The Premier Program to Become an Expert Trauma Therapist!
Learn EVERYTHING you need to know to provide healing for any trauma client in just 4 months!

An Invitation from Lisa Ferentz and Psychotherapy Networker...

There's an urgent need for effective healers to treat the rapidly increasing number of trauma clients in our communities. But far too few therapists have the skills to meet this growing demand, largely because they haven't been provided the right training that's based both on their needs AND the needs of their clients.

That's why I'm excited to partner with Psychotherapy Networker to offer my state-of-the-art, Comprehensive Certificate Program in Advanced Trauma Treatment entirely online and on-demand... so you can master the skills to create lasting change without drastically disrupting your busy schedule.

This is my premier training program that’s the culmination of everything I’ve learned over 37 years as a trauma therapist and trainer. Now, you can join me for an entire semester to learn the tools and techniques I’ve refined from the best approaches available, many of which you won’t find in any other trainings.

This program includes: 9 live, full-day training sessions | 4 exclusive Q&A calls to get help with your specific challenges
On-demand recording access | Comprehensive resource manuals | Bonus CE workhop & more!
View the full program schedule

This course is different than anything you've experienced before because you’ll truly learn by doing. You’ll take part in interactive, multi-modality teaching sessions, and then be able to practice in real-time the skills you’ve learned. From there, you’ll have the opportunity to apply your new methods right away in practice and process in breakout rooms what worked and where you still need further growth.

Plus, you’ll earn your Certificate in Advanced Trauma Treatment from the prestigious Ferentz Institute as proof of your accomplishment and your abilities.

I’m confident you can become an expert trauma therapist, and I strongly believe this is the program that will get you there.

— Lisa Ferentz, LCSW-C DAPA

Lisa Ferentz’s Certificate in Advanced Trauma Treatment

A 4-month, Level I Post-Graduate Training Program

$2,599.00 Value

Enrollment is now closed.

Course Began September 2^nd, 2021

You'll earn up to 59.0 CE Hours — up to 54.0 Live CE Hours & up to 5.0 Self-Study CE Hours — Click here for CE Credit breakdown

Advanced Trauma Treatment Certificate Program Details

This advanced certificate program goes beyond the basics to show you the most effective approaches to help clients who experience:

Dissociation, regression, and depersonalization
Self-destructive behaviors (including cutting, addictions, binging and purging)
Flashbacks and intrusive memories
Nightmares
Anxiety and depression as a result of traumatic experiences
Disintegrated sense of self
Low self-worth, shame, and guilt
Suicidal thoughts and behaviors
Anger, rage, and aggression

You won’t find another program so effectively structured around your needs as a working clinician seeking to advance your trauma treatment skills.

Plus, this is a program that takes care of you... while it prepares you to care for your clients!

As an active clinician who regularly sees clients, Lisa considers it essential to not just teach treatment skills, but to care for your needs as a therapist and student. The experiential exercises in this program (such as mindful breathwork, journaling, art and sandplay) are meant for your well-being, as well as your client’s.

When you accept the invitation to join this advanced trauma certificate program, you’ll get:

9 full-day sessions where you’ll learn, step-by-step, Lisa’s strengths-based integrative trauma approach

Access to treatment models you likely haven’t seen elsewhere

4 bonus LIVE Q&A calls to get answers to your specific questions

Complete on-demand access to recordings until Dec. 31, 2021.

Comprehensive resource manuals and slides

An intimate and personal learning environment to connect directly with me and your colleagues from around the world

BONUS: my popular 5-hour “Getting Creative with Parts” on-demand workshop

Frequently Asked Questions About This Certificate Program

We've got you covered. You'll have unlimited access to each class until December 31st. The recording will be available 3-5 business days after the live class ends. You can only earn "live" credit by attending live, but some self-study credit may be available with the recording. CE hours and approvals on self-study products may differ from live CE hours and approvals.

Up to 54 hours, depending on your individual board, including up to 3 Ethics hours. Click here for CE Credit breakdown. No additional CE hours are available for the four LIVE Q&A calls. We've worked hard to make sure as many licensed mental health and medical professionals are covered by this amazing training program.

YES. Nothing in this training program is previously recorded. Lisa will be with you the entire semester, including responding in the online forum weekly and available for additional conversations in 4 LIVE Q&A calls outside of the 9 days of classes that make up the core program.

Completing all 9 classes will allow you to complete the final exam in December. Upon successful completion of that exam you'll have earned your Certificate in Advanced Trauma Treatment from the Ferentz Institute. It will be available in your course portal once you pass the exam.

Yes! You'll get access until December 31st to each and every class to review and replay as much as you'd like. All the resources, handouts, and Lisa's complete training manuals with scripts and practices are yours to keep.
You'll also get exclusive discounts on all of Lisa's other trainings, books, and resources, and her popular "Getting Creative with Parts" 5-hour workshop for free.

Yes! Our mission is to help you thrive in your practice. If you're not 100% satisfied and decide this program is not for you, contact us and we'll make it right.

This is a highly experiential, practice-focused trauma training that Lisa Ferentz has developed over the past 35 years treating severely traumatized clients who experience dissociation, self-harm, flashbacks, and other symptoms of PTSD. Her approach has been praised by luminaries such as Janina Fisher and Dick Schwartz, Developer of Internal Family Systems therapy.

As a practicing therapist herself, Lisa is passionate about helping clinicians develop a way of approaching trauma that includes concrete tools and shows you how to develop yourself as a clinician to treat trauma. Her unique approach avoids pathologizing trauma and treats lingering symptoms as the way an individual survived, and her treatment simplifies complex trauma symptoms in ways that clients can finally begin to understand their symptoms with compassion and provides concrete tools, including many expressive art practices and more to unravel the legacy of trauma.

This program is Lisa's comprehensive training that has before been reserved only for those who can travel to her institute, now available with CEs for the first time through her partnership with Psychotherapy Networker. And with our 100% satisfaction guarantee and payment plan, we hope you'll take advantage of this great opportunity.

What if my question wasn't answered here? For answers to questions not listed on this page, please go to the PESI full FAQ page.

Training Program Schedule

Training takes place from 9:00 am through 4:30 pm (ET) on Zoom.

While we encourage participants to join each session live to get the full program experience, we understand that’s not always possible. That’s why we’ve included complete recording access through Dec. 31^st with your registration.

Class 1: Understanding Trauma and its Reverberating Effects: The Strengths-Based Perspective

Thursday, September 2
In this 6-hour workshop 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.

8:45am ET — Login to Zoom
9:00-10:00am Introduction and orientation

The strengths-based perspective: normalizing and universalizing clients’ “symptoms” and struggles

10:00-10:08am Break
10:08-11:00pm The power of de-pathologizing the sequelae of trauma

The overdiagnosis of clients

11:00-11:07am Break
11:07-12:00pm 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

12:00-1:00pm Lunch
1:00-2:00pm 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

2:00-2:07 Break
2:07-3:00pm 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

3:00-3:08pm Break
3:08-4:30pm Understanding social engagement versus the fight or flight responses

Understanding fawning and freeze responses
Video - Peter Levine: freeze in the animal kingdom

Learning 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.

Class 2: Understanding Trauma and its Reverberating Effects: Trauma, Memory, and the Brain

Tuesday, September 14

In this workshop, 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.

8:45am ET — Login to Zoom
9:00-10:00am 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

10:00-10:07am Break
10:07-11:00pm 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

11:00-11:08am Break
11:08-12:00pm 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

12:00-1:00pm Lunch-on your own
1:00-2:00pm Understanding implicit and explicit memory

Trauma’s impact on memory: the phenomenon of “speechless terror”

2:00-2:07pm Break
2:07-3:00pm Understanding the functions of the left and right hemispheres of the brain

Global memory impairment and dissociation

3:00-3:07pm Break
3:07-4:30pm Attachment: the primary task of childhood

Digital technology and the attachment crisis of 2021
Understanding co-regulation and auto-regulation

Learning 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.

Class 3: Understanding Trauma and its Reverberating Effects: The Impact of Insecure Attachment

Friday, October 1

In this 6-hour workshop 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.

8:45am ET — Login to Zoom
9:00-10:00am 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

10:00-10:07am Break
10:07-11:00pm 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

11:00-11:08am Break
11:08-12:00pm 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

12:00-1:00pm Lunch
1:00-2:00pm The Still Face Experiment video- processing the power of mis-attunement

The impact of being raised by a depressed parent

2:00-2:07pm Break
2:07-3:00pm Dysfunctional parenting styles: navigating criticism, unreasonable demands, expectations of perfection, emotional absence, and overt abuse

Videos

3:00-3:08pm Break
3:08-4:30pm 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

Learning 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.

Class 4: Creatively and Effectively Treating Trauma: The Foundation of Trauma-Informed Care

Wednesday, October 13
Join Lisa to learn how to 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.

8:45am ET — Login to Zoom
9:00-10:00am 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?”

10:00-10:07am Break
10:07-11:00pm 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

11:00-11:08am Break
11:08-12:00pm Verbally administering questionnaires and assessment tools

Counter-transference, pacing, and keeping clients grounded
Asking less threatening questions during history taking

12:00-1:00pm Lunch
1:00-2:00pm Defining the “trauma informed” therapist

Doing trauma work through tele-therapy: pros and cons
Assessing for co-morbidity

2:00-2:08pm Break
2:08-3:00pm Exploring the “foundation” of trauma treatment

Creating internal and external safety: awareness of the office environment as well as the client’s internal resourcing

3:00-3:07pm Break
3:07-4:30pm Safe place collage experiential and processing

Learning 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.

Class 5: Creatively and Effectively Treating Trauma: Strategies for Affect Regulation, Grounding, and Containment

Friday, October 29

In this 6-hour workshop 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.

During the second half of the workshop 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. We will also process a series of flashback halting protocols that can help clients short-circuit dissociation and differentiate the past from the present.

8:45am ET — Login to Zoom
9:00-10:00am Addressing hyper and hypo-arousal with breathwork

Tools for anchoring- video
Pacing and applying the brakes
EFT tapping and experiential

10:00-10:07am Break
10:07-11:00pm Trauma, PTSD and movement

Somatic Resourcing and Power Poses
Understanding the “Felt Sense”- experiential
Pairing Body Sensation with Art

11:00-11:08am Break
11:08-12:00pm Containment strategies- clients’ artwork

Containing with Mandalas- experiential

12:00-1:00pm Lunch-on your own
1:00-2:00pm Preparing clients for art interventions

The power of using art therapeutically
Processing open-ended questions for insights

2:00-2:08pm Break
2:08-3:00pm Art prompts: depicting emotions; supports and obstacles; bridge for future goals;

Using Mapping in sessions- processing client’s work

3:00-3:07pm Break
3:07-4:30pm Flashback halting protocols

Using “Re-storying” to heal traumatic event

Learning 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.

Class 6: The Pharmacological and Non-Pharmacological Treatment of Anxiety and Depression in Trauma Survivors

Wednesday, November 10

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 workshop 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.

In the second half of the workshop, 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.

8:45am ET — Login to Zoom
9:00-10:00am 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

10:00-10:07am Break
10:07-11:00pm Anxiety Disorders: panic, agoraphobia, social anxiety, OCD, PTSD and Acute Stress Disorder

Assessing for suicide

11:00-11:08am Break
11:08-12:00pm Pharmacological treatment options

Classes of medication
Understanding and working with potential side effects
Response versus remission
Maintenance therapy
Supplements, medical marijuana, ECT

12:00-1:00pm Lunch-on your own
1:00-2:00pm Putting clients in a bio-psycho-social context

Processing medication with depressed or anxious clients
Addressing clients’ “medication myths”

2:00-2:08pm Break
2:08-3:00pm Creative non-pharmacological interventions:

Reframing cognitive distortions and increasing positive self-talk
Treating anxiety and depression through a parts perspective
Processing art prompts

3:00-3:07pm Break
3:07-4:30pm Guided imagery and visualization, self-soothing techniques, Solution-focused strategies

Learning 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.

Class 7: Trauma and the Therapeutic Alliance: Bridging Therapy Sessions, Working with Self-Harm, and Traumatic Transference

Monday, November 29
In this 6-hour workshop 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. 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 gives clients concrete steps to follow when they get the impulse to engage in self-harm.

In the second half of the workshop, 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.

8:45am ET — Login to Zoom
9:00-10:00am 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

10:00-10:07am Break
10:07-11:00pm 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

11:00-11:08am Break
11:08-12:00pm 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

12:00-1:00pm Lunch-on your own
1:00-2:00pm Transferential triggers: practice setting; therapist’s interventions and inadvertent errors; verbal and non-verbal communication

Videos and discussion

2:00-2:05pm Break
2:05-3:00pm The impact of transference on the therapeutic relationship: navigating testing

The impact that Covid has on triggers

3:00-3:07pm Break
3:07-4:30pm 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

Learning 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.

Class 8: Trauma and the Therapeutic Alliance: Understanding the Impact of Counter-Transference

Thursday, December 9

In this 6-hour workshop 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. Several writing experientials will allow us to see that discrepancy and invite curiosity about the negative impact it has on clinician efficacy. 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.

8:45am ET — Login to Zoom
9:00-10:00am Identifying and processing the challenges of working with traumatized clients

Helping others vs. helping ourselves- writing experiential
Balancing an Internal and external focus

10:00-10:07am Break
10:07-11:00pm 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
11:00-11:08am Break
11:08-12:00pm Understanding vicarious traumatization: risk factors and personal attributes that make us vulnerable

Defining self-care and why it's hard to do

12:00-1:00pm Lunch-on your own
1:00-2:00pm The warning signs of vicarious traumatization

How secondary trauma manifests in the workplace
Family-of-origin and career choices - writing experiential

2:00-2:05pm Break
2:05-3:00pm The helping professional and counter-transference

Processing empathic disequilibrium - video
Processing empathic enmeshment - video

3:00-3:07pm Break
3:07-4:30pm Processing empathic withdrawal - video

Processing empathic repression - video
Addressing vicarious traumatization

Learning 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.

Class 9: Trauma and the Therapeutic Alliance: Processing Ethics, Reporting Issues and Termination

Monday, December 20

The first three hours of this workshop 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. 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.

In the second half of the workshop, 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.

8:45am ET — Login to Zoom
9:00-10:00am Reviewing a few test questions

Ethical considerations for mental health providers
Dolgoff’s hierarchy of responsibilities
The 6 Legal obligations - case examples

10:00-10:07am Break
10:07-11:00pm 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

11:00-11:08am Break
11:08-12:00pm 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

12:00-1:00pm Lunch-on your own
1:00-2:00pm 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

2:00-2:08pm Break
2:08-3:00pm Processing video clips depicting termination scenes

Addressing client discontinuation
How to respond to an unplanned termination

3:00-3:07pm Break
3:07-4:30pm A ritual for getting healthy closure and celebrating successes

Breakout rooms: processing termination
Celebrating your graduation!

Learning 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.

• Click here for course objectives and outline •

Live Q&A Call Schedule

Friday, September 17 | 11am – 12pm (EDT)
Wednesday, October 20 | 1pm – 2pm (EDT)
Wednesday, November 24 | 11am – 12pm (EST)
Tuesday, December 21 | 1pm – 2pm (EST)

Lisa Ferentz’s Certificate in Advanced Trauma Treatment

A 4-month, Level I Post-Graduate Training Program

$2,599.00 Value

Enrollment is now closed.

Course Began September 2^nd, 2021

You'll earn up to 59.0 CE Hours — up to 54.0 Live CE Hours & up to 5.0 Self-Study CE Hours — Click here for CE Credit breakdown

Earn Your Advanced Trauma Treatment Certificate
from the Ferentz Institute

Your certificate from the highly regarded Ferentz Institute not only showcases your personal and professional accomplishment, it distinguishes you from your peers and shows your clients, your colleagues, and employer your continued dedication to improving therapeutic outcomes.

Recent program graduates have shared how this certificate program has helped them become regarded as the trauma go-to expert among their clients and colleagues, get promoted or hired for a better position, and support them in writing books and therapy journal articles.

Reviews from your colleagues:

"This certificate was the best investment I have made in my professional career. Thank you!"

— Kristina Worton, LMSW

"I have worked in the field for 20 years and I am still leaving this program with improved knowledge. Excellent program- highly recommend."

— Lisa Sloyer, LCSW-C

"The Trauma Level I course increased both my confidence and competence as a clinician."

— Carrie Schurtz, LCSW-C

"I deeply appreciate the blend of theoretical and practical knowledge that Lisa’s Trauma I course afforded me."

— Michale Lockman, LCPC,

"Lisa is a presenter who embodies competence and warmth and grace!"

— Eileen Thompson, ACRPS, SCAC

"This training was a game-changer for me. The strength-based approach Lisa takes has transformed the way I see my clients and the range of practical tools we were given has revitalized my work with them."

— Lisa Zimmerman, LICSW

"This training is amazing and provides a thorough foundation to work with clients with trauma. Everything learned helped my growth as a clinician."

— Molly Jakubek, LMFT

"There’s no way you can leave a class… without learning new strategies and examples of how to encourage others."

— Stephanie Marinelli, PhD, JD, LCPC

"This is an awesome training with all the qualities and more of a very excellent postdoctoral course! Lisa is a wonderful, generous mentor, lecturer, teacher and clinician."

— Janet Glover Kirkvliet, LCPC

Meet Your Instructor

Lisa Ferentz LCSW-C DAPA, is a recognized expert in the strengths-based, depathologized treatment of trauma and has been in private practice for 36 years. She presents workshops and keynote addresses nationally and internationally, both live and online, and is a clinical consultant to practitioners and mental health agencies in the United States, Canada, and UK and Ireland.

She’s the founder of The Ferentz Institute, now in its fourteenth year of providing continuing education to mental health professionals and graduating over 1,600 clinicians from her two Certificate Programs in Advanced Trauma Treatment.

In 2009, she was voted the “Social Worker of Year” by the Maryland Society for Clinical Social Work. Lisa is the author of Treating Self-Destructive Behaviors in Trauma Survivors: A Clinician’s Guide, now in its second edition, Letting Go of Self-Destructive Behaviors: A Workbook of Hope and Healing, and Finding Your Ruby Slippers: Transformative Life Lessons from the Therapist’s Couch.

Lisa’s specialties include:

Adolescent & adult survivors of physical, sexual, emotional abuse, and neglect
Self-injurious behaviors including: eating disorders, self-mutilation, and addictions
Somatization of trauma/trauma and the brain
Depression and anxiety
Dissociative disorders
Parenting and marital issues
Vicarious traumatization, professional burnout, and self-care
Strengths-based and depathologized approaches including:
Internal Family Systems, Ericksonian hypnosis, EMDR, art therapy techniques, and mind-body modalities

Click here for information about our Speakers

100% Satisfaction Guarantee

Register for this intensive training course without risk. If you're not completely satisfied, give us a call at 800-844-8260.

We’re that confident you'll find this learning experience to be all that's promised and more than you expected.

Lisa Ferentz’s Certificate in Advanced Trauma Treatment

A 4-month, Level I Post-Graduate Training Program

$2,599.00 Value

Enrollment is now closed.

Course Began September 2^nd, 2021

You'll earn up to 59.0 CE Hours — up to 54.0 Live CE Hours & up to 5.0 Self-Study CE Hours — Click here for CE Credit breakdown

Lisa Ferentz’s Certificate in Advanced Trauma Treatment

Praise for Lisa Ferentz's approach

Praise for Lisa Ferentz's approach

Praise for Lisa Ferentz's approach

Lisa Ferentz’s Certificate in Advanced Trauma Treatment

Lisa Ferentz’s Certificate in Advanced Trauma Treatment