We are your source for training in Sensory Motor Arousal Regulation Treatment (SMART)
Auburndale, MA
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In 2018, SMARTmoves Partners emerged to support professional training, consultation and development of Sensory Motor Arousal Regulation Treatment (SMART) for childcare providers in mental health, educational and community based settings across the United States and internationally. The SMARTmoves Partners are Elizabeth Warner, Psy.D, Alexandra Cook, Ph.D, Anne Westcott, LICSW and Heather Finn, LICSW. We are a team of seasoned child therapists, committed to the mission of transforming the impact of developmental trauma on children and families, through movement, playfulness, connection and a deep held respect for the wisdom of the body in healing. Here is our story:
Sensory Motor Arousal Regulation Treatment (SMART) was born almost two decades ago as a group of child therapists at the Trauma Center, founded by Bessel van der Kolk, M.D., sought to explore new, embodied ways to address the dysregulation challenges observed in children impacted by trauma. It was clear from our direct practice that attempting to use language or even symbolic play to process traumatic experience was overwhelming for many clients within our practice and did not adequately address the effects of trauma on sensory perception and integration, behavioral organization and physiological arousal in children or adolescents.
Curiosity, playfulness, and learning though experience are foundational to SMART treatment, and form the backbone of its “bottom up” approach. In 2007, interested to discover more effective ways to help children regulate, the fledgling SMART team took a staff retreat to a Sensory Integration clinic founded by occupational therapist and developmental psychologist, Dr. Jane Koomar. During this visit, we played on giant stuffed pillows, rolled on large physioballs, bounced on trampolines, and rested under weighted blankets. As we experimented, we paid attention to the effects of this inputs on our internal states of arousal and noticed the immediate energizing (up-regulating) and calming (down-regulating) effects on our own nervous systems. In this playful environment, it was possible to imagine the potential value that addressing Somatic Regulation in therapy could have with our clients who struggled to sit still, sustain focus or effectively express themselves in sessions.
We created a SMART room equipped with mats, large crash cushions, physioballs, trampolines and balance equipment to invite exploration, movement, and fully embodied play. The room was also equipped with a camera, so we could learn to track our clients physiological experience and use video reflection in consultation with our colleagues to better understand what we were observing. Through this process, therapist learned to Tend to Safety in a way that supports each child’s natural drive for engagement, taking a, “Yes, and lets together make it safe” approach. We discovered that supporting Somatic Regulation often led to traumatic themes spontaneously emerging in session. Themes that previously were overwhelming to the child, became more available for reworking in a fully embodied form of Trauma Processing. As our model evolved, we began to explore embodied forms of Attachment-Building and supporting children and their families in supporting new rhythms of engagement through embodied play together.
