Safe Experiential Work for Addicts & Survivors of Trauma

About this training

When trauma happens, trust and connection to self and others are damaged, and finding places of protection and safety is crucial. The inclination to “think” through the trauma or to suppress its painful aftermath, but neither choice will create the shift into healing and health that is so greatly needed. Enter experiential treatment for survivors of trauma, which are increasingly documented as therapies of choice for people who have experienced personal, collective and multiple trauma. However – and this is a big however – it is crucial that any kind of experiential activity is trauma- informed because the nature of trauma lends itself to reenacting the trauma long after the actual event has passed. In this all-day training workshop, instructed by Karen Carnabucci, LCSW, TEP, we will focus on best practices in trauma-informed care as they relate to experiential psychotherapies, especially the Therapeutic Spiral Model, a proven model adapted from the method of psychodrama that has been demonstrated and established internationally for the past 30-some years. Accordingly, we will show how this model beautifully demonstrates options for containment, cognitive and body awareness, and safe relationship building through a variety of experiential activities. Brain researchers demonstrate that it is the repeated experience that activates growth and connection within the brain, so just as traumatic experiences change the brain, so can positive and integrated experiences contribute to healing change. You will learn: -Types of safety that must be recognized and tended to within a care setting. -Containment interventions that support staying in the here and now and reduce dissociation. -Structures that can be easily integrated into individual talk therapy sessions and groups. -How attachment is disrupted with trauma and how it can be re-established through the principles of sociometry, the social measurement science developed by Dr. J.L. Moreno, who also originated the method of psychodrama. -Prescriptive roles that can be concretized to support healing and growth.