Conference Program

Cathy Malchiodi & Linda Thai

Eboni Webb, Keynote

Speaker Bios | Online Webinar | 1.5 CEs

Course Description
Working with marginalized and traumatized populations in your practice can be overwhelming and exhausting. Learn how to develop the skills needed to be more effective in treatment, avoid burnout and achieve positive outcomes through developing an integrative lens to more effectively treat trauma and somatic healing. Dr. Webb will give you the training you need through case stories, neuroscience research, and experiential activities. Learn to work together with community support systems to increase compassion through seeing the function of behaviors through the lens of trauma, reestablish structure, and create a validating environment. Leave with the knowledge and skills to confidently teach how to implement a safe structure that decreases hypersensitivity to racism, sexism, etc on both sides of the therapeutic space.

• Examine the impact of stress and trauma on the developing mind
• Identify the key defensive survival strategies in intergenerational trauma
• Discuss how to establish a safe therapeutic environment that reestablishes healthy boundaries, connected communication and validates a client’s survival journey

Linda Thai
Speaker Bios | Online Webinar | 1.5 CEs

Course Description
The presentation will draw upon research literature as well as narrative reconstruction of lived experiences to expand the conversation about intergenerational trauma to encompass the impact of forced migration, combined with acculturation and enculturation pressures upon the subsequent generation. Unnameable losses cannot be grieved, and can manifest as clinical expressions of mental illness. Ambiguous grief – once named – will allow Generation 2.0 to forge a collective path of healing and reclamation.

• Identify the main stages of a refugee journey
• Explain intergenerational trauma to encompass the impact of forced migration combined with acculturation and enculturation pressures upon the next generation
• Discuss expressions of ambiguous grief and loss associated with generation 1.5 and 2.0 refugees
• Differentiate strategies to utilize in clinical and community settings to facilitate individual and collective well-being and resiliency

Shoshana Simons
Speaker Bios | Online Webinar | 1.5 CEs

Course Description
This theoretical and experiential session will introduce participants to The Laundry of Life, a narrative collective arts practice that engages groups in rituals that facilitate collective resourcing, recovery and resilience. Rooted in the principles and practices of narrative therapy & relational-cultural neuroscience, The Laundry of Life uses a multimodal arts approach to generate new, more empowering storylines for addressing the shared challenges we face in our lives.

• Explain the theoretical background informing narrative collective arts practices with groups and communities
• Discuss the approach through observing a demonstration session
• Evaluate the potential impact of the approach through engagement in experiential activities

Beverly Naidus & Cathy Malchiodi
Speaker Bios | Online Webinar | 1.5 CEs

Course Description
Through storytelling and a slide show, the presenter will share some tools for navigating trauma that she has developed as an artist. She will introduce the metaphors of composting our grief, turning it into fertile soil in which seeds of repair can be germinated. While sharing work by artists and poets who are working with climate and racial justice issues, she will discuss collective rituals that some artists use for engaging with difficult emotions within the community. Participants will be invited to do a breathing meditation exercise, and then with some verbal prompts, The presenter will engage the group in a visualization exercise, allowing everyone to touch their grief gently and witness it. There will be 10 minutes for everyone to write or draw what they visualized. A second meditation will give people a chance to see what is germinating in the soil, and they will again have 10 minutes for images and words to emerge. Our wrap up discussion will invite 10 participants to share what has emerged from our work together.

• Demonstrate the effectiveness of breathing meditation as a tool for grounding
• Discuss the innate ability to use visualization techniques to process emotions
• Create imagery and texts that explore difficult emotions

Judy Atkinson, Keynote
Speaker Bios | Online Webinar | 1 CE

Course Description
This presentation focuses on Indigenous Healing Practices and will be explained using Story as Teacher. The teacher is the Story a young Aboriginal woman gifted us after coming medicated and distressed from a mental health unit, seeking help. She taught us healing takes time; that sometimes it is painful and shameful, while also being powerful and life changing. Indigenous Critical Pedagogy in healing practices will be outlined to show trauma stories and social justice are entwined and that the skill of the therapist/healer is no more than to open a healing space and be fully present to witness and support the power of transformation. The transgenerational effects of trauma in Indigenous Australia', provides context to the life stories of people who have been moved from their country in a process that has created trauma trails, and the changes that can occur in the lives of people as they make connections with each other and share their stories of healing.

• Explain the role of stories as healing practices
• Discuss the term Indigenous Healing Practices
• Describe the process of “educaring” within the context of Indigenous Healing Practices
• Tell about the connection between traumatic experiences and social justice issues
• Name at least three ways psychotherapists and counselors can support storytelling as a reparative experience for traumatized individuals

Kai Cheng Thom & Linda Thai
Speaker Bios | Online Webinar | 1 CE

Course Description
“When the Centre Will Not Hold” is an experiential exploration of the intersections between collective trauma, grief, and community conflict, with a particular focus on the impacts of trauma-based conflict on marginalized peoples and their mental health. Primary presenter Kai Cheng Thom will draw from her experience as a conflict resolution practitioner and former social worker-psychotherapist, as well as contemporary research and theory regarding interpersonal neurobiology and trauma to highlight the ways in which collective trauma can result in recurrent, destructive patterns of conflict. Implications for mental health clinicians, social service providers, and community workers will be explored. Participants will also have the opportunity to engage with embodied methods for responding to conflict in their personal lives and professional practice.

• Describe collective trauma as a psychological and sociological phenomenon
• Name the effects of collective trauma on interpersonal and group conflict
• Explain links between collective grief and trauma, societal conflict, and social justice
• Utilize basic somatic and conversational strategies to engage with and de-escalate trauma-based conflicts in therapeutic and other professional situations

Diane Austin
Speaker Bios | Online Webinar | 1 CE

Course Description
This presentation focuses on adult-children working through the wounds experienced in early childhood and gradually healing and becoming more whole. Through the use of audio-visual examples and live demonstrations, methods used in Vocal Psychotherapy, including Vocal Holding Techniques and Free Associative Singing will be discussed and their value in working with trauma will be illuminated.

• Define and describe three different kinds of trauma
• Discuss Dissociation and the role it plays in traumatized individuals
• Name three examples of the way singing facilitates the healing of trauma
• Describe “Vocal Psychotherapy ”and the two primary techniques used in working with adults traumatized as children

Jamie Marich
Speaker Bios | Online Webinar | 1.5 CEs

Course Description
Shame can be described as the lies we are told about ourselves that we internalize as true statements. These messages can result from trauma, adverse life experiences, the perils of living in the cycle of addiction, or any combination of these factors. The collective trauma of the COVID-19 pandemic and the escalation of social tensions within the U.S. and throughout the world have brought new challenges to individuals struggling with recovery and healing. Intergenerational trauma and long-standing wounds of discrimination are being revealed to people in a new and challenging way in the wake of powerful reminders. Explore how expressive therapy—an all-of-the-above approach to creative expression, designed to meet people exactly where they are—is being used on the front lines of trauma-focused, socially conscious recovery. Discover what makes expressive arts therapy uniquely suited to help people who are suffering embrace their stories and transform them into something beautiful and serving of recovery. A specific experience in theDancing Mindfulness approach to expressive arts therapy is offered as part of this presentation.

• Analyze what makes expressive arts therapy uniquely suited as a trauma-focused recovery strategy, especially in addressing shame during the challenges of modern times
• Examine client-centered mindfulness practices through a trauma-focused lens using the expressive arts
• Discuss the potent links between unhealed trauma, dissociation, and addiction, and explain how expressive arts interventions are ideally suited to augment or to fully facilitate a healing experiences (often working along other established approaches to psychotherapy)

Cathy Malchiodi, Michelle Esrick, Molly Quillin-McEwan & Bessel van der Kolk
Speaker Bios | Online Webinar | 1.5 CEs

Course Description

Healthcare providers, specifically frontline workers, have endured tremendous stress during the pandemic. The alarming context of this health emergency has placed them in the center of extreme circumstances including fear of being infected and infecting others, higher workloads, insufficient medical equipment, disruption of regular routines, extraordinary pressures, and emotional pain of losing patients and colleagues. These conditions have made them more vulnerable not only to physical symptoms, but also to increased rates of anxiety, depression, stress, irritability, insomnia, anger, and frustration. This group is also at risk for the development of PTSD.

We also now know that survivors of COVID-19 are more susceptible to trauma reactions, including posttraumatic stress. Both physical symptoms and experiences in medical environments not only contribute to psychological distress, but also grief in what has been lost in terms of quality of life and normalcy.

This session focuses on both frontline healthcare workers’ COVID survivors’ mental health vulnerability for adverse repercussions and what is known about their traumatic stress. The overall goal is to bring awareness to the importance of providing psychological assistance to healthcare professionals and these survivors during and after the current pandemic. The panel includes both survivors and frontline medical personnel who will provide examples of lived experiences to supplement current clinical knowledge.

• Name three characteristics of vicarious traumatization in frontline healthcare workers
• Define the term COVID long hauler
• Identify at least two mental health challenges for COVID long haulers
• Discuss why psychotherapeutic support and referral to specialty care should be available to health workers with adverse psychological outcomes during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic

• Explain why psychotherapeutic support and referral to specialty care should be available to COVID survivors’ because of adverse psychological outcomes during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic

Amber Elizabeth Gray & Stephen Porges, Keynote
Speaker Bios | Online Webinar | 1.5 CEs

Course Description
This session will combine didactic and experiential methods. The presenters will provide an overview of Polyvagal-informed Dance/Movement Therapy, illustrated with clinical case work with survivors of human rights abuses and collective trauma, and deconstructed through the lens of the Polyvagal Theory.

• Participants will apply Polyvagal Theory to work with survivors of collective trauma
• Participants will describe principles of Polyvagal-informed Dance/Movement Therapy
• Participants will practice one Polyvagal-informed DMT stabilization practice

Kathleen Wan Povi Sanchez & Corrine Sanchez
Speaker Bios | Online Webinar | 1.5 CEs

Course Description

The pandemic has compounded grief and trauma and exacerbated existing historical and intergenerational traumas in many communities. In tandem with this ambient, collective trauma, complex individual trauma continues to occur and reverberate through communities and subsequent generations. COVID-19 has only amplified those traumas that were happening before the pandemic overtook us while piling on what feels for many like a new class of collective grief. The Native American community has been, for generations, grappling with its own collective grief and trauma. In this presentation, presenters share their perspectives on the global pandemic, the trauma endemic to it, and the importance of recognizing the connected relationship between collective grief, intergenerational trauma, and individual trauma. The trauma of sexual violence affects not only those who directly experience it, but also subsequent generations. The presenters will also share components of their “Trauma Rocks” program to address the intergenerational effects of sexual violence. Sexual violence is also a consequence of intergenerational trauma. Statistics show that one in three Native women will experience sexual assault in their lifetime. Across the United States, one in five women and one in sixteen men will experience sexual assault while in college. “Trauma Rocks” educates participants on how intergenerational trauma affects the community as a whole. Through a series of guided exercises, participants will cultivate awareness of behavior patterns which may develop as a reaction to this trauma, and that may interfere with their own success. In order to effectively address any of these traumas, practitioners must understand the role of collective grief and trauma in this community as well as the health and emotional risks Native Americans face during this time of pandemic.

• Identify 3 characteristics of intergenerational trauma
• Identify 3 characteristics of historical trauma
• Define collective trauma and contextualize it with respect to the pandemic

Cathy Malchiodi, Linda Thai & Shoshana Simons
Speaker Bios | Online Webinar | 1.5 CEs

Course Description
The pandemic has resulted in mental health and healthcare practitioners - as well as individuals, families, and communities - being undeniably confronted with collective grief and trauma. For practitioners, it has required us to pause what we once knew as "normal" in how we addressed traumatic loss and stress. It has also required us to become aware that there are communities and groups defined by intergenerational, transgenerational, and historical trauma and grief and to become more culturally-resonant in how we address these challenges. Both expressive methods and somatic approaches are based on clinically effective concepts; they also contain the wisdom of healing rituals and procedures that have been used for thousands of years to address grief and trauma.

• Describe how expressive arts therapy and expressive methods can be used in the treatment of trauma
• Define the term “somatic” within the context of psychotherapy and counseling
• List at least three reasons why movement, sound, storytelling, and silence are culturally-resonant practices in work with collective grief and trauma
• Describe a four part model of self-regulation, co-regulation, exploration, and restoration for applying expressive methods in psychotherapy and counseling
• Explain at least three reasons why working with the body’s experience of grief and trauma is a key strategy in addressing collective grief and trauma
• Identify how expressive arts therapy supports self-regulation and co-regulation with individuals and communities experiencing traumatic stress
• Specify how somatic approaches support restoration of the self during times of grief and loss

Cathy Malchiodi, Dafna Lender, Lou Bergholz, & JC Hall
Speaker Bios | Online Webinar | 1.5 CE*

Course Description
This presentation underscores the unique set of mental health and social challenges for families as a result of COVID-19. The emphasis is on how we can use action-oriented approaches such as play, expressive arts, and trauma-informed sports to support children and parents/caregivers to empower and support resilience and restoration of the self.

• Define at least three mental health issues for children and adolescents due to the pandemic
• Identify at least two impacts of social isolation on children and adolescents
• Cite at least three impacts on parenting and caregiving due to the pandemic
• Describe how trauma-informed sports can be used as a counseling strategy
• Explain how hip hop therapy can be used as a therapeutic strategy
• Analyze how Theraplay® can be used as therapeutic strategy
• Demonstrate action-oriented approaches to reducing fear and anxiety in children and adolescents
• Name at least two action-oriented approaches to self-regulation for children and adolescents
• Discuss how to support co-regulation in children and parents/caregivers

Cathy Malchiodi, Ruth Lanius & Cornelia Elbrecht

Speaker Bios | Online Webinar | 1.5 CEs

Course Description
In this presentation, two expressive therapists and a psychiatrist-researcher share their perspectives on how the pandemic has impacted individuals with an emphasis on traumatic stress. The discussion includes recommendations on how practitioners can apply expressive methods to address emotional, psychological, and behavioral impacts, with an emphasis on regulation, social engagement and co-regulation, and restorative practices to address grief and trauma.

• List at least three stress responses in individuals due to the pandemic
• Discuss the terms “multisensory integration” and “sensory integration” within the context of psychotherapy and counseling
• Describe expressive arts therapy as an approach to traumatic stress
• Define the term “trauma-informed sports” as a counseling strategy
• Describe a four part model of self-regulation, co-regulation, exploration, and restoration for applying expressive methods in psychotherapy and counseling
• Explain at least three expressive methods that can be used to support self-regulation and co-regulation
• Name at least three functions of the default mode network in relation to traumatic stress