Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors

Overcoming Self-Alienation

Presented by Janina Fisher, Ph.D.

Wednesday, July 18, 2018  |  Alberta, Banff, Canada

Date & Location

Childhood abuse necessitates self-alienation: we must disown that humiliating “bad child” and work harder to be the “good child” acceptable to our attachment figures. In the end, we survive trauma at the cost of disowning and dissociating from our most wounded selves. While longing to be feel safe and welcome, traumatized individuals find themselves in conflict: alternating between clinging and pushing others away, self-hatred or hostility toward others, yearning to be seen yet yearning to be invisible. Years later, these clients present in therapy with symptoms of anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, diagnoses of bipolar and borderline personality disorder, and a distorted or absent sense of identity.

This workshop offers a practical “hand’s on” approach to traumatized clients with underlying issues of self-alienation and self-hatred by helping them to recognize how the trauma has left them fragmented and at war within their own minds and bodies.  Participants will learn how to help their clients observe the parts they have embraced and identified with as ‘me’ and the trauma-related parts they have disowned and judged harshly.   Using interventions drawn from a number of therapeutic approaches (including Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Internal Family Systems, and ego state therapy), the focus is on helping clients observe and accept all aspects of self with mindfulness-based interest and curiosity.   As their young parts are identified and understood as ‘heros’ in the individual’s story of survival, clients are able to feel more warmly toward them, often for the first time.   Techniques will be demonstrated that increase the capacity to feel for and with each part, that foster the sense of caring for young wounded parts, and that pave the way for growing “earned secure attachment” to ourselves.  Even when our clients are unable to tolerate emotion, extend themselves compassion, or take in someone else’s caring, they can learn to feel protective of their younger selves and even learn to welcome home their ‘lost souls’ with warmth and self-compassion.

In this course we will learn to identify signs and symptoms of fragmentation and internal conflict and to help clients put non-judgmental language to their trauma-related symptoms and inner experience. We will also cover how to decrease client phobias of emotion and inner experience by increasing mindfulness-based dual awareness and facilitate mindful tracking of fragmented parts of the self. The use of somatic interventions for regulating autonomic arousal and affect dysregulation to calm the body will be explored as well as how to integrate interpersonal neurobiology and social engagement techniques into the treatment. We will discuss how o increase self-compassion through growing empathy for wounded child parts and how to transform traumatic memory using somatic, visualization, and ego state techniques while fostering ‘earned secure attachment’.

Banff Park Lodge Resort & Conference Centre

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

Topics to be Covered: 

Trauma and self-alienation: The costs and benefits of disowning one’s traumatized child selves as a survival and adaptation strategy.    Introduction to Structural Dissociation model as a trauma-related explanatory model for understanding chronic chaos, resistance, and self-destructive behavior.

Befriending our disowned selves:  Mindfulness-based approaches (Internal Family Systems, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy) to building interest and curiosity in one’s parts in place of phobic reactions to their emotions, vulnerability or self-destructive behavior

Increasing self-compassion by cultivating compassion for younger parts of the personality:  Learning to ask, “How did this part help me to survive?  Without it, what would have happened?”

Transforming traumatic memory: By teaching clients how to provide reparative or “missing” experiences for their child selves.

Building internal attachment:  How we can help clients “earn” secure attachment as the therapeutic outcome of creating internal acceptance, safety and welcome for each wounded part of the self.

Learning Objectives

• Describe how trauma results in self-alienation and fragmentation

• Discuss structural dissociation theory as a trauma model for understanding personality structure

• Identify manifestations of fragmented parts of the personality in distressing emotions, survival responses, negative beliefs, and self-judgments

• Utilize mindfulness-based, body-centered interventions to facilitate felt emotional connection to younger parts of self

• Capitalize on internal dialogue techniques to increase inner communication and attachment bonding

• Integrate compassion-focused interventions into the therapy

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