Healing Traumatic Wounds using a Brief Therapy Model

Part 1:

Early treatment models for trauma focused on remembering the traumatic event but remembering isn’t recovering.  New neuroscience research has shown that trauma results in a ‘living legacy’. Even long after the traumatic event, the survival response remains easily re-activated evoking emotional and bodily memories. If a client is pushed to relive their trauma in treatment this can act as a trigger. This can prolong treatment effects especially in suicidal and self-destructive patients leaving a therapist feeling frustrated in their abilities.

In this workshop you will look at treatment approaches in which the effects of the trauma are treated rather than the events which caused it. You will go into depth on the roles of implicit and procedural memory in preventing a trauma victim to forget their experience. You will also study the brain and nervous response to a trigger. Dr Fisher will talk you through a treatment plan for a brief therapeutic approach in which you will guide your clients to recognise the signs of triggering so they can interpret their actions and reactions.

Part 2:

In the second part of this workshop, you will look at the second phase of brief therapeutic approaches to therapy. Specifically, you will focus on helping your clients to identify implicit memories and the pros and cons of using different treatments to address them. Dr Fisher will explain how to identify the pathogenic kernels of memory. You will also learn a number of therapeutic techniques such as how to re-frame emotions to show to your clients how the negative emotions they feel now aided their survival at the time of the trauma. This technique aids the acceptance of trauma and helps draw the distinction between then and now. You will also learn transformational models for trauma work, how to use ‘future templates’ and strategies to treat neurobiologically regulating clients.