Sigh Breath Exercise and Havening Touch for Trauma Treatment

Thanks to deeper understanding from neuroscience, we are seeing the efficacy of integrating self-applied touch and breathing exercises into the work of psychotherapy. Dr. Kate Truitt, Havening Techniques Certified Trainer, applied neuroscientist, and author of Healing in Your Hands: Self-Havening Practices to Harness Neuroplasticity, Heal Traumatic Stress, and Build Resilience, shares a highly effective and easy-to-use exercise that will transform your approach to trauma treatment through breathing and touch.

In this video, Dr. Truitt walks you through the sigh breath exercise which is a simple modified CPR (Creating Personal Resiliency) for the amygdala that utilizes a “breath in, breath in, breath out” experience plus a havening touch. The idea is that this creates a new sense of psychological safety for the mind and body system that allows you to start to intentionally shift and deepen awareness without accidentally creating increased anxiety.

See how easy it is to utilize breathing and the havening touch in this brief video:
Healing in Your Hands: Self-Havening Practices to Harness Neuroplasticity, Heal Traumatic Stress, and Build Resilience
Healing in Your Hands book
The power to heal the wounds of your past, create your present, and build your future is in your own hands.

Written by Dr. Kate Truitt, a psychologist, neuroscientist, and trauma expert, Healing in Your Hands is the first book of its kind to integrate the neuroscience of trauma with cutting-edge research on self-havening – a groundbreaking technique that draws on the power of mindful touch to heal even the most profound traumatic stress. It weaves together powerful client stories, insights from the field of neuroscience, and personalized havening practices to create a complete self-healing program that anyone can use.


Self-Havening: New Opportunities for Healing Trauma and Building Resilience with Neuroplasticity
Self-Havening: New Opportunities for Healing Trauma and Building Resilience with Neuroplasticity Digital Seminar
As clinicians, you hold space for the impact of trauma and chronic stress in your clients' lives on a daily basis. You see how the wounds of the past show up in the present, permeating their lives with anxious habits, rumination, self-criticism, intrusive thoughts, depression, and more.

But did you know the brain holds within itself the innate capacity to heal, and that your clients can literally take their healing into their own hands?

Watch Dr. Kate Truitt in this 3-hour recording to learn about the Havening Techniques and other resilience-building strategies that clients can utilize anytime, anywhere, to soothe mental and emotional distress, create space between impulses and action, and begin to regulate the brain’s response to stress.

Don’t miss this experiential training where you’ll learn the why and neurobiological how of self-havening, along with clinical tools to take back to your practice right away.

Kate Truitt PhD, MBA
Kate Truitt, PhD, MBA, is a licensed clinical psychologist, applied neuroscientist, and internationally recognized expert in traumatic grief, traumatic stress, and resilience. Her work integrates psychophysiology and applied neuroscience to illuminate the mind-body connection, offering innovative strategies that harness neuroplasticity for healing in the aftermath of profound loss.

Dr. Truitt leads her award-winning clinic, Dr. Kate Truitt & Associates in Los Angeles, and serves as CEO of the Trauma Counseling Center of Los Angeles and the Amy Research Foundation. She is also the founder of The Truitt Institute, creator of the NeuroTriad Model, and co-developer of the Havening Techniques. She has trained thousands of clinicians worldwide in neuroscience-based, trauma-informed approaches that help individuals and communities navigate loss while building pathways to resilience and meaning.

Her work has been featured in the BBC, Washington Post, Today and Oprah Daily, and she has presented at the United Nations and the US Department of Defense. As a member of the Goldie Hawn Foundation’s MindUP Scientific Advisory Committee and an advisor for the Kevin Love Fund and Girl Scouts of America, Dr. Truitt is a dedicated advocate for mental health literacy and expanded access to care. She is the author of Healing in Your Hands (2022) and Keep Breathing (2024), the latter offering an intimate exploration of love, loss, and rediscovering life.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Kate Truitt maintains a private practice. She is the CEO of the Trauma Counseling Center of Los Angeles. Dr. Truitt is the executive director and founder of Viva Excellence and Amy Research Foundation. She is the executive director to American Cognitive Training Association. She is the Chief Strategy Officer to The Havening Techniques. Dr. Truitt is a scientific advisor and board member to Anti-AgingGames.com and Goldie Hawn Foundation. She receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from Psychotherapy Networker and PESI, Inc. All relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations have been mitigated.
Non-financial: Dr. Kate Truitt is a member of the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, the American Cognitive Training Association, and the American College of Healthcare Executives.

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