In this webinar, a mother and her teenage daughter who have experienced severe family violence by an ex-husband/father in the past become embroiled in an intense verbal argument that escalates into sudden physical violence. Their therapist attempts to mediate the disagreement while not siding with either mother or daughter, and then must help the mother recover from shock and dissociation while simultaneously helping the daughter not run away and stay present in the room. Mother and daughter go through a complex series of emotional reactions (anger, fear, guilt, shame, grief) with the help of the therapist, and are able to make the shift from experiencing a flashback of violence to reconnecting with one another based on their core relationship.

Debbie is a 10-year-old multiracial girl who lives with her 27 year old African American mother Sharon. Sharon has struggled for years with substance abuse. The family lived for several years in a shared space which was quite chaotic. During this time, Debbie often would be with other children in the building for many hours at a time without adult supervision. Many adults would come in and out of the building, and Debbie often did not see her mother, sometimes, for days. During this session Sharon begins to dissociate and the therapist must now find away to comfort Debbie while supporting Sharon.

In this webinar you will meet Maya, a 9-year-old girl, was referred for therapy due to numerous instances of domestic violence by her father toward her mother (some of which she witnessed), physical abuse by her father, and possible sexual abuse with no specific disclosures. Maya’s father is currently incarcerated for drug and violence-related crimes. Her mother was unable to consistently take care of Maya for the past few years due to substance abuse issues so Maya was removed from her care. Maya has two failed foster home placements due to significant aggressive and sexualized behavior. She is currently residing in a stable foster home and has begun to have monitored visits with her biological mother who was recently discharged from a drug rehabilitation program. Maya has attended therapy with this therapist for only a short time and recently, has begun to demonstrate more trauma-related play. This session illustrates how dysregulation and trauma processing can be exhibited in play, sometimes with significant distress for the child with developmental trauma. The critical dilemma involves to what extent the therapist helps a highly traumatized child to manage her distress versus engage in trauma processing.

In this webinar, you will meet Adam, a 15 year old Caucasian male. For years, Adam was excelling in school and was a star soccer athlete. Unbeknownst to his parents, Adam was sexually assaulted a year ago by his female tutor Amber. Following the assault, Adam began to struggle in school and behaving in uncharacteristic ways. Adam was referred to a therapist and about one year later, Adam reported to his therapist that he was hearing voices telling him to kill himself. Over several weeks Adam became increasingly anxious and sad and began to experience auditory hallucinations telling him to either hang himself or jump out a window.

This webinar will discuss how Therapist can remain attuned to their clients who are profoundly emotionally shut down or dissociating all while managing their own affect. Experienced trauma therapists discuss their reactions to these critical moments of disconnection and impasse in trauma therapy, the questions and dilemmas this raises for them, and ways they have found to engage with detached or dissociated clients while handling their secondary traumatic stress reactions.

Michael (12-years old) and Trisha (16-years-old) live with their mother Monica in a single-parent household. Five years ago, their father Neil was incarcerated after violently attacking and nearly killing Monica while the children were upstairs in their bedrooms. Michael and Trisha seem resilient, doing well emotionally, in school, and with peers, but Monica developed panic attacks and nightmares. Monica began therapy with Dr. Taylor two years ago, and her PTSD symptoms had largely resolved until she learned a couple of weeks ago that her ex-husband was going to get released from prison within the next month. Monica and Dr. Taylor jointly decided it would be helpful for the children to learn of their father’s imminent release in a family session with Dr. Taylor, the children’s first meeting with Dr. Taylor.