Single Day Trainings

This 4 hour workshop will dig into the clinical definition of dissociation and expand understanding to include the lived experience of the many forms of dissociation. We will look at the neurological purpose and process of dissociation and its implications for therapy. This workshop is designed to counteract the unnecessary fear and stigma around dissociative presentations and personalities. We will deepen understanding of dissociation as a natural survival mechanism that has many benefits to the human organism. Based on this expanded understanding we will explore how to work with the many forms of dissociation in therapy and view it as a natural part of healing rather than as an obstacle to overcome. If you’ve ever wondered if there is more to the treatment of dissociation than teaching grounding skills, this workshop will help answer that question.

Learning objectives:

1. Define dissociation as a natural mechanism of suppression and repression used by every human to manage the flow of information and experience through the body.
2. Conceptualize dissociation in clinical presentations as an essential survival mechanism that can be partnered with rather than an obstacle to overcome.  
3. Explore the spectrum of dissociation from normal everyday experiences to Dissociative Identity Disorder and identify some treatment modifications for different presentations. 

Continuing Education Information:

• 4 Hours Seated Training Time
• 4 Hours NBCC Credit
• 4 Hours Advanced EMDRIA Credit
• Offered Virtually on Zoom

Understanding Dissociation next offering:

• July 8th, 2024 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm CDT – Melissa Benintendi – Zoom

Continuing Education Information:

• 3 Hours Seated Training Time
• 3 Hours NBCC Credit
• Offered Virtually on Zoom

Next Training Offering:

• August 3rd, 2024 – 9:00 am – 12:00 pm CDT – Bridger Falkenstien and Jen Savage – Zoom

In this 3 hour workshop we will discuss ethical dilemmas related to matters of protection, connection, and empowerment. Utilizing the professional and ethical guidelines for professional counselors and social workers, we will teach a model for clinical decision making that honors the safety of the client and the ethical practice of the clinician, while inviting trust and authenticity for both in the therapeutic relationship. 

Course Outline:

Person Centered Ethics: Building Trust and Empowering Authenticity

Brief overview and summary of the professional and ethical guidelines provided for LCSWs and Professional Counselors

Organization of all ethical dilemmas into 3 categories with a more in depth discussion on common experiences in each category : 

• Protection: issues involving the safety and wellbeing of the client and the role/responsibility that the therapist holds 
  • Confidentiality
  • Duty to Warn
  • Hotline Calls and Reporting
• Connection: issues related to the complex and nuanced relationship between the therapist and client
  • Communication Outside of Session
  • Transference and Countertransference
  • Relational Enactments: Projection and Virtual Others 
• Empowerment: issues related to the growth from dependency to empowerment throughout the therapeutic journey 
  • Dependency on the Therapeutic Relationship
  • Dual Relationships
  • Beginning with the End in Mind

Teach a model for clinical decision making that honors the safety of the client and the ethical practice of the clinician, while inviting trust and authenticity for both in the therapeutic relationship. 

1. Identify the ethical dilemma
2. Make note of associated objective guidelines
3. Recognize and reflect on your subjective experience 
4. Recognize and attune to clients subjective experience in the dilemma
5. Communicate the objective guideline AND your subjective experience
6. Make an ethical decision incorporating the objective guideline and the subjective experiences of all
7. Connect and coregulate through effects of that decision

*Consideration of these steps in both proactive and reactive circumstances 

Course Objectives:

1. Participants will receive a brief overview and summary of the professional and ethical guidelines provided for LCSWs and Professional Counselors
2. Participants will learn 3 categories for organizing all ethical dilemmas and will engage in a more in depth discussion on common experiences in each category
3. Participants will learn a model for clinical decision making that honors the safety of the client and the ethical practice of the clinician, while inviting trust and authenticity for both in the therapeutic relationship

Continuing Education Information:

• 4 Hours Seated Training Time
• 4 Hours NBCC Credit
• 4 Hours Advanced EMDRIA Credit (Submitted for Approval)
• Offered Virtually on Zoom

Next Training Offering:

• September 12, 2024 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm CDT – Jen Savage and Bridger Falkenstien – Zoom

In this 4 hour workshop we will discuss the nuances and complexities of utilizing EMDR Therapy as a primary approach for treating issues for couples and families. Will will introduce a new model for tracking and conceptualizing relational enactments. With this model we explore treatment planning, resource development, and target selection for couples and families. 

Course Outline:

EMDR for Couples and Families: Empowering Authenticity through Voice and Choice

Identify options for clinical structure and discuss considerations for relational safety when offering trauma focused couples and family therapy

Introduce and describe the core concepts of The Cycle of Repression as a tool for case conceptualization and treatment planning for couples and family therapy

• Unseen
• Exhausted
• Point of Intolerance
• Distraction Strategy
• Practice of Authentic Expression 
• Acceptance/Rejection
• Masking

Continuing Education Information:

• 4 Hours Seated Training Time
• 4 Hours NBCC Credit
• 4 Hours Advanced EMDRIA Credit (Submitted for Approval)

Next Training Offering:

• October 4th, 2024, 8:30 am – 12:30 pm CDT – Melissa Benintendi – Live Zoom

The essential elements of working with the body in mind

This 4 hour workshop will cover the essential elements of increasing our skills in conceptualizing through the lens of somatic psychology and working directly with the body in therapy. We will briefly cover the history of somatic psychology and understand the origins of the “mind-body” split. Increasing our skills will include deepening understanding of what embodiment really is and how increasing self awareness is a developmental process that we can partner with. We will also explore the development and treatment of affect phobias and somatization symptoms through tracking patterns of suppression and repression in our client’s stories. Heavy focus will be put on the experiential practice of turning inward to the private inner experience within a body and making contact with the subconscious wisdom held in these deep spaces. We will look at practical ways to create a container of safety so our client’s can expand their embodied self awareness and release what has been repressed through direct experience of inner sensing, touch, breath, and movement.

This workshop will include a demonstration video and two written scripts to support integration with clients. Follow up consultation groups will be available afterwards for added support. 

Learning objectives:

1. Define somatic psychology and the role of mind-body dualism is modern psychology.
2. Expand understanding of self awareness and embodiment as development processes that can be partnered with in therapy. 
3. Define affect phobia and somatization symptoms and deepen understanding of the treatment process to address these presentations.
4. Increase practical skill in creating safe spaces for clients to have direct body experience that may assist in their therapeutic goals. 

This is the introductory overview of therapeutic case conceptualization and its relevance to EMDR Therapy. Somatic Integration and Processing is introduced as a tool to support an accurate case conceptualization. SIP is an interpersonal neurobiology based conceptualization tool that uses psychodynamic neurodevelopmental theory, adaptive information processing (AIP) and memory reconsolidation, and nervous system informed somatic psychology to assist clinicians in their ability to understand, interpret, and utilize diagnostic bio/psycho/social/cultural information about their clients.

A holistic and detail oriented case conceptualization tool can be used for tracking session goals and therapeutic targets, maneuvering through any processing issues through understanding their psychodynamic origins, and it can even be used to track an entire therapeutic process from start to finish.

Objectives:

1. Establish a thorough understanding of case conceptualization and the impact that it has on the success and safety of a client in EMDR Therapy
2. Increase conceptualization skills with an emphasis on interpreting symptoms and behavior through a developmental and nervous system informed perspective
   
3. Teach participants a clinical approach to case conceptualization that is trauma informed and focused on the impact of past experience on present behavior, while also identifying and addressing barriers to the therapeutic process
4. Increase the therapist’s awareness of the relational impact of trauma and the opportunity of the therapeutic alliance to be a disconfirming experience throughout all phases of EMDR Therapy

Continuing Education Information:

• 4 Hours Seated Training Time
• 4 Hours NBCC Credit
• 4 Hours Advanced EMDRIA Credit

Next Training Offering:

• November 21, 2024 12:30 pm – 4:30 pm CST – Jen Savage and Bridger Falkenstien – Zoom

Continuing Education Information:

• 4 Hours Seated Training Time
• 4 Hours NBCC Credit
• 4 Hours Advanced EMDRIA Credit (Submitted for Approval)

Next Training Offering:

• January 24, 2025 – 8:30 am – 12:30 pm CST – Melissa Benintendi – Zoom

Creating a secure attachment with nature through EMDR Phase 2 

This 2 hour workshop will provide an introduction to the use of nature based resources as part of phase 2 during EMDR Therapy. We will explore the possibility of creating a sense of secure attachment to the natural world and it’s therapeutic benefits. We will look at examples of nature based resources through the four elements of earth, water, fire and air and practice installation of these in our own bodies. Scripts will be given to support integration of these skills into work with clients.

Learning objectives:

1. Increase awareness of nature based resources and how they can be created during EMDR Phase 2.
2. Give examples and scripts for the creation and installation of nature based resources.

Continuing Education Information:

• 4 Hours Seated Training Time
• 4 Hours NBCC Credit
• 4 Hours Advanced EMDRIA Credit (Submitted for Approval)

Next Training Offering:

• January 16, 2025 – 12:30 pm – 4:30 pm CDT – Jen Savage and Bridger Falkenstien