Sharon Ann Stanley
As a psychotherapist and educator, Sharon Stanley, Ph.D., is inspired by emerging research in developmental neuroscience, ancient body-based wisdom, and somatic ways of healing trauma. Sharon has taught clinicians in Canada, Israel, Ireland, and the U.S. principles of healing and how to embody practices for transforming the effects of trauma. In her rewarding work with indigenous communities, Sharon shares the healing principles of embodiment, relationship, and reverence.
Biography
As high school teacher and a mother of four teens, Sharon found the existential questions asked by bright young minds awakened her lifetime search for different perspectives and ways of knowing. She completed her Master's in Counseling Psychology at Pacific Lutheran University, worked for a time in pastoral counseling in an inner city church, then joined a community mental health clinic in the efforts to respond to an epidemic of youth suicide. Exploration into the dynamics of empathy with vulnerable children led her to exciting doctoral work and research at the University of Victoria in Canada. Studies in phenomenology, the culture of Indigenous People, neuroscience, human growth and development and somatic ways of knowing combined with 35 years of psychotherapy contributed her to develop Somatic Transformation, a relational, body centered mode of psychotherapy.Education
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Ph.D., University of Victoria, Victoria, B.C. 1994
M.A., Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, WA. 1984
B.A., Seattle University, Seattle, WA. 1974
Participant, Schore Study Group, Seattle, WA. 2003-2016
Areas of Research / Professional Expertise
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As a scholar and practitioner, Sharon uses phenomenological research methods to continually learn from her clients and the professional participants in her learning communities. Combined with studies in developmental neuroscience, cultural ways of knowing and the practice of somatics, her teaching and writing is alive and emergent as the wealth of new data and information is offered by creative research in the prevention and healing of trauma and the restoration of vitality and growth.
Personal Interests
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Living in the Pacific Northwest offers daily opportunities for walking, hiking, and exploring. In addition, Sharon enjoys yoga, Feldenkrais, and other opportunities for bodywork at a nearby yoga studio. The creative arts, literature, music, drama, and music are readily available on the island and in nearby Seattle. Her eight grandchildren, seven boys and one girl are the delight of her life.
Websites
Books
Articles
Facing the Trauma: How the Face Reveals and Processes Unexpressed Suffering
Published: Mar 16, 2016 by USA Body Psychotherapy Journal
Authors: Sharon A. Stanley, Ph.D
Emerging research in the neurosciences has stimulated a creative interdisciplinary approach to trauma psychotherapy, a new paradigm (Schore, 2009a). Psychotherapists, faced with copious amounts of information related to the mind, brain, and body, struggle to integrate this new knowledge into clinical practice.
Photos
Videos
Published: Mar 29, 2016
Published: Mar 29, 2016