Featured 2009 - 2010 Training Initiative:
Master Clinician Series
This series will feature lecture presentations from prominent expert faculty, addressing the treatment of trauma and highlighting different treatment modalities and perspectives. The series will take place from 6:30 - 8:30 P.M. on selected Mondays from October through April. Discounts are available to individuals who register for multiple lectures.
- October 26, 2009 -- Bessel van der Kolk, M.D.
Trauma and the Restoration of the Rhythms of Body, Mind and Brain
This course explores how trauma affects people's rhythms within themselves and with their surroundings. Trauma changes the way the brain processes information and the body engages with the world. Because of altered biological systems traumatized people continue to be trapped by their history and react in a myriad of ways to current experience as a replay of the past. We will explore the neurobiology of self-regulation and examine ways of befriending one's body, both of which are essential for the integration of traumatic memories: sensations, action patterns and physical sensations derived from the past.
- November 16, 2009 -- Frank Guastella Anderson, M.D.
Psychiatric Medications in the Treatment of Trauma
There are a growing number of medications used to address psychiatric symptoms, and particularly the complex behaviors and emotions targeted in clients with histories of trauma exposure. It is not uncommon for mental health clinicians -- both those who prescribe as well as those who do not -- to feel confused as to the best way to target psychiatric symptoms in this population. This lecture, designed for all mental health professionals, will provide an overview of medications for PTSD, flashbacks, anxiety, and dissociation, both acute and chronic, in children as well as adults. Participants will achieve greater understanding of the role of medication in addressing the biological substrates of trauma response, and differential goals of various medication categories.
- December 7, 2009 -- Joseph Spinazzola, Ph.D.
Timing and Pacing of Phase-Oriented Therapy
*Note: This lecture will meet from 6:00 - 9:00 P.M. - February 1, 2010 -- Janina Fisher, Ph.D.
Trauma and the Body: Integrating Sensorimotor Interventions into Trauma Treatment
As the price for surviving trauma, survivors are left with a host of easily re-activated neurobiological responses that prepare them for threat and danger: for fleeing, fighting, freezing in terror, hiding, or collapsing into shame and submission. Uncertain of what happened or how they endured it, the trauma survivor interprets the somatic responses as data about "me:" "I am still not safe," "I am worthless and unlovable." With time, these patterns come to be reflected in body structure and functioning, affecting posture, heart rate, breathing, and freedom to move.
To work with the somatic legacy of trauma, therapists need new approaches which can be incorporated into existing forms of treatment. This lecture will introduce participants to Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, a body-centered talking therapy for trauma. Sensorimotor Psychotherapy offers simple body-oriented interventions that address trauma-related challenges such as: emotional overwhelm, intrusive images and flashbacks, impulsivity and acting out, and how to process traumatic memory in a neurobiologically-informed way that increases the client's sense of mastery over the past.
- April 12, 2010 -- Bessel van der Kolk, M.D.
Innovations and Future Directions in the Treatment of Trauma
The past two decades has seen an explosion of knowledge about how experience shapes the brain and the formation of the self. This evolving science has had profound implications on our understanding of what constitutes effective intervention for individuals who have experienced traumatic stress. In this two-hour lecture, Dr. van der Kolk will highlight a variety of innovative intervention strategies, like neurofeedback, internal family systems and various body/mind techniques, to help mind, brain and body to live fully in the present, rather than staying trapped in the traumatic past.
Gold standard research and the collective wisdom of astute clinicians converge around evidence towards the critical importance of memory processing in the treatment of traumatic stress. Specifically, there is widespread consensus that for most traumatized individuals, full recovery cannot be achieved without engaging in some form of trauma processing. That is where the consensus ends. How to best approach this process, which for many clients is simply intolerable and has proven to worsen symptoms and functioning, is no easy question.
This workshop engages this question head on through close analysis of excerpts from a cinematic film that surprisingly offers stunning insights into real-life practice. Together we will consider the phasing, timing and sequencing of trauma intervention, as well as the role of verbal and non-verbal approaches to self-regulation and traumatic experiences integration.
This workshop is appropriate for Beginner to Advanced audiences that are creatively inclined and willing to think outside the box. Less experienced practitioners will be provided the means to "see" the core components of trauma intervention unfold. More seasoned trauma clinicians will benefit from this indepth opportunity to grapple with the complexity, nuance and, at times, paradox of this work.
Location: The Trauma Center at JRI, 1269 Beacon St., Brookline, MA 02446
Registration: To register, please submit both the registration form, indicating desired lecture(s), along with payment, using one of the PayPal buttons below, or via a check made payable to “The Trauma Center at JRI”. Questions regarding these workshops may be directed to Shannon Holt.
Rates: Reduced rates are available for individuals who register for multiple lectures or for the full, 6-lecture series. Registration at student rate requires proof of current student status at a degree-granting program.
| 1 Lecture | Full: $65.00 | Student: $58.50 |
| 2 Lectures *2nd lecture $5 off! |
Full: $125.00 | Student: $112.50 |
| 3 Lectures *Reduced rate of $60/lecture! |
Full: $180.00 | Student: $162.00 |
| 4 Lectures *Reduced rate of $55/lecture! |
Full: $220.00 | Student: $198.00 |
| 5 Lectures *Reduced rate of $55/lecture! |
Full: $275.00 | Student: $247.50 |
| 6 Lectures *Reduced rate of $50/lecture! |
Full: $300.00 | Student: $270.00 |
About our Faculty:
Bessel van der Kolk, MD, Medical Director and founder of The Trauma Center, has been active as a clinician, researcher and teacher in the area of posttraumatic stress and related phenomena since the 1970s. His work integrates developmental, biological, psychodynamic and interpersonal aspects of the impact of trauma and its treatment. His book Psychological Trauma was the first integrative text on the subject, painting the far ranging impact of trauma on the entire person and the range of therapeutic issues which need to be addressed for recovery. Dr. van der Kolk has taught at universities and hospitals across the United States and around the world, and has published extensively on the impact of trauma on development. He was co-principal investigator of the DSM-IV Field Trials for PTSD, past president of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, a founding member of the Steering Committee of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, and is working with colleagues to bring a Developmental Trauma Disorder diagnosis to the DSM-V.
Frank Guastella Anderson, M.D., has a lengthy affiliation with The Trauma Center at JRI as a supervisor, faculty member, and past staff psychiatrist. Dr. Guastella Anderson completed his medical training at Rush University Medical School in Chicago, with internship at Framingham Union Hospital and Residency at Massachusetts Mental Health Center/Harvard Medical School, where he was also an attending psychiatrist. Dr. Guastella Anderson has conducted numerous workshops on the psychopharmacological treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder and complex trauma adaptations. Currently, Dr. Guastella Anderson is in private practice in Concord, MA.
Joseph Spinazzola, Ph.D., the Executive Director of the Trauma Center at Justice Resource Institute, received his Ph.D. from Duke University, completed his Clinical Psychology Internship at New York University / Bellevue Hospital, and holds an appointment at Boston University School of Medicine. In his 10th year with the Trauma Center, Dr. Spinazzola is actively involved with all aspects of our Center's programming and service, serving as a clinician, clinical supervisor, senior trainer, and as Associate Director of our Research Department. Dr. Spinazzola manages the Trauma Center's National Child Traumatic Stress Network Community Treatment & Services program. He is also the Principal Investigator of a youth violence prevention program working with Urban Improv to develop and evaluate theater-based programming for traumatized children in the Boston Public Schools. Dr. Spinazzola is a member of The Forensic Panel, a national forensic expert witness firm providing peer reviewed forensic expert testimony in psychiatry, psychology and the forensic sciences. Dr. Spinazzola provides local and national consultation to health service agencies on trauma-informed systems change. Dr. Spinazzola specializes in the assessment, diagnostic classification and treatment of complex adaptation to childhood trauma in children and adolescents. He has authored over 30 publications and scholarly conference presentations in this area. Receiving a Graduate Certificate in Women's Studies from Duke University, Dr. Spinazzola has engaged in formal training and research in the areas of human sexuality and gender role socialization, identity development, gender-based oppression, silencing and resilience, and adolescent development and giftedness. Dr. Spinazzola holds particular interest in dissociative coping and adaptation in survivors of complex trauma; in lifespan development, psychodynamic, and existential perspectives on trauma and recovery; and in the role of transformative action - including improvisational theater, cooperative play, and expressive arts - in the recovery process.
Janina Fisher, Ph.D. is a licensed Clinical Psychologist and Instructor at the Trauma Center, an outpatient clinic and research center founded by Bessel van der Kolk. Known for her expertise as both a clinician and consultant, she is also past president of the New England Society for the Treatment of Trauma and Dissociation, an EMDR International Association Credit Provider, a faculty member of the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute, and a former Instructor, Harvard Medical School. Dr. Fisher lectures and teaches nationally and internationally on topics related to the integration of the neurobiological research and newer trauma treatment paradigms into traditional therapeutic modalities.
