David Bate, MD, SEP
I have been a Family Physician for more than thirty years. I have always sought the underlying causes of illness; this quest has taken me through study of alternative healing systems, with extensive study in Polarity Therapy, Somatic Experiencing, and Castellino Training in Resolving Prenatal and Birth Trauma. What resources best support the life force in a person, that impulse toward healing, joy, and greater understanding, that continually courses through each of us?
I believe that healing—always becoming more fully alive, more loving, more authentically ourselves—is available to everyone, and that rather than being some therapy imposed from without, healing is the natural flow of the life force already within us. My intention in my work and my life is to help each person find his or her own unique path to greater health.
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) is a brilliant program for healing relationships. When partners can reach for and respond to each other with loving connection, tremendous healing of body, mind and spirit occurs for both. EFT, and the Hold Me Tight workshop, are powerful tools for allowing each person's resilience to grow. Secure connection with another treasured person makes for a safe and secure foundation for living. It helps nervous systems settle, improves rest, and opens each person for fuller life. I am convinced that the most promising setting for healing is connection with another human.
I believe that healing—always becoming more fully alive, more loving, more authentically ourselves—is available to everyone, and that rather than being some therapy imposed from without, healing is the natural flow of the life force already within us. My intention in my work and my life is to help each person find his or her own unique path to greater health.
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) is a brilliant program for healing relationships. When partners can reach for and respond to each other with loving connection, tremendous healing of body, mind and spirit occurs for both. EFT, and the Hold Me Tight workshop, are powerful tools for allowing each person's resilience to grow. Secure connection with another treasured person makes for a safe and secure foundation for living. It helps nervous systems settle, improves rest, and opens each person for fuller life. I am convinced that the most promising setting for healing is connection with another human.
Elli Schmeltekopf, MS, LPC, SEP
I have been a licensed therapist in private practice since 2005. I studied Somatic Experiencing (SE), a body based approach to healing trauma for seven years, both assisting and coordinating trainings. This was followed by an extensive training in attachment repair for adults following the SE model. I have completed Ray Castellino’s revolutionary three-year training working with pre- and perinatal influences. In studying Dr. Sue Johnson’s Emotionally Focused Therapy model I found it a great addition to my other trainings. Dr. Johnson’s work brought into focus the necessity of having a felt sense of safety in one’s primary relationship as a foundation for healing trauma. Healing occurs in connection.
Above all, I strive to operate from a place of personal integrity, compassion and acceptance, together with a willingness to fight for the depth of healing that we are capable of. My deeply held belief that healing can and should occur, and that the wisdom for how that can happen is available to each of us, grounds, informs, and guides each session.
