Full Course Description

Brain-to-Brain: Mastering the Neurobiological Waltz

OUTLINE

Therapeutic relationship as dance between attachment systems
Impact of early childhood experiences on attachment and affect regulation
- Arousal and self-regulation
- Secure v. insecure context
Brain structures and systems related to self-regulation of affect
- Functions of sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system
- Consequences of hypoarousal and hyperarousal
Unconscious nature of early attachment experiences
- Body memory/somatic learning
- Approach v. avoidance
Therapeutic relationship and managing sense of threat
- Styles of attachment
- Unconscious nature of body memory
- Nonverbal cues and therapeutic communication
Successful regulation of arousal
- Optimal window of arousal
- Sources of therapist dysregulation
- Identifying somatic transference and countertransference
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy
- Impact of internal dialog, labeling
- Mind/body integration
- Integrating mindfulness practices
Co-regulation in interpersonal psychotherapy
- Effective methods of communication
- Connecting and integrating sensory perceptions
- Experimentation as technique
Working brain to brain
- Role of mirror neurons
- Social engagement system
- Flowing with resistance
Summary

OBJECTIVES

Explore how to recognize certain core issues in the therapeutic alliance—such as idealization and devaluing, stuckness, struggles for control, and abandonment fears—as manifestations of traumatic attachment
Explore how to become skilled at “right brain to right brain” communication, or being able to “talk” without words
Explore how to engage in a “dyadic dance” with your clients, mirroring their rhythms, body language, tone of voice, facial expressions, and gestures

Copyright : 26/03/2017

Enhancing Neuroplasticity: Strategies for Rewiring the Brain

OUTLINE

Choosing experiences to rewire the brain

Mindfulness

Compassion
Tools of intelligence
Purposes of enhancing neuroplasticity

Regulation, relation, reflection and resilience

Strategies for implementing positive neuroplasticity
Brain structures and systems related to perception of safety

Functions of sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system

Consequences of hypoarousal and hyperarousal

Unconscious nature of autonomic systems
Therapeutic interventions to optimize feelings of safety

Beneficial exercises: breath, touch, posture and movement

Nonverbal cues and therapeutic communication

Therapeutic resonance and healing

Techniques for developing resonance

Deep listening and acceptance of emotions

Mindfulness and self-compassion
Therapeutic exercise: Compassionate friend
Shifting brain functioning through positive emotions

Neuroscience research

Gratitude exercise: Web of life

Imagination
Default mental play space

Therapeutic exercise: Wished for outcome

Meta-processing and brain change

Journaling and creating a coherent narrative

Summary and clinical take-aways

OBJECTIVES

Discover how to teach clients tools of self-directed neuroplasticity to reverse the impact of stress and trauma on brain functioning and their capacities to cope
Discover how to cultivate positive emotions to shift brain functioning from contracted survival responses to larger perspectives and openness to change
Discover how to use practices of mindfulness and self-compassion to recover the capacities of the prefrontal cortex for response flexibility and resilience
Discover how to strengthen capacities of empathy and deepen skills of relational intelligence to foster healthy, resonant relationships

Copyright : 24/03/2017

What the Brain Needs for Transformational Change

OUTLINE

Different types of change and memory reconsolidation:

Counteractive

Transformational

Transformational change therapies

Common therapeutic factors across diverse approaches

Permanence of transformational change

Memory deconsolidation and reconsolidation

History and research

Emotional learnings

Nonverbal, implicit structure

Schemas and their self-protective function

Impact of competing new learning

Brain circuits involved

Challenges of incremental learning and change

Schema and implicit memory erasure

Non-reactivation

Symptom cessation

Effortless permanence

Change mechanisms and sequences across therapeutic approaches
Process for schema erasure

Reactivation

Guided contradictory experience

Juxtaposition with target schema

Preparation for intervention

Symptom identification

Retrieving underlying schema

Finding contradictory experiences

Nonspecific common therapeutic factors
Verifying therapeutic outcome

Dissolution of schema

Evaluating presence of multiple schemas

Clinical case examples of transformational process

Therapist factors

Potential complications

Discovery techniques

Symptom deprivation

Overt statements

Sentence completion

Summary and resources

OBJECTIVES

Discover the series of steps in the brain’s core process of profound unlearning
Discover the process that swiftly reveals the emotional schemas generating symptoms
Discover how to combine resource states and negative learnings into the juxtaposition experience that triggers reconsolidation and transformational change
Discover how to shift unconscious emotional learnings into richly felt, conscious targets of change

Copyright : 25/03/2017

Treating Personality Disorders: Advances from Brain Science and Traumatology

OUTLINE

Personality disorders in the US, prevalence and personal history

Risk factors, therapeutic options

Diagnostic criteria for personality disorders

Cluster characteristics

Developmental characteristics

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

Differential diagnostic criteria and defining characteristics

Pathological v. healthy narcissism

Grandiose v. vulnerable narcissism
Continuum of disturbance and loss of self
Borderline Personality Disorder

Differential diagnostic criteria and defining characteristics

Boundary setting and treatment approaches

Attachment and therapeutic relationship considerations

Antisocial Personality Disorder

Differential diagnostic criteria and defining characteristics

Victim v. perpetrator symptom expression

Psychopathy and personality characteristics
“No Solid Self”

Complex therapeutic history

Common underpinnings to varied personality diagnoses

Relationship characteristics

Developmental processes underlying personality disorders

Family systems

Neurophysiological systems

Treatment approaches

Determining level of intervention

Self-regulation, positive regard, mirroring

Creating attachment and inserting self into therapy

Importance of non-verbal communication

Language selection and techniques

Identifying meaning of disordered behavior and emotional regulation
Therapist self-regulation, necessity and strategies
Pictoral Coherence technique
“Undissociation” technique
General principles for therapeutic intervention

OBJECTIVES

Explore how to develop a therapeutic alliance in the face of mistrust, control issues, and rock solid defenses while staying out of power struggles
Explore how to work with the pathological dissociation typically present in personality disordered clients
Explore practical, effective interventions informed by neuroscience that help clients safely manage frightening symptoms, including violence and emotional meltdowns, and develop healthier boundaries and a more differentiated sense of self

Brain Care: Applying the Neuroscience of Well-Being to Help Clients

Program Information

Objectives

Implement lifestyle choices that protect the physical brain as our clients age, and extend the “health span” portion of our lifespan
Apply the tools of self-directed neuroplasticity in therapy that help reverse the impact of stress and trauma on emotional regulation, learning and memory, and empathy
Engage clients with practices such as guided visualizations and process journaling that can enhance the higher brain’s capacity for response flexibility, discernment, planning, creativity, and imagination
Apply interventions that help prevent/reverse addiction to digital technology and recover capacities for focused attention and concentration, relational intimacy, introspection, and self-reflection
Employ valuable resources in the latest findings about the brain and the mind-body connection

Outline

Brain structure, overlapping areas of physical pain, emotional pain and temperature
Modalities impacting brain structure

Multiple approaches, experiences change the brain

Consciousness remains unexplained

Mindfulness, compassion

Burnout and compassion fatigue
Macro and micro approaches to self-care
The impact of exercise on brain chemistry and development

Telomeres, longevity, types of movement

The impact of sleep and rest on brain chemistry and development

Cognitive impairment, depression

Sleep improvement strategies

Brief restorative strategies

Nutrition supports for brain function

MIND diet

Neurotoxins

Impact of obesity

The role of play in sustaining healthy brain function
Social relationships and well being
The four intelligences of well being
Body based tools for healing trauma

Reactivity and healing

Emotional regulation

Priming the neuroplasticity of the brain
Relational intelligence
Mindful awareness

Modifying perceptions and reactions

Exercise: Increasing somatic intelligence
Exercises: Breath, posture and movement
Positive psychology and neuroscience research

Contraction and reactivity

Resilience and health

Ability to shift perspective

Mindful self-compassion and acceptance

Exercise: Hand movement, mindfulness and emotion
Exercise: Visualization and self-compassion
Exercise: Moments of kindness
Exercise: Guided visualization toward self-acceptance
Exercise: Playing Parts and self-integration
Exercise: Integrating the inner critic

How Hard Times Can Open the Heart

No CE Credit Available

OBJECTIVES

State how our deepening understanding of neuroscience can enable us, even in times of great stress, to tap into five natural capacities of the brain
Recognize how to help clients have greater access to their inner resources
Develop a client’s capacity for deep pleasure and savoring the moment