​Traumatic Stress Reactivated in a Time of Global Crisis

Always Feeling Unsafe - The Burden of Uncertainty

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Benefits of this Workshop

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• Learn how to help already traumatized clients navigate more successfully in a world that can be unstable and frightening.

• Learn how the therapeutic relationship can bridge the gap between fear and safety.

• Learn interventions to work with clients' inner critic that often intensifies in the face of uncertainty.

• Learn how to help clients grapple with the existential issues that are heightened in the present.

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Workshop Description

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We are often face to face with the fact that safety and security are not guaranteed for any of us. Political and social upheaval and crises, climate change, fear of new pandemics, fear of looming recession, various forms of violence, the constant bombardment of social media, 24/7 news coverage, and regular incursions on our privacy, all create a sense of unease and lack of safety. While this is often a background awareness, certain moments and experiences can bring it to the forefront of our minds and lives. This can be especially true for clients who have a history of trauma. This sense of constant unpredictability and loss of control triggers their alarm response on a regular basis, leaving them with intense psychological responses, feeling helpless, powerless, and terrified. 

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​During this workshop, we will discuss how to help our already traumatized clients navigate more successfully in a world that can be unstable and frightening, particularly focusing on how the therapeutic relationship can bridge the gap between fear and safety. When clients feel unsafe, their anxiety levels often increase, leading to a range of symptoms that can complicate the therapeutic process.

 

We must then discover ways to settle ourselves (as therapists) and our clients into effective adaptations to real dangers and hardships while remaining reasonably regulated and reflective, helping clients engage with the therapeutic process.

 

We will discuss the social management of the “adaptive illusion” of safety, what it means in therapy, and how we are affected when society fails to protect us from the terror of annihilation. Then we will explore how to manage our own distress and dysregulation, as therapists, through compassion for our inner critic, meaning-making, living by our core values, and creating connection to ground us. You will learn how to help your clients grapple with the existential issues that are heightened in the present so that they can enjoy everyday life even when they feel uncertain and unsafe about the outside world. 

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Learning Objectives 

Participants will be able to:

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1. Discuss how to accept the paradox of certainty and safety as illusion.

2. Identify at least two (2) existential issues that emerge from lack of safety and how to work with them effectively.

3. Use at least two (2) interventions to work with clients' inner critic that often intensifies in the face of uncertainty.

4. Discuss at least two (2) ways to compassionately understand and work with our own inner critics (as therapists).

5. Explain how to increase clients' internal sense of safety even when the outside world is uncertain.​

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The Envision Difference

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100 % online:  Develop your skills from the comfort of your home or office via Zoom.

Live Q & A:  Ask questions during the live Q & A with the presenter and participants.

1 YEAR access:  Can't attend live?  Watch later. 1 YEAR of access to the workshop recording and materials and receive a certificate with CEs for home study learning. *Exception applies, see CE section below