Lisa will be presenting TWO workshops at the 37th Annual International Conference on Child and Family Maltreatment (In-Person OR On-Demand).

1.) Becoming an External Regulator for Trauma Integration

Research in neuroscience and interpersonal neurobiology sheds light on the need for the therapist to act as the external regulator supporting the client to move towards the intensity they are experiencing allowing for integration.  This workshop explores this need during trauma integration for two primary reasons: 1) Clients need to borrow the therapist’s regulatory capacity as they work through their traumatic thoughts, feelings and sensations in therapy and 2) The therapist’s ability to regulate themselves during the intensity increases the capacity for presence and attunement with the client, while simultaneously supporting the health and longevity of their own nervous system.

Without the ability of the therapist to become the external regulator for the intensity that arises during trauma integration, both the client and the therapist are at risk for emotional flooding and high levels of dysregulation in their nervous systems.  Over time, this can significantly impact a therapist’s longevity in the field, as well as the ability to stay attuned and present to a client in sessions.

San Diego (Live or Virtual): January 26th, 2022 @ 8-9:15am PST

2.) Understanding and Integrating Trauma Play 

Child therapists are on the front line every day helping children integrate the traumas in their lives.  Often their sessions are filled with swords fights, battles, babies dying, handcuffs, the therapist dying, explosions, or other highly intense play. During these sessions, therapists are set up to watch or be a part of play that often takes them right to the edge of their own window of tolerance and capacity to hold the intensity.

Although aggression and death are a common part of trauma play, many therapists don’t have a clear understanding of what to do and how to facilitate the intensity when it enters the playroom during play.  The result can lead to inadvertently promoting aggression and increasing low brain disorganization.  It can also lead to the therapist feeling beat up, exhausted and hyper-aroused themselves, which can over time significantly impact their longevity in the field, as well as their ability to stay attuned and present to a child in the play room.  This workshop is designed to help play therapists understand trauma play from a neuro-biological perspective and using a Synergetic Play Therapy lens, discover ways to support integration.

San Diego (Live or Virtual): January 26th, 2022 @ 1-2:15pm PST

For more information or to register for the conference, click HERE.