Introduces Miguel, a 17-year-old with a history of truancy, fighting, and multiple arrests since the age of 14— around the time his mother passed away from cancer. He lives with his grandmother and siblings and occasionally sees his father, who lives out of state. Recently, during COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, Miguel was arrested for public intoxication and resisting arrest. His previous therapist of several years has transitioned out, and he is struggling to make a real connection with his new therapist.

In this webinar, viewers will meet Mr. Smith, a 27-year-old single father who works full-time as a health worker. He and his fiancé would like full custody of his 7-year-old son, Samuel. His son is under the care of the Department of Children and Families (DCF) after Samuel’s pre-school teacher reported that he was sleeping in class and arriving to school, on numerous occasions, unkempt and hungry. The school made multiple, yet unsuccessful attempts to meet and speak with Samuel’s mother, Ms. Johnson. Mr. Smith does not understand why DCF did not contact him first instead of placing Samuel in a foster home. He is now required to meet with a social worker, Mr. Muhammad, to “learn parenting skills.”

In this webinar, you will meet Soledad, a 14-year-old girl who has recently been released from her first psychiatric hospitalization after an attempted suicide. Soledad is the oldest of five children. Currently, she lives with two of her siblings in a foster home while her other two younger siblings were sent to a different home. Soledad’s mother was detained by ICE after physically attacking Soledad during what seemed to be a psychotic episode. Soledad is worried about her mother and her two younger siblings, whom she has not seen since they separated. This is Soledad’s first session scheduled by her welfare worker.

In this webinar, you will meet Penny and her adopted mother, Jan, who are in an emergency session with Dr. Ford. Penny was sent home from school for assaulting another child.

There is often a story of profound pain and fear behind anger and dysregulated behavior in parent-child relationships. During this session, you will see the modern-day manifestations of the intersection of historical, intergenerational, and migration trauma and its compounding impact with present-day traumatic stressors on the parent-child relationship of an indigenous Guatemalan immigrant family. This webinar depicts significant emotional and relational themes faced by young children who come to the US as unaccompanied minors as well as themes that both the children and their parents face upon reunification. Viewers will also see a framework for engagement where the therapeutic relationship is used as a vehicle for the restoration of safety, co-regulation, protection, and hope in the parent-child relationship. This framework is aimed not only at repairing the child-parent relationship but also at exploring, acknowledging, and including the family’s historical and socio-cultural context in complex trauma treatment.

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.

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 we meet 11 year Clara. Clara reveals her first sexual abuse experience by her mother’s former live in boyfriend, Michael, and how the abuse progressed. Clara becomes overtly distressed and leaps onto the therapist, embracing him. The therapist gently reestablishes physical boundaries and facilitates her diaphragmatic breathing. The scenario illustrates the complexity of the therapeutic relationship and the balance therapists must achieve for effectively supporting traumatized patients while also maintaining healthy boundaries.

This webinar depicts a moment when Rose initially directs her feeling of being victimized toward her therapist. Rose expresses that therapist’s contact with her mother and school has increased the stigma and vulnerability she feels, and her sense that she’s not getting the support she needs. Rose sees the therapist as responsible for greater distress for both herself and her mother.  This webinar illustrates the complexity of developmental trauma and raises questions as to whether the therapeutic relationship can be repaired. The therapist attempts to balance concerns of trust and safety in the context of Rose’s culture and the impact of developmental trauma across generations.

Samantha is a 15-year-old African American girl who lives in public housing in an urban area rife with violence and drug use. Samantha is an outstanding student and attends private school on scholarship, where her friends describe her as beautiful, popular, brilliant, and a star athlete. At age 10, Samantha saw her brother murdered when he was walking her home from school. Their mother became hysterical and chronically depressed, and their father changed from a loving dad to drinking and screaming at the family. Samantha was sexually assaulted by her boyfriend’s male friends at a party at which she, usually a non-drinker, became intoxicated and passed out. Samantha has no memory of the assault and was referred to a female therapist, Dr. Sofia Mattei, by a sexual assault counselor who met with her at the hospital. This webinar presents Samantha’s first therapy session with Dr. Mattei.