2-Day Neuroscience Masterclass for Clinicians: Brain-Body Interventions for Trauma, Anxiety, Substance Use and More

CPD

Planning Committee Disclosure - No relevant relationships

All members of the PESI, Inc. planning committee have provided disclosures of financial relationships with ineligible organizations and any relevant non-financial relationships prior to planning content for this activity. None of the committee members had relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies or other potentially biasing relationships to disclose to learners.  For speaker disclosures, please see the faculty biography.

Handouts

Faculty

Sherrie All, PhD Related seminars and products

Chicago Center for Cognitive Wellness

---

Sherrie All, PhD is a neuropsychologist and an engaging speaker and writer whose expertise in the principles of neuroscience, functional neuroanatomy, and diagnostics give her a unique insight into the correlation between mental health disorders, therapeutic approaches, and what happens in the brain itself.

Dr. All is the owner of the Chicago Center for Cognitive Wellness where she combines her strong background in CBT with mindfulness techniques, motivational interviewing and dynamic interpretations to help her clients manage depression, stress, anxiety, mental illness and cognitive challenges. A trained neuropsychologist who received her PhD from Rosalind Franklin University, she also brings her detailed understanding of the brain to uniquely address the needs of people with traumatic brain injuries, dementia, and other conditions.

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Sherrie All is the owner of Chicago Center for Cognitive Wellness and receives a speaking honorarium from the Alzheimer's Association. She receives royalties as a published author. Sherrie All receives a speaking honorarium, recording and book royalties from Psychotherapy Networker and PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-Financial: Sherrie All is a member of the American Psychological Association.

 

 

Additional Info

Access never expires for this product.

For a more detailed outline that includes times or durations of time, if needed, please contact cepesi@pesi.com.

Objectives

1. Define general brain and nervous system arrangement.
2. Identify three key brain structures involved in stress.
3. Determine how psychoeducation about the nervous system can help generate buy-in for the interventions designed to impact the nervous system’s reactions.
4. Analyse how neural pathways regulating stress and reward are related to managing addiction.
5. Utilise neuroplasticity interventions to manage addiction.
6. Identify how non-verbal communication skills can help professionals communicate with neurodiverse populations.
7. Evaluate how mindfulness interventions impact the nervous system.
8. Determine how mindfulness interventions can be used in treatment plans for depression.
9. Utilise exposure therapy techniques in the treatment of anxiety.
10. Determine how the concept of neuroception impacts autonomic states.
11. Analyse the treatment implications of hyperarousal on a client’s window of tolerance.
12. Evaluate the current state of research on the application of a Polyvagal perspective to trauma treatment.

Outline

Tour through the Brain and Nervous System

• User-friendly and accessible explanations for non-scientists
• Key brain structures and their function
• Work top down/ bottom up/ horizontally to help target interventions to specific needs
• Rebalance pain and reward pathways
• Polyvagal Theory to impact the fear-stress pathway
• The physiological components of neuroception
• Turn on the social engagement system for co-regulation
• The latest research risks and limitations

Apply a Polyvagal Lens to Movement, Breath and Grounding Practices

• Understand the autonomic nervous system
• What the heck is Polyvagal?
• See the Polyvagal pathway in real life
• The vagus nerve and how your nervous system reacts to social factors
• The complexities of fight/flight/freeze response
• Working with stress hormones -pros and cons
• Movement to put stress to the use nature intended
• Imagined movement: Run faster than the tiger
• Diaphragmatic breathing, muscle tension and the vagus nerve

The Social Brain: How Therapy and Relationships Regulate Stress

• Neuroception and co-regulation
• Rest and digest – the state of social engagement
• Help clients understand how emotions are contagious
• The power of non-verbal communication
• Activate mirror neuron systems for connection
• Help clients build stronger self-regulation

Neuroplasticity and Neurogenesis

• Neuroplasticity in all its forms – beyond neurogenesis
• The science of neuroplasticity to improve buy-in and client engagement
• The conditions for ideal neuroplasticity
• Neuroplasticity in action: Exercise your brain!
• Default mode and task mode networks
• Long term potentiation

Practice the Interventions for Healing

• Increase comfort and experience with these interventions
  • Sensory awareness
  • Meditation and mindfulness
  • Body work
  • Unconscious and the DMN
  • Experience and activate the direct mindbody link

Sensory Interventions to Increase Felt Safety

• Create a space of co-regulation
• Visual interventions: Scanning for safety
• Auditory interventions: Safe & sound protocol
• Tactile interventions

Integrate Neuroscience and the Brain Into Treatment

• Trauma
  • How trauma alters the nervous system
  • Develop security with self-soothing methods
  • Foster confidence with yoga body positioning
  • Reconsolidate implicit and explicit memories
• Anxiety
  • Top-down versus bottom-up anxiety
  • Treatments to effectively match the source of a client’s anxiety
  • Treat worry and GAD through worry exposure and planning
  • Sleep cycles and sleep apnea’s role in anxiety
  • Complete the stress cycle
  • Soothe the insula through meditative sensory awareness
  • Medication interventions for anxiety
• Substance Abuse
  • Brain areas involved in addictions
  • Rewire the reward pathway
  • Medication interventions for addictions
  • Hedonic training and reward pathway neuroplasticity
  • Detach from pleasure and pain – interventions aimed at the cortical pain pathway
  • Neurocognitive considerations
  • Develop prefrontal connections
• Depression
  • Depressed brain patterns
  • Bio-psycho-social approach
  • Neurotransmitter systems & medications
  • The 4-step method to overcome negative selfsuggestions and wire up positive pathways
  • Develop compassion and gratitude for a better mood
  • Foster joyful relationships through mirror neurons
  • Why relationships matter
  • Activate an under-activated nervous system with yoga and meditations

Target Audience

• Counsellors
• Psychotherapists
• Psychologists
• Social Workers
• Addiction Counsellors
• Occupational Therapists
• Occupational Therapy Assistants
• Marriage & Family Therapists
• Physicians
• Case Managers
• Therapists
• Nurses
• Other Mental Health Professionals