Full Course Description

LIVE | Understanding Trauma and its Reverberating Effects: The Strengths-Based Perspective

Program Information

Objectives

Appraise the four precepts of a strengths-based approach.
Identify five reasons why the strengths-based approach builds a trusting therapeutic alliance.
Investigate how clients construct meaning behind traumatic events.
Evaluate the diagnostic criteria for PTSD as well as the changes that have been made to the DSM regarding the diagnosis.
Identify four risk factors that increase the possibility of developing PTSD after a traumatic experience.
Distinguish between and extrapolate the possible biological reactions to threat and trauma.
Critique the manifestation of the fawning response related to childhood abuse.

Outline

Introduction and orientation
The strengths-based perspective: normalizing and universalizing clients’ “symptoms” and struggles
The power of de-pathologizing the sequelae of trauma
The overdiagnosis of clients
Understanding the trauma survivor’s self-perception and its impact on shame and self-blame
The importance of cognitive re-framing
The advantages of a strengths-based approach
Defining trauma and the impact of loss
When client’s meaning-making exacerbates or mitigates the impact of trauma
The long-term effects of negative meaning making and the personalization of trauma
The healing effects of positive meaning-making
Processing examples of potentially traumatizing events
Exploring the new DSM diagnostic criteria for PTSD
Risk factors that increase the likelihood of developing PTSD after trauma
Understanding social engagement versus the fight or flight responses
Understanding fawning and freeze responses
Video-Peter Levine: freeze in the animal kingdom

Target Audience

Psychologists
Physicians
Addiction Counselors
Counselors
Social Workers
Marriage & Family Therapists
Psychiatrists
Nurses
Other Behavioral Health Professionals

Copyright : 09/02/2021

SELF-STUDY | Understanding Trauma and its Reverberating Effects: The Strengths-Based Perspective

In this 6-hour recording, we will set the stage for a clinical and philosophical approach to trauma-informed treatment, which will include an in-depth exploration of a strengths-based, de-pathologized approach to assessing and treating clients.

We will process the features of therapy and the therapeutic relationship that promote an emphasis on clients’ resiliency and courage, while learning ways to help clients re-frame and “make sense” out of their long-term struggles and destructive coping strategies.

Participants will learn about the power of clients’ “meaning-making” in response to threatening or abusive life events, and how those cognitions either intensify or lessen the long-term effects of trauma.

We will also process the new diagnostic criteria for PTSD including: exposure; intrusive symptoms; avoidance; and negative alterations in cognitions and mood. We will look at the factors that make it more or less likely for a traumatized person to develop PTSD and weave those dynamics into the assessment phase of treatment. We will explore the potential biological responses to perceived threat including: social engagement; fight or flight; fawn; and freeze. Participants will learn about the physiological reactions that are set in motion when we are confronted with life-threatening scenarios, the hierarchy of how we want to respond, and the inevitable ways in which we are often forced to respond in order to stay safe.

Program Information

Objectives

Appraise the four precepts of a strengths-based approach.
Identify five reasons why the strengths-based approach builds a trusting therapeutic alliance.
Investigate how clients construct meaning behind traumatic events.
Evaluate the diagnostic criteria for PTSD as well as the changes that have been made to the DSM regarding the diagnosis.
Identify four risk factors that increase the possibility of developing PTSD after a traumatic experience.
Distinguish between and extrapolate the possible biological reactions to threat and trauma.
Critique the manifestation of the fawning response related to childhood abuse.

Outline

Introduction and orientation
The strengths-based perspective: normalizing and universalizing clients’ “symptoms” and struggles
The power of de-pathologizing the sequelae of trauma
The overdiagnosis of clients
Understanding the trauma survivor’s self-perception and its impact on shame and self-blame
The importance of cognitive re-framing
The advantages of a strengths-based approach
Defining trauma and the impact of loss
When client’s meaning-making exacerbates or mitigates the impact of trauma
The long-term effects of negative meaning making and the personalization of trauma
The healing effects of positive meaning-making
Processing examples of potentially traumatizing events
Exploring the new DSM diagnostic criteria for PTSD
Risk factors that increase the likelihood of developing PTSD after trauma
Understanding social engagement versus the fight or flight responses
Understanding fawning and freeze responses
Video-Peter Levine: freeze in the animal kingdom

Target Audience

Psychologists
Physicians
Addiction Counselors
Counselors
Social Workers
Marriage & Family Therapists
Psychiatrists
Nurses
Other Behavioral Health Professionals

Copyright : 09/02/2021

LIVE | Understanding Trauma and its Reverberating Effects: Trauma, Memory, and the Brain

Program Information

Objectives

Differentiate our historical understanding of the brain with our newest understanding, including the role that neuroplasticity can play.
Employ at least six strategies to help clients foster greater neuroplasticity.
Assess the four major “desires” of the adolescent brain and how it differs from an adult brain.
Evaluate the negative impact that trauma and repeated fight/flight responses have on the different parts of the brain.
Analyze the impact that chronic childhood trauma has on declarative and non-declarative memory.
Organize a model of where trauma is stored in the brain and why “talk therapy” alone does not allow clients to access and metabolize their experiences.
Theorize about inter-regulation and auto-regulation and why an infant cannot self-soothe if they are not first co-regulated.
Employ at least five ways that primary caretakers can create secure attachment with an infant.

Outline

Historical and current conceptualizations of the brain
Defining neuroplasticity and why it’s relevant to our work with traumatized clients
8 Ways to foster neuroplasticity through healthier lifestyle choices
Exploring the adolescent brain: it’s strengths, limitations, and unique desires
Why the adolescent brain is different from an adult brain
The impact of digital technology on brain development
Understanding the triune brain: brain stem, limbic system and pre-frontal cortex
Dan Siegal’s hand model of the brain
How our brains process danger and the price we pay
Trauma and the brain: when information can’t get processed by the pre-frontal cortex
Trauma’s impact on hippocampal volume
Understanding implicit and explicit memory
Trauma’s impact on memory: the phenomenon of “speechless terror”
Understanding the functions of the left and right hemispheres of the brain
Global memory impairment and dissociation
Attachment: the primary task of childhood
Digital technology and the attachment crisis of 2021
Understanding co-regulation and auto-regulation

Target Audience

Psychologists
Physicians
Addiction Counselors
Counselors
Social Workers
Marriage & Family Therapists
Psychiatrists
Nurses
Other Behavioral Health Professionals

Copyright : 09/14/2021

SELF-STUDY | Understanding Trauma and its Reverberating Effects: Trauma, Memory, and the Brain

In this six-hour recording, we will look at the ways in which our brains are adversely impacted by trauma and how the concept of neuroplasticity can reverse that impact. Participants will learn how to strengthen neuroplasticity in traumatized clients through lifestyle choices including: exercise, improved sleep hygiene, humor, connecting to others, and healthy risk-taking. We will then process the unique aspects of the developing adolescent brain, comparing it to the functionality of an adult brain, and exploring both the limitations and strengths of the adolescent mindset. Since many traumatized teens use digital apparatuses to dissociate, we will look at the adverse impact of digital technology and gaming on the adolescent brain.

Participants will get an introduction to the “triune brain” and will learn about the key functions of the brain stem, limbic system and pre-frontal cortex. We will explore the ways in which our brains are wired to respond to perceived threat, and why the chronicity of childhood abuse adversely impacts the limbic system and clients’ abilities to accurately process their experiences.

We will distinguish between declarative and non-declarative memory and how trauma's impact on the brain creates “speechless terror” for clients, making it difficult to articulate their experiences with words.

We will also address the fundamental developmental need to attach and explore the verbal and non-verbal ways that parents can foster secure attachment with an infant. We will look at the process of inter-regulation and auto-regulation and the child’s need for co-regulation in order to be soothed. Revisiting the negative effects of technology, we will process the toll it takes on secure attachment when parents are distracted by digital devices.

Program Information

Objectives

Differentiate our historical understanding of the brain with our newest understanding, including the role that neuroplasticity can play.
Employ at least six strategies to help clients foster greater neuroplasticity.
Assess the four major “desires” of the adolescent brain and how it differs from an adult brain.
Evaluate the negative impact that trauma and repeated fight/flight responses have on the different parts of the brain.
Analyze the impact that chronic childhood trauma has on declarative and non-declarative memory.
Organize a model of where trauma is stored in the brain and why “talk therapy” alone does not allow clients to access and metabolize their experiences.
Theorize about inter-regulation and auto-regulation and why an infant cannot self-soothe if they are not first co-regulated.
Employ at least five ways that primary caretakers can create secure attachment with an infant.

Outline

Historical and current conceptualizations of the brain
Defining neuroplasticity and why it’s relevant to our work with traumatized clients
8 Ways to foster neuroplasticity through healthier lifestyle choices
Exploring the adolescent brain: it’s strengths, limitations, and unique desires
Why the adolescent brain is different from an adult brain
The impact of digital technology on brain development
Understanding the triune brain: brain stem, limbic system and pre-frontal cortex
Dan Siegal’s hand model of the brain
How our brains process danger and the price we pay
Trauma and the brain: when information can’t get processed by the pre-frontal cortex
Trauma’s impact on hippocampal volume
Understanding implicit and explicit memory
Trauma’s impact on memory: the phenomenon of “speechless terror”
Understanding the functions of the left and right hemispheres of the brain
Global memory impairment and dissociation
Attachment: the primary task of childhood
Digital technology and the attachment crisis of 2021
Understanding co-regulation and auto-regulation

Target Audience

Psychologists
Physicians
Addiction Counselors
Counselors
Social Workers
Marriage & Family Therapists
Psychiatrists
Nurses
Other Behavioral Health Professionals

Copyright : 09/14/2021

LIVE | Understanding Trauma and its Reverberating Effects: The Impact of Insecure Attachment

Program Information

Objectives

Categorize the manifestations of secure attachment between primary caretaker and child.
Distinguish between the three insecure attachment patterns that abused and neglected children are forced to navigate, and how children react when they are not securely attached.
Investigate the fight, flight and freeze reactions that parents who do disorganized attachment exhibit to their children and identify at least four ways that disorganized attachment manifests in the child’s subsequent relationships.
Analyze the optimal window of arousal and give examples of hyper-arousal and hypo-arousal.
Practice and illustrate the concept of “shifting the locus of control” as a coping strategy that children must use to attach to abusive caretakers.
Employ at least six ways that children are impacted when their caretaker is their perpetrator.
Practice at least four dysfunctional parenting styles that disregard boundaries, the child’s normal emotional needs, and their right to have consistency and safety.
Categorize at least 10 dysfunctional family of origin dynamics that pertain to roles, boundaries, communication cognitions, and perceptions.
Categorize at least 10 “dysfunctional” coping strategies that children must evolve in response to toxic or abusive family-of-origin dynamics.

Outline

Defining secure attachment
Processing three insecure attachment patterns- videos
The impact of neglect on a child’s developing brain- video
Understanding the fight, flight, freeze manifestations of disorganized attachment
The re-enactment of attachment styles in subsequent relationships: understanding a trauma survivor’s relational template
Attachment and affect regulation and dysregulation: the optimal window of arousal
The challenge of attaching to abusive caretakers: shifting the locus of control
Understanding the perpetuation of shame and self-blame
Attachment trauma: the emotionally unavailable parent
The Still Face Experiment video- processing the power of mis-attunement
The impact of being raised by a depressed parent
Dysfunctional parenting styles: navigating criticism, unreasonable demands, expectations of perfection, emotional absence, and overt abuse
Videos
Trauma in a family-of-origin context: cognitions and perceptions, boundary issues, dysfunctional roles, navigating crises, dysfunctional communication and expression of affect
Processing necessary childhood coping strategies

Target Audience

Psychologists
Physicians
Addiction Counselors
Counselors
Social Workers
Marriage & Family Therapists
Psychiatrists
Nurses
Other Behavioral Health Professionals

Copyright : 10/01/2021

SELF-STUDY | Understanding Trauma and its Reverberating Effects: The Impact of Insecure Attachment

In this 6-hour recording, we will use videotaped examples to explore the four major attachment styles: secure; avoidant; ambivalent; and disorganized. Participants will learn about the profound impact of insecure attachment and neglect on the developing architecture of an infant’s brain, as well as the physical, emotional, social, and behavioral impact of not being securely attached. We will explore the dysfunctional dynamics of disorganized attachment and how they subsequently play out in a traumatized client’s future relationships, including the therapeutic relationship. We will connect attachment issues to affect regulation and dysregulation, processing the concept of the “optimal window of arousal” and exploring the impact that hyper-arousal and hypo-arousal have on clients’ presentations in and outside of therapy sessions.

Participants will learn about the challenge that children face when they are forced to attach to abusive caretakers and the cognitive and emotional price they pay for taking ownership of the abuse. We will process attachment trauma and how depressed or unavailable parents react to their child’s needs. Viewing the Still Face video, we will discuss the ways in which children react to parental mis-attunement. We will also look at the negative impact on children when a trusted caretaker is also their perpetrator.

As we explore several different dysfunctional parenting styles, we will process the “coping strategies’ that children must evolve to navigate and survive parents who are shaming, overly demanding, inappropriately boundaried, emotionally unavailable, or aggressively abusive.

Program Information

Objectives

Categorize the manifestations of secure attachment between primary caretaker and child.
Distinguish between the three insecure attachment patterns that abused and neglected children are forced to navigate, and how children react when they are not securely attached.
Investigate the fight, flight and freeze reactions that parents who do disorganized attachment exhibit to their children and identify at least four ways that disorganized attachment manifests in the child’s subsequent relationships.
Analyze the optimal window of arousal and give examples of hyper-arousal and hypo-arousal.
Practice and illustrate the concept of “shifting the locus of control” as a coping strategy that children must use to attach to abusive caretakers.
Employ at least six ways that children are impacted when their caretaker is their perpetrator.
Practice at least four dysfunctional parenting styles that disregard boundaries, the child’s normal emotional needs, and their right to have consistency and safety.
Categorize at least 10 dysfunctional family of origin dynamics that pertain to roles, boundaries, communication cognitions, and perceptions.
Categorize at least 10 “dysfunctional” coping strategies that children must evolve in response to toxic or abusive family-of-origin dynamics.

Outline

Defining secure attachment
Processing three insecure attachment patterns- videos
The impact of neglect on a child’s developing brain- video
Understanding the fight, flight, freeze manifestations of disorganized attachment
The re-enactment of attachment styles in subsequent relationships: understanding a trauma survivor’s relational template
Attachment and affect regulation and dysregulation: the optimal window of arousal
The challenge of attaching to abusive caretakers: shifting the locus of control
Understanding the perpetuation of shame and self-blame
Attachment trauma: the emotionally unavailable parent
The Still Face Experiment video- processing the power of mis-attunement
The impact of being raised by a depressed parent
Dysfunctional parenting styles: navigating criticism, unreasonable demands, expectations of perfection, emotional absence, and overt abuse
Videos
Trauma in a family-of-origin context: cognitions and perceptions, boundary issues, dysfunctional roles, navigating crises, dysfunctional communication and expression of affect
Processing necessary childhood coping strategies

Target Audience

Psychologists
Physicians
Addiction Counselors
Counselors
Social Workers
Marriage & Family Therapists
Psychiatrists
Nurses
Other Behavioral Health Professionals

Copyright : 10/01/2021

LIVE | Creatively and Effectively Treating Trauma: The Foundation of Trauma-Informed Care

Program Information

Objectives

Utilize at least three key concepts from the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACES) and their relevance to trauma work.
Categorize at least ten adult manifestations of childhood abuse or neglect and explain why earlier experiences led to those adult dysfunctional behaviors.
Utilize ‘trauma-informed” assessment and differentiate it from an intake that is more likely to trigger the client.
Develop a plan for how a therapist’s counter-transference can adversely impact the assessment and intake process.
Practice at least six “less threatening” questions that can be asked when gathering information about family-of-origin experiences.
Integrate at least six features that define a “trauma informed” therapist.
Justify at least three reasons why some clients do not want to do trauma related work in an online format.
Practice at least three strategies to create external safety in a therapy session.
Demonstrate the “safe place” collage to help resource and reground clients.

Outline

Processing the ACE Study: its origins; the connection between medical and mental health
Why traumatized kids present the way they do
“What’s wrong with them” vs “what happened to them?”
Adult manifestations of childhood abuse and neglect
The impact of not resolving trust vs mistrust
The emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and somatic impact
Assessing for trauma and co-morbidity: making the process less traumatic
Verbally administering questionnaires and assessment tools
Counter-transference, pacing, and keeping clients grounded
Asking less threatening questions during history taking
Defining the “trauma informed” therapist
Doing trauma work through tele-therapy: pros and cons
Assessing for co-morbidity
Exploring the “foundation” of trauma treatment
Creating internal and external safety: awareness of the office environment as well as the client’s internal resourcing
Safe place collage experiential and processing

Target Audience

Psychologists
Physicians
Addiction Counselors
Counselors
Social Workers
Marriage & Family Therapists
Psychiatrists
Nurses
Other Behavioral Health Professionals

Copyright : 10/13/2021

SELF-STUDY | Creatively and Effectively Treating Trauma: The Foundation of Trauma-Informed Care

In this 6-hour recording, we will make the connection between the inevitable coping strategies that emerge for abused and neglected children and how those behaviors create suffering and dysfunction in adulthood. We will explore the impact that trauma has on their adult relationships, career choices, ability or inability to engage in self-care, self-advocacy, and self-protection. We will process the co-morbid issues that adult survivors struggle with as they attempt to navigate, self-medicate or numb, the thoughts, feelings and memories associated with past trauma. Particular attention will be paid to doing “trauma-informed” assessments that appropriately pace the work and prevent clients from becoming triggered, dysregulated, or overwhelmed early in the therapy process. Participants will learn how to gather information about clients’ histories while maintaining a strengths-based approach. We will also take into consideration intakes, assessments, and treatment that is done by tele-therapy, where extra attention must be paid to issues including privacy, confidentiality, and pacing.

We will also process the “foundation” of trauma treatment, including: the creation of internal and external safety; strategies to address affect dysregulation; ongoing pacing and anchoring for stabilization; containment; and connection to external resources for support. Participants will have the opportunity to practice creating a safe place collage. Additional strategies designed to keep clients in the optimal window of arousal will be processed as well.

Program Information

Objectives

Utilize at least three key concepts from the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACES) and their relevance to trauma work.
Categorize at least ten adult manifestations of childhood abuse or neglect and explain why earlier experiences led to those adult dysfunctional behaviors.
Utilize ‘trauma-informed” assessment and differentiate it from an intake that is more likely to trigger the client.
Develop a plan for how a therapist’s counter-transference can adversely impact the assessment and intake process.
Practice at least six “less threatening” questions that can be asked when gathering information about family-of-origin experiences.
Integrate at least six features that define a “trauma informed” therapist.
Justify at least three reasons why some clients do not want to do trauma related work in an online format.
Practice at least three strategies to create external safety in a therapy session.
Demonstrate the “safe place” collage to help resource and reground clients.

Outline

Processing the ACE Study: its origins; the connection between medical and mental health
Why traumatized kids present the way they do
“What’s wrong with them” vs “what happened to them?”
Adult manifestations of childhood abuse and neglect
The impact of not resolving trust vs mistrust
The emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and somatic impact
Assessing for trauma and co-morbidity: making the process less traumatic
Verbally administering questionnaires and assessment tools
Counter-transference, pacing, and keeping clients grounded
Asking less threatening questions during history taking
Defining the “trauma informed” therapist
Doing trauma work through tele-therapy: pros and cons
Assessing for co-morbidity
Exploring the “foundation” of trauma treatment
Creating internal and external safety: awareness of the office environment as well as the client’s internal resourcing
Safe place collage experiential and processing

Target Audience

Psychologists
Physicians
Addiction Counselors
Counselors
Social Workers
Marriage & Family Therapists
Psychiatrists
Nurses
Other Behavioral Health Professionals

Copyright : 10/13/2021

LIVE | Creatively and Effectively Treating Trauma: Strategies for Affect Regulation, Grounding, and Containment

Program Information

Objectives

Apply at least three breathwork strategies to address either hyper-arousal or hypo-arousal.
Apply at least three strategies designed to target arousal modulation.
Practice at least three strategies rooted in somatic resourcing to help clients use their own bodies for grounding and self-soothing.
Theorize Gene Gendlin’s Focusing model and how to help clients turn inward to gain more awareness about the meta-communication of somatization.
Perform at least four art therapy techniques designed to help clients work through abuse memories, improve ego-strength, and self-esteem.
Use at least four open-ended questions to use when inviting clients to process and attach meaning-making to their artwork.
Practice the technique of “mapping” and how it can be beneficial when clients or clinicians lose a sense of focus or direction in therapy.
Practice at least three strategies to help clients short-circuit dissociation and flashbacks.
Analyze the concept of “re-storying” and how it can help to make abreactions productive rather than destructive.

Outline

Addressing hyper and hypo-arousal with breathwork
Tools for anchoring- video
Pacing and applying the brakes
EFT tapping and experiential
Trauma, PTSD and movement
Somatic Resourcing and Power Poses
Understanding the “Felt Sense”- experiential
Pairing Body Sensation with Art
Containment strategies- clients’ artwork
Containing with Mandalas- experiential
Preparing clients for art interventions
The power of using art therapeutically
Processing open-ended questions for insights
Art prompts: depicting emotions; supports and obstacles; bridge for future goals;
Using Mapping in sessions- processing client’s work
Flashback halting protocols
Using “Re-storying” to heal traumatic event

Target Audience

Psychologists
Physicians
Addiction Counselors
Counselors
Social Workers
Marriage & Family Therapists
Psychiatrists
Nurses
Other Behavioral Health Professionals

Copyright : 10/29/2021

SELF-STUDY | Creatively and Effectively Treating Trauma: Strategies for Affect Regulation, Grounding, and Containment

In this 6-hour recording, we will experientially process a variety of techniques designed to help traumatized clients somatically and emotionally feel safe, grounded, and within the optimal window of arousal. We will explore the power of using breathwork, anchoring, aromatherapy, titration of emotions, pacing with scaling, and simple tapping from the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) paradigm. In addition, participants will learn how to help clients turn inward and become more aware of somatic sensations that hold memories, emotions and needs through Gene Gendlin’s Focusing paradigm. We will discuss the importance of incorporating movement as a way to help clients metabolize trauma that is stored on the body. We will process simple strategies that allow for somatic resourcing, giving clients the reparative opportunity to use their bodies for grounding and soothing.

During the second half of the recording, we will explore ways to use art therapeutically. Participants will learn how to prepare clients for art interventions, as well as the open-ended questions that should be used to process and de-code the meta-communication of clients’ work. Many examples of effective art prompts will be discussed including: the visual depiction of emotions; obstacles and supports for recovery; the “bridge” prompt for future goal setting; and mapping to create a visual roadmap of issues that have emerged in treatment. We will also process a series of flashback halting protocols that can help clients short-circuit dissociation and differentiate the past from the present.

Program Information

Objectives

Apply at least three breathwork strategies to address either hyper-arousal or hypo-arousal.
Apply at least three strategies designed to target arousal modulation.
Practice at least three strategies rooted in somatic resourcing to help clients use their own bodies for grounding and self-soothing.
Theorize Gene Gendlin’s Focusing model and how to help clients turn inward to gain more awareness about the meta-communication of somatization.
Perform at least four art therapy techniques designed to help clients work through abuse memories, improve ego-strength, and self-esteem.
Use at least four open-ended questions to use when inviting clients to process and attach meaning-making to their artwork.
Practice the technique of “mapping” and how it can be beneficial when clients or clinicians lose a sense of focus or direction in therapy.
Practice at least three strategies to help clients short-circuit dissociation and flashbacks.
Analyze the concept of “re-storying” and how it can help to make abreactions productive rather than destructive.

Outline

Addressing hyper and hypo-arousal with breathwork
Tools for anchoring- video
Pacing and applying the brakes
EFT tapping and experiential
Trauma, PTSD and movement
Somatic Resourcing and Power Poses
Understanding the “Felt Sense”- experiential
Pairing Body Sensation with Art
Containment strategies- clients’ artwork
Containing with Mandalas- experiential
Preparing clients for art interventions
The power of using art therapeutically
Processing open-ended questions for insights
Art prompts: depicting emotions; supports and obstacles; bridge for future goals;
Using Mapping in sessions- processing client’s work
Flashback halting protocols
Using “Re-storying” to heal traumatic event

Target Audience

Psychologists
Physicians
Addiction Counselors
Counselors
Social Workers
Marriage & Family Therapists
Psychiatrists
Nurses
Other Behavioral Health Professionals

Copyright : 10/29/2021

LIVE | The Pharmacological and Non-Pharmacological Treatment of Anxiety and Depression in Trauma Survivors

Program Information

Objectives

Differentiate the diagnostic criteria for assessing affective and anxiety disorders in trauma survivors.
Appraise the most commonly used anti-depressants and anxiolytics, and their potential side effects
Categorize at least six intra-psychic, inter-personal, or environmental stressors that can trigger or exacerbate an episode of depression.
Evaluate at least four “medication myths” that add to client resistance and explain how to work through those misconceptions to increase compliance.
Analyze the disadvantages to using supplements or medical marijuana for the treatment of depression, generalized anxiety disorder, or PTSD
Implement an appropriate assessment to address suicidal ideation.
Appraise at least four advantages to mental health providers working collaboratively with primary care physicians.
Assess at least five cognitive distortions that often accompany an episode of depression.
Distinguish between “response” to medication versus “remission” and why getting clients to remission is so important.
Justify the role of the “parts perspective” in the treatment of depression and anxiety disorders.
Implement at least six non-pharmacological ways to treat depression and anxiety disorders in trauma survivors.

Outline

Depression: Epidemiology, etiology, diagnostic criteria, risk factors and co-morbid diagnoses
Physical symptoms and syndromes related to depression
Differential diagnoses: bi-polar I and II
Anxiety Disorders: panic, agoraphobia, social anxiety, OCD, PTSD and Acute Stress Disorder
Assessing for suicide
Pharmacological treatment options
Classes of medication
Understanding and working with potential side effects
Response versus remission
Maintenance therapy
Supplements, medical marijuana, ECT
Putting clients in a bio-psycho-social context
Processing medication with depressed or anxious clients
Addressing clients’ “medication myths”
Creative non-pharmacological interventions:
Reframing cognitive distortions and increasing positive self-talk
Treating anxiety and depression through a parts perspective
Processing art prompts
Guided imagery and visualization, self-soothing techniques, Solution-focused strategies

Target Audience

Psychologists
Physicians
Addiction Counselors
Counselors
Social Workers
Marriage & Family Therapists
Psychiatrists
Nurses
Other Behavioral Health Professionals

Copyright : 11/10/2021

SELF-STUDY | The Pharmacological and Non-Pharmacological Treatment of Anxiety and Depression in Trauma Survivors

Given the fact that countless traumatized clients suffer from co-morbid medical and mental health disorders, in this 6-hour workshop participants will learn about the etiology, epidemiology and diagnostic criteria for all of the affective and anxiety disorders in DSM-5. The first half of the recording will be led by Dr. Kevin Ferentz, a primary care physician nationally recognized in the treatment of depression and anxiety. He will address the medical and mental health impact of these diagnoses, especially when they go undiagnosed and untreated. Participants will get information about assessing for suicidality. They will learn about the most recent pharmacological treatment options, as well as their potential side effects. This will also include an important discussion about the difference between “response” to a drug and full “remission” and alleviation of symptoms. He will also discuss the research, benefits and risks associated with supplements, “medical” marijuana, ECT, and other alternative treatment approaches. The somatization of depressive symptoms will be explored, as clients often present in Doctor’s offices with physical, rather than emotional complaints. An emphasis will be placed on a collaborative treatment approach between mental health providers and primary care physicians.

In the second half of the recording, we will explore a variety of non-pharmacological treatment options for clients who either refuse medication or for clinicians to use in conjunction with pharmacological intervention. We will look at the bio-psycho-social-spiritual model and discuss the intra-psychic, inter-personal, and environmental stressors and life events that trigger or exacerbate depression and anxiety. Participants will learn how to address the “medication myths” that often make clients initially resistant to considering an anti-depressant or anxiolytic, so clients can make informed and educated decisions about medication. We will also process creative ways to help clients navigate depressed or anxious moods including: cognitive re-framing and positive self-talk: using art therapeutically; parts work; guided imagery and visualizations; journaling; and Solution-focused strategies.

Program Information

Objectives

Differentiate the diagnostic criteria for assessing affective and anxiety disorders in trauma survivors.
Appraise the most commonly used anti-depressants and anxiolytics, and their potential side effects.
Categorize at least six intra-psychic, inter-personal, or environmental stressors that can trigger or exacerbate an episode of depression.
Evaluate at least four “medication myths” that add to client resistance and explain how to work through those misconceptions to increase compliance.
Analyze the disadvantages to using supplements or medical marijuana for the treatment of depression, generalized anxiety disorder, or PTSD.
Implement an appropriate assessment to address suicidal ideation.
Appraise at least four advantages to mental health providers working collaboratively with primary care physicians.
Assess at least five cognitive distortions that often accompany an episode of depression.
Distinguish between “response” to medication versus “remission” and why getting clients to remission is so important.
Justify the role of the “parts perspective” in the treatment of depression and anxiety disorders.
Implement at least six non-pharmacological ways to treat depression and anxiety disorders in trauma survivors.

Outline

Depression: Epidemiology, etiology, diagnostic criteria, risk factors and co-morbid diagnoses
Physical symptoms and syndromes related to depression
Differential diagnoses: bi-polar I and II
Anxiety Disorders: panic, agoraphobia, social anxiety, OCD, PTSD and Acute Stress Disorder
Assessing for suicide
Pharmacological treatment options
Classes of medication
Understanding and working with potential side effects
Response versus remission
Maintenance therapy
Supplements, medical marijuana, ECT
Putting clients in a bio-psycho-social context
Processing medication with depressed or anxious clients
Addressing clients’ “medication myths”
Creative non-pharmacological interventions:
Reframing cognitive distortions and increasing positive self-talk
Treating anxiety and depression through a parts perspective
Processing art prompts
Guided imagery and visualization, self-soothing techniques, Solution-focused strategies

Target Audience

Psychologists
Physicians
Addiction Counselors
Counselors
Social Workers
Marriage & Family Therapists
Psychiatrists
Nurses
Other Behavioral Health Professionals

Copyright : 11/10/2021

LIVE | Trauma and the Therapeutic Alliance: Bridging Therapy Sessions, Working with Self-Harm, and Traumatic Transference

Program Information

Objectives

Assess the notion of seeking treatment from both clients’ and therapists’ perspectives and assess the similarities and differences that impact treatment outcomes.
Categorize at least six examples of the dysfunctional family-of-origin dynamics that can adversely impact the therapeutic relationship.
Construct a model of traumatic transference and summarize at least five manifestations in trauma survivors.
Categorize at least five ways in which trauma survivors test therapist boundaries and manifest trust issues in the therapeutic alliance.
Practice at least five questions designed to address cultural beliefs and their impact on therapy and the therapeutic relationship.
Propose at least four errors therapists can make that inadvertently trigger transferential responses in clients.
Propose at least three ways in which Covid has contributed to clients’ triggers regarding therapy and the client-therapist relationship.
Practice at least three concrete ways that therapists can safely address the issues of transference with their clients.

Outline

Bridging sessions with homework/invitations
Suggestions for invitations
Guidelines for increasing clients’ success with invitations
Working with CARESS instead of standard safety contracts- clients’ artwork
Treatment from the therapist’s perspective
Family-of-origin dynamics that impact the therapeutic relationship
Defining traumatic transference
Treatment from the client’s perspective: processing inaccurate expectations and assumptions
Cultural considerations: the impact of familial, racial, and ethnic core values and beliefs on therapy and the therapeutic relationship
Manifestations of traumatic transference: trust; fawning responses; sabotaging; displaced anger; bravado
Videos and discussion
Transferential triggers: practice setting; therapist’s interventions and inadvertent errors; verbal and non-verbal communication
Videos and discussion
The impact of transference on the therapeutic relationship: navigating testing
The impact that Covid has on triggers
Transferential Issues to address in therapy: hyper-vigilance; fear of abandonment; projecting shame and blame; poor boundaries; relationship ambivalence
Working through transference without increasing shame

Target Audience

Psychologists
Physicians
Addiction Counselors
Counselors
Social Workers
Marriage & Family Therapists
Psychiatrists
Nurses
Other Behavioral Health Professionals

Copyright : 11/29/2021

SELF-STUDY | Trauma and the Therapeutic Alliance: Bridging Therapy Sessions, Working with Self-Harm, and Traumatic Transference

In this 6-hour recording, we will explore creative ways to empower clients to continue their work outside of therapy by introducing “invitations” to be accomplished in between their sessions. Participants will learn about specific assignments that are designed to deepen insights, help clients practice and master new behaviors, strengthen healthier cognitions, increase self-confidence, self-compassion, and self-care. We will also address the guidelines that need to be followed to help clients successfully follow through with the agreed upon invitations. For those clients who are still impacted by Covid, we will acknowledge the tasks that can address the mental fallout of the Pandemic. Since many clients have turned to destructive coping strategies in response to Covid, we will explore the CARESS model which replaces standard safety contracts and gives clients concrete steps to follow when they get the impulse to engage in self-harm.

In the second half of the recording, we will compare the therapist’s perspective on treatment with a traumatized client’s assumptions and expectations when they enter therapy. We will look at specific dynamics related to transference and traumatic transference and process videos that depict these inter-personal scenarios in treatment. This will include a discussion about the impact that family and cultural values and beliefs have on therapy and the therapeutic relationship. We will also address the potential triggers in therapy including: the practice setting; therapists’ inadvertent errors; and the paradigms that are used in treatment. We will look at issues of trust, client testing, boundary violations, idealizing or badmouthing the therapist, the client’s impulse to sabotage the relationship and how to best address these transferential dynamics without evoking additional shame or blame.

Program Information

Objectives

Assess the notion of seeking treatment from both clients’ and therapists’ perspectives and assess the similarities and differences that impact treatment outcomes.
Categorize at least six examples of the dysfunctional family-of-origin dynamics that can adversely impact the therapeutic relationship.
Construct a model of traumatic transference and summarize at least five manifestations in trauma survivors.
Categorize at least five ways in which trauma survivors test therapist boundaries and manifest trust issues in the therapeutic alliance.
Practice at least five questions designed to address cultural beliefs and their impact on therapy and the therapeutic relationship.
Propose at least four errors therapists can make that inadvertently trigger transferential responses in clients.
Propose at least three ways in which Covid has contributed to clients’ triggers regarding therapy and the client-therapist relationship.
Practice at least three concrete ways that therapists can safely address the issues of transference with their clients.

Outline

Bridging sessions with homework/invitations
Suggestions for invitations
Guidelines for increasing clients’ success with invitations
Working with CARESS instead of standard safety contracts- clients’ artwork
Treatment from the therapist’s perspective
Family-of-origin dynamics that impact the therapeutic relationship
Defining traumatic transference
Treatment from the client’s perspective: processing inaccurate expectations and assumptions
Cultural considerations: the impact of familial, racial, and ethnic core values and beliefs on therapy and the therapeutic relationship
Manifestations of traumatic transference: trust; fawning responses; sabotaging; displaced anger; bravado
Videos and discussion
Transferential triggers: practice setting; therapist’s interventions and inadvertent errors; verbal and non-verbal communication
Videos and discussion
The impact of transference on the therapeutic relationship: navigating testing
The impact that Covid has on triggers
Transferential Issues to address in therapy: hyper-vigilance; fear of abandonment; projecting shame and blame; poor boundaries; relationship ambivalence
Working through transference without increasing shame

Target Audience

Psychologists
Physicians
Addiction Counselors
Counselors
Social Workers
Marriage & Family Therapists
Psychiatrists
Nurses
Other Behavioral Health Professionals

LIVE | Trauma and the Therapeutic Alliance: Understanding the Impact of Counter-Transference

Program Information

Objectives

Analyze at least five inherent stressors that exist for helping professionals working with traumatized clients.
Differentiate between “internal” and “external” focus and explain the concept of dual awareness in therapy.
Analyze the roots of co-dependence and the family of origin dynamics that make a person vulnerable to needing constant external validation.
Theorize on the concept of vicarious traumatization and explain its relevance to the client-therapist relationship.
Assess at least four risk factors that make helping professionals vulnerable to secondary traumatization and four warning signs that indicate burn-out.
Theorize on the role of spirituality in trauma treatment and provide several examples of questions that can be used to assess for the viability of spirituality as a resource.
Categorize the four possible “reactive modes” that therapists can manifest when they are triggered and overcome by counter-transference.
Differentiate between empathic disequilibrium and empathic repression.
Analyze four examples of how vicarious traumatization manifests in the workplace.

Outline

Identifying and processing the challenges of working with traumatized clients
Helping others vs. helping ourselves- writing experiential
Balancing an Internal and external focus
Exploring the roots of co-dependency: family -of-origin dynamics; resolving a sense of failure; the absence of internal validation; the need for external validation
Understanding vicarious traumatization: risk factors and personal attributes that make us vulnerable
Defining self-care and why it's hard to do
The warning signs of vicarious traumatization
How secondary trauma manifests in the workplace
Family-of-origin and career choices- writing experiential
The helping professional and counter-transference
Processing empathic disequilibrium-video
Processing empathic enmeshment-video
Processing empathic withdrawal-video
Processing empathic repression-video
Addressing vicarious traumatization

Target Audience

Psychologists
Physicians
Addiction Counselors
Counselors
Social Workers
Marriage & Family Therapists
Psychiatrists
Nurses
Other Behavioral Health Professionals

SELF-STUDY | Trauma and the Therapeutic Alliance: Understanding the Impact of Counter-Transference

In this 6-hour recording, we will process the inherent challenges of working with traumatized clients in a variety of practice settings. Participants will explore the impact that a perpetually “externalized focus” has and the price we pay when we don't maintain a dual awareness in our work. There is often a disconnect between the energy and effort professionals exert to helping others versus the time they spend re-charging and taking care of themselves. Several writing experientials will allow us to see that discrepancy and invite curiosity about the negative impact it has on clinician efficacy. We will also address the history and evolution of co-dependency and how the need for external validation can make therapists vulnerable to vicarious traumatization. We will identify the risk factors that can lead to secondary traumatization and burn-out including: issues of control; repression; obsessive thinking; weak boundaries; distraction and denial. Participants will process how vicarious trauma manifests in the workplace. We will also identify the warning signs that let clinicians know their objectivity and effectiveness have been compromised.

Participants will also have the opportunity to discuss the potential role that spirituality and religious observance can play, both as a resource in their own lives and in their clients’ healing journeys. Using video examples, we will identify four potential counter-transferential reactive modes that can impact the work and process case examples that illustrate the adverse effect of counter-transference.

Program Information

Objectives

Analyze at least five inherent stressors that exist for helping professionals working with traumatized clients.
Differentiate between “internal” and “external” focus and explain the concept of dual awareness in therapy.
Analyze the roots of co-dependence and the family of origin dynamics that make a person vulnerable to needing constant external validation.
Theorize on the concept of vicarious traumatization and explain its relevance to the client-therapist relationship.
Assess at least four risk factors that make helping professionals vulnerable to secondary traumatization and four warning signs that indicate burn-out.
Theorize on the role of spirituality in trauma treatment and provide several examples of questions that can be used to assess for the viability of spirituality as a resource.
Categorize the four possible “reactive modes” that therapists can manifest when they are triggered and overcome by counter-transference.
Differentiate between empathic disequilibrium and empathic repression.
Analyze four examples of how vicarious traumatization manifests in the workplace.

Outline

Identifying and processing the challenges of working with traumatized clients
Helping others vs. helping ourselves- writing experiential
Balancing an Internal and external focus
Exploring the roots of co-dependency: family -of-origin dynamics; resolving a sense of failure; the absence of internal validation; the need for external validation
Understanding vicarious traumatization: risk factors and personal attributes that make us vulnerable
Defining self-care and why it's hard to do
The warning signs of vicarious traumatization
How secondary trauma manifests in the workplace
Family-of-origin and career choices- writing experiential
The helping professional and counter-transference
Processing empathic disequilibrium-video
Processing empathic enmeshment-video
Processing empathic withdrawal-video
Processing empathic repression-video
Addressing vicarious traumatization

Target Audience

Psychologists
Physicians
Addiction Counselors
Counselors
Social Workers
Marriage & Family Therapists
Psychiatrists
Nurses
Other Behavioral Health Professionals

LIVE | Trauma and the Therapeutic Alliance: Processing Ethics, Reporting Issues and Termination

Program Information

Objectives

Investigate Dolgoff’s ethical principles and the hierarchy of professional responsibilities and obligations.
Categorize at least five red flags that indicate compromised therapists’ ethics
Determine the specific duties of practice including: the duty to protect life, to report and warn, and the preservation of client confidentiality.
Assess the legal issues of reporting abuse and neglect.
Analyze the impact that reporting has on the therapeutic relationship and identify ways to reframe reporting as an act of client empowerment.
Distinguish between five different termination modes and the roles that both clients and therapists play with each one.
Identify at least three clinical reasons why clients engage in unplanned terminations.
Catalogue the most appropriate process for planned terminations and identify at least four issues that emerge when therapy ends.
Construct a closing ritual for a planned termination that allows the client and therapist to celebrate successes in treatment.

Outline

Reviewing a few test questions
Ethical considerations for mental health providers
Dolgoff’s hierarchy of responsibilities
The 6 Legal obligations- case examples
New amendments in the Code of Ethics
Issues related to reporting abuse and neglect
Legal definitions of abuse and neglect
How to make reporting empowering not punitive
CPS Responses: Investigations and Alternative Responses
Clinical Issues of Ambiguity
Clinical Red Flags
Deviations in the standard of care: dual relationships; conflicts of interest; inappropriate boundaries; record-keeping
Issues of Termination: the impact on the client and the impact on the therapist
The five most common endings: the role that therapists and clients play in the decision-making process
Processing video clips depicting termination scenes
Addressing client discontinuation
How to respond to an unplanned termination
A ritual for getting healthy closure and celebrating successes
Breakout rooms: processing termination
Celebrating your graduation!

Target Audience

Psychologists
Physicians
Addiction Counselors
Counselors
Social Workers
Marriage & Family Therapists
Psychiatrists
Nurses
Other Behavioral Health Professionals

SELF-STUDY | Trauma and the Therapeutic Alliance: Processing Ethics, Reporting Issues and Termination

The first three hours of this recording will focus on ethical issues that can arise in therapy when treating traumatized clients. We will discuss the professional obligations of mental health providers, along with the Code of Ethics from several Professional Boards. Participants will also learn about the latest amendments to the Code of Ethics that focus on issues related to tele-therapy. The six major legal duties will be processed including: the duty of care; the duty to respect privacy and confidentiality; the duty to inform, warn, and report. Clinical issues related to appropriate record-keeping, self-determination, dual relationships, conflicts of interest, and boundary-setting will be examined. We will also address the process of reporting suspected cases of child abuse and neglect as well as reporting past abuse that adult clients disclose in therapy. We will trace the process followed by CPS when a report is made and compare the ways in which different jurisdictions handle their investigations. We will also discuss the concept of iatrogenic damage and the impact it can have on clients. Participants will learn about specific red flags that can signify deviations in the standard care and the clinical choices that can put therapists on an ethically slippery slope.

In the second half of the recording, we will look at issues related to termination, including the reactions that both clients and therapists can have when therapy ends. We will process the five most common types of endings and why some traumatized clients are unable to terminate in a way that brings healthy closure to their work. We will also discuss how to respond when a client discontinues treatment without informing the therapist. In the case of a planned termination, participants will learn about a specific ritual ending that allows both therapist and client to acknowledge and celebrate the successes and gains that have been made.

Program Information

Objectives

Investigate Dolgoff’s ethical principles and the hierarchy of professional responsibilities and obligations.
Categorize at least five red flags that indicate compromised therapists’ ethics
Determine the specific duties of practice including: the duty to protect life, to report and warn, and the preservation of client confidentiality.
Assess the legal issues of reporting abuse and neglect.
Analyze the impact that reporting has on the therapeutic relationship and identify ways to reframe reporting as an act of client empowerment.
Distinguish between five different termination modes and the roles that both clients and therapists play with each one.
Identify at least three clinical reasons why clients engage in unplanned terminations.
Catalogue the most appropriate process for planned terminations and identify at least four issues that emerge when therapy ends.
Construct a closing ritual for a planned termination that allows the client and therapist to celebrate successes in treatment.

Outline

Reviewing a few test questions
Ethical considerations for mental health providers
Dolgoff’s hierarchy of responsibilities
The 6 Legal obligations- case examples
New amendments in the Code of Ethics
Issues related to reporting abuse and neglect
Legal definitions of abuse and neglect
How to make reporting empowering not punitive
CPS Responses: Investigations and Alternative Responses
Clinical Issues of Ambiguity
Clinical Red Flags
Deviations in the standard of care: dual relationships; conflicts of interest; inappropriate boundaries; record-keeping
Issues of Termination: the impact on the client and the impact on the therapist
The five most common endings: the role that therapists and clients play in the decision-making process
Processing video clips depicting termination scenes
Addressing client discontinuation
How to respond to an unplanned termination
A ritual for getting healthy closure and celebrating successes
Breakout rooms: processing termination
Celebrating your graduation!

Target Audience

Psychologists
Physicians
Addiction Counselors
Counselors
Social Workers
Marriage & Family Therapists
Psychiatrists
Nurses
Other Behavioral Health Professionals

Getting Creative with Parts

Program Information

Objectives

Utilize specific expressive modalities to enhance internal safety as well as inner communication to improve client outcomes.
Recommend creative techniques for improving client functioning, including reducing inner criticism, fragmentation, and polarization.
Apply cognitive reframes and writing exercises to soften inner critics that cause clients to resist creative work in a clinical setting.
Articulate which somatic resourcing techniques help clients deepen the connection and communication of internal parts.
Analyze the efficacy of creative strategies to soothe traumatized parts and heighten internal safety in clients.
Demonstrate the role of internal parts as supports or barriers in treatment of client struggles in order to increase the efficacy of treatment interventions and improve client level of functioning.

Outline

Value of Expressive Modalities

Difficulties of Expressing Traumatic Experiences
Various Mediums of Expressive Modalities
- Art Therapy
- Music Therapy
- Sand Tray
Integration of Parts Work with Expressive Modalities

The Concept of Parts

Language of Parts
- Ambivalence
- Denial
- Internal Conflict
Buddhist Notion of Parts
- States of Mind
- Living Room

Internal Family Systems

Role of Parts
Bad Parts
Finding Parts
Parts & Resistance
Types of Parts
- Exiles
- Firefighters
- Managers
Role of the Inner Critic
- Exercise: Working with the Inner Critic

Core Self

Understanding the Core Self
- 8 C’s of Self
- Exercise: Illustrate Core Self

Working with Parts

Polarization & Blending
Mapping Parts
- Exercise: Two-Handed Writing
Somatic Awareness & Focusing
Reframing the Function of Parts
- Honoring Parts' Protective Role
Working with Destructive Firefighters
Safe Places for Parts
Temporary Containment

Target Audience

Psychologists
Physicians
Addiction Counselors
Counselors
Social Workers
Marriage & Family Therapists
Nurses
Other Behavioral Health Professionals