
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.
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.
8:15am-8:45 am Registration & Breakfast
8:45-10:00 am
10:00-10:08 am Break
10:08-11:00 pm
11:00-11:07 am Break
11:07-12:00 pm
12:00-1:00 pm Lunch
1:00-2:00 pm
2:00-2:07 pm Break
2:07-3:00 pm
3:00-3:08 pm Break
3:08-4:15 pm