Professional Presentations
Dr.
Nixon, a teacher for twenty-five years, and a firm believer in the educational
process as a means of conscious change and growth, is an inspirational
speaker and workshop leader. She conducts seminars locally, teaches
regularly at school programs and speaks at professional conferences
nationally and internationally.
Dr.
Nixon customizes educational seminars to meet the needs of individuals,
businesses, health centers and conference programs. In her Lansdowne
office, Dr. Nixon offers educational sessions in mindbody therapies
and wellness plan consultations. These programs aim to teach individuals
methods, skills and tools for managing stress, enhancing relaxation,
identifying complementary and alternative therapies for health and well-being,
and creating a more balanced lifestyle.
Dr.
Nixon customizes talks, seminars and workshops for educational institutions,
health facilities and businesses. She also presents regularly at professional
conferences and conventions in the field of education, complementary & alternative medicine, psychology & behavioral medicine, and massage
& bodywork. Her company is an approved NCBTMB Catagory "A" provider
for professional massage therapists seeking continuing education credits.
Seminars for the General Audience
The Principles and Practices of Mind-Body Therapies for Managing Stress,
Creating Health and Living a More Balanced Lifestyle
Coming
Home to Body: A seminar for Women
Active Wellness: Creating a Holistic Health Plan
Seminars for the Professional Health Care Provider
Continuing education workshops are tailored to the needs of the professional
and the educational institution. Courses range from 2 to 15 credit
hours and are typically scheduled during the evenings and on weekends.
The
Heart of Ethics in Principle and Practice for the Bodywork Therapist
Supervision:
Supportive Guidance for the Bodywork Therapist
Healing
from Sexual Abuse and Trauma: How the Bodywork Therapist Aids in the Recovery
Process
Touching:
Impact And Use of Appropriate Counselor's Touch
The
Ethics Series: Topics in Ethics
The
Ethics of Intuition
Seminar Descriptions
Seminars for the General Audience
The Principles and Practices of Mind-Body Therapies for Managing Stress,
Creating Health and Living a More Balanced Lifestyle
In the past two decades, research reports that the levels of stress in every demographic age group in our society have significantly increased. Stress related problems and illnesses are now the primary reason why individuals are absent from work and visit their primary care physician. Understanding and learning how to manage stress are the most frequent recommendations given by medical experts for improving one’s health and short/long term quality of life. With the surge in evidence-based research in complementary and alternative medicine, modern medicine is turning to mind-body therapies, approaches and techniques that focus on the mind-body connection, as a way to help individuals reduce stress, improve health, and create a balanced lifestyle.
In this seminar, individuals will learn about stress, it’s effect on health, and how to manage it effectively. Travis’s wellness model, a continuum of health, illness and disease, will offer a paradigm for health and give participants an understanding of their current state of health functioning. Principles of mind-body therapies will be reviewed, mind-body practices for reducing stress and improving health will be taught and actions for creating a balanced life will be discussed.
Coming Home to Body: A Seminar for Women
Body Wisdom is the concept of reconnecting to our bodies
and accessing our inner resources for knowledge and healing. Our bodies
contain a wealth of information which often remain buried and distant
from our conscious mind. With guidance and practice, we learn to open
the door to our inner wisdom. We are then graced with energy, clarity,
strength, peace, joy and healing.
In this workshop body/mind skills for "coming home
to body" will be taught:
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Centering & Meditation
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Imagery & Guided Visualization
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Breathwork & Relaxation Exercises
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Journaling & Body/Mind Processing
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Developing a Conscious Relationship with your Body
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Accessing the Wise Women, the Healer Within
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Active Wellness: Creating a Holistic Health Plan
Plan |
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 The
health concerns of today's population generally fall into two
categories, those who are yearning to "feel better"
and those who are yearning to "heal." Although health
symptoms and conditions vary from individual to individual, the
uniting common thread among individuals is the sincere desire
to improve health and participate more fully and joyfully in life.
This desire has influenced individuals to explore
alternative and complimentary medicine practices as a means to
getting well. The integration of alternative medicine with conventional
medicine offers individuals a comprehensive approach to achieving
health and wellness.
Enhancing health, healing, and wellness doesn't
just happen, it requires a plan. As with any objective or goal
in life, be it career, relationship or parenting, a practical
plan offers direction in achieving those goals. Developing a wellness/healing
plan integrating alternative medicine approaches and practices
requires sound education, realistic guidance and heart-centered
support.
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Participants
will:
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Gain knowledge and understanding of alternative medicine approaches and techniques
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Practice holistic skills and techniques, including relaxation exercises, imagery, guided visualization, meditation, autogenics and body/mind processing
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Identify personal health strengths and challenges
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Develop a personal wellness/healing plan integrating alternative approaches
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Receive guidance, support and hope in manifesting health
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Women's Supportive Psychotherapy Group
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Where can we explore our thoughts, feelings and insights?
Where can we express our joy and pain, and be understood?
Where do we receive support?
Where are we affirmed and validated?
Where are we unconditionally listened
to?
How and where do we discover who we are?
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This women’s psychotherapy group offers
a safe place to explore these questions. Dr. Nixon mindfully facilitates
the group experience and holds the intent to help each woman in
their process of discovery and healing. Based on holistic principles
of psychotherapy, facilitation methods incorporate the psychological,
physical and spiritual aspects of the self.
The benefits of group therapy as compared
to individual therapy, are numerous. The shared experience of exploration
allows women to process and discover in a community of women.
We learn when we are in relation, not in isolation. When “alone”
with our process, we are limited, for we only have ourselves to
offer understanding and insight. In a group experience, we can share
our story, be witnessed to, receive feedback and be supported in
the journey of self discovery.
In group therapy,
feelings and emotions can be expressed. When we are “out”
in the real world, we often must limit our self expression. Holding
back or silencing our emotions can be distressful and contribute
to ill health, both psychologically and physically. Group provides
a safe place to let go, express feelings, receive support and begin
to develop a sense of inner emotional harmony.
Group also offers the opportunity to “be in relation."
Realization of how we communicate with others, where our communication
skills are clear and effective, and ways to effectively communicate
can be experienced.
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Seminars for the Professional Health Care Provider
The Heart of Ethics in Principle and Practice
for the Bodywork Therapist
The
heart of ethics has to do with caring responsibly, truthfully and respectfully
in all relations. Ethics is about connecting to the Self and developing
an internal code of morality based in integrity in both principle and
behavior. Extending from the personal Self, professional ethics is about
respecting the codes and guidelines established by professional organizations
and legislature. In practice, the harmonious integration of a personal
code of ethics with professional codes of ethics provides a sound, rightful
foundation for professional practice and creates the opportunity for
a conscious, caring, therapeutic relationship from which to grow.
This seminar will focus on exploring and developing
a professional code of ethics that respectfully honors and integrates
the Self of the bodywork therapist with established professional codes
of ethics in the field of bodywork and mental health. Students will
be given the opportunity to discuss and problem solve ethical issues
of concern and challenge.
Supervision: Supportive Guidance for the Bodywork
Therapist
Supervision is a professional environment in which a
relationship between supervisor and supervisee is established. The intent
of supervision is for the supervisor to provide the supervisee with
professional support, educational guidance and therapeutic insight and
direction in the practice of bodywork therapy. It is the role of the
supervisee to inform the supervisor of his or her educational background,
professional credentials, business and therapeutic practices, general
clientele profile and issues of concern with problematic clients, ethical
behavior and business practices. With a clear understanding of the supervisee*s
scope of practice, the supervisor listens to general and specific issues
challenging the supervisee and provides support, guidance and education.
Supervision enhances the development of competent, responsible and knowledgeable
bodywork therapists.
In this seminar the supervisor/teacher gives an enlivened
model and description of professional supervision. provides a framework
for establishing a common foundation via scope of practice. and solicits
participants to discuss and explore issues, concerns and difficulties
in their professional practices.
Healing from Sexual Abuse: How the Bodywork
Therapist Aids in the Recovery Process
An incident of sexual abuse is a traumatic event in
the life of an individual. A single incident, in the case of rape, or
on-going violations, in the case of incest, will have immediate and
long term effects on the individual's body, psyche and soul. Although
psychological therapy is the foundation of healing, touch and somatic
therapies are now recognized as an important element in the individual's
healing process and recovery. Basic knowledge of the trauma of sexual
abuse on the body, psyche and soul, and how this event(s) shapes touch
responses and general behavior, will provide touch therapists with a
deeper understanding of the client. A framework consisting of therapeutic
constructs: safety, grounding, centering, boundaries and containment,
will be the foundation of the touch therapy work. The intent of the
workshop is to provide bodyworkers with clinical and therapeutic information
from the fields of somatic therapy, sexual abuse and recovery so as
to educate and enhance bodyworkers' skills and thus the delivery of
respectful care and healing to their clients.
Touching: Impact And Use of Appropriate Counselor's
Touch
Touch is the most powerful form
of contact and communication. Research indicates that touch effects
the emotional, biological, sexual and mental growth and development
of individuals. Recent research also indicates that a majority of counselors
use touch in the therapeutic mileu, yet are hesitate to share with other
professionals due to the existing controversy of touch communication
in the field of mental health. Appropriate and respectful touch can
send messages of care, comfort and warmth. Inappropriate and disrespectful
touch can be confusing, scary, hurtful and abusive.
In somatic therapy, the use
of mindful touch is more than an arbitrary counseling technique. The
intent of counselor's touch is to encourage the awakening of body awareness,
feelings and body process. Additionally, mindful touch is a way of being
and connecting in the present moment to self and in relationship to
other. Consciously and skillfully used in the therapeutic milieu, mindful
touch can assist the client in becoming more present in the here and
now, with thoughts and feelings. The awareness of felt presence opens
the gateway for deepening into the authentic self.
In this workshop the use and
function of therapist's touch will be taught, demonstrated and practiced.
Research on touch and contraindications of when not to use touch with
clients will be covered. This workshop is 50% didactic, 50% experiential.
The Ethics Series: Topics in Ethics
This series is designed to give a solid overview of ethical topics in the field of massage and bodywork. The intent is to provide touch therapists with a foundation in ethical principles, practices and standards of care and general business practices, in order to deliver quality care to clients, effectively communicate with colleagues and health professionals and conduct business respectfully and with integrity. Seminars are customized to fit the needs of the educational institution and requirements of national. Programs range from 2 ½ to 6 hours in length.
*The Basics of Ethics
Ethical codes and guidelines, and professional standards
of care, are wrtitten by professsional organizations and legislative
bodies. Professional massage therapists practicing massage must know
and understand these codes and standards. This seminar is designed to
review and discuss the set of guidelines as wrtiten by the AMTA and
the National Certification Board for Massage Therapists.
*Informed Consent
Informed Consent is the act of providing accurate information
to clients and the general public as to the services offered by the
massage therapist, the therapeutic relationship, the credentials of
the therapist and the manner in which sessions and general business
is conducted. It is good ethical practice, and in the best interest
of the therapist, to have a written informed consent agreement. In this
seminar the components of naming, understadning, delivering and writing
an informed consent agreement will be taught and discussed.
*Roles and Boundaries
Practicing within one's scope of practice involves
knowing and defining one's role and boundaries in the field of massage
therapy and bodywork. Respecting boundaries in the therapeutic milieu
ensures ethical practice and a healthy standard of care. This lively
interactive class provides the professional with tools for defining
ones' role and scope of practice, knowledge for understanding appropriate
boundaries in practice, and skills for setting appropriate limits and
boundaries with clients and colleagues. Knowing, developing and implementing
healthy boundaries in your professional work will contribute to you
and your client feeling safe, grounded, respected and cared for.
*Working with Challenging Clients & Professional Situations
When working as a health care provider, there will be times when clients,
client situations, colleagues, or other professional situations pose a
challenge. In this seminar participants will have the opportunity to share
client and professional situations that were challenging or difficult
for them. Through facilitated teaching, the intent is to help participants
gain understanding and insight into these situations. Transference and
countertransference are processes that are frequently a component of "difficult
situations". These terms will be defined, discussed and applied when
applicable. This seminar is highly interactive and practical.
The Ethics of Intuition
Intuition is a way of knowing. It is an innate ability
to perceive and receive information that extends beyond the five senses,
transcending what is considered ordinary thinking patterns and reasoning
processes. It is non-localized and spontaneous intelligence, a consciousness
if you will, and believed to be woven throughout the complex network
of the mind/body.
By the nature of their training and continual application
of "hands on work," professional bodyworkers intuitive capabilities
and opportunities are enhanced. In the treatment room, bodyworkers may
receive intuitive hunches on how to work with the client's body, tactile
information about the health of an organ, images above or within a client's
body or receive a direct impression or instinctual knowing about the
client's health situation. The question for the bodyworker becomes,
"How do I use intuitive information in the treatment room? When
do I verbally share and when do I remain silent?"
The primary focus of this seminar will address ethical
guidelines for working with intutition in the field of bodywork. Participants
will learn rightful ways of using intuition and the four ways professionals
may misue it. The secondary focus will address the definition of intuition,
different types of intuition, defining primary styles of intuiting information
and tools for enhancing intuition. This seminar is 40% experiential.
For more information or to register,
contact:
Dr. Suzanne Nixon
MindBody Therapy & Healing
19415 Deerfield Avenue Suite 307
Lansdowne, VA 20176
703-729-0505
suzanne@smartneighborhood.net
