Brisbane Comprehensive Training

NEW COMPREHENSIVE TRAINING: COMMENCING FEBRUARY 2026

Applications are now open.

Learn the Hakomi Method of Mindful Somatic Psychotherapy

HAKOMI IS THE LEADING mindful, somatic psychotherapy in Australia. By combining mindfulness, fundamental principles and a precise methodology, Hakomi creates an extraordinarily effective path towards emotional and psychological transformation.

NOT ONLY A REFINED METHOD of Psychotherapy and a specific set of techniques, Hakomi also provides a view of how to be in the role of the therapist with compassion and a mindful, curious attitude towards our clients and ourselves. By recognising and cultivating loving presence and compassion as an essential element of the method the Hakomi practitioner reaches beyond the usual skill set of therapist into “being” with the client. Our goal is to turn out therapists who are as dedicated to fully understanding their own process as they are to the understanding of others.

THE HAKOMI METHOD has been taught internationally for over 40 years, throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, South America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

EACH HAKOMI TRAINING teaches the entire curriculum of the Hakomi Method, as outlined by the Educational Board of the Hakomi Institute, a non-profit educational organisation based in Boulder, Colorado.

Goals of the Training are:

A deep understanding of the principles of the Hakomi Method and the ability to work with them.
An understanding of the organisation of personality and character, and the ability to use this understanding discriminatingly.
An understanding of the various maps of the therapeutic process and the ability to use those maps and Hakomi techniques precisely and appropriately.
An understanding of one’s own personhood as an instrument for therapy.

Brisbane Hakomi Training

The Hakomi Training in Brisbane consists of three levels. Level 2 and Level 3 are subject to numbers:

LEVEL 1 – Hakomi Fundamental Relationship Skills – Commencing February 2026
One 4-day module and two 3-day modules in person, plus two 2-hour webinars between modules.

LEVEL 2 – Hakomi Professional Skills Training – Commencing mid 2026 Dates TBA
Six 4-day modules in person, plus three 2-hour webinars between modules.

LEVEL 3 – Hakomi Advanced Clinical Skills – Commencing 2027 Dates TBA
Three 6-day modules in person.

For More Information

For more general information about the Brisbane Hakomi Comprehensive Training, including details about the Hakomi method, training curriculum, teaching methodology and training staff please download the Brisbane Hakomi Comprehensive Training Brochure.

For more detailed information about the 2026 intake of the Brisbane Hakomi Professional Training,
including costs, curriculum, venue and teaching staff, please download the Brisbane Hakomi
Information Brochure.

To register your interest in this training and to request an application form for Level 1, Contact Us.

Level 1 – Hakomi Fundamental Relationship Skills

Purpose:

The aim of Level 1 Fundamentals is to train psychotherapists and allied health professionals in the fundamental building blocks of the Hakomi Mindful Somatic Psychotherapy method. Emphasis is on the development of the self in connection. Hakomi tools can be applied to therapy, allied health, business settings, coaching, education, and other healing modalities.

Level 1 is a prerequisite to undertaking Level 2 training in Hakomi Professional Skills. However, it is also open to those who wish to learn some of the fundamental relationship skills of Hakomi to apply in their current work, but who may not wish to continue on to Level 2, or are unsure about whether they want to pursue further training in Hakomi. As such, it can be taken as a stand-alone training in therapeutic relationship skills.

Participants:
Psychologists, Psychotherapists, Counsellors, Social Workers, Doctors, Bodyworkers, Massage Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Yoga Teachers, Coaches, Human Resource Managers, Chiropractors, Physiotherapists, Cranial-Sacral Therapists, Teachers and other related professions.

Dates:
Module 1: Thursday 5^th – Sunday 8^th February 2026
Module 2: Friday 17^th – Sunday 19^th April 2026
Module 3: Friday 29^th – Sunday 31^st May 2026

Modules 1 – 3 are in-person at the venue. In addition, there will be 2 x 2-hour Zoom Webinars in between the modules, which will be recorded.

Venue:
Lavalla Centre, 58 Fernberg Rd, Paddington, QLD 4064.

Training Staff:

Pernilla Siebenfreund, Hakomi Trainer, Brisbane
Deb Algar, Certified Hakomi Teacher, Sydney
Judy Robinson, Certified Hakomi Teacher, Brisbane
International Guest Senior Hakomi Trainers (webinars)
Hakomi Graduate Assistants

Each module will be led by one or two of the Trainer/Teacher staff, together with Assistants. Please note that not all Trainers and/or Teachers will be present at each module. Further details of which teaching staff will run each module will be given as the training level approaches.

Curriculum:

Setting the frame for learning and group cohesion
Skills for respectful and mindful relationship
The Hakomi principles and overview of the Hakomi method
Mindfulness as self-study
Relevant neuroscience of mindfulness in the therapeutic process
Therapist self-awareness and precise tracking skills
Cultivating loving presence in dyadic relationship
Principles of a Hakomi healing relationship
Somatic resourcing for self-regulation in dyadic exchange
Mindful practices for emotional self-regulation
Self-practices for cultivating a grounded therapist seat
Tracking tools to read the subtle cues of the body
Skills for contacting the present moment
Understanding how attachment styles impact relationships
Attunement skills for cultivating a healing relationship
Deepening the process by accessing emotions and sensations
Skills to facilitate and navigate subtle processes in therapy
Facilitating safety and managing deep emotional processes towards resourcing
Differentiating categories of human experience
Managing states of consciousness in the client
Meaning making, integration and completion techniques

For more detailed information on the Curriculum, please download the Brisbane Hakomi Comprehensive Training Brochure.

Investment
Early Bird Payment: $4,400 ($4,000 plus GST), paid by 20 October 2025
Standard Payment: $4,950 ($4,500 plus GST), paid by 26 January 2026
Standard Instalment Payments: $5,170 ($4,700 plus GST), paid by 26 January 2026

A deposit of $550 is required to secure a place.

For more information on payments, please download the Brisbane Hakomi Information Brochure.

Prerequisite:
Attendance at one Hakomi workshop, or equivalent experience and background, as determined on application.

Applications:
Applications for Level 1 is now open. To register your interest and request an application form, Contact Us

Level 2 – Hakomi Professional Skills Training (Subject to Numbers)

The aim of Level 2 Professional Skills is to train psychotherapists and allied health professionals in the principles, theoretical framework, methods and techniques of Hakomi Mindful Somatic Psychotherapy, as set out in the curriculum of the Hakomi Institute (USA).

Level 2 is open to Psychologists, Psychotherapists, Counsellors, Doctors, Social Workers, Massage Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Yoga Teachers, Coaches, Chiropractors, Physiotherapists, Cranial-Sacral Therapists, Teachers and other related professions, who wish to learn and incorporate the Hakomi method as a way of working therapeutically.

Curriculum

The Hakomi view of therapy
Map of Hakomi sessions
Developing the mindful therapist seat
Core techniques of the Hakomi Method (Contacting, Tracking and Accessing)
Developing an experimental attitude (Taking Over, Prompts and Little Experiments in Mindfulness)
Balancing following vs. leading towards core experience
Identifying themes and listening for core material
Exploring how experience and meaning intersect
Processing at the core experience of the client
Working with strong emotions vs. trauma themes
Trauma containment and resourcing techniques
Identifying and working with inner child states
Working with resistance and barriers
Identifying and working with internal parts
Ethics and use of safe touch from a Hakomi perspective
Physicalising and body experiments
Transformation and missing experience in Hakomi
Recognising therapeutic systems and how to transform them
Developmental wounds and their corresponding systems
Integration phase and making meaning
Completing well and ending rituals

Preliminary Dates:
Module 1: Thursday 13th August – Sunday 16th August 2026
Module 2: Thursday 24th September – Sunday 27th September 2026
Module 3: Thursday 5th November – Sunday 8th November 2026
Module 4: Thursday 18th February – Sunday 21st February 2027
Module 5: Thursday 8th April – Sunday 11th April 2027
Module 6: Thursday 13th May – Sunday 16th May 2027

Modules 1 to 6 are in-person at the venue. In addition, there will be 3 x 2-hour live Zoom Webinars, one between each module, which will be recorded (dates to be confirmed).

Venue:
Lavalla Centre, Room 4, 58 Fernberg Rd, Paddington, QLD 4064

Training Staff:

Pernilla Siebenfreund,Certified Hakomi Trainer, Brisbane
Karen Baikie, Certified Hakomi Trainer, Sydney
Deb Algar, Certified Hakomi Teacher, Sydney
Judy Robinson, Certified Hakomi Teacher, Brisbane
International Guest Senior Hakomi Trainers (webinars)
Hakomi Graduate Assistants

Each module will be led by two or three of the Trainer/Teacher /TinT staff, together with Assistants. Please note that not all Trainers and/or Teachers will be present at each module. Further details of which teaching staff will run each module will be given as the training level approaches.

For more detailed information on the Curriculum, please download the Brisbane Hakomi Comprehensive Training Brochure.

Investment
Early Bird Payment: $9,900 ($9,000 plus GST), paid by 19 June 2026
Standard Payment: $10,450 ($9,500 plus GST), paid by 24 July 2026
Standard Instalment Payments: $10,670 ($9,700 plus GST), paid by 24 July 2026

A deposit of $550 is required to secure a place.

For more information on payments, please download the Brisbane Hakomi Information Brochure.

Prerequisite:
Completion of Level 1 Hakomi Fundamental Relationship Skills, either this intake or a prior intake.

Commitment:
It is expected that Level 2 students commit to the whole of Level 2 training when signing up, unforeseen personal circumstances notwithstanding.

Applications:

Applications for Level 2 are now open. To register your interest and request an application form, Contact Us

If your application is successful, you’ll be invited to secure your place with a holding deposit and to complete an Enrolment Agreement.

Level 3 – Hakomi Advanced Clinical Skills (Subject to Numbers)

Purpose:
To train psychotherapists and allied health professionals in advanced skills of Hakomi Mindful Somatic Psychotherapy, with a focus on application to clinical practice, and to support students in working towards Certification as Hakomi Therapists with the Hakomi Institute (USA).

Participants:
Those wishing to pursue Hakomi Mindful Somatic Psychotherapy as a primary therapeutic modality to use in their work. This phase is necessary in order to be eligible towards certification of the Hakomi method.

Prerequisite:
Completion of Level 1 Hakomi Fundamental Relationship Skills and Level 2 Hakomi Professional Skills Training, or completion of prior Hakomi Foundations Training or Hakomi Comprehensive Training in the past.

Dates:
Level 3 consists of approximately 50% advanced teaching and 50% small group supervision/supervised practice.

Module 1-3: 2027 Dates TBA

Venue:
Lavalla Centre, Room 4, 58 Fernberg Rd, Paddington, QLD 4064

Training Staff:

Pernilla Siebenfreund,Certified Hakomi Trainer, Brisbane
Karen Baikie, Certified Hakomi Trainer, Sydney
Deb Algar, Certified Hakomi Teacher, Sydney
Judy Robinson, Certified Hakomi Teacher, Brisbane
International Guest Senior Hakomi Trainers (webinars)
Hakomi Graduate Assistants

Curriculum:

Small group supervision, with live or pre-recorded sessions (40-50%)
Hakomi Character Maps in detail (how each character develops, how it shows up and how to work with it)
Advanced contact and micro-tracking techniques
Advanced accessing skills
Identifying themes and strategic thinking
Recognising and working with therapeutic systems
Strategies to overcome therapeutic obstacles
Transference and countertransference
Therapist self-care
Working with the range of clients, from naive to complex
Long-term therapy issues
Personal visioning for therapist’s career
Developing your own therapist style
Integration and completion processes.

For more detailed information on the Curriculum, please download the Brisbane Hakomi Comprehensive Training Brochure.

Investment:
The cost of Level 3 training will be in line with the Level 2 training, pro-rata for the number of days of
training.

Certification:
On completion of Level 3, students become Hakomi Graduates with the Hakomi Institute (USA). Working towards certification, to become a Certified Hakomi Therapist (CHT), which is a competency-based assessment, may be undertaken at any time following completion of Level 3.

A gift - a wonderful experience that will shape the rest of my life.

—Kate Mazuy, M.A., L.P.C., Colorado

Learning the Hakomi Method has been one of the most personally and professionally enriching experiences of my career. I've gained tools to help my clients rapidly access and transform their pain and struggle, and found it profoundly effective across a wide range of individuals with a variety of long-term and challenging clinical and life problems. I can't recommend this training highly enough.

—Jeffrey Rutstein, Psy.D., Clinical Psychologist, New Jersey

The biggest attraction was seeing the change in people who had done the Hakomi training before me - they were more centred, more confident, more themselves. This was what I wanted for myself, too.

—S.T., Psychotherapist, Australia

I learned so much, thoroughly enjoyed the people and the process, and found the instructors awesome in the breadth and depth of their experience and knowledge.

—Pat Waterman, L.C.S.W., Vermont

There's no question that the Hakomi training is the best psychotherapy training I've ever done. The Hakomi trainers, without exception, embody and constantly demonstrate the Hakomi principle of loving presence towards all the students they train which powerfully facilitates the students' learning of the method.

—J.K., Psychotherapist, Australia

Excellent - rich and satisfying. It has expanded me as a person and as a therapist. The trainers were exceptional - all were superlative. The training enables you to deepen self-awareness, become more present, and learn to work with inner and outer challenges with ease, compassion and honesty - and then help others to do the same.

—Debra Babarsky, M.A., L.P.C., Virginia

Its experiential approach has been very nourishing, and as someone who has spent many years studying, it has been wonderful to engage in a learning process that did not involve the usual academic processes. I could relax into the learning, and learn without great effort or strain. I now have a deep appreciation for the wisdom inherent in such experiential teaching.

—K.V., Psychologist, Australia