Ron Petit
I trained with Richard Olney and his top associate, Cherie McCoy routinely for over 17 years. I am very familiar with their work and the tremendous promise it has for helping individuals struggling with trauma. In fact, their work, “Self Acceptance Training” has been a leader in the field of trauma therapy before the field was called that. I can attest to the profoundness of the work, as I have used it since 1974 when I first met and worked with Dick and Cherie in Milwaukee at Cambridge House.
Personally, I believe Cherie is one of the most effective, sensory-oriented, neurologically focused and compassionate therapists in practice today. Her work encompasses the concepts that Van der Kolk and Briere talk about and has a track record of changing people’s lives for well over 40 years.
Cherie trainings focus on resolving trauma through the use of mindfulness, noticing subtle inner (movement be it cognitive, emotional, sensate or energetic) changes and most importantly of all learning to paradoxically accept oneself as we are without the inhibition of self evaluation or self judgment. I have found that self-judgment and shame go together and thus Self Acceptance Training goes a long ways in helping ease these two lynchpins of compulsive and addictive behavior, which many of our clients have.
Cherie is different than most trainers/educators in that she trains therapists to pay attention to their own inner movement and trust their own “unconscious” while simultaneously attending to the oftentimes intense internal states of the folks they work with. As such, she helps therapists become acquainted with their own inner process, their own favored movement patterns and basically how to befriend their own unconscious. As we all know, when we are comfortable and accepting of our own inner process, it tends to not get in the way of our client’s work while also then rendering us more congruent and authentic, critical traits for clients to trust us and thus be willing to reveal their deepest pain.
As a result of the above learning’s, therapists can more accurately perceive characterological layers in the psyche of the client as well as go a long way to intercept transference and counter-transference issues before they complicate or sabotage the therapy. All in all, this work is very helpful for all therapists on the level where the actual work and change in people’s lives takes place. I can attest that it helps therapists trust their own gut and sensory wisdom.
Karen Adler
Karen Adler is a practicing therapist for over 20 years who uses SAT in her work. Karen explains her experience of SAT in a 3 minute video.
Jason Miller
Nancy Frank-Thomas, CH
Interested in improving your life?
Take a moment, breathe, feel your feet and stop the voices in your head.
Self Acceptance Training can be the answer to what you are looking for to make miracles in your life- one minute at a time- with only the voice of your core truth.
Self Acceptance Training imparts life-long skills in accessing your feelings without judgement. This mode of self discovery teaches how to be grounded when challenged personally. In fact, S.A.T. teaches how to embrace your pain so that you can stand in your power. Don’t be teased by the easy road. Learn how to distinguish between temporary pleasure and life-fulfilling rewards.
Nine years ago I was introduced to Self Acceptance Training. I was already using tools froma variety of methodologies that espouse self discovery. I thought that S.A.T. would add depth to the other skills, aiding me on my path to becoming who I wanted to be.
Self Acceptance Training allowed me to see the truth of where I was on my path.
I spent a lot of time being hurt and angry. I believed that I had successfully hidden these feelings from people around me but those really close to me knew I was unhappy. I blamed others for my dis-ease. I needed to heal but I didn’t see the wounds. I didn’t understand that I had a choice in everything that I thought, said or did. In my daily practice of S.A.T. I learned that everyone has a choice over their actions. I hace a choice in acting in the pesent or from the past. How could I really move forward if everything I did in the moment came from what happened to me in my past? I learned about the real truth of Letting Go- allowing myself to feel the energy in my body without any judgement. This was a big step in becoming who I wanted to be. I learned to let go of the energy blocks that I built to protect myself without being fearful of what “may” happen. I learned to trust myself and move forward.
One of the most common aspects of human behavior tht we all share is the need to control- control our environment, control our relationships, control our desires and how others meet our expectations. It is hard to imagine how much the need for control rules our lives and how much of our energy we expend doing it. Learning how to let go of energy blocks is one way of understanding how the need for control impedes accomplishing the very goals that we desire.
Take a leap of faith in yourself. Experience Self Acceptance Training and the rewards that come with being fully present in your body and in your life.
Nancy Frank-Thomas, CH
Self Acceptance Trainer
Pat Samples
Read an excerpt from Body Odyssey describing a Self Acceptance Training session with Cherie McCoy.