Continuing Professional Development – Training

Who is this day for?

This day is for Allied health care professionals, advocates, volunteers, helpline workers, admin staff, Managers, Co-ordinator’s and all people who’s work includes supporting people suffering from Trauma that is not in the category of therapy.

More technical and in depth trauma training solely for therapists also available.

If you are working with people suffering from trauma in areas directly relating to their trauma, it is important you feel informed as to what trauma is, how to recognise it and what is and is not helpful for someone triggered into a trauma response, which in the extreme is dissociating or becoming overwhelmed (panic attack etc). This is a need in the voluntary sector that is often overlooked but vitally important in supporting staff and volunteers who work alongside trauma to respond with confidence to their service users. Responsible organisations’s will provide you with appropriate trauma informed training appropriate for your role.

What does the day cover?

• Recognising a trauma response

• Facilitating the service user to bring their distress levels down

• A toolbox of techniques to ground and stabilise service users quickly

• How to avoid re traumatisation

• What is happening in the brain when someone has PTSD

• How to avoid vicarious trauma (becoming traumatised from being around trauma)

• Recognising the signs of vicarious trauma

• Letting go of trauma you have taken in

Trainer: Vajralila :Psychological-Tramatologist PGdip

Feedback from Brighton Womens Centre, Impetus and Survivors Network includes the following:

“It was a fantastic day, I enjoyed learning about the brain as it made sense of trauma, and then learning techniques to get clients/others and ourselves out of trauma and into the window of tolerance. This is invaluable knowledge that I shall use on a regular basis, thank you.”

“The format and structure of the day was excellent. I have not only gained a deeper understanding of trauma, but have been given a good understanding of how to deal with it with confidence”

“Good structure to the day – a gentle and well led ’journey’ into the reasons and rationale of the brain and trauma, a subject which itself can be traumatic and distressing, will value the tools both personally and professionally”.

“A really relaxed and open training day. Explained very complex neurobiological processes in a way that was accessible and relevant to pass on to clients. Tool box was very helpful and will definitely be using it, not only with clients but with my own anxiety. Would definitely recommend to others, thank you”.

“The training has given me a set of really helpful, practical tools to use when supporting people who have experienced trauma. Understanding how the brain works and normalising trauma response is especially helpful and I will take that with me as a way of observing and recognising a trauma response in myself and others”.

“ Good structure. helped me to understand how to use the approach. Understanding the window of tolerance will help me to feel confident when to use the approach”.

“A good balance of background information about the nature of trauma and the practical tools to use to deal with it. Will definitely be helpful when working with clients who are experiencing trauma. Thank you.

“Really informative and useful workshop – lots of practical ideas I can put into my work. Really valued discussing the topic with other SN team members and getting perspectives of external participants)”

“Very helpful in building my understanding of why and how trauma responses happen as well as how to help clients decrease their distress levels when they have a trauma response”

“Breakdown of whats happening in the brain during a traumatic event really useful as well as strategies to keep them in the window – great. Distinction between whats appropriate work with PTSD sufferers very insightful”.

“Good to have a few more sensory grounding and containment tools in the toolbox. Made me more aware of my own actions in terms of triggers for service users.”

“I feel like I am leaving with really practical skills to help students, friends and family cope with trauma and a range of other issues. The initial part of the session covering the psycho educational aspect was incredibly interesting and useful. It will help me in my work to validate survivors experiences and responses and to challenge myths.”

“I work on the phones as the administrator and sometimes take calls from people with PTSD so it has been really helpful to understand what it is and techniques to use when and if appropriate. Really useful and interesting day and I will be feeding back to my team at work.”

Great mix of explanation and discussion. Really useful in a sharing and honest atmosphere. Thanks.

“Extremely valuable to a wide variety of professionals working across different settings.”

“It was an amazing experience to understand how the mind works and the easy steps we can take to help control how we are reacting”

Very informative and interesting, easy to digest and I have gained some very practical skills

Very helpful tools to explore a framework to understand trauma

Great training, particularly the resources I was given to put in my tool box to assist the trauma survivor, i even enjoyed the role play!

A well organised and structured session, I learnt a lot of information which will be of help to me as a CN

This has opened my eyes to a topic I was aware of but now realise I knew very little about. I feel I now have the tools to help, at my basic level, if I encounter this issue, also to keep my self care. One of the best course Ive been on.

This is a 6hr training

What does the day cover?

• Understand what Trauma, PTSD, Complex PTSD is
• Safe Trauma Assessment including Trauma line
• Psychoeducation – Understanding the neurobiology of Trauma and how to incorporate it into the therapy
• Using and teaching Safety and Stabilisation
• Self care contracting
• Processing trauma
• Preventing Vicarious Trauma
• Polyvagal Theory

This day will clarify what “Trauma” actually is and how to recognise the signs of PTSD and complex PTSD (and what the difference is).

There will be a thorough explanation of what happens in the brain in trauma responses and the importance of working safely with such clients by keeping them in their ‘window of tolerance’. You will learn how to offer psycho education to clients to help them normalise and validate that responses to trauma are normal reactions to abnormal events AND it is important to acknowledge their destructive potential when the traumatic event is no longer occurring.

We will cover assessment and information gathering and offer a ‘tool box’ of ways to regulate your clients distress levels. You will come away with a clear self care plan to work effectively with clients.

The ‘Trauma line’, will be introduced and experienced. This is a creative way of developing a time line of life events using the symbolism of string, rocks, flowers and night lights.

Feedback from Trauma Training for Therapists

“Very informative with detailed slides and plenty of time to allow for discussion / questions. Comfortable environment with a varied mix of people / experience.
A must for anyone wanting to learn more about trauma with clear understanding and practical tips.”

”I have attended a number of trauma training workshops. This has been the most thought provoking and also the most beneficial in using to work with clients.”

“Superb course. really informative, but with such easy skills to use with clients. Really excited to integrate it into my practice. Would highly recommend to anyone working with trauma. Trauma! Feeling more confident with clients if they want to ‘go there’.”

In 3hr chunks or tailored to your needs

This is a relaxed course for qualified therapists that can be done as a whole or as individual parts.

My motivation in offering this is firstly to share the fruits of many years of practice of experimenting with what works and what doesn’t. My second motivation is to offer a regular supply of inspiration in manageable chunks that hopefully will be easy to incorporate into your therapy practice immediately.

Each 3 hr workshop will begin with a presentation by Vajralila usually followed by a demo and then an opportunity to make the learnings experiential by practicing in pairs or groups. The workshops will be informal in approach with a strong collegial approach in the spirit of sharing and supporting each other in the profound work we do.

Working with protector parts

Learning to see the clients defenses, resistances and dysfunctions as ‘parts’ that are motivated to protect. Then, practicing working with these parts and validating their help and support and then bringing in the opportunity to upgrade the body/mind system to the present day (where these protectors are no longer needed in quite the same way)- drawing on the work of Tsultrim Allione, Richard Schwarz, Peggy Pace. Janina Fisher, Daniel Siegel.

Chair work

This leads on nicely from the previous lab on protectors as it’s an extension of part work. Over the years I have experimented with the most effective ways to do chair work. I have found a pretty sound approach with much room for intuition and flow which I would like to share, it includes a combination of influences from gestalt, couple therapy, NVC (non violent communication) and feeding your demons.

Working creatively

Creativity is such a great way to access the right side of the brain and from this state insights can flow easily. I have 3 particular ideas for this session, one is working with the shamanic drum, I will guide you on a journey to find a part of yourself and offer healing and reclaiming. In shamanic language this is called soul retrieval. I will also introduce the ‘river cards’.

Inner child work

I will introduce the reason we need to go back into the past in therapy, I will explore what the past and future even means and then present a structure to guide your client to take their grown up self back in time to help and heal younger parts. Drawing on Transactional Analysis, Lifespan Integration and modern understandings of neuroplasticity and active imagination theory.

Listening to the body

I will introduce how simply listening to the client’s body sensations and gently tracking what is happening and listening with deep empathy, can facilitate access to the clients own inner wisdom and be profoundly healing.

Therapy Goals: Setting the compass to north

Often I find that when the work gets stuck or we lose our way, it is because the goal is not clear about what the client wants from therapy. This can lead to the therapist guessing or assuming and making interventions from that place which are unlikely to be fruitful and possibly frustrating. This is a good indicator of the need to re set the compass to north. This then makes it clear what your joint work / contract is. It also gives permission for you, the therapist, to go there!

Trust emergence

In my therapy room is the sign ‘trust emergence’ to remind me to ‘let go and let god’, as the saying goes… I find the less ‘ego’ or me is identified with DOING the work the better. This could be called a spiritual or transpersonal approach. Whatever the label, opening into space, presence, other power… it’s well worth exploring! I will draw on the work of Gregory Kramer, Brian Thorne and Douglas Harding’s work in this session with live experiments and lots of fun!

Understanding privilege

A controversial subject but one that we as therapists need to be informed about so we don’t use our clients to educate us. I want to offer a space we can freely discuss this subject without fear of being shamed, where we can take risks and be willing to expose unconscious prejudices in the service of being able to deeply empathise with a client’s locus of evaluation rather that through our own frame of reference.

Subjects on the table are white. straight, cis, male, class – privilege.

The day will cover:

• Looking at the the effect of being gender diverse in society. This will include the shocking statistics of suicide and depression in this client group.
• We will introduce ‘The Gender bread Person’, an excellent model that explains how we all to often confuse sexual identity, gender expression, Biological sex and identity!
• Explanation of terminology that clients may use and that it would be helpful to have an understanding of so that the client doesn’t have to educate the Counsellor….such as: Gender Queer, Androgynous, Gender neutral, Asexual, Intersex….
• Aris will openly talk about his own journey as a Transman
• Exercises and video clips to highlight some key areas of difficulties for gender diverse people, to include, toilets, pronouns, stealth, passing, relationships, sexuality, Prejudice and gender dysphoria

Feedback included the following:

“A fantastic day – so much information. I didn’t want the day to end.

Really helpful to hear directly from someone who had been through the experience personally. Thank you for being so open. – Dawn

“Splendidly organised course with up to date research about transgender and gender diversity. Excellent delivery with exercises, video-clips, experiential learning, and plenty of discussion time expertly facilitated by Vajralila.

Asis’ generous and open-hearted account of his own journey was extremely helpful in identifying many of the issues and misunderstandings transgender people face on a daily basis. From his testimony and discussions I came away with a deeper empathy and insight to take back into my work and life.

Thank you both.”

“The course has been very helpful with giving information on diversity of issues surrounding transitions and transgender. I feel that Ive learnt a lot from working with this client group. Ive enjoyed the balance between theory, listening and testimonials. Thank you for this great workshop.” – Catarina

“It was a good mix of delivery – educational and experiential. I especially liked Aris’ presentation and help able to discuss and ask questions without being fearful of making mistakes and offending him. It was really good, money well spent. – Sarah

“The course was extremely informative, well presented in an interesting way using experiential methods and various other teaching techniques. – Mary

“One of the best CPD course I’ve ever been to. Having a co-facilitator sharing their own experiences was the highlight of the day. Thank you

“This has been one of the most helpful CPD days I have attended for a long time. It was informative, well presented and good mix of presentation and experiential. Aris’ openness and generosity in sharing his personal story made the day memorable. I have come away with more openness, appreciation and empathy for transgender people. Thank you both”

Aris is a trans-man, experiencing and exploring the challenges and rewards of transitioning through his own journey. He is currently training at Metanoia Institute and is a student member of BACP. For his clinical placement Aris is working mainly with transgender clients. Aris has been also trained as a teacher in Kundalini Yoga and Mindfulness. He holds a Masters degree in Water and Environmental Engineering. Aris is passionate about facilitating and offering perspectives to therapists to enable them to enter the worlds of clients with diverse gender identities and experiences.

Vajralila supervises Counsellors at LGBT Switchboard in Brighton and has many years experience in working therapeutically with LGBTQI Clients. She integrates her humanistic style of Counselling, trauma knowledge, shadow work and non dual perspectives into this work. She is interested in when labels can be helpful and affirming and when they become fixing and pathologising.

OPEN TO ALL

feedingyourdemons@me.com

www.feedingyourdemons.co.uk

“The process of feeding our demons is a method for bringing our shadow into consciousness and accessing the treasures it holds rather than repressing it. If the shadow is not made conscious and integrated, it operates undercover, becoming the saboteur of our best intentions, as well as causing harm the others. Bringing the shadow into awareness reduces it’s destructive power and releases the life energy stored in it. By befriending that which scares us most, we find our own wisdom.” – ‘Feeding Your Demons’ by Lama Tsultrim Allione

Level 1 Daylong Workshop:

• The context of the practice.
• A full introduction to the 5 step method of ‘feeding your demons’.
• A guided practice.
• Demonstration of the pairwork.
• Opportunity to practice pairwork.
• Handouts of 5 step process for individual and pairwork; also ‘tracking forms’.
• Participants who have completed a level 1 workshop can buy a fyd CD which gives a guided practice for you to do at home.
• Opportunities for questions and clarification throughout the day.

Level 2 Daylong Workshop:

• Extended Ally process.
• Theory about Machig’s ‘four kinds of Demons’ (inner, outer, elation, egocentricity).
• Using art materials to support the practice.
• Introducing ‘God-Demons’ (hope-fears).
• Opportunities for questions and clarification throughout the day.

Feedback includes:

“Very insightful, powerful and rewarding..it was really amazing, it was not what I thought it was going to be, much better and beautiful. I have learnt an amazing way to release and deal with ‘unwanted’ emotional situations and feel freer and happier, I can see myself continuing with this work.”

“I know I will use this practice again myself or with my partner and am this very grateful for the script you gave us and for how you demonstrated it. Thank you for your warmth and kindness which radiated throughout the day.”

“I am grateful for the skill and depth of experience that you both bring to the workshop. Its the 2nd workshop with you both and this time, although I had heard the introductory information – it went a lot deeper, many thanks to you” – Har hari

Lifespan Integration Training