2-Day Training: EMDR: A Rapid, Safe, and Proven Treatment for Trauma

Credit

Handouts/Brochure

Speaker

Megan Salar, LCSW, ACADC, CCTP-II, EMDR-C Related seminars and products

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Megan Salar, LCSW, ACADC, CCTP-II, EMDR-C, is an Evergreen certified EMDR clinician and trainer, as well as a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional II through Evergreen Certifications. Megan is also an Advanced Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor, who formerly owned and operated one of the largest treatment centers for substance abuse and trauma in Southeast Idaho, which was voted best in practice for 2019.

Her trainings have helped thousands of clinicians across the US get the most of EMDR, trauma and addiction-based skills and practices. She has been invited to train internationally at the International Society of Addiction Medicine in India, the International Conference on Addiction Research and Therapy in Amsterdam and at the Psicologia Institute of Italy. Megan has extensively been trained on the use of EMDR as a protocol and uses EMDR in her practice to achieve improved outcomes with a broad spectrum of clients in the areas of trauma, abuse, attachment and substance abuse. She is an expert witness at the State and Federal level for her expertise in areas surrounding trauma.

Megan is the author of EMDR Workbook for Trauma and PTSD: Skills to Manage Triggers, Move Beyond Traumatic Memories, and Take Back Your Life set to be released by New Harbinger Publications in 2023. She earned her master’s in Clinical Social Work from Northwest Nazarene University in 2011 and is an active member of the International Society of Addiction Medicine and the National Association of Social Workers. She currently owns and operates her own Counseling, Consulting and Training Business and is passionate about genuinely changing the landscape of trauma treatment through an authentic, hands-on perspective that she has uniquely made her own.
 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Megan Salar has an employment relationship with Recoverhe Counseling & Consulting. She receives royalties as a published author. Megan Boardman receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. She is a paid consultant for Evergreen Certifications. Megan Boardman has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Megan Salar is a member of the International Society of Addiction Medicine, the EMDR International Association of EMDR Trauma Specialists, and the National Association of Social Workers.

Objectives

1. Describe the role of the autonomic nervous system in trauma symptomology.
2. Articulate the clinical implications of the freeze response in trauma treatment.
3. Characterize the potential neurobiological mechanisms of change in the EMDR approach.
4. Demonstrate EMDR techniques can build dual awareness in clients to treat the avoidance that makes trauma treatment challenging.
5. Demonstrate the 8 Phases of the EMDR protocol.
6. Assess clients to determine the appropriateness and potential risks of using EMDR.
7. Analyze resourcing strategies from EMDR to facilitate the processing of trauma.
8. Utilize EMDR techniques to reinforce and activate positive neural networks.
9. Modify EMDR to work with complex/developmental trauma to directly treat traumatic memories.
10. Evaluate strategies to foster the critical connection between client and therapist in EMDR therapy.
11. Articulate the research limitations and potential risks associated with EMDR.
12. Establish the order of operations for attachment-based EMDR treatment to resolve relational trauma.

Outline

• Key brain areas involved in trauma
• Polyvagal Theory, and types of freeze responses
• Trauma and insecure attachment
• The neuroscience of developmental trauma
• Clinical implications of the freeze response

• The neuroscience of exposure therapy and cognitive therapy
• The neuroscience of relaxation exercises
• EMDR and other “transformative therapies”
• Why EMDR works so well from a brain perspective

• Traumatic memories and intrusive thoughts
• Phobias and anxiety: Insula hyperactivation
• Emotional hijackings and implicit memory
• Avoidance cluster of symptoms
• Why treating avoidance in trauma is critical
• DSM-5® symptoms in a nutshell
• Connecting to a diagnosis
  • Simple vs. complex trauma
  • Intergenerational trauma
  • Symptom clusters and physical manifestations
  • CAPS-5 and PCL-5
  • Primary Care PTSD Screen
  • Dual diagnosis

• Dual awareness
• What you are thinking about is the network you’re in
• Activate networks for change
• Neurons that fire together, wire together (Hebb’s Rule)
• EMDR as neuroentrainment

• Demonstrations and experiential exercises
• Single event trauma
• Anxiety disorders involving imaginal exposure

• Client history and treatment planning
• How to resource: Create a safe space
• Assessment: Choose a target, SUDS, connect with the image/emotions/thought
• Desensitization: Tactile vs. auditory vs. eye movement
• How to use touchpoints, Theratapper, CDs
• Positive Cognition Installation: Likert scale 1-7
• Body Scan: Locate tension and distress in the body
• Closure: Close the neural network and the 6-hour window
• Re-evaluation

• Presenter demonstration
• Attendee dyad practice of the 8-phase model

• Modifications for Complex/Developmental Trauma
• Do not use standard protocol – Rationale for modifications
• Resourcing strategies
• Techniques to reinforce and activate positive neural networks
• Relevance of Polyvagal Theory, early trauma, and EMDR
• Sensory motor modifications and somatic approaches
• How to build Dual Awareness
• EMDR techniques to bring traumatic memories from the limbic system into the prefrontal cortex

• Strategies to foster the critical connection between client and therapist
• Mirror neuron activation
• How to emphasize safety during sessions
• Guidance on order of operations

Target Audience

• Counselors
• Psychotherapists
• Social Workers
• Psychologists
• Addiction Counselors
• Marriage & Family Therapists
• Case Managers
• Nurses
• Other Mental Health Professionals