Full Course Description

What is trauma?

Dr. Fisher gives us a broad view of what trauma is and what the event(s) may look like. She then spends time discussing the living legacy of trauma and how to help clients understand what is them vs what is the legacy. She explores implicit memory and then dives into a discussion about the triune brain and other structures of the brain and how they respond to trauma. She then examines different triggers and how the nervous system responds. She spends the remainder of her time discussing different types of memory and how they can affect the body.

Program Information

Objectives

Expound on what is defined as a traumatic event.
Distinguish the parts of the triune brain in relation to development.
Explain the different parts of the brain and how they respond in a traumatic experience and how they can affect the victim after.

Outline

What is a trauma?
- Traumatic events 
Living legacy 
Implicit memory 
The triune brain 
- Triggers 
- Nervous system activation 
- Feeling/body memories 
- Procedural memory

Target Audience

Counselors
Social Workers
Psychologists
Psychiatrists
Marriage & Family Therapists
Addiction Counselors
Physicians
Nurses
Occupational Therapists
Other mental health professionals

Copyright : 22/04/2021

Trauma and the nervous system

In this program, Janina Fisher explains the role of the autonomic nervous system and how the nervous system responds to and presents when a client has experienced trauma. She differentiates between hyperarousal and hypoarousal trauma symptom presentations. And finally, she appraises how we can apply trauma treatment interventions in order to increase prefrontal cortex activity and expand the Window of Tolerance in order to decrease trauma symptoms and improve clinical outcomes.

Program Information

Objectives

Evaluates the role of the autonomic nervous system as it relates to expression of trauma symptoms in clients.
Illustrates the significance of the Window of Tolerance in helping clients tolerate emotions, think, and feel at the same time.
Applies trauma treatment tools in order to increase prefrontal cortex activity and expand the Window of Tolerance.

Outline

The Autonomic Nervous System

The Window of Tolerance

Autonomic Adaptation to a Threatening World
Hyperarousal-Related Symptoms
Hypoarousal-Related Symptoms

Trauma Triggers

Judith Herman’s Three-Phase Model of Trauma Treatment

Trauma Treatment Interventions

Increasing Activity in the Prefrontal Cortex
“Waking Up” the Prefrontal Cortes
Distinguishing Thoughts, Feelings, & Body Sensations
Prioritizing Past/Present Differentiation
Psychoeducation
Connecting Symptoms to Triggers
Mindfulness
Offer a Menu of Possibilities
Reframing the Symptoms

Target Audience

Counselors
Social Workers
Psychologists
Psychiatrists
Marriage & Family Therapists
Addiction Counselors
Physicians
Nurses
Occupational Therapists
Other mental health professionals

Copyright : 22/04/2021

Body-based trauma interventions 

This course takes a look beyond the traditional Cognitive Behavior Therapy for patients who are being treated for Trauma. This takes a look at how the body is impacted at a sensorimotor level and how to identify triggers associated with the trauma and interventions to regulate the body when there is an arousal in the body associated with the trauma.

Program Information

Objectives

Understand the components of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and what is not being addressed in only receiving Cognitive Behavior Therapy.
Identify the reactions, thoughts, body sensations, movements, and how they arise when the trauma-related experiences emerge.
Learn the resources available when traumatic reactions arise in the body.

Outline

Sensorimotor Psychotherapy

Body-centered interventions
How the body “remembers” trauma

Skills to Regulate Arousal

Noticing the Triggering
Interventions to regulate arousal
- Slowing the pace
- Breathing techniques
- Movement, gesture
Somatic resources for traumatic reactions
- Interventions
- Practices

Live study of Sensorimotor Therapy

Demonstration of sensorimotor psychotherapy
Responses to somatic intervetions

Target Audience

Counselors
Social Workers
Psychologists
Psychiatrists
Marriage & Family Therapists
Addiction Counselors
Physicians
Nurses
Occupational Therapists
Other mental health professionals

Copyright : 22/04/2021

Understanding addictive and self-destructive behaviour through the lens of trauma

Traumatic experiences can affect a person from a very early age, as early as infancy. Patterns of self-destructive behaviour as a response to trauma often develop early in childhood. Self-destructive behaviours such as addictions, cutting, eating disorders, suicidal ideation, suicidal impulses, and suicidal planning can be looked at with an integrated model. This model treats the self-destructive behaviour and works to recover from past trauma simultaneously, thus helping the client gain better insight of triggers and gain better control.

Program Information

Objectives

Apply knowledge of patients’ early developmental traumas to the understanding of their self-destructive behaviors.
Distinguish how different parts of the nervous system contribute to a patient’s “roller coaster” of feelings.
Justify the effectiveness of an integrative approach to treating the relationship between trauma and self-destructive behaviors.

Outline

Infancy

Good Attachments
Procedural Learning as a Basis for Self-Destruction

Adolescence

Cutting
Eating Disorders
Substance Abuse

Nervous System

Sympathetic – Hyperarousal/Impulsive/Hypervigilant
Parasympathetic – Low Arousal/Shame/Depression

Compulsive Behavior

A More Reliable State
Rebound Anxiety
Use it More and More

Borderline Personality Disorder

Arousal and Addiction

Eating Disorders

Self-Injury

The Integrated Model of Therapy

Target Audience

Counselors
Social Workers
Psychologists
Psychiatrists
Marriage & Family Therapists
Addiction Counselors
Physicians
Nurses
Occupational Therapists
Other mental health professionals

Copyright : 12/04/2019

Trauma and dissociation

In this presentation, you will hear Janina Fisher describe the role, as well as impact, of trauma-based dissociation. She will clearly outline how these different components manifest and then fit together to understand the client and their needs.

Program Information

Objectives

The successful participant will differentiate between the left and right brain.
The successful participant will utilize the components of the traumatized personality to manage their treatment strategy.
The successful participant will employ a practice of acknowledging the parts of their trauma personality in order for the client to express or identify why parts of them may feel or act a certain way.

Outline

The different types of dissociation
Compartmentalization of the brain
Right versus left brain
Establishing the mindfulness of parts

Target Audience

Counselors
Social Workers
Psychologists
Psychiatrists
Marriage & Family Therapists
Addiction Counselors
Physicians
Nurses
Occupational Therapists
Other mental health professionals

Copyright : 22/04/2021

Traumatic attachment – the early wounds at the root of every therapy

Understand the relationship between a trauma survivor’s implicit memories and current emotions and fears. Learn how attachment styles, vulnerabilities, and countertransference affect a client, therapist, and the evolving client-therapist relationship. Apply this knowledge to better attune the relational “dance” between client and therapist.

Program Information

Objectives

Explain how insecure or traumatic attachment during childhood affects your client’s ability to auto-regulate.
Identify your (the therapist’s) personal attachment style to better modulate the relational “dance” between client and therapist in each treatment session.
Characterize two vulnerabilities you (the therapist) experience when working with clients with a history of traumatic attachment and plan how to expand your window of tolerance within this area.

Outline

Interactive Regulation
Auto-Regulation
Attachment patterns
Effect of insecure or traumatic attachment
Attachment experiences as “body memory”
Implicit memories
Attachment styles
How attachment styles affect the client-therapist relationship
Relational “dance” between client and therapist attachment styles and training styles
“Parallel lives”: here and now vs then and there
Special challenges of disorganized attachment
Effects of disorganized attachment in adults
Internal working model theory
Therapist expectancies
Procedurally-learned client expectancies
Sympathetic hyperarousal vs parasympathetic hypoarousal
Co-existing defensive and attachment responses

Orienting to danger
Fight/flight response
Chronic submission
Chronically searching for rescue

Triggered sensations
A therapist’s response

Feelings towards a client
Dysregulation
Burnout

Vulnerabilities: therapist and client
Countertransference errors in trauma treatment

Enmeshment errors
Distancing errors

Somatic countertransference
Error vs enactment

Target Audience

Counselors
Social Workers
Psychologists
Psychiatrists
Marriage & Family Therapists
Addiction Counselors
Physicians
Nurses
Occupational Therapists
Other mental health professionals

Copyright : 02/07/2021

Shame, neurobiology and attachment

What is the relationship between trauma and shame? How do trauma survivors express their emotions? Dr. Fisher answers these and other questions about trauma and trauma survivors. She addresses clinical dilemmas that are encountered with shame and other interesting topics such as why shame is a damage limitation strategy. It’s fascinating to learn the connection between neurobiology and surviving trauma. You won’t want to miss a minute of this workshop as Dr. Fisher explains how we can help trauma survivors.

Program Information

Objectives

Compare the roles of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems related to shame and trauma.
Illustrate the differences between procedural memory and implicit memory.
Define interpersonal danger.

Outline

Trauma

Symptoms
- Depression, numbing, anxiety, irritability, loss of interest
- How symptoms help the brain and body adapt
Survivors

Shame

Triggers
Physical and emotional
Personal
Interpersonal danger
Defensive strategy

Role of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems

Sympathetic nervous system
Parasympathetic nervous system
Fight or flight
Freeze and submission

Target Audience

Counselors
Social Workers
Psychologists
Psychiatrists
Marriage & Family Therapists
Addiction Counselors
Physicians
Nurses
Occupational Therapists
Other mental health professionals

Copyright : 26/05/2018

The Meaning of Shame in the treatment of trauma

Dr. Fisher aptly states, “Shame is hard to budge.” Shame can be imprinted in a person’s brain early in life. It goes beyond words to a client. These two aspects make it difficult for the therapist to access. There is a close relationship between shame and self-loathing. A vicious cycle of shame and more shame develops that can be difficult to treat. Shame-and-Anger clients are also discussed. This offers a look into ways to changing procedural learning and disrupting the cycle of shame.

Program Information

Objectives

Apply knowledge of the definition of the emotion of shame as that of one beyond words, one with a body experience as well.
Differentiate the relationship between shame and self-loathing.
Develop strategies for therapeutic relationships for clients with shame and shame and anger issues.

Outline

The Animal Brain versus The Thinking Brain

Shame as a Relatively Wordless State

Speech and Thought are Inhibited
Shame as a Body Experience

Relationship Between Self-Loathing and Self-Blame

Vicious Cycle of Shame and More Shame

Shame and Anger Clients

Procedural Learning (Grisby & Stevens)

Ways to Challenge Shame and Self-Loathing

Mindfulness
Curiosity
Four Steps to Freedom Technique

Target Audience

Counselors
Social Workers
Psychologists
Psychiatrists
Marriage & Family Therapists
Addiction Counselors
Physicians
Nurses
Occupational Therapists
Other mental health professionals

Copyright : 26/05/2018

Treating shame – working from the ‘bottom up’

Working with complex patients who have failed multiple treatment approaches often leaves us scratching our heads on how to help them. That is where a body-centred approach to treating shame and trauma can be an effective tool for helping clients heal without having to suffer through their trauma over and over again. By watching and listening to what the body is telling us, we can disrupt the shame pathway and treat the cause of their pain. In this course, we will dive deep into mindfulness with a body-centred approach to help clients reprocess their trauma and build the desirable neuro pathways to set them on a path to healing.

Program Information

Objectives

Analyze body language for information and clues to treat trauma and shame.
Recognize thoughts, feelings and impulses as part of a mindful approach to therapy.
Articulate 3 mindful strategies and integrate them into other treatment approaches.

Outline

Basics of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy

Examining body language for treatment clues

Disrupting the trauma and shame pathway

Integrating mindfulness into traditional therapy models

Understanding thoughts, feelings and impulses

The role of mindful experiments and breathwork

Resourcing vs de-resourcing thoughts

“Dropping the Content” as an intervention tool

Target Audience

Counselors
Social Workers
Psychologists
Psychiatrists
Marriage & Family Therapists
Addiction Counselors
Physicians
Nurses
Occupational Therapists
Other mental health professionals

Copyright : 26/05/2018

Healing shame – acceptance and compassion

Dr Fisher briefly discusses how to reframe shame, then she discusses her 4-step protocol to work with clients who are in crisis because of shame. Then she moves into a discussion about the shame relationship and dissociation. She dives into parts work and a session showing how to implement the concepts. She ends with a discussion of the social engagement system.

Program Information

Objectives

Integrate the 4-step protocol when dealing with clients and shame.
Evaluate the structural dissociation model and it’s use in the healing of shame.
Connect the use of the social engagement system with clients who may be inhibited.

Outline

Reframing shame

4-step protocol
Body-works techniques

Shame as a relationship between two parts of the personality

Dissociation
Brain structures
Working with parts
Preview of session

Social engagement system

Target Audience

Counselors
Social Workers
Psychologists
Psychiatrists
Marriage & Family Therapists
Addiction Counselors
Physicians
Nurses
Occupational Therapists
Other mental health professionals

Decoding crises and problems through the language of parts

Dr. Fisher starts her seminar by discussing the importance of decoding crises/problems as internal struggles between parts. She discusses how to help clients identify parts and work to unblend them. Throughout the seminar, she takes time to present real-life scenarios where she has used these techniques to help clients, as well as giving you a glimpse into the process and steps she uses to ensure that her therapy is based on mindfulness and parts language. She finishes her seminar with a discussion about applicable interventions.

Program Information

Objectives

Implement steps to assist clients with unblending parts.
Modify current practice to include parts language.
Applies mindfulness based therapy with parts language.

Outline

Dominating parts

Decoding
Unblending
Mindfulness
Identifying from symptoms

Case studies, throughout program

Integration

Duck therapy analogy and case study

Concrete thinking

Unblending steps

Sensory motor therapy
Positive reframing

Interventions for regulating arousal and safe behavior

Target Audience

Counselors
Social Workers
Psychologists
Psychiatrists
Marriage & Family Therapists
Addiction Counselors
Physicians
Nurses
Occupational Therapists
Other mental health professionals

Creating internal dialogue between parts

This engaging workshop, presented by Janina Fisher, PhD, will provide useful guidance in assisting clients to connect with and benefit from the creation of inner dialogues with childhood “parts” in healing from trauma. Drawing from Internal Family Systems Theory and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Dr Fisher uses rich case study material to demonstrate tools for assisting clients in navigating their inner worlds as they move toward self-integration and healing.

Program Information

Objectives

Categorize ways in which clients can effectively communicate with and between childhood parts.
Utilize Internal Family Systems strategies to work with childhood parts that involve intrusive memories.
Execute skills to effectively identify and integrate internal conflicts between childhood parts and the normal life self.

Outline

Gain exposure to how childhood memories are situationally accessible within the body through connection with parts
Learn how clients communicate with “childhood parts” of themselves to overcome pain and trauma
Discover ways to help guide clients so their “normal life self” can emerge
Understand how Internal Family Systems Theory may be used to work with parts that involve intrusive memories
Learn how trauma related internal conflict between parts can be addressed through use of Sensorimotor psychotherapy
Observe how the presenter guides clients to adopt constructive responses to communicate with childhood parts in the service of healing

Target Audience

Counselors
Social Workers
Psychologists
Psychiatrists
Marriage & Family Therapists
Addiction Counselors
Physicians
Nurses
Occupational Therapists
Other mental health professionals

Therapist errors – types, causes, and common reactions

Human error is unavoidable, it happens to us all at times. This presentation identifies the various types or areas of errors all clinicians can make. Dr. Fisher explains the reality of making these errors with numerous examples from her own practice. Dr. Fisher then helps us to accept these mistakes or errors, as well as how to effectively move past them with our clients.

Program Information

Objectives

Recognize and differentiate the types of errors therapists make.
Evaluate the effect of these errors on themself, the client, and their clinical treatment.
Utilize a learning or curious model of correcting and overcoming your errors.

Outline

Do No Harm

The painful aspects of errors
Errors are often forgiven but effects are not forgotten
Even good therapists make mistakes

Types of Errors

Administrative
Technical
Blurting
Abandonment
Perceived
Omission
Empathic

Recovering from Empathic failures

Target Audience

Counselors
Social Workers
Psychologists
Psychiatrists
Marriage & Family Therapists
Addiction Counselors
Physicians
Nurses
Occupational Therapists
Other mental health professionals

Repairing mistakes, processing ruptures and retransforming relational impasses

In this video you will learn essential strategies for working with trauma, shame, suicidality, self-harm, traumatic attachment. You will learn the five basic physical movements and how those movements lead to emotional expression and healing. You will also learn strategies for healing impasses that may occur between you and your client as the result of possible mistake or oversights.

Program Information

Objectives

Develop a strategy for using the five basic movements to access emotional states in the session.
Utilize your connection with the client’s nervous system to enhance therapeutic outcomes.
Employ physical gestures to heal a therapeutic impasse.

Outline

Sensory motor therapy

Combines traditional talk therapy with body centred interventions

Five basic movements

Yield
Push reach
Pull
Grasp

Somatic resources for relational connection

Using a gesture for relational impasse in therapy

Mindfulness and curiosity

Repairing our mistakes

Target Audience

Counselors
Social Workers
Psychologists
Psychiatrists
Marriage & Family Therapists
Addiction Counselors
Physicians
Nurses
Occupational Therapists
Other mental health professionals