Making Virtual Psychotherapy a Relational Experience

CPD

Handouts

Speaker

Janina Fisher, PhD Related seminars and products

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Janina Fisher, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist and former instructor at The Trauma Center, a research and treatment center founded by Bessel van der Kolk. Known as an expert on the treatment of trauma, Dr. Fisher has also been treating individuals, couples, and families since 1980.

She is past president of the New England Society for the Treatment of Trauma and Dissociation, an EMDR International Association Credit Provider, Assistant Educational Director of the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute, and a former Instructor, at 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.

She is co-author with Pat Ogden of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy: Interventions for Attachment and Trauma (2015) and author of Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors: Overcoming Internal Self-Alienation (2017) and the forthcoming book, Working with the Neurobiological Legacy of Trauma (in press).

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Janina Fisher has an employment relationship with the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute. She is a consultant for Khiron House Clinics and the Massachusetts Department of MH Restraint and Seclusion Initiative. Dr. Fisher receives royalties as a published author. She receives a speaking honorarium, recording royalties and book royalties from Psychotherapy Networker and PESI, Inc. Dr. Fisher has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Janina Fisher is on the advisory board for the Trauma Research Foundation. She is a patron of the Bowlby Center.

Objectives

1. Determine the challenges for clients and therapists of virtual psychotherapy
2. Apply 3 ways of decreasing technophobia
3. Determine the impact of threat on the autonomic nervous system
4. Practice interventions for regulating autonomic dysregulation
5. Demonstrate techniques that increase tolerance for fear and stress
6. Sketch uses of the social engagement system in a telehealth clinical setting

Outline

Challenges to helping clients in a time of pandemic

• Fear of what will happen
• Isolation or forced proximity
• Moving from face-to-face to virtual psychotherapy

Addressing technical challenges and technophobia

• Transparency
• Collaboration: “we are in this together”
• Celebrating growth and mastery

Fear and the body

• “Inside threat” versus “outside threat”
• The impact of danger on the brain and body
• Somatic interventions for supporting immune system function
• Mindfulness-based interventions for calming the body

Increasing relational contact in virtual space

• Making use of the social engagement system
• Increasing feelings of “being fully present” 
• Capitalizing on somatic techniques for increasing relationality

Target Audience

• Psychologists
• Addiction Counselors
• Counselors
• Social Workers
• Marriage & Family Therapists
• Nurses
• Other Behavioral Health Professionals

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