Military Sexual Trauma: How to Heal in the Face of Betrayal

CPD

Planning Committee Disclosure - No relevant relationships

All members of the PESI, Inc. planning committee have provided disclosures of financial relationships with ineligible organizations and any relevant non-financial relationships prior to planning content for this activity. None of the committee members had relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies or other potentially biasing relationships to disclose to learners.  For speaker disclosures, please see the faculty biography.

Handouts

Speaker

Melissa Bradley-Ball, MS, NCC, BCETS, FAAETS Related seminars and products

---

Melissa Bradley-Ball, MS, NCC, BCETS, FAAETS, is a psychotherapist, clinical educator, corporate consultant and mediator. She is a Fellow, Diplomate and board-certified expert in traumatic stress for the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress. She has been a frequent keynote speaker at national and statewide conferences and has provided training internationally to more than 350,000 professionals, including mental health providers, medical providers, clergy and chaplains, law enforcement, and legal professionals. She is a former child abuse investigator who has provided expert testimony in criminal and civil court. Ms. Bradley-Ball has been a frequent guest on regional and national radio and television news addressing rape and sexual abuse. She has served as a subject matter expert on a pilot program focused on military leadership and sexual assault and harassment.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Melissa Bradley Ball is the owner of The Heroic Journey. She receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Melissa Bradley Ball is a Fellow and Diplomat of the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress. She is a member of the American Counseling Association and the Tennessee Counseling Association.

Objectives

1. Assess clients’ experience of multiple components of betrayal trauma.
2. Construct a coping skills plan for clients in early treatment for MST.
3. Describe narrative therapy techniques that may be used with clients who have experienced MST.

Outline

• Betrayal trauma – the most intense, traumatizing component of MST 
• Multiple components of betrayal: offender, first disclosure, institution/system, body and self 
• Difficulties and necessities of addressing betrayal trauma in clinical practice 
• The impact of early/earlier sexual trauma and potential trauma reactivation over the life span 
• Healing beyond the sexual assault – moving from victim to survivor to thriver and restoring trust in self and system 
• Limitations of the research and potential risks 

Target Audience

• Counselors 
• Social Workers 
• Psychologists 
• Psychiatrists 
• Marriage & Family Therapists 
• Addiction Counselors 
• Nurses 
• Other mental health professionals