This practical workshop which would be relevant for psychotherapists, counsellors, clinical psychologists, psychiatrists and social workers is aimed at equipping delegates with neurophysical and psychophysical theory, principles and tools – which allow us in our therapeutic interactions to help our clients:

• Enable the nervous system to recognise when trauma is over;
• by understanding, reducing, containing and halting traumatic hyperarousal, including flashbacks
• and benefit from body-oriented interventions that assist in integrating traumatic memories, with a view to increasing stability and improving quality of life

Through case-vignettes and examples, delegates will learn to:

• distinguish between clients who will benefit from the processing of traumatic memories and clients who will not – we consider specific therapeutic skills for helping both groups
• comprehend the structure of the body’s nervous system and understand how we can employ the sensory nervous system for mediating flashbacks and nightmares
• effectively utilise the autonomic nervous system for moderating arousal levels
• Discern relaxed (muscular states) from calm (nervous system states)
• Incorporate mindfulness, yoga and physical exercises in our therapeutic approach
• Clearly delineate between traumatic stress, post-traumatic stress and post-traumatic stress disorder
• Gain tools for protecting ourselves from vicarious trauma and compassion fatigue

The workshop is consistent with and would be a beneficial adjunct to multiple modalities of psychotherapy or specialised trauma therapy (including analytical, dynamic and somatic approaches, cognitive behavioural and EMDR).

Participants will each receive a copy of the 6-colour ANS table to keep and continue to use in their work and for their own self-care.

Workshop Outline:

The Goals of Trauma Therapy

• Improvement and Decompensation
• Defining the terms
• Therapy planning

Recovery and Resolution

• Distinguishing between client categories
• The brain and the central nervous system
• Video Vignette: Sensory Cues

The Sensory Nervous System

• Understanding technique: Dual awareness
• Balancing the interoceptive and exteroceptive
• Stabilising exteroceptors and resources
• Resources for mediating Traumatic Stress

Precision Regulation

• Regulating the Autonomic Nervous System
• The Secret Life of the Brain

Revising the Window of Tolerance

• Practice: Observing the Autonomic Nervous System
• Muscle tone and containment
• Misdiagnosing – beware the wrong road

Applying techniques in practice

• Video Case Vignette