Trauma and Grief Component Therapy for Adolescents 

Tristate Trauma Network Presents: "Trauma and Grief Component Therapy for Adolescents (TGCTA) : An Integrated Curriculum for Service Providers to At-Risk and Juvenile Justice-Involved Youth" with local presenters: Erna Olafson, PhD, PsyD, and Erica Ogletree, MA, LPCC-S. 

Join us for this 3-day virtual offering of TGCTA (Trauma and Gried Componenet Therapy for Adolescents) with Dr. Erna Olafson, one of the co-authors of the TGCTA manual, published in 2017, and Erica Ogletree, a certified TCGTA trainer and clinician in private practice.  Dr. Olafson has implemented TGCTA nationwide, and in Greece, for juvenile residential facilities, community centers, and NGOs that serve refugees including The International Rescue Committee. Ms. Erica Ogletree and Dr. Olafson have co-trained several community centers and juvenile justice facilities in the USA. However, please note that TGCTA is not only for juvenile justice residential centers and not only done in groups. TGCTA is flexible and can be implemented for individuals as well as for groups.   

Summary/Brief Description: TGCTA is a four-module trauma and grief component treatment for adolescents. TGCTA’s four modules address: (a) foundational knowledge and skills to enhance posttraumatic emotional, cognitive, and behavioral regulation; (b) group sharing and processing of trauma experiences; (c) group sharing and processing of grief/loss experiences; and (d) resumption of adaptive developmental progression and future orientation. If all four modules are implemented, TGCTA contains 23 to 25 sessions, and an abbreviated version using only Modules 1 and 4 has 10 to 12 sessions. In a randomized trial in Bosnia and open trials with American youth after 911, and in schools, clinics, and residential treatments in the United States, participation in both the full and the abbreviated version of TGCTA were associated with reductions in posttraumatic stress, depression, and maladaptive grief reactions, as well as improvements in academic performance, reductions in school disciplinary actions, and large reductions in incident reports in juvenile justice facilities.  

TGCTA has several features that support initial implementation and sustainability over time:

(a) Full implementation of TGCTA appears to make facilities safer, and this has led facilities in several states to sustain implementation of TGCTA for up to a full decade following the initial training. In addition, each session contains detailed instructions with suggested scripts, which is especially useful when there is clinician turnover. *As a group treatment, TGCTA is cost effective. Groups of six to eight youth are generally led by two group leaders, one of whom is a clinician and the other can be a non-clinical and fully trained staff member, teacher, or coach. 

(b) TGCTA contains a grief component that is fully consistent with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013), and it is the only contemporary adolescent treatment that does so. Resistant youth in some settings appear more willing to engage fully with the grief than with the trauma component, thus opening other doors to recovery. 

(c) TGCTA can be offered in a group setting that harnesses adolescent peer influence. Group cohesion is used to promote emotional, cognitive, and behavioral self-regulation and reduce trauma-triggered reactions, reactive aggression, high-risk behaviors, and maladaptive coping strategies such as substance misuse. 

(d) Because research has shown that TGCTA is effective in both its full and abbreviated versions, it can be applied flexibly in a variety of settings. 

Participant outcomes/learning objectives for the training:    

• Participants will become aware of the ways in which TGCTA is a cutting-edge group treatment for traumatized and bereaved adolescents, including the harnessing of adolescent peer influence to improve therapeutic outcomes.    

• Participants will learn that TGCTA’s module about grief experiences offers the only available youth treatment for prolonged grief disorder that is consistent with DSM-5 and will learn and practice exercises from the grief module.    

• Participants will be able to apply TGCTA services flexibly, tailoring treatments in both lengthy and abbreviated versions as needed by youths and by facilities.    

• Participants will learn the basics of implementing TGCTA not only for group treatment but also for treatment of individual adolescents.

TGCTA 3-day Virtual Training Schedule (Tues 12/14/21-Thurs 12/16/21)

8:30 -9:00 Welcome and Introductions
9:00-9:35 Overview of TGCTA
9:35-10:15 Pre-Treatment Interview
10:15-10:30 Break
10:30-12:00 Module 1, Building Rapport & Psychoeducation (Sessions 1-2) 12:00-1:00 Lunch
1:00-2:10 Module I, Managing Strong Emotions & Trauma Reminders (Sessions 3-4)
2:10-2:20 Break
2:20-3:00 Module 1, Learning Posttraumatic Coping Skills (Session 5)

Day 2
9:00-9:15 Questions and comments
9:15-10:15 Module 1, Sizing Up a Situation & Replacing Hurtful Thoughts (Sessions 6-7)
10:15-10:30 Break
10:30-11:05 Module 1 Recruiting Support from Others & Review of Module 1 (Session 8)
11:05-12:00 Module 2, Preparing to Share Trauma Experiences & Group Narrative Sharing (Sessions 1-2)
12:00-1:00 Lunch
1:00-2:00 Module 2, Continued work with both group and individual trauma narratives and cognitive processing of trauma (Sessions 3-4)
2:00-2:10 Break
2:10-3:00 Module 3, Introduction to Multisystemic Grief Theory & Learning About Grief (Session 1)

Day 3  
9:00-9:15 Questions and Comments
9:15-10:30 Module 3, Reactions to Loss Reminders & Coping with Traumatic Deaths (Sessions 2-3)
10:30-10:45 Break
10:45-12:00 Module 3, Identifying Positive and Negative Traits, Reminiscing, & Relapse Prevention (Sessions 4-6)
12:00-1:00 Lunch
1:00-2:00 Module 4, Promoting Developmental Progression, & Coping with Difficult Days (Sessions 1-2)
2:00-2:10 Break
2:10-2:45 Module 4, What Is Not Your Job to Fix, Future Planning, & Graduation (Sessions 3-4)
2:45-3:00 Questions, Comments, & Clinical Conference Call Planning

*Pre-Requisites: You must also purchase the manual, "Trauma and Grief Component Therapy for Adolescents (TGCTA)" available at amazon.com for approx. $30.

*You do not have to be a MA level clinician to be trained. You will, however, need to have Master's level clinician working with you to co-lead this as a group modality.  Clinicians can also use TGCTA as an individual therapy approach.  So there are a couple of options for implementation.   

*COST for 3-day training: $205 for TTN Members (who will be given first availability) with use of  member discount code; $230 for non-members. 

*Consultation calls are available in groups of 10.  Consultation calls which support TGCTA mastery are an additional fee based on the number of participants, and those calls will be arranged with the trainers at the conclusion of the training.  

*Master's level clinicians with active cases who complete at least nine of the twelve scheduled calls will be eligible to receive certification as TGCTA professional.  

*CEU applications are in process for OH Counseling, Social Work, & MFT Board AND the KY Social Work Board.  KY Counseling Board accepts OH CSWMFT Board-approved trainings.  TTN is an IN Category 1 Provider, covering Behavioral Health professionals at the Category 1 level with CEUs. 15 hours of CEUs are inlcuded in the training fee.

 *Registration and payment must be completed by the deadline of December 7, 2021. No refunds after this date. Substitutions are allowed. 

 

 

 

 

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