nscience e-learning

Early childhood adversity, neglect and childhood sexual abuse are just some of the risk factors that can directly impact behaviours we associate with Personality Disorders. An explanation for such linkage is that clients with personality disorders experience great difficulty in establishing and sustaining interpersonal relationships that require good affect regulation. Their inability to regulate negative affects increases the likelihood of unregulated hostility and angry responses. This actually puts such clients at an enhanced disadvantage – not only do they tend to alienate caregivers, but they are likely to do so at times of greatest need.

At this practical seminar which would be especially relevant for psychotherapists, psychologists, counsellors and psychiatrists, Dr Adshead suggests that it is impractical to provide therapy for behavioural manifestations without a proper understanding of underlying cognitive schema and neurobiological basis. She presents evidence on the development of affect regulation within attachment relationships that explains both the symptoms of and effective therapeutic strategies for personality disorders. By viewing personality disorders through the lenses of attachment and affect regulation, she equips us to recognise the multiple challenges faced by clients: heightened perception of threats, inability to repair emotional states stimulated by threat or fear and the shift in locus from external to internal affect regulation.

We comprehend the specific nature of affect dysregulation for personality disorders according to clusters:

• Cluster A: paranoid personality disorders
• Cluster B: borderline personality disorders
• Cluster C: anxious / avoidant personality disorders

By drawing our attention to Affect Regulation as only one, but arguably the most critical aspect of personality disorders, Dr Adshead helps us inform our therapeutic approaches when working with mild to moderate disorders across the spectrum.

CPD hours: 5

Expressive Arts Therapy is based on the assumption that our clients can recover from trauma and / or addictions, through the process of creative expression. Defined by its emphasis on the multi-modal process of healing (exploring many combinations for creativity, rather than relying on just one art form), the approach conceptually incorporates learnings from Jungian, person-centered and Gestalt psychotherapies – while practically providing therapeutic techniques to trauma therapists and addiction specialists.

Course Schedule:

Session 1: Fundamentals of Expressive Arts Therapy in Healing Trauma

• Foundations of Expressive Arts Therapy
• History & Definitions
• Principles of Expressive Arts Therapy (Natalie Rogers)
• Expressive vs. creative
• Expressive arts and trauma-informed care
• The neuroscience of creativity and expression
• Enhancing possibilities in trauma-treatment
• Case examples and discussion 

Session 2: Applications in Teaching the Skill of Grounding 

• Defining grounding
• Importance as a trauma-informed skill/intervention
• Perspectives
• Experiential expressive arts process
• Visualization
• Dance/movement
• Visual Art
• Writing
• Implementing expressive arts interventions
• Ideas for bolstering trauma-focused treatment plans
• Exploring options for further training and study 

Moving from face-to-face therapy to conducting online therapy sessions during the COVID-19 crisis can seem challenging for both therapists and clients. While studies have demonstrated that well-managed online sessions can potentially be as effective as face-to-face engagements, the whole experience can understandably appear daunting and disembodied.

At this seminar, Christiane considers how we can navigate the challenges of the online format and deliver effective online sessions that allow for deep therapeutic engagement. Using examples, she highlights how the online setting can provide an opportunity for us to practice differently and hone our therapeutic skills, especially with regards to connection and attunement – while opening up doors to long-distance therapy, as well as therapy for clients who may be unable to travel. She explains the best practices that we can incorporate and how we can fine-tune the delivery of our therapeutic techniques to suit the online format.

Specifically, we consider how we can:

• Provide a safe therapeutic space, while reducing the effects of social distancing and the concomitant sense of isolation or exacerbation of trauma symptoms and / or anxieties
• Focus on enhancing our awareness to verbal and non-verbal communication
• Use voice, breath and body language to modulate and regulate emotional states so as to remain present, connected and attuned
• Incorporate a combination of top-down and bottom-up regulation skills that enable our clients to slow down and come into the body, with a view to increasing distress tolerance and improving stress resilience
• Pace our therapeutic approach, including the need to temporarily suspend deeper exploration of past trauma or aversive experiences and focussing on the here-and-now
• Managing the optimal amount of therapeutic contact with regards to the frequency and duration of sessions and the online platforms that can best suit our therapy sessions while ensuring privacy and confidentiality
• Ensure that as therapists we are able to manage and contain our own anxieties and stress through self-care and the specific steps we need to take in the context of online therapy

CPD Hours: 4

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Whether we are working with children, adults, parents or couples – an essential therapeutic goal for us is to enable and enhance the clients’ capability for emotional regulation.

As therapists, our aim is to help them effectively identify and understand their emotions, so that they are able to process, respond to them, and express them safely in societal, familial and organizational settings. But we can face multiple challenges in this endeavour:

• Before our clients can learn to self-regulate, we need to achieve co-regulation, which is an essential precursor to emotional regulation
• We need to get through to the thinking brain with our clients – the survival brain is not designed to process emotional regulation
• Moreover, self-regulation can be arduous if they are surrounded by people who are in dysregulated states, and we need to help them navigate this environment

This seminar is aimed at providing us, as therapists, a set of creative, physical, sensory and cognitive emotional regulation practical tools that can be applied in clinical settings not just for encouraging self-regulation in clients but also for our own regulation and well-being. The toolkit that we discuss includes:

• Breathing and Calming tools and techniques – as applied to emotional regulation. Our aim here is to assist our clients to stay in the present moment, especially when they experience intense stress and anxiety, and we look at:
  • Grounding techniques that use everyday objects around us
  • Progressive muscle relaxation
  • Self-soothing techniques using breath exercises
• Sensory techniques including creative extensions of the safe-place exercise and sensory boxes.  We consider:
  • How we can creatively build on and expand the safe-space
  • Reconnecting with our senses and getting rid of negative imagery
  • Using sensory boxes that draw attention to the here-and-now; with both children and adults
• The different approaches and tools for up-regulation and down-regulation; including:
  • Making the choice between up & down regulation
  • Creating a mindful acceptance of emotions
  • Assisting our clients in the reframing of emotions

The seminar follows an integrationist approach – we draw on cognitive, psychoanalytical and sensorimotor domains – with the goal of effective regulation that works in the face of worry, stress, trauma, mood swings and cognitive difficulties. We consider how, as therapists, we can practice holding a receptive stance, so as to assist co-regulation and work actively at mitigating dysregulation in the client’s environment.

CPD Hours: 3

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Moving from face-to-face therapy to conducting online therapy sessions during the Covid-19 crisis has been challenging and rewarding both for us as therapists and our clients. While it has provided invaluable opportunities to practice differently and hone our therapeutic skills in a set of trying circumstances, it has also been very challenging to provide the right level of connection and attunement, due to the lack of physical presence. As COVID related lockdowns are gradually easing, and we take tentative steps back into the ‘new normal’ world, we need to ensure that our clients are sufficiently resourced for managing the (long-term) physical and mental impact of the pandemic, facing current anxieties including financial and employment concerns, and preparing for re-entry.

In Part 1 of the course, Christiane Sanderson  explained how we can run online therapy sessions that deliver results, covering the provision of a safe therapeutic space, pacing our therapeutic approach and managing our own anxieties through self-care. At this-learning course, Christiane develops on the previous theme and explains how we can continue to be effective and incorporate more advanced tools and techniques including stabilisation skills, affect regulation and somatic markers. She explains the best practices that we can incorporate and how we can fine-tune the delivery of our therapeutic techniques to suit the online format.

Specifically, we consider how we can:

• Provide a safe therapeutic space, that helps manage health anxieties and trauma symptoms – reducing the longer-term impact of social distancing and isolation
• Provide a range of online platforms as a choice to clients – facilitating a choice of platform that works best for the client, while continuing to ensure privacy and confidentiality
• Build and enhance awareness of somatic markers that indicate emotional dysregulation
• Pick up cues in both verbal and non-verbal communication; and the use of voice, breath and body language to modulate and regulate emotional states so as to remain present, connected and attuned
• Incorporate trauma informed practice skills and apply a combination of top-down and bottom-up regulation techniques that enable our clients to slow down and come into the body, with a view to increasing distress tolerance and improving stress resilience
• Pace our therapeutic approach, including assessing how to balance deeper exploration of past trauma or aversive experiences with focusing on what clients need in the here-and-now; so as to reduce the activation of stress sensitivity and help them navigate their present circumstances
• Ensure that clients are sufficiently resourced to manage the long term physical and mental impact of the pandemic, as well as current anxieties including financial and employment concerns, as well as preparing for re-entry
• Model emotional regulation and engage in emotional co-regulation in the online format
• Take steps towards becoming more sentient practitioners who can mitigate anxieties and sense of isolation, while creating deeper connections with clients

CPD Hours: 4

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Adversity can be present in our clients’ (and our) lives in many shapes and forms – as everyday disappointments, as after-effects of Trauma and even as extraordinary disasters. At this practical, clinically-oriented e-learning course, we start with the premise that helping our clients develop flexible and adaptive strategies for coping with adversity is at the heart of the therapeutic process. Linda considers neuroscientific evidence to explain how our clients can actively cultivate their innate capacities for resilience – allowing them to rewire coping strategies which may otherwise be defensive, dysfunctional and / or blocking of growth.

This e-learning course shows how we can use the brain’s neuroplasticity to modify coping behaviours, even when these appear to be seemingly ‘stuck’ or intractable. Linda helps us identify empirically-validated therapeutic techniques that can be applied across modalities.  Specifically, we consider how we can:

CPD Hours: 3

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Without interventions that incorporate somatic awareness and movement, many therapeutic approaches are limited in their ability to help clients fully release the impact of traumatic events. In other words, we cannot simply think our way out of traumatic activation. This e-learning course with Dr Arielle Schwartz, which is part of the nscience Somatic Psychology Series, is aimed at psychotherapists, psychologists and counsellors across modalities, who are interested in learning how to integrate somatic psychology interventions into their work with clients.

The approaches explained in this e-learning course will allow you to work effectively with clients who have experienced single incident traumatic events or prolonged trauma exposure.

Somatic therapists help clients prepare for trauma reprocessing by developing a readily accessible feeling of safety in the body. In part, this relies upon helping clients recognize their own window of tolerance, a concept that refers to an optimal zone of nervous system arousal where clients are able to respond effectively to their emotions. In addition, this preparatory phase of therapy focuses on helping clients expand their tolerance for affect and sensation. This is especially beneficial in the treatment of PTSD when symptoms involve physiological distress, affect dysregulation or dissociation.

In this experiential e-learning course, we learn how to integrate somatic resources into our therapeutic endeavours, regardless of our primary modalities. Doing so often begins by increasing our ability to observe nonverbal communications in therapy. Using case vignettes and examples, Dr Schwartz guides us to mindfully study embodied relational experiences that emerge during therapy as related to subtle changes in posture, breathing, use of eye contact, movements, use of space and tone of voice. We then learn to guide clients into practices that facilitate a sense of being grounded, empowered and capable of reclaiming a healthy relationship with rest and relaxation.

Specifically, we will:

• Discuss the theoretical and scientific basis of somatic psychology, particularly looking at a ‘unified approach to Somatic Psychology’ that encapsulates  The Science of Embodiment and Somatic Intelligence
• Comprehend the physiological impact of stress, trauma, and PTSD
• Mobilization and Immobilization
• Dysregulation and Dissociation
• Why working in the Window of Tolerance is essential to successful trauma therapy
• Engage practical mind-body therapy tools that help clients feel resourced and prepared for trauma processing:
• Somatic Vocabulary
• Grounding
• Postural awareness
• Proximity Awareness
• Boundary Development
• Empowerment
• Body Mapping
• Build Affect and Sensation Tolerance
• Learn how to help clients build affect and sensation tolerance in preparation for trauma processing
• Work effectively with Affect and arousal regulation in trauma therapy:
• Mutual regulation and co-regulation
• Tracking nonverbal communications

CPD Hours: 4

Ticket prices:

While it took some time for researchers and practitioners to agree that Complex PTSD has its own aetiology, symptomatology and recommended therapeutic methods; distinct from PTSD – there is now increasing realization that our clinical approaches need to be considerably different when our clients have suffered prolonged and repeated incidences of interpersonal trauma. Such trauma could have been chronic sexual, psychological and physical abuse, neglect, intimate partner violence or situations that involved captivity – resulting in extended periods of terror, fear and severe dysregulations of affect and arousal.

This practical and clinically oriented e-learning course draws on efficacy proven techniques from relational psychotherapy, Parts Work Therapy, Somatic Psychology, EMDR Therapy, DBT and mindfulness-based techniques – to explain effective therapeutic tools that facilitate a strength-based approach to trauma recovery and increase resilience in our clients.

While a number of practitioners have been trained to work with single, traumatic events – navigating Complex PTSD requires us to work with multiple layers of personal, relational, societal and / or cultural losses. Dr Schwartz has organized this coursein an experiential format – aimed at helping us successfully organize and prioritize our clients’ therapeutic goals. Through a series of lectures, case vignettes and examples, we will learn how to compassionately and effectively work with clients who have experienced multiple traumatic events and prolonged trauma exposure.

Our learning objectives include:

• identify contributing factors to the development of Complex PTSD
• discuss a phase oriented, evidence-based approach to complex trauma treatment as a structured approach to therapy
• recognize how polyvagal theory provides an essential foundation for understanding arousal states as related to the tri-phasic model of trauma recovery
• explain how mutual regulation serves as a precursor to self-regulation in treatment
• identify at least five practical mind-body therapy tools to help clients feel resourced and prepared for trauma processing
• describe how to help clients build affect and sensation tolerance in preparation for trauma processing
• recognize how working with the “Window of Tolerance” can help reduce the likelihood of re-traumatization
• describe how “top-down” and “bottom up” interventions can speed up or slow down the pacing of trauma treatment
• practice at least three interventions for  working with somatic symptoms in trauma treatment
• recognize how client’s “parts” related to early developmental trauma can contribute to somatic symptoms
• understand how to work with preverbal memories by attending to somatic sensations
• identify self-care practices for therapists to manage somatic countertransference and vicarious trauma

Our focus will be on the following skills:

• Reclaiming Choice and Containment
• Somatic Release and Grounding
• Breath Awareness Practice
• Developing Dual Awareness
• Create your Resilience Recipe
• Relational Resourcing and the Tree of Life
• Increasing Affect & Sensation Tolerance
• Imagining a Reparative Experience 

Programme

Module 1: Understanding Complex PTSD

• Defining Complex PTSD
• Diagnostic Clarification and Differential Diagnosis
• Contributing Factors of C-PTSD
• Symptoms of C-PTSD
• Skill: Reclaiming Choice and Containment
• Realities of Working with Complex PTSD
• Skill: Self-Awareness and Self-Care for Therapists

Module 2: The Neurobiology of C-PTSD

• The Neurobiology of C-PTSD: Beyond Fight and Flight
• Polyvagal Theory
• Mobilization and Immobilization
• 6 Stages of Trauma Response
• Conditioned Immobilization
• Skill: Somatic Release
• Dissociation and Dissociation
• Preverbal and Nonverbal memories
• Clinical Assessment tools: Triggering Events, Avoidance Behaviours, and Dissociative Symptoms
• Skill: Grounding

Module 3: Implications for Therapy

• Interpersonal neurobiology
• Neuropsychotherapy: The 6 R’s of Healing Trauma
• “Window of Tolerance”
• Top-Down and Bottom-Up Processing Interventions
• Psychobiological Tools in Therapy
• Skill: Breath Awareness Practice

Module 4: Phase Based Treatment 

• Stabilization and Safety
• Skill: Anchoring the Adult Self
• Working Through Complex PTSD
• Skill: Develop Dual Awareness
• Integration and Meaning Making
• Skill: Create your Resilience Recipe 

Module 5: Integrative Model of Care

• Introduction to the Integrative Approach
• Biopsychosocial Model of Treatment
• Relational Therapy
• Co-Regulation
• Psychobiological Regulation and Applied Polyvagal Theory
• Skill: Relational Resourcing
• CBT, ACT, & NET
• Skill: The Weather Report and Forecast
• Skill: Tree of Life

Module 6: Integrative Model Part 2

• Dialectical Behavioural Therapy
• Skill: Cultivate Wise Mind
• Skill: Build Boundaries
• Skill: Increase Affect and Sensation Tolerance
• Parts Work Therapies
• Skill: Identify Allies
• Skill: Imagine a Reparative Experience

Module 7: Integrative Model Part 3

• Exposure and EMDR Therapy
• Skill: Reprocessing the Past
• Skill: Pendulation
• Somatic Psychology
• 5 Stage model of Trauma Processing
• Skill: Sequencing and Somatic Re-Patterning
• Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Acceptance and Compassion Practices
• Skill: Mindfulness of the Moment
• Skill: EFT
• Skill: Gratitude and Loving Kindness Meditations

Module 8: Integration and Closure

• Integration and Closure
• Existential Considerations
• Fostering Resilience
• Integration and Installation of Positive Change
• Skill: Golden Nugget Practice
• Case Conceptualization, Discussion, and Questions

CPD Hours: 10

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While we associate the term ‘Integrative Psychotherapy’ with an integration of theory – the bringing together of affective, cognitive, behavioural and physiological dimensions of human functioning within a relational system – the approach also refers to the process of integrating the personality. It involves:

·       The therapeutic steps that the therapist needs to take to facilitate a client’s development of a comprehensive and congruent narrative of their sense of self

·       The process of making whole – taking disowned, unaware, unresolved or fragmented aspects of the self and integrating them within a cohesive entity

·       Enabling a client to assume personal awareness and responsibility so that their behaviour in any situation is by choice and not stimulated by compulsion, fear or conditioning

In this unique and practical e-learning course, Dr Richard Erskine draws on an integrative therapeutic approach that encompasses the primary dimensions of human functioning: cognitive, behavioural, affective and physiological, each within a relational system that allows us as therapists in helping the client to assimilate and harmonise the contents of his or her ego states, relax the defence mechanisms, relinquish the life script, and re-engage the world with full contact. It is the process of making whole: taking disowned, unaware, unresolved aspects of the ego and making them part of the cohesive self.

Through lecture, case vignettes and clinical discussions, the e-learning course emphasises how we can incorporate learnings from Integrative Psychotherapy in conjunction with our primary modalities; and covers the following topics:

·       The eight philosophical principles central to an Integrative approach

·       The centrality of contactful relationships

·       An understanding on unconscious relational patterns

·       The integration of physiology, affective, cognition, and behaviour within a client’s unique relational system

·       The application of child development concepts in psychotherapy with adults

·       Phenomenological, historical, transferential and relational Inquiry

·       The therapeutic significance of acknowledgement, validation, normalization and presence

·       Attunement to the client’s affect, rhythm, and style of cognition

·       The eight Relational-Needs

·       The therapeutic use of the Script System

“I thought I could imagine how much this would hurt, but I was wrong.”

― Haruki Murakami, South of the Border, West of the Sun

The occurrence of infidelity in a couple relationship can often be experienced as a catastrophic and life-changing event which is accompanied by extremely heightened emotions of shock, disbelief, moral judgment, self-doubt, betrayal and a collapse of the trust system. Not only can the manifestations cover the gamut of depression, anxiety, anger, hatred and self-loathing but can also be viewed as a potentially irreparable loss which may increase propensity for helplessness and despair.

How can we, as therapists, comprehend the nature and meaning of an affair – could these be serving a developmental purpose? Are some betrayals actually shared enactments towards resetting the relationship? And most importantly how can we help our clients in navigating such severe relational upheavals?  

At this practical and interactive e-learning course, relevant to psychotherapists, psychologists and counsellors, Kathleen Mates-Youngman, author of the bestseller Couples Therapy Workbook: 30 Guided Conversations to Re-Connect Couples – draws on her clinical experience to explain:

• Defining infidelity: we look at infidelity as a psychological construct, global statistics and the classification of affairs
• The three stages of healing: Kathleen explains the therapeutic process as composed of three stages:

1. Crisis stage: the stage which covers identity confusion, a barrage of questions and a cascade of emotions. We look at the role of therapist guidance at this stage
2. Insight stage: this stage covers the impact of the affair, individual traits, familial influences, relationship history and emotional injuries
3. Decision and Vision stage: this stage moves on to non-negotiables, the roles of remorse, accountability, transparency; the confrontation of doubts and fears and the rebuilding of trust

• Intimacy after infidelity: the the e-learning course looks at the dynamics of vulnerability, desirability and problematic assumptions

• Preventing infidelity: the roles of trust, transparency and clarity; relationships as a choice, creating a healthy relationship and healthy sexual intimacy 

As therapists, we have all come across clients who show characteristic narcissistic traits – a grandiose sense of self-importance, arrogance, compulsive narcissistic displays and a sense of entitlement and yet, in some instances they may exhibit an extremely famished sense of self and almost boundless hunger for mirroring that can only be assuaged or soothed through the attention and validation from others. Thanks to the contributions of Heinz Kohut, there is greater understanding that  such manifestations are representative of narcissistic injuries – the development of narcissistic traits that co-existed with impaired attachment in childhood, leading to deficits in the structure of the self.

Narcissistic injuries are primarily attributable to unmet mirroring needs in childhood and lack of empathic attunement, or due to severe traumatisation, abuse or neglect. Such injuries can also occur as a result of relational trauma in which a child is excessively idealised and not seen or accepted for who they are; but seen as an extension of the primary caregiver. It is imperative for therapists to fully comprehend the underlying dynamics of narcissistic injuries, so they can effectively interpret the apparently contradictory behaviours of such clients. We need a better understanding of the linkages between relational trauma, unmet mirroring needs and expressed narcissistic traits  – so we can remain empathic when working with narcissism and provide a non-shaming therapeutic space.

This practical e-learning course which will be useful for psychotherapists, counsellors and psychologists across modalities, specifically discusses the following:

• Can relational trauma induce narcissism? What are the underlying dynamics that we need to comprehend?
• How can we conceptualise narcissism on a spectrum, ranging from domineering and extroverted to introverted and neurotic?
• The linkages between narcissism and narcissistic injuries to early childhood trauma, neglect and relational trauma (as explained through Kohut’s Self Psychology)
• The key distinctions between healthy narcissism and dysfunctional narcissism – including the traits we need to be able to identify
• The role of shame and dissociation in the development of narcissism and the implications this has for the therapeutic relationship

It has become popular to suggest that our social media-obsessed modern world is narcissistic, but it is not always clear that we really understand and agree on what is meant by narcissism in culture and relationships.  At the same time, traditional gender roles are being increasingly questioned in a world emerging from historically patriarchal cultures. At this practical and intellectually stimulating seminar we explore the intersections between socially endorsed traditional gender roles and our understandings of narcissistic disorders and character traits. Do certain ways of conforming to gender norms generate narcissistic and psychopathic ways of relating to others? And if so, how can we understand these processes better and work more effectively with our clients when these processes create problems in living?

Dr Adshead and Dr Beattie present and discuss illustrative case vignettes to unpack and explore the reciprocal relationship between strong conformity to gender norms and problems in interpersonal relationships.  What are the different maladaptive ways in which power and control might be transacted between partners in a relationship?  What is the role of shame in gender socialisation and how might narcissism and psychopathy help to defend us against feeling shamed by others?  How can we learn to build trust in our relationships and hold our gender roles less rigidly? Importantly, we discuss how the intersections of gender roles, narcissism and psychopathology present in clinical settings and specifically consider the following:

• Thinking about traditional gender norms: Although it is acknowledged that there are multiple ways of being masculine and performing masculinity, the way in which men in Western culture understand their gender role is influenced by certain norms
• We explore these core norms and the ways they influence how boys and men gain acceptance into and maintain their position within the masculine tribe
• We will also touch briefly on the norms of orthodox femininities to see how a culture of complementary opposites can act to produce a very binary and split gender narrative

• Thinking about narcissism and psychopathy: Narcissism and psychopathy are comparatively modern concepts associated with ‘badness’ and social undesirability
• We evaluate the shared features across narcissism, psychpathology and traditional accounts of masculinity
• We also discuss the function of such concepts in both popular discourse and in therapeutic contexts

• Exploring intersections: Some of the defining characteristics of masculinity and narcissism appear to map onto one another, so how do we make sense of this?
• We bring together the two strands of the webinar and explore the intersections and reciprocal relationships between gender norms, narcissism and psychopathy
• Is there a pro-social aspect to narcissism and psychopathy where traditionally the tribe has needed these traits to be held by members to ensure the safe functioning of the group?
• If these traits are socially endorsed as norms, how important is it to understand their flexible application?

After the recent expose’ of sexual abuse in sports, boarding schools and some faith communities, childhood sexual abuse (CSA) of males has received increased awareness and clinical research interest – highlighting the markedly different impact of CSA on men. Data has shown that male survivors of CSA are ten times more likely to suffer from PTSD, five times more likely to have substance misuse disorder – and 46% of males with a history of CSA attempting suicide. The key challenge for psychotherapists and counsellors is that the manifestations in our therapy rooms may not be admittedly linked to CSA – men find it harder to disclose their abuse due to shame and societal expectations of orthodox masculinity. Male survivors of CSA commonly do not define their childhood experiences as abusive and often minimise its negative impact. This is exacerbated by a shame of disclosure – which is often seen as worse than remaining silent.

This e-learning course looks at the social construction of CSA of males and its range of clinical implications. It emphasises how we can respond to the specific needs of male survivors of CSA within a trauma-informed framework – which includes the use of power and its impact on self-identities. Specifically, we consider:

·       What explains the fears in men that CSA will determine their sexual orientation – what does this imply for their capacity to have healthy sexual relationships

·       How do we comprehend reporting of sexual difficulties by survivors of CSA – including performance anxieties, erectile problems, compulsive sexual behaviour as well as difficulties with intimacy and the recurring need to ‘prove’ their masculinity

·       The social construction of the problem of male victims of CSA and its clinical implications

·       Overcoming difficulties around help-seeking and disclosure

·       Understanding the confusion with regards to sexual orientation and intimacy; sense of lost power, control and confidence in manhood

·       How trauma-informed practice can enable male survivors of CSA to recover and heal

CPD hours: 3

Sensorimotor Psychotherapy (SP) is a therapeutic modality for trauma and attachment issues. SP welcomes the body as an integral source of information which can guide resourcing and the accessing and processing of challenging, traumatic, and developmental experience. It is a holistic approach that includes somatic, emotional and cognitive processing and integration. As SP enables clients to discover and change habitual physical and psychological patterns that impede optimal functioning and well-being; this modality renders itself especially helpful in working with dysregulated activation and other effects of trauma, as well as the limiting belief systems of developmental issues.

The core principle underlying SP is that the body’s intelligence is largely an untapped resource in psychotherapy.  Few psychotherapy or counselling methods incorporate the body’s healing potential to support therapeutic change, leaving therapists dependent on the client’s verbal narrative.  Yet the story told through gesture, posture, tone of voice, facial expressions, gaze, and movement is more significant and more accurate than the story told by the words.  And this “somatic narrative” implicitly conveys early experiences encoded in the brain and body long before the acquisition of language.  To omit drawing upon the wisdom of the body deprives clients of a much-needed avenue of self-knowledge and change. 

Although SP incorporates body-oriented interventions common to other somatic psychology approaches – it is its own unique methodology in the way that it combines somatic psychology theory and practice with interpersonal neurobiology, neuroscience, trauma and attachment research. Dr Ogden’s approach for this e-learning course is that the techniques that underpin SP can be adapted by therapists in conjunction with their primary modalities – to support the unique needs of each client and the dynamics of the therapeutic dyad. At the e-learning course, she uses lecture, case examples, and brief experiential exercises to demonstrate how we can actively incorporate the body to change the physical actions and reactions that keep clients stuck in the past and support a more unified approach to the treatment of the effects of trauma and attachment. 

Understanding the need that adapting Sensorimotor Psychotherapy to an online format presents particular challenges and opportunities, this e-learning course will also address these difficulties including managing office set-up, use of props, tips to maintain an emotional connection and special considerations in working with posture and movement in a telehealth format.

CPD hours: 4