A PSYCHOTACTILE APPROACH TO TRAUMA
A 2-day workshop for therapists interested in the role that touch can play in their work with clients
Monday 7th & Tuesday 8th December 2026
Venue: Wellington Central
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Tutor: Gerry Pyves MA (Oxon), PGCE, Dip T.M., TSTA-P​
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Programme:
Monday 7th: 8.30am registration – 7.00pm close
Tuesday 8th: 9.00 am – 5.00pm close
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Eligibility: Qualified or trainee psychotherapists and counsellors
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Cost: $700*
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*SPECIAL CONFERENCE DISCOUNT - SAVE $350!
There is a 50% discount for TA conference attendees who book and pay in full for this course before 9th August (cost = $350)
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Bookings: Email hello@gerrypyves.com
ABOUT THE WORKSHOP
With his 2019 article, A Psychotactile Approach to Trauma* Gerry presented his findings to the psychotherapy world regarding the significant role that touch can play in our work with traumatised clients.
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With the publication of his 2022 book Touching Trauma, Building Resilience* he then shared in detail his life-long journey of discovery into the therapeutic power of touch in both processing and removing trauma.
With the latest Eric Berne Memorial Award going to E. Novak for his work with touch and a recent conference being held in Cambridge, UK on the theme of ‘Touch in Psychotherapy’, this is a subject that is finally gaining traction in the psychotherapy field.
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Touch is arguably the supreme therapeutic discipline for connecting us with the body and the implicit and procedural elements of both our script and trauma held within it. It has also been one of the most shunned and neglected areas of psychotherapy since the time of Freud. What has been completely missing from this debate is a clear distinction between touch that is used as a relational, social and intimate transaction, and touch that is used as a functional-neurobiological transaction for releasing trauma held in the body’s nervous system.
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On this workshop, Gerry will share how the latest neuroscience now makes the use of functional-neurobiological touch a legitimate concern for psychotherapy. He will demonstrate how he uses his unique Primal Touch protocols with his psychotherapy clients to empower them to process and release the trauma they are holding in their bodies. Participants will be invited to experience these simple touch protocols for themselves and to explore and discuss their implications for the practice of psychotherapy.
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“Just as you would never expect a bodyworker who is unqualified in psychotherapy to teach psychotherapy to other bodyworkers, so you would not want touch and bodywork to be taught to other psychotherapists by a psychotherapist who is unqualified and inexperienced as a bodyworker”
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This is a rare opportunity to explore the use of functional-neurobiological touch in psychotherapy with someone who has been a fully qualified and practicing therapist in both disciplines throughout his entire clinical career.
* Pyves, G. (2019). A Psycho-Tactile Approach to Trauma. International Journal of Psychotherapy, 23(3), p25–32.
* Pyves, G. (2022). Touching Trauma, Building Resilience. Shi’Zen Publications.
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To book on this course, simply email Gerry at: hello@gerrypyves.com
ABOUT THE TUTOR
Gerry Pyves MA (Oxon), PGCE, Dip T.M., TSTA-P
Gerry has been a creative innovator in the realm of how the body, touch and narrative approaches can be used in therapy for over thirty years. He has been in full time clinical practice for over forty years as both a massage therapist and psychotherapist.
Gerry is the author of several books on bodywork, fairy tales and the basic concepts of transactional analysis. His latest book “Touching Trauma, Building Resilience” explores the neuroscience of touch and trauma and is available in audiobook version.
These books can only be purchased from his website, where he can also be contacted.
