BASE™professional training developed by Dave Berger
What is BASE? What is relational bodywork and somatic education?
Een training in relationele aanraking voor trauma behandelaars: psychotherapeuten, fysiotherapeuten, bodyworkers, artsen, verpleegkundigen, docenten, ergotherapeuten, logopedisten. Om cliënten te helpen bij traumatische stress, chronische pijn en relationeel trauma.
Relational Bodywork and Somatic Education™ (BASE™) is a body-oriented approach that psychotherapists can use to help clients overcome the effects of trauma through relational touch, movement, and somatically oriented interventions.
BASE™ is based on two primary pillars: First, the relational dynamic between the practitioner and the client. Just like the physiological communication between a baby and a parent, the practitioner’s refined, attuned touch supports the client in feeling understood and ‘heard’. This is achieved through the second primary pillar: refined, attuned, subtle touch of the body’s organs and structures to support them in restoring their flow, ease, and mobility when a trauma response has become dysregulated.
BASE™ is based on two primary pillars: First, the relational dynamic between the practitioner and the client. Just like the physiological communication between a baby and a parent, the practitioner's refined, attuned touch supports the client in feeling understood and 'heard'. This is achieved through the second primary pillar: refined, attuned, subtle touch of the body's organs and structures to support them in restoring their flow, ease, and mobility when a trauma response has become dysregulated.
– BASE™ is recognized by the United States Association of Body Psychotherapy (USABP) as one of their official touch modalities.
– The language of instruction for the training is English.
What is the science behind it?
Psychological and emotional processes manifest physically through the physiology, structures, and use of the body. Sensory feedback from the bones, muscles, fascia, and organs/viscera (i.e., interoception) provides information about our emotional state.
Does the body, for example, give an alarm signal and agitation, or rather a feeling of safety and calm (neuroception)?
When interoceptive systems signal discomfort, pain, or stress, a person can enter a heightened state of arousal or activation and remain there via a self-perpetuating positive feedback loop. This can lead to intrapersonal problems, relationship problems, problems at work and school, chronic pain, headaches, gastrointestinal problems, sleep problems, feelings of detachment, anxiety, PTSD, and other difficulties.
When interoceptive systems signal discomfort, pain, or stress, a person can enter a state of arousal or activation and remain there via a self-perpetuating positive feedback loop. This can lead to intrapersonal problems, relationship problems, problems at work and school, chronic pain, headaches, gastrointestinal problems, sleep problems, feelings of detachment, anxiety, PTSD, and other difficulties.
How is it done?
The BASE™ training for trauma practitioners addresses this in two ways. First, non-touch-oriented somatic learning/body awareness strategies are used as tools for effective assessment. Second, this training helps psychotherapists interested in adding hands-on work to their practice (from supportive touch on a client's shoulder to helping release freezing or shock in specific tissues and body structures) to become proficient in somatic (body-oriented) therapy.
Body therapists and movement teachers learn how to refine and expand their hands-on work with a paradigm that focuses on gradually increasing a client's capacity for flow and ease, without leading to an overwhelming, cathartic experience.
BASE™ combines two related aspects of somatic work:
1. Somatic education, learning from within through kinesthetic self-awareness.
2. Working directly with expert touch to facilitate and enable the change of dysregulation in body tissues, organs, and structures.
As a therapist, you learn to refine your attunement with and without touch. The relational touch skills of “Listening Hands” and your ability to follow the autonomic nervous system and changes in the tissues, from constriction to flow, with and without touch, are essential components of the physiological communication between a therapist and client. This is the same conversation a baby and a parent have before a child can communicate verbally.
Dates
| Modules | Dates | Teacher |
| Module 1 | March 5 – 8, 2027 | Dave Berger |
| Module 2 | July 2 – 5, 2027 | Dave Berger |
| Module 3 | October 15 – 18, 2027 | Dave Berger |
Course Content:
Module 1:
- Polyvagal structures
- Therapeutic attunement – physiology of connection
- Clinically and ethically responsible use of touch
- Polyvagal theory and clinical application
- Bodywork/touch as a relational process
- Feeling with the hands
- Strategies for working with the vagus nerve
Module 2:
- Social involvement and orientation structures
- Non-verbal communication
- Social involvement and orientation structures
- Influence on orientation and social involvement
- Systems outside the vagus nerve
- Social involvement and attachment dynamics
- Eyes: attachment/distance, emotions and the body
- Assessment and progress
- Attitude and emotions
- Fascia and intrapersonal communication
- Interoception – body awareness
Module 3:
- Bones, skull, concussions and PTSD, posture
- Relationship between concussions and PTSD
- The use of appropriate touch to reduce the effects of a concussion
- Bones: working with the structure and posture of a client history
- Posture, shame, joints, emotions and the body
- Receiving eyes
You can find even more information about BASE and Dave Berger on the following webpage: https://daveberger.net/I
The training
BASE
consists of
three modules
Practical information
Costs and Payment
– Je schrijft je in voor alle 3 modules van de BASE opleiding. De betaling van de opleiding moet volledig gebeurd zijn voor de start van de eerste module. Je verbindt je er ook toe om de drie volledige modules van de opleiding te volgen, tenzij onvoorziene omstandigheden ertoe leiden dat dit niet mogelijk zou zijn.
Price for all 3 modules:
Prijs voor 3 modules: 2380€.
The early bird discount for the entire training is: €2,280 if paid before January 22, 2027.
For payment in 2 or 3 installments for all 3 modules:
Price for 3 modules: €2,424
The discount for early registration for the entire course is €2,322 if payment is made before January 22, 2027.
Other fees – Certificate of completion
The BASE™ training consists of 3 modules. For students who want a certificate of completion for the entire training and wish to become a designated BASE™ practitioner, 3 consultations are required. One individual consult needs to be with Dave. The other 2 can be individual or group (Dave will offer a group consultation at each module or a small group online can be arranged amongst several students. 3 personal experiential sessions in addition to the 3 modules are required. Cost of consultations and experiential sessions are in addition to training costs.
Currently, the remaining costs are as follows:
– individual consultation with Dave: $225 per hour (in 2026)
– group consultation (2 hours) with Dave: $65US (in 2026)
– individual consultation with other BASE practitioners: price of an individual consultation at the discretion of the consultant
– 3 personal experience sessions with one of the assistants: it has yet to be decided whether and what these will look like, depending on the number of assistants attending the training.
Important: The other costs may still change slightly for 2026!
The training costs include the cost of the study handbook, coffee/tea/water, and snacks during breaks. Copyright and ownership of the training materials rest with BASE.
Cancellation
If you cancel before 2 months before the start of the training, an administrative fee of €90 will apply. If you cancel from 2 months to 3 weeks before the start of the course, you will pay a 30% cancellation fee. If you cancel from 3 weeks to 7 working days before the start, you pay 70% of the course fee. In case of later cancellation or if you do not cancel / do not show up, you will pay 100% of the course fee. Failure to pay the participation fee never counts as cancellation. Cancellation must be made in writing (e-mail, letter).
Location
Kop van Kessel-lo
Leuvensestraat 18
3010 Leuven
The training costs include the cost of the study handbook, coffee/tea/water, and snacks during breaks. Copyright and ownership of the training materials rest with BASE.400 meters from Leuven station)
Via the following link, you can choose from various car parks in the vicinity: https://www.vergaderzaal-kvk.be/parkeren/
Class times
The class times during the training modules are from 9:30 AM to 5:30 PM with a 2-hour lunch break.
This may vary slightly every day if there is a slight delay or if we stop a little earlier.
On the first day, the reception will start at 8:45. We ask everyone to arrive on time so that we can start together at 9:30.
The teaching language is English.
Admission criteria
The BASE professional training is considered an intermediate-level training for trauma therapists with prior clinical experience and/or training in psychotherapy and/or body-oriented therapies and trauma.
Prerequisites:
1. Participants must have prior experience with bodywork, counseling/psychotherapy, and/or other clinical experience.
2. Participants must have completed some prior trauma training.
Registration
You can send your application for the BASE training (3 modules) that starts in March 2027.
English (UK) 
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