That sounds awesome! I’m excited about your future, your commitment to ethics, and your love of trauma-informed somatic work.

I have a Ph.D. in psychology from a large public university. I would NOT recommend getting a Ph.D. given your interests. Although I’m also fascinated by polyvagal theory, it’s not exactly empirically supported and you won’t get to learn about it in a PhD program. Instead I would recommend getting a masters in counseling or social work, then doing additional training to get your somatic experiencing certification. Also go to workshops and seminars on healing through the vagal nerve. There’s actually one coming up next month in Los Angeles!
I would NOT recommend a pricy private for-profit college. They are money pits of doom. Many don’t properly prepare you for licensure, even if they are considered APA accredited programs of study. Even though the APA sucks in a variety of ways, you need to complete your degree from an accredited program to successfully work in the US. The for-profit programs are also generally poor quality. My work has NEVER hired an applicant with a degree from one of these places. The degrees are kinda thought of as a joke, and the resumés of the applicants just highlight the lack of preparation and experiences they’ve received compared to other applicants.

My current T has a PhD in clinical psychology from a large public university. She didn’t like grad school. She got her SEP certification afterwards and goes to lots of workshops about healing trauma, somatic stuff, and vagal nerve techniques. I’m lucky to have such an educated provider. Another T in the office got her M.Ed. in counseling, is certified in EMDR, and is a current student in somatic experiencing. That seems like a less torturous route.

Ethics concerns are everywhere, though. In research, funding and publications typically are biased towards popular topics, and statistical tests can sometimes be tweaked to show certain outcomes. In holistic treatments: is it ethical to use procedures that are only based on anecdotal evidence and pseudoscience? Also why do the holistic trainings and treatments cost so much money? Someone somewhere is profiting from others’ trauma... These are just some of my thoughts to take or leave.

I predict that the study of the connection between the mind and body will explode in a good way in the next 15 years. The connections between the vagal nerve, autoimmune disorders, trauma, physical health, autism, cytokines, sickness behavior, depression, motivation, multiple sclerosis, social engagement, etc. are amazing. If you want to become a researcher, look into a field called psychoneuroimmunology. You might just love it!