When we are called to our life’s purpose we are called not as we are but to become who we can be.

The body is “our primary text and starting point for knowledge”. Rountree, 2006

Restoring energetic boundaries and innate defensive and protective strategies that have been thwarted and immobilized.

ATTACHMENT, THE BODY & RELATIONAL REPAIR: THREE PILLARS OF CLINICAL PRACTICE

Next Offering Fall of 2023 

Attachment trauma deeply impacts the integrity of the self, creating a split between the psyche and the body. This fragmentation and disembodiment, at the heart of insecure attachment, disrupts healthy development and forges a neurophysiological template that endures throughout the lifespan and across generations. Corresponding affect management strategies and attachment patterns, accompanied by dysregulation of the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS), distorts one’s internal working models, ultimately skewing one’s self-perception, world, and identity.

As clinicians, we understand that the wounded psyche and neurophysiological body call for embodied, affectively oriented and relationally focused therapy, heeding Kalsched’s (2013) assertion “what has been broken relationally must be repaired relationally” (p. 13) yet, we are left with the questions, How do we translate attachment theory into embodied clinical practice and, how do we regulate and facilitate reparation of attachment injury, particularly when it drives unconscious relational strategies and affect management systems?  

This online workshop explores these questions. We will delve into clinical practice with regards to attachment injuries (insecure attachment), their repair and affect regulation within the context of embodied relational practice to facilitate regulation of the ANS and offer reparative relational experiences to shift attachment patterning and aid in the maturation and development of the right brain. Through lecture, discussion, and observation of video sessions, we will explore the following conceptual frameworks: attachment theory; embodied relational practice; The Polyvagal Theory; the window of arousal; affect regulation theory; and the implications of trauma, particularly relational/attachment trauma.

THIS WORKSHOP WILL:

  • Present current clinical understandings of attachment theory
  • Explore attachment patterning, gleaned from the Adult Attachment Interview, with application to practice
  • Introduce internal working models of self and implications for clinical practice
  • Consider how to work with and regulate affect
  • Deepen understanding of attachment and attachment repair through therapeutic relationships
  • Discuss therapist disclosure with regards to attachment repair and relational practice
  • Introduce the body in clinical practice in terms of affect regulation
  • Explore how the body, brain and autonomic nervous system (ANS) interconnect with relational/attachment trauma
  • Learn about the window of arousal and how to work within it
  • Learn about the polyvagal theory and apply it to practice
  • Link attachment patterning, the ANS, the window of arousal and clinical practice
  • Explore practices for greater therapist embodiment, attunement and relational practice

 This workshop is open to therapists with a graduate degree in a mental health discipline. The workshop is limited to 24 students.

Online Tuesday Evenings October 19th through November 16th 6:30 – 9:00 pm PT

$425 includes gst

Email trainings@lisamortimore.com for a registration package

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PREVIOUS WORKSHOP: CHRONIC SHAME, INSECURE ATTACHMENT & EMBODIED RELATIONAL REPAIR

Chronic shame is at the heart of insecure attachment which disrupts healthy development of the emerging infant self and forges a neurophysiological template that endures throughout the lifespan and across generations. Insecure attachment has corresponding affect management and relational strategies accompanied by dysregulation of the Autonomic Nervous System that impact one’s self-perception, world, and identity. This distorted internal working model layers chronic shame with shaming experiences throughout the lifespan and can be a forceful inhibitor to the therapeutic process, with far reaching implications in clinical practice. Because chronic shame begins in late infancy there are no overt memories of shame or early narratives of these childhood shame events – making it preverbal and often unconscious. As clinicians, we are left with the question of: How do we regulate this unconscious affect?

This workshop introduces clinicians to working with chronic shame and affect regulation within the context of embodied relational practice. Conceptual frameworks include: attachment theory, the polyvagal theory, the window of arousal, affect regulation theory, an introduction to somatic work and working on the right hemisphere, and the implications of trauma from a somatic perspective. We will also delve into current understandings about shame/chronic shame, the physiological and psychological interplay of shame, as well as shame conceptually and as seen in clinical practice. This work calls for therapists to aid in the maturation and development of the right brain and shifting of the affect management strategies and attachment patterns rather than merely working with symptom reduction.

PREVIOUS WORKSHOP: HUMAN BODY TO NATURE BODY: ATTACHMENT REPAIR AND THE SENTIENT WORLD

In the current epoch of disembodied living, we see a reduction of contextual and relational complexities, purporting simple fixes to complex problems, and impairing the re-imagining of a just and sustainable world. This lens of disconnection extends to clinical practice and limits our capacity to restore and repair trauma, particularly relational trauma. This workshop invites you into the embodied world of relationship and calls you to extend your experience and understanding of what is possible as we ground into the living epistemologies of the body and the sentient world of nature. We will draw on clinical understandings and application of relational practice; attachment research; neuroscience; trauma studies; and weave these understandings with interconnected embodied and imaginal realms of the sentient world. We will work to embody and expand stories or experiences of relationship with earth, nature, and body through the right hemisphere; we will explore the ethics of using nature in clinical practice, and; work to expand your capacity to weave reciprocity of relationship with nature beings into your clinical practice for the reparation of early attachment injury. In addition to readings, there will be a weekly experiential exercise outside of workshop time.


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