Trauma & Attachment Across the Lifespan: Tools and Strategies to Address Complex Clients

Overview: 

Many of the clients that we serve have complex problems due to extensive trauma and attachment disturbances. These early wounds have informed their adult presentations resulting in mental illness and personality disorders. The poet William Wordsworth wrote in his poem, My Heart Leaps Up When I Behold (1802), “..the Child is father of the Man.”  Future pioneering psychologists would be inspired by this passage as they came to understand that both function and dysfunction are born in childhood and guide us in our adult lives.

In this course you will come to understand the impact of trauma on the developing mind and how attachment is formed or lost through traumatic events. You will learn how the brain is organized through healthy attachment and the critical elements of healthy attachment. We will examine the current neuroscience behind both trauma and attachment and the top evidence-based strategies to address key DSM-5 disorders through the lens of trauma.

Objectives:

At the conclusion of the workshop, the participant will be able to:

• Explain the impact of trauma on the developing mind.
• Idenitfy the key features of healthy attachment and its impact neurologically.
• Identify the key defensive survival strategies in trauma.
• Develop strategies to address key disorders across the lifespan that are influenced by trauma and attachment disturbances (ADHD, Anxiety, Depression, PTSD, etc.)
• Develop strategies to address key personality disorders across the adult lifespan that are influenced by trauma and attachment disturbancees (Antisocial, Boarderline, Obsessive Compulsive Personality, etc.)
• Create a safe therapeutic environment that reestablishes healthy boundaries, connected communication, and validates a client's survival journey.

Who Should Attend: This intermediate level workshop is intended for mental health clinicians including Psychologists, Social Workers, Mental Health Therapists, Marriage and Family Therapists, and more!

Eboni Webb, PsyD, HSP

Earned her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the Minnesota School of Professional Psychology (MSPP). She began her clinical work as assistant clinical director and program director at Mental Health Systems, PC (MHS), one of the largest providers of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) in the United States. At MHS, Dr. Webb developed two specialized DBT treatment programs for clients with developmental disabilities and borderline-intellectual functioning.

Dr. Webb is a highly rated international trainer in DBT, and she served as an advisor to the Dialectical Behavior Therapy National Certification and Accreditation Association (DBTNCAA).  Organizations Dr. Webb trains for include PESI, Jack Hirose and Associates, and Lane Pederson and Associates.

In 2010 Dr. Webb opened the private practice Kairos in Middle Tennessee. Kairos, now The Village of Kairos, offers diverse DBT specializations including DBT for trauma-based disorders and co-occurring disorders. The Village of Kairos has expanded therapy programs, better known as Restorative Services, to include individual and group therapy sessions for adolescents, parents, families, and adults including pre-and post-adoption services and in-the-moment coaching for clients.  The vision of The Village of Kairos is to help clients build a life worth living alongside a village of practitioners with lives worth sharing.  Dr. Webb adamantly believes that it takes a village to restore a single life.

Conflicts of Interest: No conflicts reported.

Schedule:

8:00 - 8:30 am

Registration and light continental breakfast

8:30 - 10:00 

Neurobiology of Trauma & Attachment

10:00 - 10:10

Break

10:10 - 11:40

Character Strategies and Trauma in Development

11:40 - 12:50 pm

Lunch (on your own)

12:50 - 2:20

Key Disorders Across the Lifespan

2:20 - 2:30 

Break

2:30 - 4:00

Critical Interventions and Resources