Full Course Description

The Living Legacy of Trauma with Janina Fisher, PhD: Tangible Tools to Transform Clinical Practice

Program Information

Objectives

Determine the autonomic, cognitive, affective and somatic effects of traumatic events.
Practice psychoeducational interventions that support stabilization or offer relief to traumatized clients.
Implement mindfulness-based techniques to challenge conditioned patterns of response.
Integrate somatic interventions that regulate a traumatized nervous system.
Utilize worksheets to discover and address trauma-related symptoms.
Assess the nature of current research, limitations of working with somatic techniques in trauma.

Outline

The Living Legacy of Traumatic Experience

The neurobiology: how ‘the body keeps the score”
How the brain helps us survive
What perpetuates PTSD?
Working with a traumatized nervous system in clinical practice
Risks, limitations and the nature of the latest research

Empower Trauma Survivors

Psychoeducation: the value and meaning of language
Making skill-building a relational experience
The challenge of post-traumatic coping
Recovering from self-destructive patterns of coping
Worksheet: 10% Solutions
Worksheet: Tracking Abstinence/Relapse Cycles

Neurobiologically-informed Trauma Treatment Approaches & Tools

Sensorimotor Psychotherapy: principles and interventions for resolving symptoms
Somatic interventions to help clients regulate autonomic regulation
Working with traumatic attachment patterns
Changing attachment patterns
Worksheet: How can you tell you are triggered?
Worksheet: Trauma and the window of tolerance

Trauma-Related Fragmentation and Dissociation

The structural dissociation model
Identify the traumatized parts
Using a parts-model in with fragmentation

Resolution and the Potential for Greater Trauma Recovery

Building a compassionate relationship to one’s selves
Mindfulness techniques specific for trauma survivors
More client worksheets
Integrate presented tools in clinical session

Target Audience

Counselors
Social Workers
Psychologists
Case Managers
Addiction Counselors
Therapists
Marriage & Family Therapists
Nurses
Other Mental Health Professionals

Copyright : 03/10/2021

The Body as a Shared Whole: Using Visualization Techniques to Treat Dissociation

Disconnection from self in the context of traumatic experience is a survival strategy that allows victims to disown what is happening and disown the parts that are victimized. The cost of dissociation as an instinctive mental survival response is often lifelong internal conflicts, shame and self-loathing, difficulty self-soothing, and complications in relationships with others. Without internal coherence or compassion, these individuals are vulnerable to suicidality and self-harm or substance abuse, often marginalized by the label of “borderline.”

Despite the feeling of being irretrievably damaged, all humans have a brain capable of visualizing or imagining experiences of acceptance, closeness, and comfort that evoke the same somatic sensations associated with early secure attachment. Helping clients discover their split-off younger selves and imaginatively bring them “home” spontaneously leads to an internal sense of warmth and safety they have never known. In this presentation, we will explore the therapeutic power of using somatic experience to foster internal attachment to clients’ most deeply disowned younger selves.

Program Information

Objectives

Determine signs of disowned parts and their internal conflicts experienced by clients
Employ visualization techniques that create a sense of closeness or attunement
Practice somatic interventions that foster an increased sense of compassion for dissociated parts

Outline

Dissociation as a Survival Strategy

Visualization as a somatic strategy to foster a felt sense attunement

“Self-Compassion”: welcoming every part of the personality

Target Audience

Counselors
Marriage and Family Therapists
Social Workers
Psychologists
Psychotherapists
Other Mental Health Professionals