Awaken Consulting Services

04/29/2026

5-Day Brainspotting Intensive

📍 Minnetonka, MN | October 4–9, 2026

There’s something powerful about learning in a small, intentional group—and if you’ve been craving a more relational, hands-on training experience, join us this fall for our Brainspotting Intensive.

Over 5 days, we create sacred space for:
– deep connection
– meaningful feedback
– shared growth
– and transformative clinical practice

Register at the link to join us this October. Attending this Intensive also counts towards BSP certification (replacing 6 consultation hours) and NBCC Credits are available toward relicensure.

Registration closes September 28th.

https://www.awakenconsultingservices.com/events/brainspottingintensive-oct2026

04/29/2026

We just wrapped an intimate weekend in Minnesota, exploring the depths of ketamine, entheogens, and Brainspotting. It was a beautiful way to open our first gathering at our new retreat and healing space, The Hidden Sanctuary.

Together, this group stepped into the mysteries of the psyche while engaging Brainspotting through a wider, more cultural lens. We explored both the promise and the complexity of psychedelics entering the Western mainstream, staying grounded in a kinship based, decolonial frame rather than a consumer and capitalist driven one. This is especially important as the federal legislation has recently allowed fast tracking of research and FDA approval for psychedelics in the USA.

We learned how to work with low dose ketamine in both group and individual settings, including the practical considerations of integrating this work into a Brainspotting practice.

If you’re feeling called to deepen into low dose work, psychedelic therapy, and their integration with Brainspotting, we’ll be in Portland from July 31 to August 2 for our next cohort.

Register here: https://www.awakenconsultingservices.com/events/brainspotting-ketamine-workshop-july2026

04/29/2026

Join us this weekend!

04/28/2026

The lovely Erin Elisabeth is hosting this movement playshop for kiddos that she has been cooking up for some time. If you have kiddos or know any that would benefit, check it out! And give her a shout out for launching her first class ❤️❤️❤️

A groundbreaking class is coming to Forte Fine Arts this summer ☀️, designed and taught by Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker & Forte instructor Erin Arnst!! 🎉

With an extensive background in mental health, Erin understands the powerful role music, movement, mindfulness and playful exploration can play in supporting children’s development. The “Happy Moves” classes encourage kids to connect with their bodies, creativity, and inner strengths in a supportive and fun environment.

In “Happy Moves” classes, offered this summer for ages 7-10, students will:

🎵 move, dance, and explore creative expression through music
🎵 learn simple rhythms and musical games
🎵 practice mindfulness and body awareness through playful movement
🎵 build confidence and self-expression in a supportive group setting
🎵 use imagination through storytelling, movement, and sound

Classes will be held on Wednesdays in June, from 9:15-10:00am. Cost is $100/student for the 4-week session.

Space is limited to 8 students, so don’t delay! Email info@fortefa.com to register today ☀️

04/23/2026

Honored to offer some information from my dear colleague, Cynthia Alonzo, LCSW Trainer info: https://www.instagram.com/p/DXNtIpyifMn/?img_index=1

Link to register: https://www.cultivandowellness.com/continuing-education-offerings

04/22/2026

2 Day Brainspotting Immersion
May 2 and 3 | Minnetonka, MN

Come practice, process, and grow in community. This experiential weekend invites you to deepen your attunement, expand your clinical skills, and reconnect with the aliveness of this work through shared space, dyads, and guided exploration.

15 NBCC CEs available
$275 to 375 with accessibility options
Phase 1 required
https://www.awakenconsultingservices.com/events/immersion-may2026

04/21/2026

Excited to share...

I just launched Awakened Minds Academy— a new on demand CE platform for therapists covering topics such as somatic therapy, non-ordinary states, spirituality, decolonizing our practices, and ways to enhance our skills and wisdom in this work. Stay tuned or subscribe to my newsletter below as new courses and collaborations come out!

To celebrate, I’m offering a free 1 hour Brainspotting Basics course with NBCC CE credit.

If you’ve been wanting to learn more about Brainspotting and its liberatory approach to nervous system and relational healing and want to earn a CE along the way, check it out and feel free to share it with others.

[www.awakenconsultingservices.com/academy](http://www.awakenconsultingservices.com/academy)

With love,

Mari

04/20/2026

Welcome to our newest group of Brainspotting Practitioners!

This group of Phase 1 trainees brought incredible wisdom and depth to our time together. We immersed ourselves in the spirit of the Great Remembering—honoring our inner knowing, listening to our internal sense of truth, and recognizing that witnessing one another may be one of the most powerful medicines we have.

Deep gratitude to our amazing team of assistants—Erin Arnst, Jimmy Tunstall, Renee Sanguinetti, Kim Warner-Hudy, David White, Mercedes Samudio, and Autumn McDonald. As always, you hold a container where unlearning, growth, and transformation can truly flourish.

Congratulations! ✨

04/15/2026

Welcome to the second annual Brainspotting Immersion (year 2!), an in-person Minnesota gathering for providers trained in Phase 1 and beyond. As (a very rough) winter gives way to spring, this event offers space to gather in community and nourish each other. You’ll have the opportunity to refresh your skills, share meals, network, earn CEs, and support one another’s healing through this powerful modality. We extend this invitation to the Minnesota Brainspotting community and to those joining us from afar.

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2-Day Brainspotting Immersion
Minnetonka, Minnesota | May 2 & 3, 2026

The Brainspotting Immersion is an experiential and educational workshop designed for Brainspotting practitioners seeking to deepen their clinical skills through embodied practice, theory integration, and personal process work.

Rooted in the foundations of Brainspotting Phase 1 and 2, this training offers a structured environment to review and refine core principles, strengthen attunement, and expand clinical decision-making through demonstration, dyad practice, and case conceptualization.

Participants will engage in both clinical skill development and their own focused Brainspotting process through dyad practicums, supporting the reduction of limbic countertransference and increased therapeutic presence.

This immersive experience supports clinicians in moving beyond conceptual understanding into embodied competency, enhancing their ability to track, respond, and intervene with greater precision, flexibility, and confidence in their Brainspotting practice.

Fee: $275 - 375, BIPOC & Accessibility Rates available
15 NBCC Continuing Education credits available
Saturday, May 2nd & Sunday, May 3rd | 9:00am - 5:30pm
Prerequisite: Brainspotting Phase 1
Visit https://www.awakenconsultingservices.com/events/immersion-may2026

04/09/2026

Brainspotting and Ketamine Specialty Workshop
Join us for a two-day immersive workshop exploring how low-dose ketamine can thoughtfully complement Brainspotting. Together, we’ll look at how it may deepen resourcing, expand access to unconscious material, and gently soften protective defenses—creating new openings within the Brainspotting process.

This workshop is open to clinicians who have completed Brainspotting Phase 1. No prior experience with ketamine-assisted therapy is required. 15 NBCC approved Continuing Education credits are also available for additional purchase.

There is still time to attend this month’s training—8 spots remain. We also will be hosting in Portland, OR this July.

Learn more and register at the link below.

Minnetonka, MN: April 25th-26th, 2026

https://www.awakenconsultingservices.com/events/brainspotting-ketamine-workshop-april2026

Portland, OR: July 31st-August 1st, 2026

https://www.awakenconsultingservices.com/events/brainspotting-ketamine-workshop-july2026

04/08/2026

5-Day Brainspotting Intensive **DATE CHANGE**

📍 Minnetonka, MN | October 4–9, 2026
(+ opening circle the evening before)

Step into a training where Brainspotting becomes more than a model—it becomes an embodied practice.

Over five immersive days, we’ll slow down, deepen our listening, and explore Brainspotting as both a clinical art and a personal journey. Together, we’ll strengthen intuition, expand clinical skill, and reconnect with healing through a relational, land-connected, and decolonizing lens.

- 36 NBCC credits
- Counts toward Brainspotting certification (replaces 6 consultation hours)
- Deeply experiential and relational learning

If you’re looking for a training that supports your own process while strengthening the way you show up for clients, this intensive was designed with that intention.

8️⃣ spots remaining—Registration closes September 28th.

https://www.awakenconsultingservices.com/events/brainspottingintensive-oct2026

03/29/2026

An exciting welcome to our newest group of Brainspotting Phase 1 practitioners!

This weekend, this group came together to learn, practice, and tend to their own healing while bringing support to others. Thank you for the ways you showed up for one another—with openness and curiosity—and for deepening your commitment to the people you serve.

A big shoutout to the Assistant Team:  Erin Arnst, Dan VerBout, Bonnie Kimpling, Lluliana Flores, Summer Jones, Brittany Hautz, Rachel Duhon, Ellie Lucas, Jimmy Tunstall, and Nayda Lamberty. The container you created was incredible, and we are so grateful for the new faces on the team this weekend!

Congratulations and welcome! ✨