Jeff Barlow
B.A., B.Ed. (Monash), M.Ed. (Manchester), Member A.A.S.P., Member S.C.A.P.E.

Training Director and Founder of the College

Teaching focus: Somatic & Psychodynamic Orientations to Psychotherapy Theory & Practice

Jeff is a Somatic Psychotherapist and supervisor in private practice, having trained in the 1970'S and early 80’s in England and Germany with Gerda Boyesen and David Boadella, two of the major theoretical influences in what has become known as the European School of body-oriented psychotherapy. Jeff has been in private practice and involved in the training of somatic psychotherapists for over 20 years. Whilst in Europe he taught body-oriented psychotherapy in the U.K., France, Germany and Austria with short teaching visits to the U.S.A. and New Zealand before returning to Australia in 1982 after nearly 10 years in Europe. Jeff was one of a small group of therapists to introduce body-oriented psychotherapy into Australia and was involved with Robyn Speyer in establishing the first Somatic Psychotherapy training programmes here. He has also been a visiting trainer in many other training and consultancy projects, as well as presenting papers at conferences and seminars in Australia, New Zealand, the U.K., Germany and Austria. He has been invited to deliver lectures and seminars on Somatic Psychotherapy to post graduate students at both Monash and Latrobe Universities.

His work has been strongly influenced by Existential and Phenomenological theory as well as by Self Psychology, Intersubjectivity and Humanistic Psychology. Jeff has a strong commitment to the development of Contemporary Somatic Psychotherapy theory and practice and brings to his work a profound understanding of the psycho-organic processes of the human organism. He has a strong commitment to somatic psychotherapy as a paradigm for radical praxis.

He was instrumental in the formation and early development of the Australian Association of Somatic Psychotherapists (AASP), which is the professional association for Somatic Psychotherapists, being actively involved in their training programmes for 6 years, and was President of the AASP for 3 years. He was also instrumental in the formation of the Somatic Psychotherapy Institute of Australia (SPIA), where he was a director and trainer, being actively involved in the curriculum development of that training organisation as well as in the development of that organisation's public profile.

Before training as a psychotherapist Jeff was a teacher in secondary schools, TAFE Colleges and adult education institutes in Australia, U.K. and Germany. He is very interested in innovative theories and practices in adult education, especially as these apply to the training of psychotherapists. His teaching focus in the course will be the development of somatic and verbal psychotherapy history, theory and practice; trauma theory; affect theory; the integration of the work of other teachers into a contemporary somatic psychotherapy context, and group process. Jeff is a member of the Australian Association of Somatic Psychotherapists, the Society for Counselling and Psychotherapy Educators and the United States Association of Body Psychotherapists. He is the founder and the Director of the College.