Creating Wholeness Beyond Trauma, Abuse, Neglect and Addiction

Description & Requirements

During the training sessions you will:

  • Create a paradigm for health that will enable you and your clients to discover who you were created to be – intellectually, physically, emotionally, and spiritually
  • Receive a clear and concise explanation of the impact of trauma, abuse and deprivation on the human spirit and how these painful events can be detrimental to personal and relational health
  • Learn how to begin the healing process from these events by effectively and safely accessing and releasing them from one’s psyche
  • Become aware of the manner in which persons survive trauma and abuse and the ensuing defense mechanisms – both healthy and unhealthy
  • Increase your knowledge regarding the root causes of many addictions and co-dependencies; and their correlation with trauma, abuse and deprivation
  • Acquire effective guidelines and information regarding the setting of healthy personal and professional boundaries
  • Be provided with theoretical concepts and practical modalities regarding prevention and treatment approaches for individuals and families suffering the pain of trauma, abuse and neglect
  • Receive easy to understand and useful treatment tools to use with your clients, patients and students via handouts and role-play demonstrations
  • Experience daily personal and group processing of new treatment techniques and thus acquire new insights into many clinical issues

Expected results – you will:

  • Experience significant personal growth as a result of addressing your own issues of trauma, abuse and deprivation
  • Gain an understanding of your own inner process as you reclaim and restore the person you were designed to be
  • Obtain a new awareness of the importance of balance in one’s life – in all areas: intellectual, physical, emotional, spiritual, and relational.
  • Have an increased awareness of the long-term effects of trauma, abuse and deprivation on the human psyche
  • Have acquired a new understanding and sensitivity into the pain of others resulting in compassion and empathy – an ability to view victims and even victimizers through “new eyes”
  • Have obtained a wide variety of skills and tools which they are able to effectively apply to a large range of individual clients, couples and families
  • Feel additional confidence in your personal and professional knowledge and skills

Who may attend:

  • Psychologists
  • Psychotherapists
  • Counselors
  • Marriage and Family Therapists
  • Physicians
  • Psychiatrists
  • Social Workers
  • Chemical Dependency Rehabilitation Professionals
  • Recovery Group Leaders
  • Professors
  • Teachers
  • Clergy

Requirements for attendance:

Each participant should

  • Be at least twenty-one years of age
  • Be sober from alcohol and drugs and in recovery, with no relapses, for a minimum of two years
  • Have knowledge and experience for a minimum of two years in field of counseling, and preferably also in addictions and recovery
  • Have knowledge of 12-Step work and preferably have experience in this area
  • Have a commitment to personal and professional growth
  • Have a willingness to be open, honest and to address own issues
  • Understand they can only take their clients to the depth they themselves have gone
  • Be responsive to both cognitive and experiential work
  • Have intention to use this training personally and professionally
  • Participate in small groups
  • Be willing to commitment time for both class work and home tasks
  • Honor punctuality
  • Attend all classes and groups; classes cannot be made-up. If participants miss any session, they will need to repeat that level in order to advance to next level.

Attendance required at all sessions for Levels I, II and III.

Level I

AWARENESS

Level I highlights awareness and understanding regarding the development of each individual’s personal growth and behavior as determined by his/her innate strengths, life experiences, family influences and environment.  Participants will learn how to use the well-known therapeutic instruments, The Trauma Egg and The Circles of Intimacy, Responsibility and Impact.

Course duration: 

4 days, 28 hours, plus homework; attendance required at all sessions.

Content:

  • Emphasis is placed on Balance in Health – Physically, Emotionally, Intellectually and Spiritually, and in Relationships
  • The Bricks of Survival are presented as each individual’s most primal need – a foundation upon which all of one’s personal experiences and growth are based
  • The Circles of Intimacy, Responsibility and Impact are introduced which provide a format for identifying relationship and activity priorities and boundaries
  • A “Trauma Egg” is created by each participant as a visual record of painful and difficult issues in their life

Each participant: 

  • Draws a representation of their pain
  • Discusses their defense mechanisms as a child and as an adult, and draws these defenses
  • Admits when they have moved from “victim to victimizer”- when they are aggressive and passive-aggressive, and draws these behaviors
  • Focuses on their natural talents and abilities – on who they were designed to be, and draws this person
  • Learns how to become a Healthy Balanced Person and draws this combination of Physical, Emotional, Intellectual and Spiritual, and includes natural talents and empathy that is balanced with appropriate boundaries, and healthy balance in their relationships.

 

The sessions will be conducted with time devoted to didactic instruction and to experiential work. Students should be willing to participate in experiential work as engaging in one’s personal therapy is considered essential for health professionals to be effective and to provide healthy role-models for their clients and others within their sphere of influence.

Level II

INSTRUMENTS for CHANGE

Level II stresses the importance of individual responsibility for one’s own actions with emphasis on an understanding of healthy and unhealthy behaviors; the genesis and treatment of addictions and dysfunctions are presented. Participants are introduced to many therapeutic instruments which can be immediately applicable personally, professionally and in their relationships

Course duration: 

8 days, 56 hours, plus homework; attendance required at all sessions

Content:

  • Congruency between stated Values and Behaviors is addressed with participants challenged to examine their personal authenticity in these areas; instruments are provided to enable this evaluation
  • The Past and Present Pool of Pain presents an understanding of why persons over-react to situations by showing the consequences of suppressed emotions and the correlation of this suppression with present-day reactions
  • The Circles of Intimacy are revisited with interactive scenarios
  • Roots provides an understanding of the definition of: “Trauma,” “Abuse,” “Deprivation,” and “Neglect” and the resulting emotions; a diagram visualizes these Roots as the fuel which causes the flames of Anger, Resentment, Shame, Fear, Pain, etc.
  • The I Am Bad diagram illustrates four general responses to the deeply internalized belief that “I am defective and not valuable;” this destructive mantra creates unhealthy behavior of varying degrees
  • The Healthy Balanced Person is diagramed with interactive role-play
  • The positives and negatives of remaining a: Victim/Child, Co-Dependent, Victimizer, and a Healthy Balance Person are investigated
  • Recognizing, deleting and replacing overt and covert internal destructive Tapes which influence behavior and beliefs
  • Reasons for the inability to give up Co-Dependency are presented and discussed
  • The Wounded Relationships instrument is illustrated as an example of how persons attempt to use and make other persons responsible for filling their own un-met childhood needs and the dysfunction that results from this destructive behavior
  • Healthy and Unhealthy Systems are diagramed, and information provided to enable participants to analyze and determine the status of various systems (family of origin, present family, work, school, etc.)
  • How to Handle a Feeling (with list of emotions by category) and Five Ways to Say “Yes” and “No” are presented
  • Five Stages of Recovery are introduced with emphasis on methods to release anger in a healthy manner without becoming a victimizer, and how to forgive by separating the person from the deed.
  • The Safety Circle and the Relationship Playing Field are presented with role-play addressing how to avoid becoming passive-aggressive, aggressive and/or violent
  • Abuse areas (especially sexual abuse) are defined and discussed
  • The Levels of Sex Addiction are given and a brief overview given
  • An understanding one’s own Triggers is developed by addressing past trauma, abuse and deprivation and how the resulting emotions affect and disrupt present-day behavior
  • A discernment of the definition of Wisdom, and also of inner Joy are developed
  • Participants are challenged to experience a paradigm shift toward balanced health – personally, professionally and in their relationships – and to be congruent with their words and behaviors

The sessions will be conducted with time devoted to didactic instruction and to experiential work. Students should be willing to participate in experiential work as engaging in one’s personal therapy is considered essential for health professionals to be effective and to provide healthy role-models for their clients and others within their sphere of influence.

Level III

DECISION TIME

Level III offers analysis of client prognosis; further discussion of unhealthy systems; expansion of understanding addictions and dysfunctional behaviors; and addresses both individual and relationship issues. Emphasis is placed on enabling clients to move out of a “stuck” position and actively apply new methods of healthy behaviors – personally and in their relationships.

Course duration: 

5 days, 35 hours, plus homework;  attendance required at all sessions.

Content:

  • Review of Levels I and II in which participants relate any questions or area which are unclear.
  • Factors to Determine Client Prognosis are presented
  • Client Categories are defined as determined by their willingness to acknowledge and change their destructive behaviors
  • Expands the understanding of our Baseline for Normal and how to create a healthy, new Baseline
  • Causations and Alternations for Addictions and Dysfunctional Behaviors are illustrated and demonstrate the necessity of all areas being addressed before sobriety can be attained and maintained
  • An expansion of the Wounded Relationship is given which lists the primary needs of both the child and the adult
  • Decision Time offers a step-by-step program to enable options for persons stuck in unhealthy, destructive systems and relationships
  • Negotiables and Non-Negotiables are demonstrated through role-play regarding how to evaluate the potential of long-term relationships and activities
  • Fields as Relationships are shown by illustrations correlating relationship types and various landscapes; students are provided with outlines of how to apply the instruments gained thus far in the Method in the preparation and maintenance of healthy relationships

The sessions will be conducted with time devoted to didactic instruction and to experiential work. Students should be willing to participate in experiential work as engaging in one’s personal therapy is considered essential for health professionals to be effective and to provide healthy role-models for their clients and others within their sphere of influence.

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