Skip to content Talk therapy alone often stalls when a client’s trauma or intimacy pain lives in the body, not just the mind, leaving skilled clinicians without a next step to offer. Somatic therapy training in Lafayette, CO, gives licensed therapists, counselors, and sex therapists a structured way to add body-based tools to work that language alone cannot finish. At Embodied Relationships Training Center, therapists learn to read nonverbal cues, track nervous system activation, and guide clients toward safety using methods that go beyond conversation.
Founder Melissa Walker, MA, LPC, CST, R-DMT, developed the Somatic-Concentric Sex Therapy (S-CST) model after training at Naropa University in nearby Boulder. She has taught the approach to therapists nationwide for over a decade, and co-facilitator Anna Mayer, MA, LPC, R-DMT, brings ten years of embodied intimacy experience to every cohort. Anna’s background spans dialectical behavior therapy, parts work, and emotionally focused therapy, which she weaves into the somatic curriculum alongside Melissa’s dance and movement therapy training. Their Lafayette studio on East Simpson Street draws clinicians traveling the US-36 corridor from Boulder, Denver, and Louisville, as well as therapists who join select sessions virtually from across the country.
Embodied Relationships Training Center structures its curriculum in two levels, so clinicians build somatic skill deliberately rather than all at once.
Level 2 suits somatic therapy training for therapists who already hold Level 1 skills or comparable body-based training.
This staged structure matters most for clinicians who came up entirely within talk-therapy graduate programs, since most counseling curricula still treat the body as secondary to cognition. Graduate-level therapy students and newly licensed clinicians can enter at Level 1 alongside seasoned practitioners because the format assumes no prior somatic background. Psychology graduate students preparing for licensure often arrive with strong theoretical grounding but little hands-on practice reading a client’s body. Level 1 is built to close exactly that gap before they carry it into independent practice.
The Somatic-Concentric Sex Therapy (S-CST) Training module teaches the S-CST model Melissa Walker developed by blending sex therapy, attachment work, and dance/movement therapy into one integrated framework. The model grew out of her own search for a couples therapy approach that honored emotional intimacy, sexual intimacy, and the body all at once. She first presented it at the 2012 American Dance Therapy Association conference before refining it into the curriculum taught today.
Clinicians practice somatic sex therapy training exercises live in each session, including embodied consent language and erotic embodiment mapping. These skills transfer directly into client work rather than staying theoretical, since trainees rehearse them under supervision before the weekend ends. The module also introduces case formulation, helping clinicians decide when a somatic intervention is preferable to a purely verbal one. It draws on material from Melissa’s book, Whole-Body Sex, assigned as required reading between sessions.
Nervous system regulation is the throughline connecting every S-CST module because clients cannot access insight or intimacy while their bodies remain in a defensive state. Trainees learn to recognize non-verbal defense cues such as breath-holding, muscle guarding, and gaze avoidance, and then respond with co-regulation techniques rather than pushing past them verbally. Those techniques include:
The S-CST training for couples and intimate relationships module extends this work into relational attunement, teaching clinicians how one partner’s nervous system state shapes the other’s in real time. This often happens within seconds of a conversation shifting toward conflict or intimacy, long before either partner names what changed. It also functions as an experiential, body-based couples therapy training in Lafayette, CO, pairing lecture with live, supervised practice. Clinicians leave able to use the techniques the same week rather than waiting months to build confidence on their own.
Consider a common in-session moment: a client’s shoulders rise, and their breath shortens the instant intimacy arises, but they keep talking as though nothing has changed. A clinician trained only in cognitive approaches may miss that shift entirely or wait for the client to name it aloud. Somatic training teaches clinicians to notice and name what the body is already communicating, then use that observation to guide the session toward safety before returning to verbal processing.
Clinicians who add somatic tools often describe feeling less stuck and more effective within a single training weekend. This embodied relationship therapist training model prioritizes direct practice over lecture, so clinicians rehearse each intervention before they ever use it with a client.
One AASECT-certified sex therapist described feeling stuck relying only on cognitive tools despite years of experience. Level 1 training reshaped how he understood erotic embodiment within a single weekend. Matt Lachman, M.Ed., M.S., LPCC-S, CST, of Cleveland Sex Therapy, said it let him access the material “in a logical way, but also in an embodied one.” Another trainee, a licensed professional counselor who is newer to somatic approaches, said she left the weekend with tools that her clients responded to immediately. That shift changed how she structured sessions months after the training ended. Clinicians who want ongoing support after training can continue into Clinical Supervision & Workshops sessions, where they troubleshoot real client cases with peers and faculty between cohorts.
Embodied Relationships Training Center does not present somatic work as a replacement for a clinician’s existing modality. It presents itself as an additional layer that catches what talk therapy alone tends to miss, especially in sessions where a client’s words and body tell two different stories. Faculty encourage trainees to continue using their established frameworks and add somatic observation on top of them, rather than discarding years of clinical training to start over.
Every training level at the Embodied Relationships Training Center is built for continuing education credit, so clinicians build skill and satisfy licensure requirements in the same weekend. Embodied Relationships Training Center is an AASECT-approved CE provider, and Melissa Walker holds AASECT-certified sex therapist status, which keeps the curriculum aligned with the field’s clinical standards. Colorado clinicians licensed through the Department of Regulatory Agencies can apply training hours toward their continuing education requirement. Out-of-state therapists should confirm reciprocity with their own licensing board before enrolling, since requirements vary by state.
Training formats include in-person cohorts at the Lafayette studio and virtual workshops for somatic continuing education for clinicians who cannot travel to Colorado. In-person weekends combine short lecture blocks with supervised partner practice, so every technique gets rehearsed in the room under faculty observation before a trainee tries it independently. Virtual sessions run live rather than as pre-recorded modules, which keeps the same interactive, question-driven format available to therapists joining from outside the Front Range.
A typical training weekend follows this sequence:
Clinicians pursuing somatic concentric sex therapy training for therapists in Colorado often start at the Foundation level before advancing into couples-focused coursework. Cohort sizes stay small enough that faculty can give individual feedback throughout the weekend, rather than lecturing to a room too large for hands-on correction. Those ready to formalize their skills can review the Somatic Therapy Certification Details and proceed to ERTC’s trauma-informed somatic therapy certification program.
The program layers advanced supervision on top of the core curriculum. The certification track includes case consultation directly with Melissa Walker or Anna Mayer, and trainees receive documentation of completed hours after each level to submit to their own licensing board. New cohorts open several times a year, and clinicians can check the Therapist Training Portal to plan around their own caseload before committing to a weekend.
In-person cohorts meet at the Embodied Relationships Training Center’s studio, 308 East Simpson Street, in Lafayette, Colorado. The location sits along the US-36 corridor, making it an easy trip for clinicians traveling from Boulder, Denver, or Louisville.
Yes, Colorado LPCs, LMFTs, LCSWs, and certified sex therapists can apply training hours toward their continuing education requirement. Embodied Relationships Training Center is an AASECT-approved CE provider, so credit hours align with recognized clinical standards.
Somatic therapy training teaches clinicians to work directly with the body, using nervous system tracking, breath awareness, and movement alongside conversation. Traditional talk therapy relies mainly on cognitive insight, while somatic approaches help resolve trauma and relational patterns through the body’s own physiological processes.
S-CST training is open to licensed mental health clinicians, marriage and family counselors, certified sex therapists, and graduate-level therapy students. Level 1 requires no prior somatic training, while Level 2 assumes foundational skills from Level 1 or equivalent body-based coursework.
The training teaches clinicians to identify non-verbal defense patterns, release stored physical tension, and regulate nervous system arousal before deeper intimacy work begins. Clinicians leave able to guide clients toward embodied consent and emotional safety in ways that talk therapy alone often cannot reach.
Clinicians across Colorado and beyond can begin somatic therapy training in Lafayette, CO, with a Level 1 cohort designed to build confidence in body-based work from the first session. Embodied Relationships Training Center keeps cohorts small so every trainee gets hands-on practice, not just lecture. Visit our Contact/Registration Page to apply for an upcoming cohort or register for a foundational workshop.
