in teaching this work is simply to put this knowledge into more hands, homes and therapeutic spaces.
Because the more babies and children who are truly listened to, the more possibility there is for something different.
The Course Program
This training runs from 10:00am–5:30pm Saturday and Sunday, with a 75-minute lunch break.
Monday ends at 1:00pm.
Our days move between teaching, discussion, hands-on partner practice, somatic exploration, demonstrations and time to integrate what we're learning.
There is a full-size kitchen and fridge available if you'd like to bring your lunch. Local restaurants and cafés are also a short drive away.
Nourishing snacks, coffee and tea will be provided throughout the training.
You'll also receive a detailed reference guidebook to continue learning from afterward.
Please note!
While this training focuses on healing early trauma imprints in babies and young children, it is designed for adult participants.
One live demonstration with a baby and parent is typically included, depending on availability.
If you'd like your baby to be considered for our live demonstration, please be in touch in advance.
Learn how to meet what was once overwhelming with presence, care & skill.
Training Investment
$899CAD
Your registration includes the full 2.5-day in-person training, hands-on practice, demonstrations and a detailed reference guidebook to continue learning from afterward.
A minimum of a $200 deposit is required to reserve your place.
“The future emotional and physical health of our grandchildren and great grandchildren is in our hands now.”
MATTHEW APPLETON