For health care practitioners, social workers, counsellors working with all age groups.

Overview:

This workshop will provide a felt understanding of the impact of trauma and in particular the dissociative process. We will focus on the crucial role of safety when helping people of all ages heal their traumas. Methods will be provided that help our clients connect to their own inner strength before engaging in a deeper exploration of the issues that brought them to therapy.

In this three-day seminar we will:

• Consider the impact of trauma on the psyche, taking into account the physical, emotional, cognitive and spiritual needs of our clients.
   
• Explore the dissociative process and hyper vigilance as well as the various ways they manifest themselves.
   
• Learn grounding methods that help individuals develop self-soothing and self-regulating abilities.
   
• Explore and learn expressive methods to safely access, release and integrate traumatic experiences.
   
• View and discuss images that illustrate how traumatized clients have used such methods to come to terms with their painful experiences.
   
• Consider the role of the therapist in facilitating the various stages of the recovery process.
   
• Experience the use of a variety of expressive therapies (art, sandplay fiber arts, etc.), visualizations, metaphors, and body-centered exercises related to the lecture material.

Time permitting, participants will have the opportunity to consult on particular cases they would like to discuss.