Associate Clinical Director of Trauma Services Sierra Tucson Tucson, Arizona
Session Description: Trauma therapy is evolving. As a result of this, there are many modalities that can address various mental health and substance use disorders. Many of these modalities are somatic, or body-focused. Trauma and attachment are at the forefront of these issues and must be addressed as symptoms can be exacerbated otherwise. Most therapeutic modalities use top-down approaches for symptom management. Bottom-up somatic approaches work with the nervous and attachment systems to resolve trauma, so symptoms diminish. Trauma survivors feel unsafe long after experiencing trauma, even when no threat is present. This approach provides a sense of safety for clients and increases resilience. This is achieved by accessing the primal ability of the nervous system to detect and protect from threat. Join me in this presentation geared towards advanced trauma healing and moving away from traditional types of therapy that miss the mark on processing trauma that gets locked in the body. Exercises taught that can be used in practice are orienting to the environment, noticing the felt sense, kind eyes, building a tribe, and others. This also addresses the physiology and provides attendees with the ability to support individuals to process through self-protective responses that get stored in the body as a means of safety.
Learning Objectives:
After this activity participants should be able to
Attendees will be able to describe somatic treatment approaches and how they can be useful.
Attendees will be able to differentiate between self-protective responses and behavioral issues.
Attendees will be able to assess pathological disorders and can address them with compassion.
