NeuroAffective Touch®

In 2021 I completed the Foundation Training in NeuroAffective Touch® and I am working towards becoming a Certified Practitioner.  This modality of work brings together elements of the many models that have informed my practice so far: somatic psychotherapy, attachment, and developmental theory, psychodynamic psychotherapy, and affective and interpersonal neurobiology.

As in some ways, this is a ‘coming back home’ for me, I am excited to be able to incorporate much of what I have learned already in my current practice.

Scientific evidence has shown that an attuned, caring touch is critically important for normal brain development as well as for healthy emotional and cognitive maturation.  Touch has proven particularly important in helping to repair unfulfilled preverbal needs.

Touch can be experienced in many different ways including self-touch, support with pillows, heat packs as well as from the practitioner.  This is always a negotiated process and your safety and boundaries are respected at all times.

Dr. Aline LaPierre, who developed this model, explains the name:

Neuro: Touch is a form of nonverbal communication that reaches deep into our inner personal space. Therapeutic touch not only touches the surface of the skin; it also touches thousands of sensory nerve receptors in the joints, muscles, connective tissue, and organs. These sensory receptors are nerve endings that carry information directly to the brain…hence the term “neuro.”

Affective: Touch has a strong emotional impact. During touch work, clients often said: “It’s like you’re touching my emotions.” The nervous system and emotions are deeply intertwined and cannot be separated…hence the term “affective.”

And so, I put the two together and coined the term neuroaffective.’

If you want to read a little more about it you can check this website. While it’s aimed at therapists interested in the training, it does contain a lot of information you might find of interest.