Skip to main content
Digital Seminar

Complex Developmental Trauma: Attachment, Neurobiological and Cognitive-Behavioral Interventions to Heal the Traumatized Child


Faculty:
Christina Reese, PhD, LCPC
Duration:
6 Hours 17 Minutes
Copyright:
Oct 25, 2024
Product Code:
POS059865
Media Type:
Digital Seminar
Access:
Never expires.


Description

When children’s nervous systems are activated, they’re engulfed in a flood of stress hormones, setting off a chain reaction.

They experience feelings of unsafety, overwhelm, anger, and disconnection, trapping them in their “trauma brain” and hindering the development of executive functioning skills.

“As emotions and bodies spiral out of control, children are often mislabeled with a multitude of diagnoses—ODD, ADHD, anxiety.

We assume the behaviours are intricately connected, rather than just isolated incidents. But what if we approached each symptom individually?

Rather than assigning diagnoses, we’ll implement anxiety interventions to restore feelings of safety, attachment-based approaches to alleviate feelings of loneliness associated with depression, and sensory regulation techniques to better manage emotions activated by sensory memories.”

Watch Dr. Christina Reese, a leading expert in attachment and trauma therapy for children, as she guides you through techniques to:

  • Restore developmental milestones to support recovery from developmental delays
  • Harness neuroplasticity to reshape beliefs to overcome oppositional behaviour
  • Quiet the hyper-vigilant nervous system to facilitate emotional wellbeing
  • Bring dysregulated emotions back to a balanced state to strengthen relationships with caregivers
  • Unlock potential of executive skills by bringing safety and stability
  • Build treatment plans that focus on symptoms not disorders to bring healing

Let’s make it our mission to unlock the limitless potential residing within every child affected by complex trauma.

Purchase now!

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.



CPD

PESI Australia, in collaboration with PESI in the USA, offers quality online continuing professional development events from the leaders in the field at a standard recognized by professional associations including psychology, social work, occupational therapy, alcohol and drug professionals, counselling and psychotherapy. On completion of the training, a Professional Development Certificate is issued after the individual has answered and submitted a quiz and course evaluation. This program is worth 6.5 hours CPD for points calculation by your association.



Handouts

Faculty

Christina Reese, PhD, LCPC's Profile

Christina Reese, PhD, LCPC Related seminars and products


Christina Reese, PhD, LCPC, has been working with children impacted by trauma and their families for the last 20 years. She is a licensed clinical counselor in Maine, Maryland, and Pennsylvania and is a licensed clinical supervisor. Dr. Reese is an internationally recognized trainer for mental health professionals in creating trauma-informed schools, working with mental health in the classroom and attachment and trauma in children. She is a TBRI practitioner and owns Felicity Counseling Services. Dr. Reese authored the books Attachment, Puzzle Pieces, The Attachment Connection, Trauma and Attachment, The Socially Confident Teen, and Leveling Up.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Christina Reese maintains a private practice and has an employment relationship with Sheppard Pratt Health System. She receives royalties as a published author. Dr. Reese receives a speaking honorarium, recording, and book royalties from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Christina Reese has no relevant non-financial relationships.


Additional Info

Access for Self-Study (Non-Interactive)

Access never expires for this product.

 

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


Objectives

  1. Identify how to bring healing to the cognitive and biological impacts of trauma.
  2. Differentiate the developmental delays from trauma in childhood.
  3. Restructure relationships with adults and help children develop felt safety by building trust-based relationships.
  4. Utilise body-based interventions to biologically rebalance stress hormones.
  5. Use neuro-biological strategies to create new neural pathways to heal the traumatised brain.
  6. Choose brain-based interventions for five of the largest behavioural challenges.

Outline

Trauma’s Impact on Children

  • Abuse – shatters trust in adults as safe figures
  • Neglect - undermines trust in adults’ ability to provide care
  • Attachment trauma - fragments the perception of relationships as safe havens
  • Exposure to violence - erases the concept of safe spaces
  • Medical trauma - disrupts the sense of safety within one’s own body

Complex Developmental Trauma Commonalities

  • Anxiety- dysregulated nervous system
  • Depression - biological imbalances
  • ADHD - delayed executive functioning skills
  • ODD - distrust of adults leading to defiance

Relation to PTSD

  • Impact of complex developmental trauma
  • Emotions - dysregulation and tantrums
  • Neural pathways – wired for mistrust, hypervigilance
  • Behaviours - control and impulsivity
  • Body - stress hormones
  • Development - upstairs and downstairs brain

Strategies to Put Kids Trauma Brains Back on Developmental Track

  • What we learned from the ACES Study
  • Correlation to poverty, substance abuse, criminality
  • Establish safety with adults
  • Grow emotion regulation
  • Increase self/biological regulation
  • Limitations and potential risks

Strategies to Heal the Traumatised Brain

Help a Child Feel Safe to Leave their Survival Brain

  • Be a Safe Adult
    • Model emotion regulation
    • Button pushing behaviours
    • Develop felt safety
    • Build healthy attachment
    • Establish trust-based relationships
  • Meet a Child’s Needs
    • Decrease manipulation
    • Reduce attention seeking behaviours
    • Recognise the need behind the behaviour

Develop Trauma-Delayed Executive Functioning Skills

  • Neuroplasticity to develop new neural pathways
  • Build the scaffolding

Enhance Emotional Regulation

  • Brain-based tantrum intervention
    • Biological rebalance for stress hormones
  • Calm the activated nervous system
    • Cognitive interventions
      • Develop awareness and growing insight
      • Change the inner voice
      • Disengage the nervous system
    • Body-based Interventions
      • Breathing interventions
      • Movement to find balance
      • Nutrition and hydration
    • Sensory Interventions
      • Grounding techniques
      • Sensory calming stations
      • Back to baseline from high and low

Target Audience

  • Counsellors
  • Social Workers
  • Psychologists
  • Marriage and Family Therapists
  • Couples Therapists
  • School Guidance Counsellors
  • Occupational Therapists
  • Teachers
  • Case Managers

Please wait ...

Back to Top