PSYCHOSPIRITUAL SCOTLAND

TRAINING IN SOMATIC TRAUMA THERAPY

author of The Body Remembers: The
Psychophysiology of Trauma and Trauma Treatment & Help for the Helper: The Psychophysiology of Compassion Fatigue and Vicarious Trauma

DATES: May 25th to 28th 2006, October 5th to 8th 2006, May 17th to 20th 2007

A series of three four-day workshops that embrace two major goals: to make a relevant bridge between trauma theory and trauma practice and to integrate somatic and psychological methods to existing counselling and psychotherapeutic practice. These goals underlie the principles addressed in The Body Remembers: The Psychophysiology of Trauma and Trauma Treatment and The Body Remembers Casebook: Unifying Methods and Models in the Treatment of Trauma and PTSD. The training is grounded in the belief that the practitioner working with traumatized people must become familiar with many theories, approaches, and treatment models to ensure that practice will always be responsive to the needs of the client. Therefore, it is designed to enhance, and not replace, skills and knowledge already held by workshop participants. All workshops consist of a balance of lecture, discussion, exercises, demonstrations, and practice. Certificate of Completion will be awarded on the final day. Required reading for the course is The Body Remembers and The Body Remembers Casebook.

COURSE CONTENT

Workshop One (four days): Reducing risks of working with traumatized clients is the focus of this workshop and the foundation of the entire training. Theoretical material includes: psychology of stress and trauma which includes the role of dissociation; physiology of stress and trauma which includes how the brain and nervous system communicate during and following traumatic events; defining types of trauma clients; "putting on the brakes" for containment, and safety, and regulating hyperarousal.

Workshop Two (four days): Theory and practice of therapeutic intervention will be the central focus of this workshop. Both cognitive and somatic sides of transference and counter-transference will be explored. Memory theory will be presented as it applies to traumatic memory. Participants will begin to utilize Peter Levine's SIBAM dissociation model as well as encouraged to use the theory they have learned to develop their own techniques.

Workshop Three (four days): Integration of both theoretical and practical material from all three workshops will be the focus of this workshop, reinforcing the connection between theory and practice, with a particular focus on integration of existing practice. The Biodynamic technique of running to a "safe place" will be introduced as an imaginary technique for reawakening the flight reflex and reducing hyperarousal. Participants will be supervised in making relevant choices of techniques both during triad role-plays and in clinical practice.

TRAINER

Babette Rothschild, LCSW is the author of The Body Remembers: The Psychophysiology of Trauma and Trauma Treatment (W.W. Norton, 2000) and The Body Remembers Casebook: Unifying Methods and Models in the Treatment of Trauma and PTSD (W.W. Norton, 2003). She has been a licensed clinical social worker and psychotherapist since 1978.

Babette is a member of the International and European Societies for Traumatic Stress Studies, the Association for Traumatic Stress Specialists, EMDRIA and the US Association for Body Psychotherapy. She is also the author of several articles on trauma and PTSD. After living 9 years in Copenhagen, Denmark, Babette returned to Los Angeles, California (her home town) where she maintains a private practice while continuing to travel regularly, offering professional trainings, consultations and supervision worldwide.

Her forthcoming book Help for the Helper: The Psychophysiology of Compassion Fatigue and Vicarious Trauma is published by Norton in February 2006.