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Adult Survivors of Developmental Trauma: A Framework for Assessment and Intervention

If you are a children’s mental health worker aware of the developmental trauma of the parents you work with, or if you provide services to adults, and you want to be sure that you can identify and respond to developmental trauma in the most helpful way, this training is for you.  Engaging a parent/caregiver who struggles with issues related to their own early life trauma can be very challenging. The result of such trauma can have an adverse impact on their current family system and they often feel that they are being confronted and blamed for this impact. This training will provide participants with a starting place in having these difficult conversations using a non-confrontational, non-blaming approach and a framework for assessment and Intervention.

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Description

Sometimes the early life trauma for parent/caregivers has an adverse impact on their current family system, specifically on the child/parent relationship, the co-parenting relationship, and the marital dyad. As such, we recognize the importance and benefit of interventions that will engage the parent/caregiver in “doing their work” so that healing and repair can happen for the individual and the family system.

This training is focused on parents/caregivers who are survivors of developmental trauma. This is not often the focus for those accessing the mental health system as we have a tradition of viewing these individuals as having an “Axis II” diagnosis, Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and as such are often challenged to know how to engage the adult in a way that lends itself to healing. This training brings voice to a shift that was started in 2003 by the Treatment and Research Advancements National Association for Personality Disorders (TARA-APD) concerning our understanding of BPD.

Considering adult survivors from a developmental trauma lens provides  an opportunity to  contribute to  this shifting perspective  in that it makes space to ask our clients  “what happened to you “ rather  than “what is wrong with you?”   (Bernadette Kiraly, MD, 2018).  Developmental Trauma Disorder is (was) a provisional diagnosis proposed by the Complex Trauma Taskforce for the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (www.nctsn.org, 2009).   This diagnosis is predicated on the notion that multiple and prolonged exposures to adverse childhood events mostly of a interpersonal nature such as abandonment, severe neglect, physical or sexual assault, or witnessing domestic violence result in complex disruptions to the developing child.

This training will provide the participant with: a conceptual framework for understanding Developmental trauma from within a psychosocial and attachment framework, a definition of Developmental Trauma which will be differentiated from PTSD, CPTSD and BPD, and an overview of the impact on the brain and presenting symptoms will be outlined.

The role of assessment as a means to formulating effective intervention will be highlighted as the way to address the deficient sense of relational safety, emotion dysregulation, and lack of coherent personal identity and competence many adult trauma survivors struggle with. The assessment tool is the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5 (CAPS-5).

Learning Outcomes

  1. Differentiate between PTSD, CPTSD and Developmental Trauma
  2. Review the shifting perspectives on BPD
  3. Have further understanding of Developmental trauma in adults including impact on the brain, attachment and psychosocial development, and the key presenting symptoms
  4. Assess for Trauma in Adults. Note: Access to the measures presented requires proof of clinical status and the website to request access will be provided.  
  5. Review of the 3 phase mode of trauma treatment for Adult Survivors of Developmental Trauma: Stabilization/Safety, Here and Now Processing (identifying triggers), Individual/Integration “Consolidating the Gains” (ISTSS, 2012)

 

The learning outcomes will be met through the presentation of theory and psycho education that will be illustrated by way of case scenarios and clinical cases.

Price

Course Dates & Location

Available for In-service

Instructor

Ruth Linnen, MTS, (cert) OAMHP, RP, Certified EMDR Therapist

Ruth Linnen began her practice in psychotherapy in 1996. She is the founder and owner of Certified Professional Counselling Centre.  She is a Registered Psychotherapist with a specialty in trauma consultation, assessment, treatment, and training with additional training in Critical Incident Stress Management (Advanced) , ASIST, and Violence Threat Risk Assessment (VTRA , Level II), CBT, DBT and Sensorimotor psychotherapy.  She is also a Certified EMDR Therapist.  In her private practice she provides trauma intervention to community based agencies who have experienced a critical incident as well  as Family, Couple’s, Individual, and Group therapy.

Ruth was a primary mental health clinician with CMHA for 19 years providing assessment, treatment, training, and consultation in various areas of mental health including mood disorders, psychosis, and trauma. Her role at CMHA also included program development, training of colleagues in trauma, the provision of psychotherapy groups, and clinical supervision of students.

Ruth provides training workshops and program development to various community partners including Child/Adult mental health, CISM Peer Teams, Community Living, Child Welfare and, First Nation Communities. She is a clinical supervisor for those requiring supervision hours for registration with CRPO and other professionals working in the private and public sector who work with adults, adolescents, and families.

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