Evidence-Based Interventions for Traumatized Children and Adolescents

Presented by Liana Lowenstein, MSW, RSW

Friday, November 10, 2017  |  Winnipeg, mb

Date & Location

There have been a number of treatments developed and tested in recent years specifically geared to treating traumatized children. These approaches share many of the same core components, as listed below (The National Child Traumatic Stress Network, 2013):

• Engaging clients
• Conducting a systemic assessment
• Providing psychoeducation
• Addressing children and families’ traumatic stress reactions
• Completing and processing a trauma narrative
• Enhancing emotional regulation and anxiety management
• Facilitating adaptive coping
• Strengthening parenting skills and behaviour management
• Enhancing safety skills

The effectiveness of trauma-treatment with children and adolescents is enhanced by integrating playful, developmentally appropriate interventions so children will engage in treatment. Playful therapeutic techniques motivate children and adolescents to participate in sessions, facilitate skill building, and lead to a greater sense of enjoyment in the therapeutic process.

This workshop will cover the following three components:

1. Theoretical Overview: 1. A brief theoretical overview will be presented to provide a context for the assessment and treatment interventions. This will include a review of recent empirical findings on the impact of trauma on children, and a review of the benefits of integrating playful techniques into trauma treatment.
2. Assessment: 2. The instructor’s innovative trauma assessment model will be presented. Workshop attendees will receive a packet of trauma assessment activities so they can utilize it immediately in their clinical practice. Participants will learn how to use the assessment as a basis for formulating realistic, measurable treatment goals.
3. Treatment: 3. A variety of creative techniques will be presented to address the core components of trauma-treatment: Psychoeducation (e.g., educating children and parents about trauma and its treatment); parenting skills (use of effective parenting interventions such as praise, positive attention, and contingency reinforcement procedures); relaxation skills (focused breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, and other relaxation activities to reverse the physiologic manifestations of traumatic stress); affective modulation skills (feeling identification; recognizing and self-regulating negative affective states); cognitive coping (recognizing relations among thoughts, feelings, and behaviors; replacing unhelpful thoughts with more adaptive thoughts); trauma narrative (creating a narrative of the child’s traumatic experiences, correcting cognitive distortions about these experiences, and placing these experiences in the context of the child’s whole life); in vivo mastery of trauma reminders (graduated exposure to feared stimuli); conjoint child-parent sessions (joint sessions in which the child shares the trauma narrative with parents and other family issues are addressed); and enhancing future safety and development (addressing safety concerns related to prevention of future trauma, return to normal developmental trajectory).

Participants will come away with many new and creative interventions they can use with clients from preschoolers to teens.

Who Should Attend

Education and Clinical Professionals: All education and mental health or healthcare professionals who work with children or youth including, but not limited to K–12 Classroom Teachers, School Counsellors, Learning Assistance/Resource Teachers, School Administrators, School Paraprofessionals including Special Education Assistants, Classroom Assistants and Childcare Workers • All other professionals who support behavioural challenges and complex learning needs including but not limited to: Nurses, Social Workers, Psychologists, Clinical Counsellors, Family Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Speech Language Pathologists, Addiction Counsellors, Youth Workers, Mental Health Workers, Probation Officers and Community Police Officers.

Learning Objectives

1. Describe the core components of evidence-based trauma treatment
2. Discuss the benefits of integrating playful approaches in trauma treatment
3. Apply at least three techniques to assess traumatized children and adolescents
4. Implement at least five new interventions to treat traumatized children and adolescents
5. Describe how to adapt the trauma narrative for use with complexly traumatized children and adolescents
6. Describe two techniques to strengthen parenting skills.

Your Presenter

Liana Lowenstein, MSW, RSW

Liana Lowenstein, MSW, RSW, is a Registered Clinical Social Worker, Certified Play Therapist- Supervisor, and Certified TF-CBT Therapist who has been working with children and their families since 1988. She is known as a dynamic speaker and presents trainings across North America and abroad. She provides clinical supervision to mental health practitioners, runs a play-therapy internship program, and consults to several mental health agencies. She served on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Association for Child and Play Therapy for nine years and is the former Education Chair of the Canadian Play Therapy Certificate Program. She is the author of Creative Interventions for Troubled Children & Youth; Creative Interventions for Bereaved Children; Creative CBT Interventions for Children with Anxiety and other acclaimed books on child and family therapy. She is winner of the Monica Herbert award for outstanding contribution to play therapy in Canada.

Author of Creative Interventions For Troubled Children & Youth

 

Testimonials

“On point! Practical techniques for helping our kids overcome trauma.”
– Winnipeg, MB | November 10, 2017

“The speaker was wonderful and the material was excellent. I learnt so much. It will be very helpful for work. Thank you!”
– Winnipeg, MB | November 10, 2017

“Very informative, tons of practical, useful, tried and true techniques for engaging clients. The techniques could easily be modified for using diverse settings.”
– Winnipeg, MB | November 9, 2017

“Thanks so much for s good days, lots of variety in the presentation. I use your books and interventions as a guidance teacher in a middle school. The interventions are “spot on” and so practical and fun for students.”
– Winnipeg, MB | November 9, 2017

“Thank you for sharing you work with u and providing us with so many real work examples and videos. I really enjoyed this 2 day conference.”
– Saskatoon, SK | November 7, 2017

“Good introductory course more evidence base would have been better. Perhaps research review.”
– Saskatoon, SK | November 7, 2017

“Liana is extremely knowledgeable. There were some many amazing strategies presented over the last two days.”
– Saskatoon, SK | November 7, 2017

“Great use of visual materials. I appreciate that when there were activities that we were asked to participate in they were not ones that induced vulnerability (especially group activities w/ partners). Was very engaging and learning many new skills and tools. Thank You!”
– Saskatoon, SK | November 6, 2017

“Excellent workshop, incredible creativity, practical examples, and demonstrating with videos was helpful!”
– Saskatoon, SK | November 6, 2017

“I loved all of the practical strategies given. I enjoyed stories that further explained material. Liana was extremely knowledgeable and engaging. Very good at answering audience questions. I can’t wait for tomorrows session!”
– Saskatoon, SK | November 6, 2017

“Nice balance of past experience, video segments modelling her therapeutic stance, like the experiential of all the activities + try them out. Nice participant engagement.”
– Paula Pappajohn | Vancouver, BC | October 27, 2017

“Thank you for a second amazing day of training. I would say this has been the best training I have received on helping kids with trauma I wish I had a week with you Liana.”
– Vancouver, BC | October 27, 2017

“Great workshop. Great tools shared + focus on process is most important part was a fabulous reminder. Feel reenergized to continue to do this work + be more creative in my practice.”
– Vancouver, BC | October 26, 2017

“Loved the experiential exercises and how Liana was herself in the training… brave, authentic, warm. Very inspirational.”
– Vancouver, BC | October 26, 2017

Registration & Fees