The STAIR Method welcomes therapists and coaches who are looking for any level of education and engagement in the STAIR method, whether that is just one training, a small series of trainings, or the full certification program.

STAIR Method Trainings are available online through The Academy of Therapy Wisdom, are sequential, and are accessible to clinicians worldwide who are looking to expand their integrated experiential framework and toolbox. Regardless of if you join us for level 1 or choose to continue beyond that level: welcome, and we are so glad to have you.

The STAIR Method training is designed to help you support yourself in your work, and closely examine how your trainings, as well as how we have all been trained to think about healing and treatment in mental health affect both your presence with clients and the way you are offering all of your interventions. In this training we know that your intuition, art, craft, and ways of being are valuable and that your client's inner wisdom and ways are the best guide to transformational work. We want to help you serve the people who come to you with deep respect and curiosity.

The training is designed to support you in greeting yourself with great compassion as you examine and rumble with the ways you might have been taught to think about therapy in a system that is born in power over thinking. In this work, we welcome examination of how white supremacy, colonialism, patriarchy, ableism, and other forms of oppression are affecting the people we serve and ourselves as we think about our work, the field, and this job.

STAIR Method Training

The STAIR Method level 1 training is great for therapists and coaches all along the spectrum of curiosity about the STAIR Method. From therapists just out of graduate school, to clinicians with 30 years of clinical experience under your belt, the STAIR Method training offers flexible options that you can fit into your life and current bandwidth. Even just Level 1 training in the STAIR Method is designed to leave you feeling inspired and more confident to carry out neurobiologically informed integrative experiential practice with your clients.

The STAIR Method program recognizes different levels of training, which is different from becoming fully certified in the STAIR Method. The STAIR method welcomes clinicians who would like some STAIR Method training, but might not presently want to pursue full certification. Those with STAIR Method training are not formally assessed by DP Guides like trainees that are in the certification process.

The levels of becoming STAIR Method Trained are as follows and must be taken in sequence:

Level 1 - A clinician is adding experiential thinking and interventions to their tool kit, thinking about experiential treatment planning and learning how to help clients find brain healing states. The clinician is also exploring how their relationship with power, themselves, not knowing, and “of-courseness” affects every part of their work. The basics of the STAIR Method framework is learned and the clinician can start organizing all of their tools and models into a cohesive whole. Level 1 includes an integration support class that clinicians can use to deepen their deliberate practices, fine tune what is working and explore their sticky spots.

Level 2 - A clinician is adding more depth to their work with implicit memory systems and learning how to use experiential work to access different brain regions, support reconsolidation experiences, and help clients address difficult attachment learnings. They will deepen their understanding of the STAIR framework and further explore their relationship with power, themselves, not knowing, and “of-courseness”. Level two includes an integration support class that clinicians can use to deepen their deliberate practices, fine tune what is working and explore their sticky spots.

Level 3 - A clinician is working with facing, with their clients, their context, hard realities, and grief. They are learning to support clients in their deepening self-trust and compassion. The clinician will learn how to creatively collaborate with their clients to create practices that support brain change. They will learn how to offer experiential practices that help clients learn new skills that are specific to them and their needs, and to incorporate boundary work with their clients. They will deepen their understanding of the STAIR framework and further explore their relationship with power, themselves, not knowing, and “of-courseness”.

Level 3 Contains:

- 12 hours of Deliberate Practice Groups, led by deliberate practice guides

- A certificate of completion from Therapy Wisdom that states you are a STAIR Method Trained Therapist

- The ability to join the STAIR Method trained Therapist Directory

Starting in April 2025

Deliberate Practice with a Guide:

You can gain additional Deliberate Practice experience by working with one of the guides on the DP Guide list (Available April 2025). These hours are not part of the certification track but they can be helpful in supporting your embodied learning as you weave your skills into an integrated method.

STAIR Method Certification 

The STAIR Method Certification program is great for therapists or coaches who are wanting a complete and comprehensive journey through the STAIR Method that will leave you with a very full understanding of neurobiologically informed integrated experiential practice and how to embody the method in clinical work. You can decide at any time during your STAIR Training journey to move toward certification.

The STAIR Method Certification is based on demonstrated competency and is offered to trainees who are able to embody and implement the STAIR Method in a clinically experiential context as witnessed by approved Deliberate Practice Guides.

The STAIR Method Certification is evaluated on an individual basis by Juliane Taylor Shore, or a team of Deliberate Practice Guides. Our evaluation process is highly collaborative with the trainees; we want to support you in becoming the therapist that you want to be. Our process of evaluation involves supporting clinicians in their you-turns, continued growth beyond certification, as well as mastery of clinical craft and skills that are principle based. We welcome, celebrate, and honor the clinicians inner wisdom, creativity, and self. There are specific training requirements that need to be completed in order for a trainee to be eligible to be reviewed for certification. Certified clinicians will be eligible for a listing on the STAIR Method directory as a STAIR Certified Therapist.

The STAIR Method Certification Requirements:

STAIR Method Training - Level 1

STAIR Method Training - Level 2

STAIR Method Training - Level 3

• 12 hours of Deliberate Practice Groups

1. Participation in 48 hours of Deliberate Practice Groups with 2 different Deliberate Practice Guides 

2. Two letters of recommendation from Deliberate Practice Guides

3. A written reflection project

4. 50 minute session with a Deliberate Practice Guide who has not yet led a group you have attended. This Deliberate Practice Guide will review two different tapes of your work with you

Deliberate Practice Guide

Deliberate Practice (DP) is used across many modalities to help people master a skill. From chess, to sports, to medicine to jazz improvisation, the essential elements remain stable. Research has shown that the use of DP throughout a therapist’s career significantly improves client outcomes and prevents burnout. In the context of the STAIR Method, DP is an essential aspect of development for clinicians and is a way for them to continue STAIR self assessment throughout their careers. Deliberate Practice Guides are able to support the deliberate practice of other practitioners and facilitate DP Groups. STAIR Method Deliberate Practice Guides have training in running DP Groups, anti-racism, welcoming and supporting neurodivergent clients, as well as the therapists in our trainings, LGBTQIA+ celebratory practices, and implicit-bias awareness.