An Introduction to Brainspotting
with Lisa Larson
Date: Friday, November 20th, 2026
Time: 11:00am - 1:30pm
Check-in/Networking from 11:00 am - 11:30 am. Presentation from 11:30 am - 1:30pm.
Networking time does not count toward CE credit.
Zoom Link: provided after registration.
CE: 2
Participants must attend 80% of the presentation to earn continuing education credit.
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COURSE DETAILS
This 2-hour introductory webinar provides clinicians with a foundational understanding of Brainspotting (BSP), a brain-based, relational modality for healing trauma and alleviating a range of mental health symptoms. Participants will learn the theory, neuroscience, and clinical rationale behind Brainspotting, as well as its demonstrated effectiveness in working with trauma, PTSD, anxiety, depression, and dysregulation of the autonomic nervous system.
Through lecture, live demonstration, and experiential practice, participants will gain an understanding of how eye positions (“Brainspots”) access deep subcortical regions where trauma is stored, enabling clients to process and resolve disturbing experiences safely and effectively. Emphasis is placed on attuned presence, client-led processing, and ethical considerations to ensure clinicians remain within scope, avoid undue influence, and support clients’ natural neurobiological healing mechanisms.
EDUCATIONAL GOALS
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By the end of this course, participants will have a stronger understanding of:
How unresolved traumatic stress manifests through a wide range of symptoms.
The neuroscience behind Brainspotting and its role in regulating the autonomic nervous system.
Why attunement, client-led processing, and ethical humility are foundational to Brainspotting practice.
How Brainspotting supports healing for conditions such as anxiety, depression, panic, insomnia, rage, hypervigilance, nightmares, dissociation, and chronic fatigue.
How to integrate Brainspotting principles while maintaining scope of practice and professional ethics.
What a Brainspotting session looks like through observation of a full live demonstration.
Participants will leave with a clear introductory foundation they can build upon in further Brainspotting trainings.
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AUDIENCE
Course is designed for mental health professionals of all levels.
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ABOUT OUR SPEAKER
Lisa Larson, LMFT, has been a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist for 26 years and a Brainspotting Trainer for the past 11 years. A deeply compassionate guide for those healing from trauma, her work is shaped not only by decades of clinical experience but also by her own profound journey through trauma and recovery. Early in her career, Lisa practiced traditional talk therapy, but everything changed after she and her teenage son experienced two separate, life-threatening allergic reactions just weeks apart, both flatlining and being resuscitated. Although they physically recovered, Lisa was left with acute PTSD. No amount of talking could reach the terror held in her body. After two sessions of EMDR, she felt a powerful shift and a return to clarity and calm, awakening a deep conviction that true healing is possible even when trauma feels overwhelming.
Guided by that calling, Lisa pursued advanced trauma training, studying EMDR and later training with David Grand, Ph.D., the creator of Brainspotting. Through Brainspotting, she witnessed clients release trauma they had carried for decades and reclaim hope, regulation, and wholeness. She came to understand that while talk therapy has value, it cannot fully access the subcortical regions of the brain where trauma is stored. In 2012, she founded Pacific Counseling and Trauma Center in Folsom, California, and now dedicates her work to training therapists in Brainspotting so healing can ripple outward to families and communities. Lisa teaches with warmth and authenticity, holding firmly to her belief that trauma and PTSD are not life sentences and that freedom, peace, and joy are possible with the right support.
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SYLLABUS
10 minutes: Introduction: “Where You Look Affects How You Feel”
Guided experiential exercise on how emotional and somatic activation changes with different eye positions. Explanation of the retina as part of the CNS and how eye position influences neurobiological processing. Introduction to supporting clients in choosing a window-of-tolerance-appropriate “Brainspot.”
50 minutes: PowerPoint Presentation
Topics include:
What Brainspotting is and how it was discovered.
Overview of research supporting Brainspotting as an evidence-based therapy.
The neuroscience of trauma, brain regulation, and why accessing subcortical processing is essential.
Symptoms of unresolved trauma and the autonomic patterns of fight, flight, freeze, faint, and fawn.
The Basic 8 Steps of Brainspotting.
Ethical importance of client-led processing and the risks of therapist-directed influence.
Maintaining attunement and presence during processing.
Supporting clients inside the “window of tolerance” (Dan Siegel).
Resourcing strategies and best practices for trauma work.
40 minutes: Live Demonstration: The Eight Steps of Brainspotting
Participants will observe a full Brainspotting session, including:
Selecting the issue for processing.
Enhancing connection to the issue through targeted inquiry.
Assessing initial disturbance level (SUD’s 0–10).
Identifying somatic activation in the client’s body.
Locating the Brainspot using a pointer or where the client naturally gazes.
Allowing mindful, self-directed processing from the Brainspot.
Reassessing SUDs before closing.
“Squeezing the Lemon” and final processing if disturbance reaches zero.
20 minutes: Debrief & Q&A
Clarification of concepts, techniques, and clinical applications.
Discussion of how Brainspotting integrates with participants’ current modalities.
Opportunity to ask questions about ethics, attunement, and session structure.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
-Name three symptoms of “Stuck On” (over-activation of the sympathetic nervous system) and three symptoms of “Stuck Off” (over-activation of the parasympathetic nervous system).
-Explain the difference between activated and resource Brainspots (eye positions).
-Identify the two points in a Brainspotting session when clinicians should assess a client’s SUDs level (0–10).
-Describe how to avoid undue influence by applying -Brainspotting’s two core principles; “uncertainty” and “staying in the tail of the comet.”
-List and describe the eight steps involved in beginning and completing a Brainspotting session.
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REGISTRATION
Pre-Licensed OC CAMFT Members - $5
OC-CAMFT Members (Early Bird Pricing until November13th) - $20
OC-CAMFT Guests (Early Bird Pricing until November 13th) - $30
OC-CAMFT Members (after November 13th) - $30
OC-CAMFT Guests (after November 13th) - $40
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CE INFORMATION
Certificates will be sent within 2 business days after the CEPA director receives the evaluation and confirms minimum attendance requirements are met. All attendees much attended 80% of the program. In-person attendees will sign-in at the start of the program and sign-out after the program is concluded. Virtual attendees time will be monitored through the Zoom platform.
Digital evaluations must be completed after the program has ended. Evaluations are completed digitally (with a link or QR code).
Course meets the qualifications for 2 hours of continuing education credit for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs and/or LEPs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. Networking time does not count toward CE credit.
Orange County Chapter of CAMFT is approved by the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (Provider #59405) to sponsor continuing education for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs, and LEPs. Orange County Chapter of CAMFT maintains responsibility for this program/course and its content.
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ADA POLICY
Please review our policy HERE.
If you have a special need or need special accommodations, please click HERE. Please advise us of your needs no later than 7 days prior to the event so that we may be able to accommodate you.
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PAYMENT, CANCELLATIONS, REFUNDS, GRIEVANCES
Please make a separate transaction for each and every reservation requested. If you are paying by credit card, the receipt you receive at the end of your payment is your confirmation reservation. Any payments not received by the deadline are not reserved and will be considered walk-in status.
Cancellations are made by leaving a message at 714-556-7129 no later than two (2) days prior to the event by 12 PM. A refund less $5.00 processing fee will be returned to you. There are no refunds for cancellations made past this time
GRIEVANCES
For grievances, please leave a message at 714-556-7129 or email admin@occamft.org
EVENT SPONSORS
Please contact us at sponsorship@occamft.org if you are interested in sponsoring this event.
