Course Timing
The first live online session of this course is September 10, 2025.
Self-paced content will become available upon registration.
This is a hybrid course that will meet for 2 hour long sessions on Zoom over the course of 16 weeks every other Wednesday at 1:30 pm ET.
Live Sessions will meet:
September 10
September 24
October 8
October 2
November 5
November 19
December 3
December 17
Recordings of previous live sessions will be available on our learning platform.
Course Description
This 2-part class is a cutting-edge approach to working more effectively in therapy. Diagnosis and presenting symptoms from clients always have an underlying physiological state. Polyvagal Theory provides the framework and understanding of supporting clients' current presentation, as well as supporting them in their goals for treatment. This class will use the lens of Polyvagal Theory in applying therapeutic processes for physiological shifts, resulting in behavioral, emotional, and relational changes. These changes are directly related to clients’ needs and are at the heart of therapy. This class can be applied to a developed therapeutic approach for seasoned practitioners, or it can stand alone for newer clinicians wanting to apply Polyvagal Theory to their psychotherapeutic practice.
We invite you to a free course info session on August 13, 1:30-2pm ET. Registration link coming soon!
CEs for this training are pending.
Part Two of this training will launch at a later date.
Payment Information
This course costs $1110. Learners may opt to pay the full fee at registration, or to pay in monthly installments. Learners will have access to the course for 365 days from the registration date.
Course Requirements
There are no pre-requisites for this
Course Format
Course Framework
The first 15 minutes of each live session will be dedicated to co-regulation and connecting in small groups with questions related to the theme of the session.
The connector will be followed by 1.5 hours of content that will include a blend of lectures, demos, and practices. After a new skill is taught and modeled, students will have the chance to practice it with each other in their groups of 3 (client, therapist, and observer). The last 15 minutes of class will consist of sharing applications and takeaways.
Module Outline:
Overview of PVT as state-dependent functioning in — trauma treatment.
Main concepts:
Understanding the nervous system—behavioral and emotional presentations
Deactivation pathways overview
Students identifying their own tendency
Groups and connect to Dx—a bridge from the work they are doing. How do they see diagnoses differently after learning about states?
Attunement as the map for determining
Main concepts:
4 parts of Attunement—presence, tracking, perception, and response
Applying Presence Practice in groups
Looking at presence is challenging —beginning of coregulation as a tool
Deactivation pathway: Embodiment of resilient state — practice resilient state. Lecture and Practice.
Main concepts:
Trauma Vortex
Negativity Bias
Practice: Embodiment of Resilience State
Deactivation pathway: Being in the here and now - Demo
Main concepts:
Orientation (and interoception) response - sometimes over orient or stop orienting with trauma.
Interoception is part of being in the here and now and will include building blocks as DVC dominance needs to learn this.
Deactivation pathway: Co-regulation
Main Concepts:
Social engagement, witnessed, soothed, and comforted external and auto-regulation as indicators of physiological state
Staying in seat, holding space, holding boundaries, getting out of themselves—working with self
auto and external regulation moving to self and co joining vs. merging
Teaching skills of recognizing. For co-regulation to happen, understanding yourself.
Deactivation Pathway: Pendulation— sensation, emotion, belief
Main concepts:
Pendulation - it metabolizes a traumatic state and creates deactivation
3-4 snippets from demos showing emotion and belief
Review of main concepts:
Focus on a Demo and applying the review of the concepts of the course
Q&A with Special Guest and Ruby Jo
Recommended Audience
Course Outcomes
Students can name and contrast the survival functions of the 3 main nervous system states while in threat.
Students can identify 2 behavioral or emotional indicators of the 3 main nervous system threat-safety states.
Students will identify two deactivation pathways.
Students can identify the 4 parts of attunement.
Students can list 2 qualities that promote therapeutic presence with clients.
Students can explain the role of threat’s effect on therapeutic presence.
Students can contrast the trauma vortex vs the resilience vortex
Students can name one effect of the negativity bias
Students can describe the process of embodiment of resilient states.
Students can identify the two aspects of being in the here and now.
Students can define how orientation and interception support being in the here and now.
Students can list one skill in supporting the development of interception.
Students can identify their tendency for regulation—auto-regulation or external regulation.
Students can identify the underlying nervous system state of auto-regulation vs external regulation.
Students can identify indicators of merging vs joining in therapy.
Students can identify one way to lead the process of pendulation.
Students can name how pendulation occurs naturally in a regulated nervous system.
You will receive a Concentration in the Clinical Application of Polyvagal Theory certificate upon completion of the course.
INSTRUCTOR(S)
Ruby Jo Walker, LCSW
Ruby Jo Walker, LCSW, is an author, experienced trauma therapist, and trainer sought for her expertise in Polyvagal Theory. She specializes in supervising and training psychotherapists in providing effective treatment with special attention to supporting the development of the therapist. She is the founder of SouthwestTrauma Training Services where she developed Post-Traumatic Growth Somatic Therapy, a unique combination of advanced somatic therapy practices rooted in neurobiology, resilience, trauma healing, and attachment theory, using applied Polyvagal Theory. Additionally, she is certified in Somatic Experiencing and Hakomi Mindfulness Therapy.
Her experience in the field of trauma spans over 30 years of training a wide range of professionals from various disciplines in Polyvagal-informed trauma protocols. Her work continues to impact psychotherapists, healthcare providers, trauma support agencies, behavioral health service groups, human service agencies, and attendees at Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence conferences. She has facilitated hundreds of trainings, providing expert guidance to help individuals and organizations better understand and address the impact and treatment of trauma for improved client outcomes and effectiveness in their work.
Ruby Jo has a passion for supporting professionals and clients incorporating an understanding of neurobiology to bring about deep change and transformation. Committed to her community, Ruby Jo served in a leadership role on a statewide task force that developed supportive resources for healthcare workers in Colorado during the 2020 pandemic. She is a contributing author to Somatic-Oriented Therapies: Embodiment, Trauma, and the Polyvagal Perspective, edited by Dr. Stephen Porges, PhD. published in 2025. In collaboration with Norton Press, Ruby Jo will publish her first book focusing on Applied Polyvagal Theory to Trauma Treatment in late 2025.
Ruby Jo Walker, LCSW
