When Worlds Collide: Integrating Body-Based and Relational Depth in Therapy
In-person Workshop
Instructors
Michelle Harwell, LMFT, PsyD
Jessica Richards, MS, LCSW
Date and Time
Saturday, November 15, 2025
2:00pm – 4:00pm
Location
The Alamo Psychotherapy and Training
6401 Ruby Street, Los Angeles, CA, 90042
CEs
2 CEs for qualifying professionals
Fee
Early, Until November 5
$60 licensed / $40 unlicensed & students
Late Registration, Nov 5-Nov 15
$75 licensed / $50 unlicensed & students
"Worlds are colliding!"
George Costanza's panic echoed through that iconic Seinfeld episode—his carefully compartmentalized life threatening to implode. Keep Relationship George separate from Independent George. Never let the worlds touch. Sound familiar?
How often we therapists do the same; keeping body-based, bottom-up approaches in one corner and relational psychoanalytic work in another. But what if, unlike George, we embraced the collision?
Join Jessica Richards and Michelle Harwell as they demonstrate why these seemingly disparate approaches should not just coexist—they need each other. Framed by a case presentation, Richards will respond through the lens of the NeuroRelational Framework (NRF), and Harwell through the Harwell will explore relational psychoanalytic approaches. We will see how the NRF accesses the nervous system's wisdom through sensation, movement, and implicit memory while the psychoanalytic illuminate meaning-making, attachment patterns, and the co-created therapeutic relationship. Both will reveal how a dysregulated nervous system can't access insight, and how insight without embodiment remains an abstract concept.
Watch as Richards tracks the nervous system's underground rivers while Harwell illuminates the relational currents flowing between therapist and client. A body that feels safe enough to settle can finally access the insights waiting beneath, and psychoanalytic depth without somatic grounding leaves clients stranded in their heads. Together, we will see how these approaches don’t just complement the other, they complete each other.
Rather than keeping these worlds apart, Richards and Harwell will show how integration results in a more powerful and holistic therapeutic approach, enriching your practice and the healing of your patients and clients.
Instructor Credentials
Jessica Richards
Jessica Richards, MS, MSW, LCSW is a licensed psychotherapist who specializes in providing therapeutic services to young children and families. With over fifteen years of clinical experience, advanced knowledge in using the NeuroRelational Framework as well as Child-Parent Psychotherapy, Jessica has a deep expertise in both top-down (thinking and feeling) and bottom-up (sensorimotor) work with individuals and families. Jessica holds a unique dual Masters in Clinical Social Work and Child Development. She is endorsed in California as an Infant-Family and Early Childhood Mental Health Specialist and Reflective Practice Facilitator II. Her diverse experiences range from Inpatient Child and Adolescent Psychiatry to community mental health in South Central Los Angeles. Jessica was the lead therapist for the child welfare court team pilot program Fostering Family Partnerships in Los Angeles. With over 200 speaking engagements locally and internationally, she has enlightened countless child welfare, legal, mental health, and education professionals. She has been a keynote speaker and presented at Zero to Three and the World Association for Infant Mental Health.
Michelle Harwell
Michelle Harwell, LMFT, PsyD, is the founder of The Alamo Psychotherapy and Training. She is an expert trainer, respected speaker, and licensed therapist in trauma, development, and attachment. She is noted for her specialization in areas of development, attachment, trauma, and neuroscience, and her ability to communicate complex topics with clarity and humor. Michelle completed her doctorate in Psychoanalysis from The Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis in Los Angeles. She received her BA in English Literature from University of Oklahoma, MA in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary, and MS in Marriage and Family Therapy from the Fuller Graduate School of Psychology.
For more information or questions contact us at thealamoprograms@gmail.com
Refund policy: Participants seeking a refund can email us at thealamoprograms@gmail.com at least 15 days before the first meeting. Refunds requested 15 days or earlier will receive 100% refund. 14-7 days prior, participants are eligible for a 50% refund. No refund will be provided 6 days prior or less.
Course attendance certificates awarded within 21 days of end of course.
Course meets the qualifications for 2 hours of continuing education credit for PhD, LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs, and/or LEPs as required by the American Psychological Association and the California Board of Behavioral Sciences.
The Alamo Psychotherapy and Training is a dba of Michelle Harwell Therapy. Michelle Harwell Therapy is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Michelle Harwell Therapy maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
No known conflict of interest or commercial support for Michelle Harwell Therapy, The Alamo Psychotherapy and Training, or the instructor.
Contact Us
To request accommodations for special needs, obtain the grievance policy, report a grievance, request a refund, request more information about the course, or if you have general questions, please email us at thealamoprograms@gmail.com