Mindfulness practices – which borrow and incorporate techniques from centuries-old traditions of meditation, cognitive-therapy skills and a cultivation of a present-oriented, non-judgmental attitude – have found acceptance in multiple psychotherapeutic settings. Specifically, we can adapt or modify mindfulness techniques when working with traumatised clients, for both single-incident and episodic trauma.

This video resource pack contains two complete workshops (CPD hours: 5 / CE credits: N/A) that cover:

Part 1: Mindfulness, MWe, and Our Interconnected Reality (Dr Dan Siegel)

A systematic survey of consciousness has revealed a first-person experiential pattern of descriptions consistent with ancient wisdom teachings—that awareness, interconnection, and love appear to be three interwoven threads forming a tapestry of the deep fabric of life.

These scientific observations have emerged with a practice in which the knowing of consciousness is differentiated and then linked with the knowns, utilizing the visual metaphor of a “wheel of awareness” in which the hub is the experience of being aware, the rim that which we can be aware of.  With both biological and physics perspectives suggesting that the human perspective of a “separate self”, reinforced with the messages of modern culture, may be only one part of a much larger view of the deeply interconnected nature of reality and the reality of nature, we can propose that part of the journey forward for humanity on this precious planet is to expand our consciousness and integrate our identity—with practices like mindfulness— to embrace a wider view of who we truly are.  In many ways, we are more like interconnected verb-like events rather than only noun-like separate entities.  The symbolic term MWe integrates the inner aspect of a “me” with the interconnected facet of our lives as a “we.”  With this more integrated sense of our identity, MWe can move forward to cultivate personal, interpersonal, and even planetary health and flourishing.

Part 2: Modifying Mindfulness Interventions for effective Trauma-focused care ( Dr Jamie Marich)

At this engaging and interactive seminar, Dr Jamie Marich (author of Trauma Made Simple, EMDR Made Simple and the originator of Dancing Mindfulness Practice) demonstrates how our knowledge of mindfulness can be utilised in clinical practice, especially when we are working with Trauma. Therapy strategies and practical interventions for trauma clients are the focal points of this course, and special attention is paid to:

• New insights on how mindfulness-based interventions can be incorporated in our clinical work – using a fusion of perspectives
• An enhanced understanding of therapy planning for clients affected by trauma
• Recognising that mindfulness techniques have the potential to exacerbate symptoms of traumatic stress – including flashbacks, heightened emotional arousal and dissociation. We discuss the steps we need to take to mitigate these risks
• How mindfulness has been shown to impact prefrontal and hippocampal activity – and the implications this has for Trauma Therapy, especially in the context of PTSD
• 10 different skills that can be applied in clinical settings – encompassing grounding, stabilisation, body awareness, breath-work, self-soothing and crisis management
• We learn how to adapt techniques to serve clients who traditionally resist affect regulation and stabilisation strategies
• A deep-rooted orientation to being more trauma-informed in mindfulness work with clients

At this seminar, Dr Marich is not asking us to reinvent the wheel at our existing clinical practices, rather, her aim is to build on what we know and supplement our repertoire of skills with simple, effective mindfulness-informed approaches.