Healing Broken Bonds: Traumatic Attachment and Affect Dysregulation

Presented by Janina Fisher, Ph.D.

Monday, December 5, 2016 – Tuesday, December 6, 2016  |  Calgary, ab

Date & Location

In the context of trauma, attachment failure is inevitable, leaving behind a lasting imprint on all future relationships, including the therapeutic one. Instead of experiencing therapy and the therapist as a haven of safety, the traumatized client will be driven by powerful wishes and fears of relationship. Because the capacity to tolerate affect without becoming overwhelmed develops in the context of secure attachment, therapeutic work will be challenged by the client’s vulnerability to affect dysregulation and recurrent crises.

In order to address the trauma, therapists increasingly find that they must first address its effects on the client’s attachment patterns. Until the client’s disorganized attachment, traumatic transference, and disturbances in the capacity to self-regulate and self-soothe are addressed, the therapy either becomes stagnant or unstable. In this workshop, we will address the impact of traumatic and suboptimal attachment experiences on affect regulation, exploring how to understand the effects of traumatic attachment from a psychobiological perspective and how to work with both the somatic and relational legacy of attachment.

Using interventions drawn from the neuroscience and attachment research and from Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, a body-centered talking therapy tailored to the treatment of trauma and affect dysregulation, this workshop will utilize a combination of lecture, video, and experiential exercises to explore a neurobiologically-informed understanding of the impact of trauma on attachment behaviour, somatic interventions for challenging trauma-related relational patterns, and opportunities to use ourselves as “neurobiological regulators” of the client’s dysregulated emotional and autonomic states.

Who Should Attend

Clinical Professionals: All mental health professionals including, but not limited to Clinical Counsellors, Psychologists, Psychotherapists, Social Workers, Nurses, Occupational Therapists, Hospice and Palliative Care Workers, School Counsellors, Youth Workers, Mental Health Workers, Addiction Specialists, Marital & Family Therapists, Speech Language Pathologists, Vocational Rehabilitation Consultants and all professionals looking to enhance their therapeutic skills.

Agenda

• The Neurobiology of Attachment Formation
• Attachment Styles from a Neurobiological Perspective
• Disorganized Attachment and Trauma
• Introduction to Sensorimotor Psychotherapy
• Facilitating Mindfulness
• Effects of Disorganized-Unresolved Attachment on Transference
• Stabilizing Traumatic Attachment Responses
• Neural plasticity and Affect Regulation
• The Therapist as Neurobiological Regulator

Learning Objectives

• Identify trauma-related attachment patterns
• Describe disorganized attachment behaviour and its effects on affect regulation
• Describe the theory and practice of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy
• Utilize Sensorimotor Psychotherapy techniques to address attachment and trauma-related issues in psychotherapy

Your Presenter

Janina Fisher, Ph.D.

Janina Fisher, Ph.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist and a former instructor, Harvard Medical School.  An international expert on the treatment of trauma, she is an Advisory Board member of the Trauma Research Foundation.  Dr. Fisher is the author of Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors: Overcoming Self-Alienation (2017), Transforming the Living Legacy of Trauma: a Workbook for Survivors and Therapists (2021), and The Living Legacy Instructional Flip Chart (2022).  She is best known for her work on integrating mindfulness-based and somatic interventions into trauma treatment.  More information can be found on her website: www.janinafisher.com.

Testimonials

“She gives thoughtful insight to questions from the audience/participants. She is successful to make therapeutic techniques/process playful.”
– Shame & Self-Loathing in the Treatment of Trauma | Vancouver, BC | May 19 – 20, 2016

“SO enjoyable. Janina is such an inspiration. She embodies the empathy, humanity, knowledge, and expertise.”
– Chelsea Conron | Vancouver, BC | May 19 – 20, 2016

“I thoroughly enjoyed this workshop and Janina’s fantastic. I look forward to digesting all that I learned and putting it into practice.”
– Shame & Self-Loathing in the Treatment of Trauma | Vancouver, BC | May 19 – 20, 2016

“So grateful for this workshop. Lots of applicable information. I am also now eager to learn more about sensorimotor therapy!”
– Shame & Self-Loathing in the Treatment of Trauma | Vancouver, BC | May 19 – 20, 2016

“Janina Fisher was obviously knowledgable, skilled, and an engaging presenter. Bring her back for the same presentation!”
– Galya, M.A, CCC | Burnaby, BC | May 12 & 13, 2015

“Excellent workshop by an excellent presenter. Janina’s skill, knowledge, and facilitation skills are superb. Her warmth and ability helped me to learn a lot.”
– Maija Wiik, M.A | Burnaby, BC | May 12 & 13, 2015

“What an amazing two days! I got more, on every level, than I hoped for. Many take away skills and Janina’s sharing was so helpful. Her normalizing of the therapists’ experiences was invaluable to me. Thank you!”
– Nicole Tarasiuk | Burnaby, BC | May 12 & 13, 2015

“Would love to have more workshops with Janina!”
– Bett McLean, Trauma & Abuse Counsellor | Burnaby, BC | May 12 & 13, 2015

“Janina was wonderful – warm, engaging, and knowledgable. She was very open to participants’ questions and receptive. She used examples which brought the material to life. She also has a great sense of humour!”
– Burnaby, BC | May 12 & 13, 2015

“Dr. Fisher was so enjoyable to listen to and learn from. I appreciated her authenticity and skillful expertise.”
– Burnaby, BC | May 12 & 13, 2015

“Fantastic workshop. Learned so much. Wonderful facilitator. Part of the time I was learning to help my clients, and part of the time I was learning to understand myself.”
– Burnaby, BC | May 12 & 13, 2015

Registration & Fees