Founder of Post-Traumatic Growth Somatic Therapy™ Certifications
CERTIFIED SOMATIC EXPERIENCING™ THERAPIST
HAKOMI™ CERTIFIED THERAPIST
EXPERT LEVEL in ORGANIC INTELLIGENCE™
Neurobiology Trainings
My approach to all trainings, which are Polyvagal-informed, begins with the belief that neurobiology creates compassion for profound growth. These formalized, nervous system-informed trainings incorporate principles from Polyvagal theory, mindfulness, attachment, neurobiology, resilience, and somatic perspectives. Each training session showcases the latest information on these groundbreaking concepts and guarantees a non-threatening, safe learning space where participants feel fully supported.
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These trainings offer maps around understanding human behavior—neurobiology and the nervous system, attachment, and how developmental wounding affects core beliefs. The strength of these trainings is that they are the best maps we know so far—and they are also the maps to work with clients. You’ll find that as you integrate this newfound knowledge into your personal growth journey, you can better support your client’s journey of expansion.
Therapists get stuck in two ways: first, by not having the information they need, and second, by how their own developmental wounding limits their personal lens. It’s a simple, profound truth that the more you work on yourself as a therapist, the more you can help your clients better themselves. With a gentle, fully supported, non-threatening approach, these formalized therapy trainings are designed to help you do just that by incorporating principles of
attachment, neurobiology, Polyvagal theory, resilience, and somatic psychology.
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As a trauma-informed therapy trainer, I like to think of myself as the holder of holders; I’ll hold your strengths and your growing edges with love and compassion. My goal is to help you move more into yourself, so you can help your clients move more into themselves.
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SERVICE PROVIDER/STAFF RESILIENCY TRAINING:
The last few years have presented the full spectrum of traumas and challenges that continue to ripple through our communities and the organizations that support us. These resiliency trainings are customized focusing on your needs and are suitable for healthcare providers, educators, tribal agencies, trauma support agencies, and other helping organizations. Discover more efficient skills and knowledge to better support nervous system regulation so you and your colleagues can return to your good work.
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POST-TRAUMATIC GROWTH SOMATIC THERAPY
CERTIFICATION TRAINING:
66 Hour Training Certification • 3 module series
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Grounded in applied Polyvagal Theory, this training is designed for practitioners eager to grow and learn to support growth in their clients. In this training series, practitioners deeply explore post-traumatic growth from a nervous system and trauma-informed approach. This training incorporates the newest neurobiological perspectives that facilitate somatic trauma resolution and embodied personal growth and resiliency. Based on our humanness, this training has a true non-pathologizing approach to neurobiology, recognizing that adaptations are connected to neurobiology and experiences.
​Developmental wounding’s impact on core beliefs and neurobiological trauma states can get in the way of post-traumatic growth. This training deepens practitioners’ understanding of attachment styles, emotions, and nervous system states and how these relate to supporting post-traumatic growth. With this understanding, practitioners can increase their abilities to work with clients' nervous systems as well as their own.
Clients can generally only go as far as their practitioner; the practitioner’s ability to be mindful of their own patterning—with its strengths and limitations—will be a soft focus, making each practitioner feel more effective and supported. The use of self to support growth and possibility is a cornerstone of this method.
This workshop utilizes presentations, demonstrations, videos, experiential exercises, and practice, each aimed at helping participants learn how to use these skills with themselves and others. In addition to the topics listed, each module will build from previous material and skills, promoting greater understanding, skillfulness, and confidence.
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This training pulls from Stephen Porges and Polyvagal Theory, as well as Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, Dr. Dan Siegel, Dr. Allan Shore, Dr. Rick Hanson, Diane Poole-Heller, Ron Kurtz, Peter Levine, Pat Ogden, Paul Erkman, Kristin Neff , Chris Gemer, Paul Gilbert, Bonnie Badenoch, Bruce Ecker, Deb Dana, and other leaders in the trauma neurobiology field.
Each module is 21 hours and includes a two 1.5-hour Supervision Group for a total of 66 hours of training.
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THE NEUROBIOLOGY OF RESILIENCE ONLINE SERIES
This series is designed to support expansion and resilience using the lens of neurobiology and the nervous system (Polyvagal Theory) with different skills and practices. Each workshop will have a different focus to support a more resilient life. Sign up for these online workshops (via Zoom) individually or attend the entire series for a discounted rate.
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"I am the psychotherapist I am because of Ruby Jo Walker, LCSW, and her mentorship over the past 17 years. Growing alongside her as a practitioner while she developed Post-Traumatic Growth Somatic Therapy, I have offered this method to my clients for many years. Her trainings provide practitioners of all types neuroscience- and biology-based therapy that allows clients to experience deep shifts in their lives towards more aliveness and to be their fullest selves.
Her method of supporting a person’s nervous system to integrate past traumas and to move into growth and resiliency increases their ability to flow through what life throws at them. With her method, she intentionally tends to developmental trauma as it has laid down in the nervous system, thereby supporting profound shifts from stuck protective responses to more flexibility and resource states for a person. Her focus on supporting the Ventral Vagal system in a person through mindful awareness techniques and using the personhood of the practitioner brings in safety and moves clients into their “new” health and flow, whatever that may mean for each client.
Ruby Jo integrates the most current information in the field of neurobiology in her trainings. Experiential learning of the skills and method is an invaluable part of her trainings allowing the growth of practical skills for practitioners and comfort with integrating these skills with clients after each training weekend. I highly recommend Southwest Trauma Trainings to all types of helpers."
– Emily Newcomer, MEd, LPC, Southwest Psychotherapy Services, Durango, CO
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