Clinical Intimacy: The Power of the Transpiring Present Moment

The native time zone of the body is the present moment. Attachment-informed interventions invite a powerfully immediate version of shared awareness, reflecting the timeless quality of early perception. Primary Attachment Therapy locates attachment processes in the client-therapist relationship, bringing awareness to the breath-by-breath unfolding of connection, curiosity, and safety between and within us. Prioritizing the aspects of experience that are happening – right here, right now – elicits implicit memory, heightened inter- and intra-personal sensitivity, and the potential for deep relational change. 

Join us for an introduction to the transpiring present moment and learn how to bring greater clinical intimacy to any helping relationship. 

Learning Objectives: 

• Discover the transpiring present moment as an access route to attachment material encoded in implicit memory;
• Practice tracking and contacting techniques specifically adapted for attachment work;
• Explore foundational attachment-related dynamics for building clinical intimacy;
• Observe Primary Attachment Therapy in action.

We’re excited to host an in-person Primary Attachment Training from April 2025 in Portland Oregon.  This primer is an excellent way to get a sense of the material and prepare for the longer intensive work.  We hope you can join us!

Donna Roy, MS, L.P.C., CHT, Hakomi Trainer, is a licensed professional counselor and a Certified Hakomi Therapist and Trainer, serves on the Hakomi Institute board of directors, and has had a private counseling and consulting practice in Portland, Oregon, for 25 years. She continues to offer Hakomi certification support and to teach in Hakomi trainings in the Pacific NW and with other global Hakomi teams. In 2011, she spearheaded the co-development of Primary Attachment Therapy (P.A.T.) and offers P.A.T. trainings locally and internationally. Her background includes teaching in Portland State University’s Department of Counselor. Education, founding a local affordable counseling clinic, and authoring a chapter entitled, “Body-Centered Counseling & Psychotherapy” in Theories and Interventions in Counseling and Psychotherapy, published by Prentice Hall. She has advanced training in couples, marriage, and family therapy, experiential dreamwork, and clinical supervision.

Jessica Montgomery, M.S.W., CHT, Hakomi Trainer is a somatic counselor, Hakomi Trainer and catalyst. Blending brain science with mindful experiential techniques and profound regard for the unbroken wisdom within, Jessica facilitates individuals, couples and communities toward greater wholeness. Based in Portland Oregon, she has taught internationally in diverse settings from integrative medicine to wilderness retreats to bodyworker and counselor education. As co-developer of the Primary Attachment model, she supports practitioners in expanding capacity for professional intimacy. Jessica is skilled at synthesizing key information across disciplines and brings a strong social justice perspective to her work, inspiring embodied approaches to personal and social evolution.

2 CE’s: (ACEP #5476): Hakomi Institute has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider (ACEP No. 5476.) Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Hakomi Institute is solely responsible for all aspects of the program.