Lifespan Integration is New and Rapidly Spreading
The first official LI training was held in 2004 in San Francisco. Since then LI has grown exponentially and is now being taught throughout the US, Canada, and Western Europe.
In June of 2019 WONSA completed a research project on the efficacy of Lifespan Integration in the treatment of rape victims. WONSA’s research shows that a single session of the Lifespan Integration PTSD protocol significantly reduced PTSD symptoms in participants.
The newly formed LI Institute was established to bring low cost or free LI trainings to therapists who work with vulnerable and marginalized populations worldwide.
LI Integrates by Showing the Passage of Time
When adequate support is not available during or after a traumatic event, the person’s body remembers the trauma implicitly, but their mind is not able to store the memory as something that happened in past time. Implicit memory of the trauma remains present in the nervous system, on alert for any triggers which subliminally remind the client of the past trauma. When triggered, trauma survivors find themselves overreacting and using outmoded defensive strategies.
How to Become a Lifespan Integration Therapist
You must participate in the Lifespan Integration Trainings to be qualified to use LI in your therapies. These trainings are for mental health professionals only.
Each level of LI training includes a comprehensive manual with information and instructions about how to use the protocols learned at that level. In addition, because we believe that therapists need to experience LI in order to fully understand how it works, each level of training includes three supervised practicums. These practices give participants the opportunity to practice and experience the LI protocols being learned from three perspectives: therapist, client, and observer.
After completing Levels One and Two, therapists will understand the core concepts of LI and will be able to use LI therapy with many of their clients.
Continuous support is available through our Supervisors, Consultants and Instructors, as well as the local and international LI communities.
After completion of Level Two, therapists are eligible to be listed in our website directory as trained LI therapists.
