Special Topics and the Role of the Therapist
OCD • Physical Pain • Depression • Collaborative Alliances
This training explores further details of working with “process,” for both you and your clients.
Participants need to take NP 1 and 2 before taking this training, as we expand on that foundation. (It is not required to take NP 3 or 4 to attend.)
This online training is taught over 6 days, and 3 weekends:
May 13, 14, 15, 2022 – 8:00 am to 3:15 pm PST
June 4, 5, 2022– 8:00 am to 3:15 pm PST
June 18, 2022 – 9:00 am to 12:15 PST
28 CE Credits are approved for LCSW’s, and California LMFT’s and LPC’s.
We will again use a combination of presentation, discussion, exercises, demonstrations, and longer practicum sessions with personalized feedback. We will also do more short role-plays, where you can bring in tough moments from your sessions. We will explore ways to approach, assess and work through them.
As with previous trainings, we focus on fine-tuning engagement with somatic processes, close tracking of nervous system reactions and resiliency, and judicious use of EMDR and other uses of bilateral stimulation.
As before, we will engage in “trusting the process” of the drive for completion.
Obsessive-Compulsive Dynamics
Helping your client to sustain awareness, so there’s a chance for self-assessment
Tracking dynamics of disconnection as critical for creating the space for newness
Working moments of urgency, and the “draw” to action
Physical Pain
As presenting problems, and as it arises in the process of a session
Role of the therapist in face of “no guarantees”
Working the client’s relationship with the pain
Exposing vs. causing pain
Bracing to facing dynamics
Working with Depression and Depressive Dynamics
Isometric patterns that bind and prohibit movement
Hypo-arousal and finding the energy
Finding leverage in what is “most important”
Pacing into desperation and hopelessness
Working with “no sense of self”
Critical Aspects of the Therapist-Client Collaborative Alliance
Client “caution” as it emerges throughout the work; addressing overrides
Therapist-client split agendas when clients go hyper- or hypo-aroused
Disconnections - more on noticing occurrences and consequences
When getting a focus for the session is challenging
Dynamics where the therapist needs to take a stronger lead
“Tightening the work”
Assessing One’s Own Cases - “What the heck is going on here?”
Strategies for self-assessing dynamics of difficult cases
Noting one’s own challenging moments
Turning tough processes into workable dynamics
Ways to use your session notes more effectively
Role-Playing Difficult Scenarios from your Practice
Bring examples of your toughest moments for us to play out, dissect and strategize
Extended Practicums with Personalized Feedback