Brainspotting Happens!
 
   The Rev. Martha S. Jacobi, PhD, LCSW
Pastoral Psychotherapist / Brainspotting Trainer
 

Dr. Jacobi is a Lutheran pastor who maintains a transdisciplinary pastoral psychotherapy and consultation practice in New York City; she also serves as Pastoral Associate at St. Luke's Lutheran Church, Times Square. Her practice specializations include trauma and spirituality, grief/bereavement, at-risk families and children, and creativity/performance enhancement. She developed the Brainspotting Concentration Programme in Behavioural Health at International University for Graduate Studies, in the Commonwealth of Dominica, and was Associate Dean of the programme from 2015-2023.

 

Humanitarian work is important to Dr. Jacobi. She was a clinician with Faithful Response, a post-9/11 non-profit organization; provided humanitarian service, with Brainspotting developer Dr. David Grand, through the Resiliency Center of Newtown CT, in the wake of the Sandy Hook CT tragecdy; and has been a referral clinician for US military veterans relating to the New York City Wounded Warrior Project. She often provides consultation to other clinicians who are engaged in humanitarian work. Currently Dr. Jacobi is supporting humanitarian efforts in Ukraine and Europe, as well as Maui, Hawaii, USA. She is a Board Member for the non-profit humanitarian organization, Brainspotting Help.

 

A pioneer in using psychophysiological methods in congregational settings of care, Dr. Jacobi is a Senior International Brainspotting Trainer and workshop presenter for clergy and spiritual caregivers, as well as mental health clinicians. In addition to being a Brainspotting Phase 1 and Phase 2 Trainer, Dr. Jacobi developed foundational inter-faith specialty trainings and webinars on Brainspotting and Spirituality, Religion, and Contemplative Practice starting in 2015, which she continues to teach at least twice per year. Dr. Jacobi collaborated with Mag. Monika Baumann (Brainspotting Austria) in co-developing and presenting the original specialty trainings in using Brainspotting with children and adolescents.She has advanced training in Bowen family therapy, EMDR, and Pesso-Boyden System Psychomotor therapy. All of Dr. Jacobi's work is informed by her background as a performing artist in music and dance.

 

Dr. Jacobi's publications include "Brainspotting," a chapter in the 2nd edition of Psychothérapie de la dissociation et du trauma (J. Smith, ed.);  "Psychophysiological Therapy" in The Concise Dictionary of Pastoral Care and Counseling (G. H. Asquith, Jr., ed.); "Smelling Remembrance" in Sensing Sacred (J. Baldwin, ed.); and "Using EMDR with Religious and Spiritually Attuned Clients" in EMDR Solutions II (R. Shapiro, ed.) She is co-author (with Monika Baumann) of several articles, in English and German, related to Brainspotting with Children and Adolescents, and a chapter, "Brainspotting with Children and Adolescents" in The Power of Brianspotting (G. Wolfrum, ed.) Current works-in-progress are related to Brainspotting with children, and Brainspotting as spiritual practice.

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