Academic Speaking & Teaching

Bringing Research Into the Real World of Clinical Practice

Dr. Lina Valery (Dr. V) speaks and teaches on topics at the intersection of clinical practice, relationships, sexuality, technology, and the natural world.

With a background in education and media design, doctoral training in clinical sexology, and more than two decades of experience developing educational content, Dr. V brings both clinical and instructional perspectives to her teaching.

Whether teaching graduate students, speaking to clinicians, or consulting on curriculum development, her goal is straightforward: to make complex ideas useful. She translates research into practical frameworks that clinicians can apply in their work while remaining mindful of the limits of the evidence.

I. The Neurobiology of Betrayal: Beyond the Office Chair

Understanding what happens when trust and attachment are disrupted

Betrayal can have a profound impact on how people experience safety, connection, and their own bodies. This session looks at betrayal and attachment injury through a biopsychosocial lens, with particular attention to nervous-system regulation and the ways physiological responses can influence the process of relational repair.

Rather than positioning somatic approaches as a replacement for established therapies, Dr. V considers how attention to physiological regulation can complement clinical work with individuals and couples experiencing significant attachment disruption.

Participants will:

• Describe common physiological and psychological responses to attachment injury and betrayal.
• Explore how nervous-system arousal can affect communication, emotional processing, and relational decision-making.
• Consider ways clinicians can incorporate basic regulation and grounding strategies into their existing therapeutic approaches.
• Identify areas where current research supports, and where it does not yet support, specific somatic interventions.

II. The Nature-Somatic Bridge: Eco-Therapy in Trauma Recovery

What changes when some therapeutic experiences move beyond the traditional office?

Drawing from her doctoral research and the growing literature on nature exposure, stress regulation, and attention, Dr. V explores how natural environments may influence physiological arousal, attention, and emotional regulation.

The session considers what is currently understood about nature-informed approaches, what remains uncertain, and what clinicians should keep in mind when incorporating nature into their work.

The focus is not on presenting nature as a cure, but on examining where nature-based approaches may offer a useful complement to existing clinical practices.

Participants will:

• Review research on nature exposure, stress, attention, and physiological regulation.
• Explore concepts from Attention Restoration Theory and related areas of environmental psychology.
• Consider how nature-informed practices might support regulation in individual and relational work.
• Identify ethical, practical, and clinical considerations when working outside traditional therapeutic settings.

III. Technology, Intimacy & Clinical Ethics

Understanding relationships in a digital age

Technology has become part of how people meet, communicate, flirt, maintain relationships, experience sexuality, and sometimes violate trust. For clinicians, this means that digital behavior increasingly becomes part of the clinical conversation.

This presentation examines the ways technology can shape intimacy and relational patterns, including digital communication, pornography, social media, online sexual behavior, and technology-related boundary violations. It also considers the ethical questions clinicians face when digital technology becomes part of assessment, treatment, or relationship repair.

Participants will:

• Explore how digital communication can influence intimacy, attachment, and relationship dynamics.
• Examine technology-related boundary violations and their role in contemporary relationship distress.
• Identify ethical considerations when discussing clients’ digital lives in therapy.
• Consider appropriate and responsible uses of digital tools in clinical education and practice.

IV. From Clinical Expertise to Effective Education

Instructional design for therapists and helping professionals

Clinicians often have extensive knowledge to share but little formal training in how adults learn. Drawing on her background in education media design, Dr. V helps therapists and other professionals translate clinical expertise into clearer, more engaging educational experiences—whether online, in a classroom, or in professional training.

The session focuses on practical decisions behind effective learning: how to organize information, create meaningful opportunities for practice, reduce cognitive overload, and design educational experiences that respect both the learner and the complexity of the subject matter.

Participants will:

• Apply foundational instructional-design principles to clinical education.
• Explore how learning objectives can guide the structure of a course or presentation.
• Identify ways to make complex clinical material more accessible without oversimplifying it.
• Consider ethical issues involved in translating clinical knowledge into digital education.
• Use basic user-experience principles to improve online learning experiences.

Teaching & Speaking Formats

Dr. V works with universities, professional organizations, clinical groups, and other educational settings.

Available formats include:

• Graduate and undergraduate guest lectures
• Adjunct and university-level teaching
• Continuing education and professional trainings
• Keynote and conference presentations
• Workshops and small-group teaching
• Curriculum and course consultation
• Instructional design and educational media consultation

A Practical Approach to Scholarship

Dr. V believes good teaching does not require choosing between rigor and accessibility.

Her approach is to take the research seriously while recognizing that clinicians need more than information. They need ways to think about it, questions to bring back to their practice, and a clear understanding of what the evidence can and cannot tell us.

The goal is not to have all the answers, but to ask better questions, connect research with practice, and offer clinicians useful tools for the work they are already doing.