Fresh Start Crash Course with Rabbi Shimon Russell and Dr. Stephen Porges - The Polyvagal Theory

What is the Polyvagal Thoery?
How does Trauma impact the body?
These and other questions are answered in this insightful video featuring Rabbi Shimon Russell and Dr. Stephen Porges.
The Fresh Start Retreat is an intensive 7-day retreat designed for men and women who want to understand, process, and heal from unresolved trauma, neglect, and abuse. To learn more about Fresh Start Retreat Center please visit www.jewishfres... or call 248-301-9997
Dr. Stephen Porges, Ph.D.
Distinguished University Scientist
Indiana University
Dr. Porges is the founding director of the Traumatic Stress Research Consortium. He is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina, and Professor Emeritus at both the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Maryland. He served as president of the Society for Psychophysiological Research and the Federation of Associations in Behavioral & Brain Sciences and is a former recipient of a National Institute of Mental Health Research Scientist Development Award. He has published more than 300 peer-reviewed papers across several disciplines including anesthesiology, biomedical engineering, critical care medicine, ergonomics, exercise physiology, gerontology, neurology, neuroscience, obstetrics, pediatrics, psychiatry, psychology, psychometrics, space medicine, and substance abuse. In 1994 he proposed the Polyvagal Theory, a theory that links the evolution of the mammalian autonomic nervous system to social behavior and emphasizes the importance of physiological state in the expression of behavioral problems and psychiatric disorders. The theory is leading to innovative treatments based on insights into the mechanisms mediating symptoms observed in several behavioral, psychiatric, and physical disorders. He is the author of The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, and Self-regulation (Norton, 2011), The Pocket Guide to the Polyvagal Theory: The Transformative Power of Feeling Safe, (Norton, 2017) and co-editor of Clinical Applications of the Polyvagal Theory: The Emergence of Polyvagal-Informed Therapies (Norton, 2018). He is the creator of a music-based intervention, the Safe and Sound Protocol ™ , which currently is used by more than 1400 therapists to improve spontaneous social engagement, to reduce hearing sensitivities, to improve language processing and state regulation.
Rabbi Shimon Russell, LCSW
Co-Founder/Chief Clinical Consultant/Supervisor
Fresh Start Retreat Center
Rabbi Russell is a psychotherapist in private practice in Jerusalem. He holds an MSW from Rutgers Graduate School of Social Work and completed the Clinical externship program at the prestigious Ackerman Institute for Family Therapy in NY.
He is a popular author and speaker who has presented on many mental-health related topics throughout the world.
His expertise is in working with the Orthodox Jewish community on issues relating to Marriage, struggling adolescents, teens & their families, treatment of trauma in general, and in particular sexual abuse.
He is considered an authority on the challenges of "at risk" children & teens.