DAY 3: May 26, 2023

Workshop #21: Trauma and the Struggle to Open Up: Relational Strategies to treat Challenging Trauma Clients

COUNSELLING-FOCUSED
PRESENTED BY Robert T. Muller, Ph.D., C. Psych.

MORNING SESSION | 8:30am to 12:00pm

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This session is available for live stream.

This practical full day workshop, led by Dr. Robert T. Muller, author of psychotherapy bestseller: Trauma and the Avoidant Client, builds our understanding of the therapeutic relationship with challenging trauma clients.

As therapists, we try to maintain a strong therapeutic relationship, but this can be easier said than done. Drawing on attachment theory and research, and using a relational, integrative approach, Dr. Muller follows the ups and downs of the therapy relationship in trauma work. He points to choices therapists make in navigating the process, examining how they affect outcome

Specifically, we look at relationship patterns in trauma work, and how these can lead to troubling therapist-client enactments. When left unchecked, such patterns lead to ruptures in the relationship. In trauma work, how do we repair a ruptured alliance? And how can we help clients grow from the experience? This workshop looks at such issues in detail.

Theory is complemented by case examples and therapy segments. We draw from Dr. Muller’s new book, Trauma and the Struggle to Open Up, winner of the 2019 ISSTD award for the year’s best written work on trauma.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

Use an attachment theory framework in relational trauma work

• Recognize therapist-client relationship patterns in trauma treatment

• Consider their own (therapist’s) feelings in the therapeutic process (e.g. the wish to rush into trauma work, or the wish to avoid it)

• Notice problematic relational enactments

• Navigate conflicts and relational ruptures to get treatment back on track

• Use conflicts and relational ruptures to bring about posttraumatic growth

Workshop #22: The “Wow” Effect: How Awe and Wonder Make Us Happier, Healthier, and More Connected

ALL PROFESSIONALS
PRESENTED BY Jonah Paquette, Psy.D.

MORNING SESSION | 8:30am to 12:00pm

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This session is available for live stream.

What do you feel when you gaze up at the Milky Way, see a beautiful rainbow, or stand before a mountain that seems impossibly high? This feeling – often complete with goosebumps and a shiver down our spine – is known as awe. And as it turns out, this under appreciated and often misunderstood emotion holds an important key to a happy, meaningful, and healthy life. This interactive workshop will explore the exciting new science of awe, and how the moments that make us go “wow!” impact our immune system, brain functioning, social connection, physical health, stress levels, and much more.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

• Describe and define the experience of awe in concrete terms

• Explain the effect of awe on social relationships and connection

• Describe the link between awe and compassion

Workshop #23: Healing the Healer: Self-Care as an Act of Resilience

ALL PROFESSIONALS
PRESENTED BY Eboni Webb, Psy.D., HSP

MORNING SESSION | 8:30am to 12:00pm

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This session is not available for live stream.

This is an experiential session, please wear comfortable clothing.

All professionals who work with traumatized clients and or students may experience one or several negative and harmful effects including: burnout, secondary traumatic stress, vicarious traumatization, compassion fatigue or caregiver stress. Oftentimes, self-care goes out the window for professionals as they take on greater workloads and put the needs of their clients/students ahead of their own. Ignoring the early warning signs often leads to a wide array of debilitating consequences including: distress, hopefulness, work/life dissatisfaction and serious physical and mental health problems.

In this experiential workshop, Dr. Webb will teach a vast array of tools to heal the traumatized self along with possible ways to integrate and apply the skills to help you and your clients/students improve their lives. Eboni will introduce the concept of resilience and self-care as an act of resilience. She will demonstrate how to restore and process stress and emotions through the body and effectively address traumatic cycles.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

• Identify the key emotional language of the stressed body.

• Define stressors and the impact of stress on the traumatized body.

• Describe three strategies to process stress and trauma through the body.

• Incorporate the tools and practices offered in this program in ways beneficial to clients or students.

Workshop #24: Play Therapy Toolbox: How to Use it! Specific Techniques and Novel Approaches

SCHOOL-BASED FOCUSED
PRESENTED BY Christine Dargon, Ph.D.

MORNING SESSION | 8:30am to 12:00pm

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This session is available for live stream.

This workshop will teach attendees how to use Play Therapy as an incredible method of communication and diagnostics. It will teach you how to interpret the ways in which children and adolescents play, the importance of what they play with/what they create, and how to interpret their interactions with us as the professional. You will learn how to understand and determine what the individual is struggling with and causes for presenting behaviours and emotions.

Play Therapy allows for the clinician to be creative, adapt techniques to fit any given individual or setting and is fun! This workshop will teach attendees a wide variety of such tools but will also do so in a hands on manner so that attendees can immediately return to work and implement these tools into their day to day work.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

Play Therapy – How to use it!

Specific Techniques and novel approaches

• Assessment and Diagnostic

• Therapeutic Benefits

• Non-Directive versus Directive/Soft and Hard Mediums

Hands on learning and using the techniques – from crayons, to puppets, to movement and much more! This will be the focus of the day.

Non-Directive Techniques:

• Sand Tray Work

• Watercolors

• Play Dough

• Drawings

• House- Tree-Person

• Finger Painting

Directive Techniques

• I spy

• Movement and Music

• Drama

• Puppets

• Maps – where in the world do you want to be?

• What do you want to be when you grow up?

• What Animal am I?

• Doll House

• Dance and Movement

• Board games

• Emotions – Feeling Face

Workshop #25: The Intersection of Inner Consent and Personal Responsibility When Working with Addictions

ALL PROFESSIONALS
PRESENTED BY Sara Klinkhamer MA, RCC

MORNING SESSION | 8:30am to 12:00pm

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This session is not available for live stream.

Traditional ‘treatment’ for addiction has mainly come out of the Disease Model and therefore focuses on the ‘powerlessness’ of the individual. Existential psychology, with its focus on personal responsibility, assumes that addiction arises in the individual as a response to an existential vacuum. It is existentially impossible to feel fulfillment and have personal meaning without taking responsibility for oneself. Inner consent is the concept used to describe one’s “inner felt-yes,” and it is a way to make authentic and congruent decisions. In this presentation, Sara will explore the intersection of inner consent and personal responsibility during addiction treatment and how it can improve treatment outcomes.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

• Understand what is meant by the term inner consent and how to illicit this experientially.

• Understand how personal responsibility relates to a subjective feeling of fulfillment in life.

• Understand how both inner consent and personal responsibility can be harnessed in the treatment of addiction.

Workshop #30: The Family Impact on Substance Use Disorder Treatment

ALL PROFESSIONALS
PRESENTED BY Carissa Muth, BSW, MA, CCC, R.Psych

AFTERNOON SESSION | 1:00pm - 4:00pm

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This session is not available for live stream.

Effectively working with the families of individuals with substance use disorder (SUD) can have a direct impact on the SUD recovery process. The importance of social support for recovery has been extensively stated in research, but limited studies have explored the mechanisms of change. This presentation will provide the findings of a systematic literature review considering the last 6 years of research exploring how families impact SUD treatment. These findings will expand the ability of therapists to effectively develop and implement family programming and interventions to increase motivation for treatment and decrease relapse rates post treatment.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

• Gain awareness of the mechanisms of change for families with loved ones in SUD recovery

• Develop an understanding of effective interventions for increasing positive family impact

• Acquire skills to guide families toward optimally supporting their loved ones in recovery