This need for human connection has remained especially uncatered to – as opportunities for supportive, trustworthy connections have been strained during two years of the global pandemic. In such times, our clients may find their capacities to cope with and bounce back from sorrows, struggles and trauma diminished, even derailed altogether – accentuating their need to view their therapist as a reparenting figure.

A conscious, compassionate connection with a therapist as a reliable and trustworthy attachment figure can help clients develop / regain the self-awareness and self-acceptance they need to recover and strengthen their inner resilience. In this context, we have three primary goals as therapists:

• create the neuroception of safety in a mindfully engaged and empathic relationship that primes the neuroplasticity of the brain for learning and growth
• foster the conscious reflection and deliberate choices that activate the client’s neuroplasticity in a wholesome direction
• guide the client in conscientiously recovering the capacities of the 3 R’s (regulating, relating and responding) in ways that are safe, efficient and effective

But how do we achieve these objectives? At this practical, clinically-oriented webinar, Linda helps us identify empirically-validated therapeutic techniques that can be applied across modalities. Specifically, we consider how we can:

• Use the ABCDE model of mindful empathy – aware, attune, allow, accept; be with, be-friend; compassion, care, curiosity; discern options, engage wisely – to help clients shift / rewire any attachment-based patterns of responding to other people and life events that are unskilful or maladaptive
• Help our clients build awareness of the impact of attachment / connection on brain development and ongoing patterns of relating to self and others as trustworthy refuges and resource in the face of disappointment, difficulty, and even disaster
• Use body-based tools to co-regulate the client’s nervous system to reduce the impact of stress and trauma and restore a baseline physiological equilibrium
• Teach clients 5 practices to manage negative, disruptive emotions and experience the benefits (to the brain as well as the psyche) of cultivating positive emotions
• Teach clients 4 practices to activate the neuroplasticity of the brain to shift entire belief systems and mindsets about themselves, especially the negative self-talk that would derail their resilience