Full Course Description

Part I: EMDR Therapy for Child and Adolescent Trauma: Safely Process Traumatic Events, Restore Trust and Rebuild Healthy Attachment

Treating traumatized kids can be overwhelming. Their intense emotions, challenging behaviors, and pain are compounded by a lack of trust in others…even those they want most to be loved by.

But with EMDR therapy, you can provide the sense of safety and security they need to heal.

That’s why highly respected EMDR therapist, trainer, and author Megan Salar developed her comprehensive training program. You’ll broaden your EMDR skills so you can help children safely process and integrate traumatic events, reduce their most distressing symptoms, and build their sense of self and trust in others.

Megan has successfully taught thousands of therapists how to get the most from EMDR therapy. Now with this accessible in-depth training full of step-by-step guidance and real-life case studies, she’ll give you the tools and strategies you need to:

Identify even hard-to-find symptoms of trauma in children and adolescents.
Adapt the 8-phase EMDR therapy protocol for improved outcomes.
Guide clients past the fear, shame, and guilt that can obstruct healing.
Engage easily triggered kids who struggle to get through sessions.
Build children’s ability to express and regulate their emotions.
Customize your approach to meet your client’s developmental needs.
Treat a variety of traumas, including physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect.
Enhance clients’ self-esteem and understanding of themselves and their experiences.
And much more!

Don’t miss this chance to feel more prepared to walk alongside young clients so they can thrive on their journey toward a brighter future.

Purchase now!

Program Information

Objectives

Assess the clinical implications of how attachment and trauma impact brain development.
Differentiate between trauma, attachment and other underlying mental health concerns.
Utilize trauma assessment tools specific to children and adolescents.
Utilize grounding and coping strategies to help young clients manage their trauma responses.
Assess for indicators of when a young client has achieved sufficient stability for trauma work.
Employ EMDR resourcing skills to increase clients’ emotional regulation.
Utilize attachment-based interventions to create stabilization within children and adolescent populations.
Adapt the 8-phase model of EMDR therapy to work with the developmental level of the client.
Analyze how EMDR is able to target trauma and attachment-based deficits.
Apply different forms of dual awareness for children and adolescent clients.
Differentiate trauma screening tools that are effective in diagnosing early experiences of trauma.
Utilize 3 somatic based techniques to regulate emotional disturbance.
Determine 2 specific techniques for crisis management with children and adolescents.

Outline

Brain Regions Affected by Trauma in Children and Adolescents

How the brain responds when activated with trauma
Developmental impact of early traumatic experiences on the brain
Areas of the brain that are restricted when trauma occurs in children and adolescents
Basic ways to re-engage the brain after a trauma response

Presentations and Screening Techniques for Simple and Complex Trauma

Distinguish between simple and complex trauma
Recognize the manifestation and presentation of trauma symptoms in children and adolescent clients
Common misdiagnosis of trauma
Fundamental trauma screening techniques for children and adolescents

Assessment and Stabilization Tools for Child and Adolescent Trauma Clients

Trauma assessment tools specific to children and adolescents
Techniques that target the vagus nerve to mitigate somatic symptoms
Grounding and coping strategies for managing trauma responses
Identify indicators for when a client has achieved sufficient stability for trauma work

Application of EMDR Therapy to Sessions

How EMDR is able to target trauma and attachment with children
Dual awareness techniques specific for children and adolescents
EMDR resourcing skills to increase clients’ sense of regulation
Titrate exposure from intense emotional responses to states of somatic grounding

Somatic and Sensory Approaches to Treat Physical Symptoms of Trauma

The association between the brain and body as it relates to trauma
Discover the ways that trauma is re-experienced with children and adolescents
Using EMDR to address sleep disturbances and other physical symptoms in children and adolescents
Interventions to activate the nervous system and calm the senses

Trauma Treatment with EMDR and Attachment Techniques: Overcoming Maladaptive Coping, Emotional Dysregulation and Avoidance

The link between trauma and attachment
The methodology of EMDR and memory reconsolidation
Information processing theory and bilateral stimulation techniques
Applying a 3-prong approach in EMDR trauma therapy
Maladaptive cognitive patterns that occur when trauma is experienced or triggered
Safely engaging in restricted processing
Strategies to address attachment-based needs and deficits
Interventions to soften protective mechanisms and disrupt unhealthy patterns of behavior

Target Audience

Counselors
Social Workers
Psychotherapists
Marriage and Family Therapists
Psychologists
Nurses
Psychiatrists
Addiction Counselors
Art Therapists
Other Mental Health Professionals

Copyright : 07/24/2023

Rebuilding Trust After Attachment Ruptures in Children & Adolescents

Family loss, abuse, neglect, and complex developmental trauma erode trust in self and others causing attachment ruptures. Children and adolescents are at higher risk of impact due to their dependence on others to meet their needs, making them even more vulnerable!

Without proper intervention, these ruptures will greatly impact a child’s overall safety, and their ability to connect with others is jeopardized.

Watch Dana Wyss, PhD, author and expert in complex trauma, to delve deeper into the impact of these attachment ruptures that lead to lack of trust, anger/rage, anxiety, self-injury, aggression toward others, and suicidal ideation. You’ll learn how to:

Support increased sense of safety and attachment, regardless of the child’s level of involvement in treatment
Build connections in groups, individual and family therapy
Implement modifications to address various developmental and functioning levels

Through experiential practice that supports resiliency, imagination, and identity, you’ll master activities to build critical thinking, nonverbal and verbal expression to immediately support attachment repair!

Program Information

Objectives

Differentiate healthy attachments from disrupted attachments to inform treatment planning.
Evaluate the differences between acute, chronic, and complex traumas and their impact on attachment.
Practice effectively processing grief and attachment disruptions.
Employ interventions that increase emotional identification and expression
Use safe rituals and healthy boundaries to strengthen the resiliency of treatment outcomes.
Apply developmentally appropriate art and writing interventions to enhance feelings of trust and safety.

Outline

Attachment Ruptures and Impact

What is healthy attachment?
Secure, ambivalent, and avoidant attachment styles
The effects of attachment ruptures over time
Trauma: acute, chronic, and complex developmental
Fight, flight, freeze, and submit/comply

Attachment-Focused Assessment & Treatment Planning
How to meet goals and benchmarks:

Iceberg Activity – delve below surface to see beyond behaviors
What is connecting you and why – “The Invisible String”
Tools that can be used in the clinical interview
Identifying the details and impact of the rupture
Creating a trauma-responsive environment
Modifications for age and developmental level

Attachment Ruptures: Familial loss and Complex Developmental Trauma

Disruption: loss (death of a family member, divorce, separation due to military, work travel, COVID)
Impact: loss of connection, change in structure or routine, lack of trust
Response: confusion, anger, grief, anxiety, self-injury, defiance
Vignette examples and analyzations

Creative Interventions for:
Increased safety, identity development and resiliency

I Wish Everyone Understood to support communication and trust
Qualities of Safety (connection and trust)
My Safe Place(s) (identifying emotionally safe spaces)

Increased trust, emotional identification and expression

Personal Feeling Chart (self-awareness)
Feelings Charades (trust)
Words Have Power (identity, self-trust)
Games for didactic engagement to support trust

Activities to Support Grief and Separation:

Ice Cube Feelings to process underlying feelings related to grief and loss
When I miss you to create connection with someone who is far away or who has passed away
When We are Apart use a transitional object to support continued connection with both parents
Family Map identifies family members and reminds us we are connected

Put Critical Thinking to Work
Modify and adjust activities:

Different ages
Developmental level
Educational level

Setting the Stage of Trust for Continued Safety

The Container closing activity to empower choice, safe rituals and healthy boundaries

Target Audience

Counselors
Social Workers
Psychologists
Case Managers
Psychiatrists
School Psychologists
Marriage and Family Therapists
School Counselors
Occupational Therapists and Occupational Therapy Assistants
Educators
Speech-Language Pathologists
Creative Arts therapists
Group leaders/Rehabilitation Staff that work with children or families

Copyright : 12/08/2020

Down Regulating Threat and Defensive Reactions in Young Clients: Clinical Application of the Polyvagal Theory for Effective ODD, Trauma, & Attachment Treatment

The challenging behaviors we frequently observe in youth with ODD, trauma, and attachment disorders are the tip of the iceberg. As helping professionals, we must go below the waterline to reveal the most important treatment goal for all individuals: the neuroception of safety as evidenced by physiological state regulation.

Watch Drs. Porges and Delahooke as they teach you how Polyvagal Theory helps us “look inside” the nervous system of individuals and parents who are dysregulated. Through this cutting-edge lens, you’ll learn the integration of neuroscience into clinical practice and the best strategies to regulate the child’s nervous system to create a state of calmness and perceived safety leading the way to improved communication, relational satisfaction, and joy!

Program Information

Objectives

Apply the lens of the Polyvagal theory in appreciating the adaptive nature of behaviors in children diagnosed with and without DSM diagnoses.
Differentiate between viewing and manipulating surface behaviors and addressing the upstream causes of behaviors across diagnostic categories of the DSM.
Determine how the process of neuroception is a guiding principle for treatment planning and treatment techniques.

Outline

Understanding Behaviors as Adaptations of The Autonomic Nervous System: A Paradigm Shift

The problem with targeting surface behaviors
Why you need to know the problem in order to shift the strategies: Case study
The Neuroscience of Safety
How the PVT helps us “look inside” the nervous system
The guiding principle of neuroception and how it can help clinicians

Individual Differences and Tailoring our Support for Children and their Families

Looking under the skin to understand that autonomic state influences reactivity and sociality.
Identifying strategies to retune autonomic state and shift hypersensitivity to social receptivity.
Difference between passive and active pathway interventions
Safe and Sound Protocol - a passive pathway intervention that harnesses the neuroception of safety

Safety is Treatment and Treatment is Safety: Practical Tips

How the neuroscience of safety helps us plan treatment goals
Neural exercises and how they apply the ‘vagal brake’ to calm and promote resilience: Examples and principles
How to use play to exercise the neural pathways of safety with activation in a safe way: Case studies and examples
DIR play basics, and Beyond Behaviors model with state regulation as the organizing therapeutic guide in real time
An update on the long-term outlooks of children treated through the neuroception of safety lens

Target Audience

Psychologists
Social Workers
Counselors
Marriage & Family Therapists
Speech-Language Pathologists
Occupational Therapists
Occupational Therapy Assistants
School Administrators
Teachers/School-Based Personnel

Copyright : 08/04/2021

Healing Childhood Trauma with Peter Levine, PhD & Dafna Lender, LCSW: An Integrative Approach for Mental Health Clinicians

Join international trauma experts Peter Levine, creator of Somatic Experiencing®, and Dafna Lender, Theraplay® and Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy trainer, in this recording as they share their insights, expertise, and clinical experience treating childhood trauma.

Through dynamic discussion and demonstrations of their respective approaches, Peter Levine and Dafna Lender offer practical “bottom-up” tools for restoring resilience and equilibrium in children who have experienced trauma, including:

Simple containment strategies for engaging clients in trauma wound work
Embodied attachment-based techniques derived from Theraplay®
Somatic Experiencing® interventions that create positive experiences in the body
Attunement tools for caregivers and families
And more!

Don’t miss this extraordinary opportunity to learn from not one but TWO leading experts in the treatment of childhood trauma – purchase today!

Program Information

Objectives

Appraise the rationale for and efficacy of “bottom-up” interventions for the treatment of trauma in children.
Implement Somatic Experiencing® interventions to help children increase tolerance for negative bodily sensations and suppressed emotions.
Utilize Theraplay® techniques to repair attachment wounds among children and caregivers.

Outline

Foundations of Somatic Experiencing® and Theraplay®

Evolutionary underpinnings of trauma, the Polyvagal theory
Flight, flight, freeze, and collapse
The somatic effects of stress in children
Trauma through the lens of attachment
Why “bottom-up” techniques are imperative to the treatment process

Integrative Strategies to Restore Resilience, Attunement, and Safety

How to assess which behavior(s) require interventions
Simple containment tools for children
Therapeutic games for overcoming feelings of helplessness
Touch-based interventions to release somatically “stuck” responses to stress
Trust and attunement practices for caregiver and child
Pendulation-informed techniques to develop a sense of “flow”
Guided attunement activities for caregivers and families And more!

Target Audience

Counselors
Social Workers
Psychologists
Psychotherapists
Occupational Therapists
Speech Language Pathologists
Therapists
Case Managers
Marriage & Family Therapists
Other Mental Health Professionals

EMDR & Trauma-Informed Yoga for Kids: Integrative Practices for the Mind, Body, and Heart

What if you could combine the healing powers of trauma-informed yoga & EMDR therapy to help children of all ages?

In this workshop you’ll learn how trauma-informed yoga and EMDR can be complimentary offerings for children to process and heal from trauma in their minds, bodies & hearts.

Join Zabie Yamasaki, M.Ed., RYT and author of children’s book “Your Joy is Beautiful” (PESI Publishing & Media 2023) and Christine Mark-Griffin, LCSW and author of “EMDR Workbook for Kids” (PESI Publishing & Media 2023) to learn how to maximize children’s capacity for healing.

You’ll discover approaches to help children:

Gain insight and strengthen their mind
Increase emotional regulation and align with expressing what is in their hearts
Utilize movement to enhance physical strength and attunement to their bodies

Zabie and Christine will share a variety of child-friendly approaches and practices for kids to feel empowered in their healing process while strengthening their emotional, physical, mental, spiritual and interpersonal skills.

Program Information

Objectives

Apply the lens of EMDR and Trauma-Informed Yoga to their clinical work with children.
Design a program or curriculum that integrates the phases of EMDR and the frameworks of Trauma-Informed Yoga.
Utilize somatic-based modalities and practices into the scope of their clinical work.

Outline

Brief Overview of the Frameworks

Kid Friendly Explanation of the 8 Frameworks of Trauma-Informed Yoga
Kid Friendly Explanation of the 8 phases of EMDR

Integrative Child Friendly Practices for Healing the Mind, Body and Heart with EMDR & Yoga

Getting prepared
Breathwork and mindfulness
Supporting kids who are triggered
Cultural considerations and accessibility
- Help children gain insight and strengthen their minds
  - Safe Calm Place,
  - Identifying Unhelpful & Helpful Thoughts
  - Psychoeducation about Window of Tolerance
  - Surrender Bowl
  - Tuning into Exteroceptive Sensations
- Increase emotional regulation and align with expressing what is in their hearts
  - Resource Development Intervention - Happy Place
  - Chakra for Kids & Inner light meditation
  - Take what you need board & intention stones
- Utilize movement to enhance physical strength and attunement to their bodies
  - Child friendly body scans
  - Games and activities for bilateral stimulation and discharging stress
  - Increasing body awareness + helping with ouches
  - Vinyasa – flow yoga
  - EMDR Back & Forth movement to move the trauma out & move the healing in

Target Audience

Counselors
Marriage & Family Therapists
Nurses
Psychologists
Social Workers
Speech-Language Pathologists
School Administrators
Teachers/School-Based Personnel
Other Mental Health Professionals