The Child Survivor: Healing Developmental Trauma and Dissociation
This workshop begins with a look at trauma and dissociation in children and adolescents from a historical perspective and covers the physiological effects of trauma on the brain and related impairments in chronically traumatized children. The course then covers methods of assessment, assessment tools, and differential diagnosis across the spectrum of dissociative pathology. The psychotherapy section presents a model that integrates child developmental theory, attachment theory and family systems theory with an understanding of how trauma affects the developing brain. The therapy enriches purely cognitive behavioral perspectives with an emphasis on processing emotions related to traumatic events through creative expression and sensitivity to attachment dilemmas in traumatized children. Clinicians will have an opportunity to brainstorm about difficult dilemmas faced in therapy with dissociative children. The workshop addresses techniques for looking at difficult symptoms such as self-injury, trance states, rage reactions and sexual acting out. The course ends with a review of techniques for intervening within the systems that affect the child and adolescent such as family dynamics, social services, schools, and the legal arena. Clinicians finishing this workshop will have an understanding of how to intervene with the traumatized child with dissociative symptoms to promote healthy development.
Learning Objectives:
- Describe the physiological effects of trauma and dissociation on the developing child and adolescent brain.
- Identify and implement assessment tools that are effective in diagnosing the range of dissociative pathology.
- Describe several strategies used to help children creatively process and work through their traumatic experiences and the inevitable destructive symptoms that accompany trauma.
- Identify specific ways to work collaboratively with other professionals and systems to best meet the needs of traumatized children.
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