Full Course Description


Attachment: Make every session a safe adventure for you and your client

To practice on-target, effective, relevant, and empirically based psychotherapy we need a map to the core processes of personality growth and dysfunction. Attachment-focused interventions take us to the heart of the matter with every client and show us how to move them into emotional balance, secure connection with self and others, and resilience in the face of life’s challenges. Every session then becomes a safe adventure for both therapist and client.  

Program Information

Objectives

  1. Outline the main implications of attachment science for therapy practice 
  2. Describe the main features of EFIT – an attachment-focused intervention  
  3. Specify change events and how intervention links to depression and trauma treatment  
     

Copyright : 29/05/2023

Healing Protective and Wounded Parts Using Internal Family Systems Therapy

Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy is an attachment-based, trauma-focused model of psychotherapy. Just as when children attach outwards to their parents to find a sense of safety, in IFS therapy, parts attach inwards to the Self, and find a safe haven and self-regulation. While many attachment-focused therapies tend to focus on the corrective experience that occurs between the therapist and client, in IFS therapy this becomes somewhat secondary to the facilitation of a healing connection between the client’s Self, and their protective and wounded parts that hold the residues of traumatic experiences. Concurrently, the therapist notices their own parts that become activated in the therapeutic dyad, with the aim of remaining in their own regulated Self-led state, in order to effectively facilitate the client’s process. The client’s Self provides the corrective experience, and in particular, the relationship between the Self and the vulnerable parts leads to inner, and ultimately, outer transformation. 

This practical session provides an introduction to Internal Family Systems therapy for clinicians and will cover: 

  • Providing participants with an introduction to some of their own protective parts through an experiential IFS exercise 
  • the organising principles of IFS therapy
  • An introduction to the IFS concept of Self 
  • An overview of the main categories of protective parts in IFS 
  • How to connect to protective parts using the 6Fs process of IFS 
  • A fictionalised case study to illustrate the model 
  • options for therapists seeking IFS training, consultation, and supervision in Australia/NZ. 

This product is not endorsed by, sponsored by, or affiliated with the IFS Institute and does not qualify for IFS Institute credits or certification. 

Program Information

Objectives

  1. Determine the bidirectional relationship between external attachment processes and internal attachment processes from an IFS perspective 
  2. Differentiate between protective and wounded (i.e. traumatised) parts using the IFS framework 
  3. Conduct a basic interview of protective parts using the IFS 6F’s framework 

Copyright : 29/05/2023

The Role of Reflective Function in Repair Work with Couples Parts 1 & 2

Conflict and regrettable incidents are the driving force for couples seeking couples therapy. Couples are tired of constant fighting and they often present when distressing events have fractured their relationship. Such distressing events include (but are not limited to) breaches of trust, incidents of secrecy, and situational violence. As therapists, we want to help couples process these disruptive events and there are many existing processes and interventions that we can apply to do this. 

But how do we know if these have worked or not? And what are our measures for success?  

It is through the prism of reflective functioning that we can tell if resolution has been achieved or not. 

Integrating contemporary attachment theory with research-based couples therapy, this seminar will introduce markers of reflective functioning that therapists can encourage clients to achieve and which will be a measure of resolution of regrettable incidents. These include: 

  1. Awareness of change in thinking over time 
  2. Awareness of others thinking differently 
  3. Awareness of change as a function of development 
  4. Awareness of shared & reciprocal responsibility 
  5. Acceptance of imperfection 
  6. Awareness of differences in behavior with different people 
  7. Awareness of complex causation 
  8. Awareness of mixed feelings 
  9. Interactive effects, shared responsibility for outcomes 
  10. Appearance vs reality 

Program Information

Objectives

  1. Demonstrate understanding of the 10 markers of reflective functioning 
  2. Be able to measure success or failure of a repair process in a couples therapy session 
  3. Integrate process and evaluation of process in couples therapy interventions 

Copyright : 29/05/2023

Working at the Interface of Attachment, Trauma, and Attachment Trauma

Effectively discerning attachment and attunement wounding from trauma is foundational to effective therapy. This presentation will enable clinicians to discern attachment from trauma and from attachment trauma, and understand critical elements of the interface between these psychological wounds to enable effective and targeted therapeutic interventions.  

Program Information

Objectives

  1. Participants will be able to differentiate attachment, attunement, and traumatic wounding 
  2. Participants will be able to design therapeutic interventions that work at the interface of attachment and trauma impacts 
  3. Understand the sequelae of impacts following attachment trauma 

Copyright : 29/05/2023

Trauma-informed TEAM-CBT: Strategies to place secure attachment at the forefront of therapy

This presentation is for anyone who has felt stuck with clients who refuse to engage with treatment and seem to be in an endless round of avoidance, unhelpful coping mechanisms, and deep distress.   

TEAM-CBT is an advanced form of cognitive behavioral therapy developed by renowned psychiatrist and author, Dr David Burns.  This presentation will give you a practical framework to use some of the most helpful methods of TEAM-CBT that address problems of trauma.  

Discover the latest innovations in the CBT field and help your trauma clients move towards healing.  

Program Information

Objectives

  1. After the presentation participants will be able to evaluate each of the 4 factors of the acronym TEAM. 
  2. Participants  will revise the reasons CBT might have been difficult to apply within the population of trauma survivors and analyze  different techniques to overcome those issues. 
  3. Participants will be able to measure client satisfaction in session by implementing routine outcome measures to track progress or severity of symptoms. 
  4. Participants will be able to identify and employ communication tools to strengthen the empathic connection with their clients. 
  5. Participants will be able to explain the benefits of working with resistance and plan to use a paradoxical cost-benefit analysis to boost motivation for change in their clients.
  6. Participants will be able to devise more effective treatment plans which incorporate the elements of T E A M with a broader selection of effective methods to target people with PTSD.

Copyright : 29/05/2023

Complex Trauma: Recognising and Responding Effectively to Our Clients

Complex trauma is highly damaging but frequently unrecognised and inappropriately treated. While current research in the neurobiology of attachment has major implications for treatment of trauma, the potential of these insights is not widely operationalised in clinical practice, and confusion about the differences between ‘complex’ and ‘single incident’ trauma persists.

This training event addresses the stakes of recognising and responding to complex trauma (which comes in many guises) in light of current research findings and their implications for treatment.

Clinical and research insights establish that effective approaches to complex trauma are “phased” and need to engage physical as well as cognitive and emotional processes (‘bottom up’ and ‘top down’) This poses challenges to standard perspectives (i.e. insight-based and cognitive behavioural) which privilege ‘talk’ and which thus require some reconsideration. Core features of effective therapy for complex trauma will be delineated and discussed.

Program Information

Objectives

Learning objectives of this training:

  1. Recognise the possibility of complex trauma in diverse client presentations.
  2. Recognise differences between complex/single incident trauma and the treatment implications.
  3. Identify the necessary components of effective therapy for complex trauma, and the extent to which the combination of these components may require modification and adaptation of your existing ways of working.
  4. Chart the links between core principles of effective therapy for complex trauma and their clinical application.
  5. Recognise the centrality of the realm of the non-verbal and ways in which unarticulated experience is ‘evoked’, ‘enacted’ and ‘embodied’ (Wallin, 2007).
  6. Understand the rationale for the three phases of recommended treatment for complex trauma and assemble a foundational context in which Phase 1 (safety and stabilisation) can take place.
  7. Attune with increased sensitivity to non-verbal cues within the evolving stages of the therapeutic relationship.
  8. Embed within your particular approach ongoing attunement to pre-verbal experience and the body with a view to assisting clients to stay within their ‘window of tolerance’.

"This seminar addresses one of the most current and relevant challenges faced by therapists today. I present this training based upon the latest research along with my experience as a therapist and clinical supervisor."   Pam Stavropoulos

 

How will you benefit from attending this training?

  • Increase attunement to the role of non-verbal experience and the body in effective therapy for complex trauma.
  • Recognise the relationship between research findings pertaining to complex trauma and their application to practice.
  • Understand ways in which standard psychotherapeutic approaches (insight-based and cognitive behavioural) may require adaptation and supplement in light of the evolving research base on complex trauma and a basic capacity to tailor familiar ways of working in light of this understanding.

Copyright : 29/04/2021

Applying Attachment Theory to Heal Intergenerational Trauma in Families and Individuals

Attachment and trauma are overlapping realities.

Program Information

Objectives

  1. Apply insights to enhance assessment / formulation skills 
  2. Appraise attachment and trauma in multiple intergenerational contexts 
  3. Integrate best practice research in our chosen therapeutic models  

Copyright : 30/05/2023

Techniques to Help Clients Restore Trust in Themselves so They can Trust You Part 1 & 2

Trauma can leave us fearfully doubting ourselves, disconnecting us from ourselves and others. The younger we are the more extensive and insidious the impacts are on our lives and relationships. Attachment Theory helps us understand this. 

In this presentation, I will demonstrate various ways you can help your clients reconnect with their own truth, knowing, and wisdom. I will demonstrate ways you can help them see and deal with fears. I will demonstrate ways you can connect your clients to the parts of them that are calm and wise and that do know what to do.  

I will show you safe and beneficial ways of working with dissociation. I will model and differentiate ways of staying warmly connected with the client, of ‘following their process’, and of helping them be with their inner processes. 

We will use journaling techniques as they are powerful tools of connection to self. Clients can continue to develop 

The presentation will be experiential. When you experience something that works for you, it goes down to your foundations, and you will be able to do it with others. So bring paper, pencils or pens you like to use. This is preferable to working on screens.  

Program Information

Objectives

  1. Build confidence working in different channels; somatically (movement), with active imagination (think Jung and guided imagery), with art therapy (squiggle drawings), with different parts of clients (the wounded baby, the wise and loving elder) and relationship with self (journaling and free writing).  
  2. Integrate fresh information arising each time channels are switched as clients quickly and deeply have therapeutic insights and healing in these modes.  
  3. Support actions arising in the processes. 
  4. Modify and apply these skills to practice and utilize them according to therapy style of practice and client’s needs.  
  5. Safely experiment with and employ the techniques.  
  6. Design and develop new ways of working effectively with the techniques most appropriate to the client’s needs.  

Copyright : 30/05/2023

A Somatic Approach to repairing Trauma and Attachment Ruptures: Restoring the natural rhythms of connection

Life is a series of regulation plateaus and changes. We gain and lose these regulation capacities moment to moment, day to day, week to week. This is a natural and often unconscious part of life. Over time individuals, families and relationships develop their own unique regulation patterns.  

With trauma, either a single incident or long-term, these patterns become interrupted, unintegrated, and dysregulated. This affects our ability to stay in embodied connection with ourselves and with people and situations in our lives. 

Consistently poor or absent parental attunement is also a major disruptor of our capacity to maintain these regulatory patterns of flow within self and between self and others. In such circumstances the most potent regulator, a safe and secure ongoing human connection is unavailable, inconsistent, or threatening. Resulting in anxious, avoidant and disordered attachment patterns.   

In this somatically oriented seminar, we will identify and observe how these disruptions occur energetically in the physical body. The cognitive, emotional, and behavioural correlates of different regulatory patterns will be presented. Special focus will be given to how these patterns affect one’s current attachment patterns and sense of connection. In the context of a few case studies, some interventions will be presented and demonstrated that have been found to be effective in the restoration of these natural energetic regulatory rhythms. 

Program Information

Objectives

  1. Recognise the many different energetic regulatory patterns of the body that can be observed and worked with. 
  2. Demonstrate how these patterns are interrupted / dysregulated by Trauma and Misattuned Attachment  
  3. Theorise the impact of these interruptions on client’s  current capacity for healthy sustaining relationships with self and other.

Copyright : 30/05/2023

Treating Attachment and Trauma Issues from a Systemic Family Therapy Approach

Broaden your perspective on trauma from a family systems approach, and its capacity to help to heal attachment and traumatic wounds. You will also learn how to apply Circular Questioning in family sessions to give you a 'scaffolding' in your work with families as well as a powerful method for helping families recover from individual and family traumas. 

Program Information

Objectives

  1. Appraise trauma in a family systems context.   
  2. Determine what a family system is and to differentiate between dysfunctional and functional systems. 
  3. ApplyCircular Questioning applied to trauma work and include it in your work with families. 

Copyright : 30/05/2023

Trauma and Attachment

Christina Reese has dedicated her life’s work to helping those with trauma cope to live healthier, happier, and more fulfilling lives. In her newest book, Trauma and Attachment, she has created a resource to guide clients from a place of fear, anxiety, and trauma to healthy attachment.

In this comprehensive yet accessible book, Dr. Reese provides an attachment framework for treating clients who have experienced a multitude of traumas, ranging from abuse and neglect to medical traumas, natural disasters, and exposure to violence. Through a variety of worksheets, exercises, and activities, this book provides clients with the tools they need to develop a foundation for healing so they can find feelings of safety and security within relationships again.

Inside, clinicians will find tools to help clients heal from the impact of:

  • Abuse by helping them establish safety and security within relationships.
  • Neglect by teaching them to find their voice and express their needs.
  • Medical trauma by helping them adjust to a new normal and better tolerate uncertainty.
  • Natural disasters by using mindful grounding techniques to navigate sensory triggers and cultivate mind-body awareness.
  • Witnessing violence by restoring clients’ sense of felt safety and helping clients identify what they can control to keep themselves safe.