On Somatics and Social Justice

Somatic therapy is a holistic approach to wellness. A combination of talk therapy and bodywork, it is used to treat a wide range of psychological and physiological conditions, ranging from stress and anxiety to depression and PTSD. Nowhere has somatics proven more effective than in the treatment of trauma. 

Author and practitioner Staci Haines invites us to look beyond the body and mind to consider the social, political and economic roots of trauma. Conditions such as racism, environmental degradation, sexism, and poverty are more than illnesses of society, they are also the source of physical, mental, and emotional disease. 

Individual and societal well-being go hand-in-hand; just as health practitioners need to consider the societal factors underlying trauma, so too must activists understand trauma’s physical and mental impact on the lives of those for whom they advocate. Politicized somatics builds power, deepens capacity, and creates embodied skills required for lasting health and meaningful social transformation. 

Join Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Emily Marinelli for a conversation with Staci about Staci's new book, The Politics of Trauma: Somatics, Healing, and Social Justice, and shares a justice-centered approach to somatic therapy, integrating mind-body healing with social activism.

CIIS students, staff, and faculty receive discounts on all events. CIIS Public Programs Members receive a 20% discount on all events. Contact us for more information at publicprograms@ciis.edu. Please note that we will check your ID for proof of eligibility on arrival at event.

Staci K. Haines is the founder of generative somatics, a multiracial social justice organization bringing somatics to social and environmental justice leaders, organizations, and alliances. Staci is a senior teacher in the field of somatics who designs and leads programs in embodied leadership, somatics and trauma, and somatics and social Justice, as well as leading teacher training programs. She has a somatic coaching practice that primarily serves social movement leaders and trauma and violence survivors. She has been working and teaching in the field of somatics for the last 22 years. Staci is also the founder of generationFIVE, a social justice organization whose mission is to end the sexual abuse of children within 5 generations through survivor leadership, community organizing, transformative justice approaches, and movement building. Additionally, she is the author of Healing Sex: A Mind Body Approach to Healing Sexual Trauma, a how-to book offering a somatic approach to recovery from sexual trauma and developing healthy sexual and intimate relationships. Healing Sex has been nationally recognized and translated into German, Japanese, and Spanish.

Emily Marinelli, MA, LMFT, is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Clinical Supervisor in San Francisco. Emily earned her MA in Counseling Psychology in CIIS’s Community Mental Health program in 2011 and a BA degree in Women’s Studies from California State University, Long Beach.

In Emily’s therapeutic work, she uses the wellness and recovery model of mental health, liberation psychology, social justice focused and humanistic approaches in working with traditionally marginalized communities. Emily has decades of experience working in community mental health as a Case Manager, Sexual Health Educator, community outreach worker, advocate and in providing services to LGBTQIA communities.

Emily offers a unique grounded perspective of the intersections of oppression and the impact it has on our mental health experiences. She has a private therapy practice in the Mission District and specializes in working with: couples, communication and intimacy issues, queer and trans (including gender fluid and non-binary) folks, poly and non-monogamy relationships, BDSM and kink, trauma recovery, artists/performers, self-esteem, codependency, interdependency, sexuality and sex therapy. She also believes that pop culture and activism are healing modalities and incorporates them into the therapeutic process.

Emily has been an Instructor in City College of San Francisco's Community Mental Health, Community Health Worker, Trauma Prevention and Recovery and Addiction and Recovery Certificate programs. She serves on the Community Advisory Board for the CMH Certificate at City College of San Francisco and was Department Chair for the Women's and Gender Studies Department at City College of San Francisco in Spring 2019. She has strong interest in assessment, curriculum design, integrating diversity, gender, and integral wellness into a feminist teaching model that brings together self and other awareness, evaluation and community collaboration

Emily has been an adjunct instructor in ICP and in MCP since 2015, teaching Spousal, Elder and Child Abuse, Psychopharmacology, Human Sexuality, Sexuality and Spirituality, Human Development, Clinical Relationship, Family Dynamics and Therapy, Psychodynamics and Supervised Clinical Group Practicum courses.