September 10, 2026

An Introductory Training in the Felt Sense Polyvagal Model

With Jan Winhall, MSW

September 10, 2026

Treat Trauma & Addiction with a Strength-Based Approach

In treating trauma and addiction, specialists are realizing the importance of helping their clients connect with embodied wisdom. Many trainings emphasize the importance of this connection, but they don’t provide specifics on instructing clients to lean into their bodies. 

This training changes that. Through the Felt Sense Polyvagal Model™, you'll learn how to work directly with the body's felt sense to help clients move from overwhelm and addiction toward regulation, groundedness, and calm.

This training is the first step in becoming a Certified Felt Sense Polyvagal Model (FSPM) Facilitator through the International Focusing Institute and FSPM Institute.

  • This course is for clinicians, coaches, bodyworkers, and other healthcare providers.
  • Includes unique access to Jan with personalized feedback.
  • Includes recorded interview with Dr. Stephen Porges.

Enroll at $1,347 Pricing Options

What is the Felt Sense Polyvagal Model?

Developed by Jan Winhall, the FSPM integrates two foundational frameworks into a single, clinically powerful approach that any therapeutic modality can adopt.

Reframe Addiction
Reframe Addiction

Learn how to apply a polyvagal lens to addiction, reframing it as a nervous system's attempt to regulate in the absence of safety and connection.

Strength-Based
Strength-Based

The model treats addictive and traumatic behaviors as adaptive responses to maladaptive environments, shifting the paradigm from disease and blame to understanding and healing.

Focusing
Focusing

Eugene Gendlin's body-based process of inner awareness. Learn how to teach clients to listen to the body's wisdom rather than override it, creating the foundation for lasting change.

Enroll

Course Timing

This nine-month course begins on Thursday, September 10. The cohort will meet for a two-hour long sessions each month live on Zoom on Thursdays from 12:00-2:00 pm ET (US & Canada) (time zone converter). 100% live attendance is required (See attendance policy in section below).


In addition to class time, you will meet with your Focusing Partner in between live sessions. To receive the Focusing Proficiency Certificate, you must provide documentation of 15 Partner sessions over the nine months.  You will need at least 50 minutes per meeting.  Each person does 20 minutes of Focusing, then your partner reflects back your felt sense. This practice is a lifelong gift. We strongly encourage you to fully embrace it. 


Event

Date

Live Session 1

Thursday, September 10, 2026

Focusing Partnerships

On your own schedule with your focusing partner

Live Session 2

Thursday, October 15, 2026

Focusing Partnerships

On your own schedule with your focusing partner

Live Session 3

Thursday, November 12, 2026

(note: Daylight Saving Time ends in ET on November 1

Focusing Partnerships

On your own schedule with your focusing partner

Live Session 4

Thursday, December 10, 2026

Focusing Partnerships

On your own schedule with your focusing partner

Live Session 5

Thursday, January 14, 2027

Focusing Partnerships

On your own schedule with your focusing partner

Live Session 6

Thursday, February  18, 2027

Focusing Partnerships

On your own schedule with your focusing partner

Live Session 7

Thursday, March 18, 2027

(note: Daylight Saving Time begins in ET on March 14)

Focusing Partnerships

On your own schedule with your focusing partner

Live Session 8

Thursday, April 15, 2027

Focusing Partnerships

On your own schedule with your focusing partner

Live Session 9

Thursday, May 13, 2027

Course Requirements

Attendance

100% live attendance is required. If you must miss one class, attendance in the make-up class is required in addition to viewing the recording of the first 75 minutes of the class that you missed.


One make-up class is provided after the end of the course. These are the attendance requirements for earning the two certificates.


Focusing Partnerships

In addition to monthly classes, you will also pair up with a Focusing Partner. In order to receive the Proficiency in Focusing Partnership (PFP) Award, you must provide documentation of 15 Partner sessions over the nine months. You will need at least 50 minutes per meeting - totaling 12.5 hours during the course. Each person does 20 minutes of Focusing, then your partner reflects back your felt sense. 


Pre-Course Reading

Treating Trauma and Addiction with the Felt Sense Polyvagal Model, by Jan Winhall, Routledge, 2021.

Purchase now with 20% off using this code: FSPM23


Physical copy or audiobook of 20 Embodied Practices for Healing Trauma and Addiction Using the Felt Sense Polyvagal Model available through PVI's Bookstore.

International Body Psychotherapy Journal Vol. 21, Number 1, Spring/Summer 2022:

Revolutionizing Addiction Treatment with The Felt Sense Polyvagal Model™ by Jan Winhall and Stephen W. Porges.


Gendlin, E. T. Focusing. (1978/1981). New York: Bantamdell.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is this course for?

This course is for clinicians, coaches, bodyworkers, and other healthcare providers.

What will I learn in this course?

Students will learn how to integrate the Felt Sense Polyvagal Model™ with their therapeutic approach.

FSPM, developed by instructor Jan Winhall, is a tool that helps people transition from being stressed, overwhelmed, or addicted to becoming more regulated, grounded, and calm in their bodies. The model integrates Porges’ Polyvagal Theory, alongside Gendlin’s Felt Sense Focusing Oriented Psychotherapy process, enabling us to appreciate traumatic and addictive behaviors as adaptive responses to maladaptive environments. 

It shifts the current pathologizing paradigm to a strength based approach and provides a generic framework that can support any therapeutic modality.

Therapists, coaches, and bodyworkers can all benefit from this training.

What is the format of this course?


  • Nine Live Monthly Zoom Sessions

    • Two hours each, Thursdays 12:00–2:00 pm ET. Real-time learning, community, and direct access to Jan Winhall with personalized feedback.

  • Nine Hours of Self-Paced Lectures

    • Pre-recorded lectures by Jan Winhall to deepen your understanding between live sessions, on your own schedule.

  • 15 Focusing Partnership Sessions

    • Paired peer-to-peer practice in between live classes. A lifelong skill: 20 minutes of focusing, then your partner reflects back your felt sense.

  • Recorded Conversations: Jan & Dr. Porges

    • Exclusive access to recorded conversations between Jan Winhall and Dr. Stephen Porges, the co-creator of Polyvagal Theory.

  • Assessment Tools & Resources

How long do I have access to course recordings and materials?

All learners have access for 365 days.

Testimonials

5 star rating

Deeply transformative

Inka Ticha

I feel very grateful for this wonderful journey with you. I had no idea that we could explore our depths in a very safe and supportive environment even conne...

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I feel very grateful for this wonderful journey with you. I had no idea that we could explore our depths in a very safe and supportive environment even connected online like this around the world. Thank you so much Jan, you are a great inspiration to me and thank you for all your thoughts and insights that have enriched my life and also my therapeutic practice. Thank you to everyone who participated in this wonderful training. I work as a craniosacral BCST therapist, treating trauma and any type of addiction is my mission. The Focusing method and Polyvagal approaches complement BCST treatment brilliantly. I myself have also undergone a significant self-discovery during these few months, it has changed me a lot. Thank you and I definitely recommend this training to all BCST practitioners. Warmly Inka Ticha, Czech Republic

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5 star rating

Highly recommend!

Ragna Reiske

This course was a game changer for my work and personal development. I was new to Focusing and it is a powerful tool - especially in Jan’s combination with t...

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This course was a game changer for my work and personal development. I was new to Focusing and it is a powerful tool - especially in Jan’s combination with the Polyvagal approach. Great additional tools are being handed out to create non-judgemental assessments of your clients, leaving the disease-driven mindset.

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5 star rating

Felt Sense Polyvagal Model

Irene Becker

Excellent. Groundbreaking work!

Excellent. Groundbreaking work!

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4 star rating

A very complete but complex model

Doug Chapman

Jan has brought together so many innovative ideas and models. This course was a great introduction to her exciting new approach. There are so many strands an...

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Jan has brought together so many innovative ideas and models. This course was a great introduction to her exciting new approach. There are so many strands and interconnecting parts that it was overwhelming at times. But I am intrigued by the model that I am eager to go further in training so that I can become proficient in using this approach.

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5 star rating

Great course!

Lina Skantze

Such an important and useful course! The combination of Focusing and Polyvagal theory makes a brilliant foundation for a much needed paradigm shift in unders...

Read More

Such an important and useful course! The combination of Focusing and Polyvagal theory makes a brilliant foundation for a much needed paradigm shift in understanding and treating trauma and addiction. I highly recommend it!

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Your Instructor

Jan Winhall, MSW

Jan Winhall, M.S.W.  P.I.F.O.T. is an author, teacher and seasoned trauma and addiction psychotherapist. She is a Course Partner with the Polyvagal Institute where she offers a training program based on her book Treating Trauma and Addiction with the Felt Sense Polyvagal Model (Routledge, 2021).  Her newest book is 20 Embodied Practices for Healing Trauma and Addiction: Using the Felt Sense Polyvagal Model (Norton, 2025). She is also a contributing author to Somatic Oriented Therapies (Norton, 2025). She is an Adjunct Lecturer at the University of Toronto and a Certifying Co-Ordinator with the International Focusing Institute. Jan is Co-Director of the Borden Street Clinic where she supervises graduate students. She enjoys teaching all over the world. Jan is founder of the FSPM Institute. You can reach her at FSPMinstitute.com

Pricing options

Students will have access to the course for 365 days from the date of the first live session.