Training

There will be a training in Developing a Secure Self, an integrated ego-state approach to working with attachment in adults, in Vancouver BC on September 26-27, 2009 and in Toronto ON on October 16-17. I am working on putting together a distance-training package, but for those who prefer to be able to participate more experientially, I do invite you to join us. I extend this invitation particularly to my American colleagues since I am unable to present in the US at this time due to cross-border labour restrictions. More information about these trainings will be available shortly. Below there is information about the approach, client and therapist responses to it, and details about the Ottawa 2008 training.

The 'Developing a Secure Self' Approach

Drawing on attachment and ego state theories and research as well as EMDR, this approach makes use of both the therapeutic relationship and guided imagery involving younger aspects of self to address insecure attachment in adults. As an infant and/or child, the client may have missed out on the attuned and loving presence and responsiveness needed for healthy development. This deficit may lead to problems in adulthood such as low self-esteem and confidence, shame, anxiety, depression, and if there is also a history of abuse, complex PTSD and dissociative disorders. Such clients may suffer from impaired emotional skills, addictions, and eating disorders.

The goals of this approach include helping the client to develop a new relationship with self in the present and strengthening the self-structure and emotional skills. It is applicable to almost all adult clients. It can be used with teens, but is not intended for work with children without significant adaptation.

The Therapeutic Relationship
The therapeutic relationship is conceived as triadic and calls upon the therapist to develop a connection with the young ego states as well as the adult client. Viewing the relationship between therapist and client from the perspective of attachment allows the therapist to address attachment issues at an implicit, as well as an explicit, level. This understanding gives us a deeper awareness of the dynamics in the therapeutic relationship and promotes an optimal response to the individual client's needs through each phase of therapy. This perspective also invites us to look at our own attachment pattern recognizing that it too will impact the therapeutic relationship.

Imaginal Nurturing and Emotional Skills
Whereas EMDR trauma work moves disturbing memories into the past, Imaginal Nurturing compensates for early deficits by providing new experiences in the present. The processes, which include guided imagery with bilateral stimulation, incorporate the imagistic, cognitive, emotional, and somatic, with a special emphasis on the felt body sense of connectedness, nurturance and encouragement. They facilitate the development of a secure base within. Because we are working to foster a new relationship with self, the connection between adult and child continues to be developed between sessions through honouring activities and "check-ins." Imaginal Nurturing also grounds the young ego states in the present which creates enhanced safety during EMDR desensitization resulting in gentler and faster processing and less need for cognitive interweaves. This present-focused work can be both powerful and empowering, and can elicit in the client compassion for self and new affect skills.

A client response * to this approach

"Last session felt like another breakthrough. I feel more able to enjoy things, not so cut off. I have noticed this especially on my walks. We are close to the beach and to a beautiful provincial park with ancient trees and a salmon-bearing stream. It has always been an effort to get myself to walk - sort of medicinal - and the beauty of things has an odd effect on me - it has made me uncomfortable because I feel unable to grasp it or be in it - then I feel guilty for not being there - then I feel sad, or unworthy - so being in natural beauty has been sad and difficult. I actually wasn't really able to articulate this until it changed. After our last session I took the dog and went for a walk along the stream. I was like a little girl - everything was so marvelous! the moss! the sound of the water! the tiny leaves! the tree roots! I felt good! I was there, enjoying it! It was like finally being able to visit a place I had only seen in pictures. I have been walking EVERY DAY since then, even if I have to wear John's gore-tex. Every day has been the same! When I was little in ...., I spent hours every day outside in all weather, and it was joyful and comforting and exciting, and the only place I felt really safe. It's like that part of me, the little adventurer, is back, whole, with all the good stuff. WOW." ~ email from a client

*(Shared with permission)

Some therapist responses* to Developing a Secure Self

"I enjoyed your workshop and have recommended it to many people. The materials and the concepts were fabulous. You seem like a master clinician as well.... Thanks again for the great workshop. (Just to put this in perspective, I have never written a thank you after a workshop and I have been doing them for 30 years." ~ Carol Lindquist, PhD

"I was in your Imaginal Nurturing workshop here in San Diego two weeks ago and I wanted to let you know that I tried I-N for the first time yesterday with fantastic results! ..... The exercise was unbelievable for her...lots of tears and a wonderful visual image when she took the child into her heart. At the end of the session, she was glowing and said over and over 'that was wonderful.' Wow! So, thank you so much...the training was wonderful and I look forward to using this often." ~ Judy Ervice, MA, MFT

"I'm using what I learned in Toronto a lot, and it's been a breath of fresh air for me, not only in direct Imaginal Nurturing applications, but in other interventions that I'm finding much informed by the attachment material and the nurturing/exploring perspective." ~ Peter Taylor, PhD. CGP

"You have made an incredible contribution to our field. Thank you!" ~ Sherri Gonzales, MA MFT

"I have found opportunities with almost every client to bring in the adjunctive nurturing, and the results have been profound for both myself (as a witness) and my clients. They are so excited to be in the nurturing role, and feel it so deeply - it is very different than any other parts work I have tried. Best of all, they report a continued felt sense of the child they have brought forward to the present, a tenderness and joy that is an honor to behold.... A client found it to be 'the most incredibly moving experience of my life - I have never, ever gone so deep emotionally' ". ~ Maggie Vlazny, MSW, LCSW

"I use your I-N all the time. One of the most helpful/useful workshops I've taken" ~ Sheryl E. Kool, MA/ABS, LMHC

"Imaginal nurturing is intentionally focused on the experience of attachment, whereas the other sorts of affect relief imageries we use seem more about detachment. In essence, it is the difference between getting a big hug after a scary experience versus acknowledging safety but finding yourself by yourself.... For many who have not had a healthy attachment experience to draw upon, the ability to connect to self and the truth and goodness of self is not available. For those folks, getting the distance from the [trauma] experience, which has often defined them, leaves an emptiness and an aloneness that can be profound. I-N addresses this aloneness better than any tool I have used so far. For many this is about experiencing the affect of love which is an experience many have no context for." ~ Ava Schlesinger, MSW, LCSW

*(Shared with permission)

The workshop

Tha format of the workshop includes lecture, in vivo demonstrations, films of client work, group discussion, and three practice segments. By understanding the principles on which Developing a Secure Self is based, having experienced Imaginal Nurturing as a "client" as well as a therapist, and having considered ways in which to incorporate this approach with your own clients, you will have the freedom to use it to inform and enrich your work and to weave experiences of nurturance, encouragement, and connectedness into and through your clients' therapy. Many workshop participants have described it as “the missing piece.” In the overall treatment plan, Developing a Secure Self provides a natural complement to EMDR trauma work.

Presenter

I am an EMDRIA-Approved Consultant and Credit Provider and a Registered Art Therapist in private practice in Nanaimo, BC. I work with adults, specializing in issues arising from early neglect and trauma. I initially developed Imaginal Nurturing to meet the needs of my own clients; at this time, the Developing a Secure Self toolkit has gone out to therapists on four continents. Trainings in Developing a Secure Self have been given in many centres in Canada and the US, as well as in England. I have also presented my work at the International and the Canadian EMDR conferences.

Learning objectives

1. To recognize the attachment aspects of the therapeutic relationship in EMDR work.

2. To be able to develop a relationship with the young parts of the client as part of a triadic therapeutic relationship.

3. To use guided imagery to facilitate in clients a felt body sense of connectedness and nurturance.

4. To incoporate strategies to reduce the intensity of trauma work without compromising the integrity of the EMDR Standard Protocol.

5. To be able to offer clients an integrated resource for developing self-nurturing in their day-to-day lives.

Prerequisites

EMDRIA-Approved Basic EMDR training is required.

Continuing Education Units

This program is approved by EMDRIA for 14 continuing education hours (program approval #02001-16). The entire program must be attended. EMDRIA does not permit partial credits. Please do not ask for an exception to be made as I am not in a position to do so.

This program is approved by the National Association of Social Workers (US) for 14 continuing education hours (provider #886366512). NASW credits are accepted by some psychology boards as well as social work boards. Please check with your own board's requirements. NASW does permit partial credits for partial attendance.

Program (tentative)

SATURDAY MORNING:
8:15 Continental breakfast available
8:45 - 12:15: Theory
Welcome
Introduction to the DSS approach and its concepts
Early attachment research overview
What we see clinically vis-à-vis attachment
Demonstration of Imaginal Nurturing
Break
The triadic therapeutic relationship - working with ego states
Principles of Imaginal Nurturing

12:15 - 1:30: Lunch on own

SATURDAY AFTERNOON:
1:30 - 5:00: Working with Imagery and Child Ego States
Elements of Imaginal Nurturing in practice
Video demonstration of Imaginal Nurturing in the context of EMDR
Break
Practice - dyads
Discussion
Uses of Imaginal Nurturing in relations to the EMDR Standard Protocol

SUNDAY MORNING:
8:00 Continental breakfast available
8:30 - 12:00: Therapeutic Relationship & Working with Infant Attachment
Reconnect
Review of attachment classifications and their relationship to self-structure
Attachment and the therapeutic relationship
Video
Break
Working with infant/preverbal imagery
Practice - Infant imagery
Small Group Discussion: Problems that may arise in Imaginal Nurturing

12:00 - 1:15: Lunch on your own

SUNDAY AFTERNOON:
1:15 - 4:45: Pulling It All Together
Organizational tools
Relating DSS to current clients
Special uses for Imaginal Nurturing with EMDR
Creating an attachment context for EMDR therapy as a whole
Video demonstration of incorporating DSS into EMDR therapy
Break
Practice - Role play with client
Discussion
Farewells

The program is organized with a view to balancing didactic material with more experiential learning. The second day starts and ends 15 minutes earlier for the convenience of those who are travelling after the workshop.

Questions?

If you have any questions, please contact me at april@april-steele.ca or by phone at 250-753-2027.

Registration

Please register online whether you are paying through PayPal with a credit card or a PayPal account, or are mailing in a cheque. Registration is not complete until payment is received. Confirmation and a receipt will be sent by email. Please follow the instructions and fill out the form online whether you are paying online or by mailing a cheque. If paying by cheque, please mail it to the following address after registering online:

April Steele
107-335 Wesley Street
Nanaimo BC
V9R 2T5 Canada

Thank you!