A plain answer for therapists deciding whether to train, without the jargon we use once we are inside it.
Brainspotting was developed by David Grand, PhD, in 2003, out of his work with EMDR. He noticed that when a client's eyes settled in one particular position, their processing deepened, and that holding that position rather than moving on opened something a conversation could not.
A brainspot is that eye position: a place in the visual field that holds an activation in the body. The therapist helps the client find it, then stays with them while the deep brain does the work. There is no script to follow and no correcting of what the client believes about themselves.
It is used for trauma, but also for grief, performance, creativity and expansion, and it is adaptable to almost any specialisation.
The client brings an issue and notices where they feel it in the body, and how strongly.
Working across the visual field, often with a pointer, until an eye position matches the activation, felt by the client or seen in a reflex the therapist notices.
The client holds the spot and lets whatever comes, come. Bilateral sound often runs quietly underneath. The therapist stays present and does not steer.
The relationship is the active ingredient, more than any technique. Following, rather than leading, is the whole skill.
Trainings are three days each and build on one another. Phase 1 is the foundation and the prerequisite for everything after it.
Finding brainspots through the client's felt sense and through what you observe, and holding the frame while they process.
Resource and grounding work, one-eye work, and setting up for clients who need a gentler doorway.
Advanced set-ups, and Brainspotting applied to performance and creativity.
Dreamspotting, Projected Image Spotting, Bodyspotting and the Expansion Model, taught by the developer of the model.
Certification is separate, through consultation with a certified consultant. Continuing education credit depends on the trainer and the training.
Brainspotting asks you to stay with what your body holds while someone else stays with you. That is hard to do in a room where you are also managing how you are being seen, or bracing for the moment your experience is treated as a special case.
In these rooms nobody has to translate. What a client carries from their family, their history and the systems around them is part of the clinical picture rather than noise around it. That phrase, culture comes before science, came to David during a training in Korea, and it is how these trainings are taught.
The upcoming BIPOC and affinity-space trainings are listed, with a way in for each.