Recognizing and Treating Authoritarian Families

Wednesday, 11/13/19, 8:30am-12:30pm, Venango County Human Services, Franklin, PA

Authoritarian families are focused on maintaining order, control, and compliance. Coercion, bullying, abuse, and violence are common in these families. This workshop provides an eco-systemic framework for understanding these families, the caregivers who head them, and the types of problems they typically encounter with their children. Common traps therapists make when working with these families are identified, as are strategies for avoiding them. Strategies are provided for introducing more softness into interactions between caregivers and their children and cultivating more tolerance for dissent in the family.

Objectives:
As a result of attending this educational activity, participants will be able to:

Identify the structural characteristics of authoritarian families
Identify authoritarian parenting patterns and their impacts on children
Describe coercive interactional patterns and their relationship to family violence
Describe strategies for helping caregivers in authoritarian families tolerate dissent and provide more emotional support to their children

Frequently Asked Questions
Visit our FBMHS Policies & FAQs for additional information regarding the CFBT online learning center, accommodations for disabilities, reporting problems with the course, instructions for viewing webinars, etc.

Engaging with Clients from a Bottom-Up Approach

Wednesday June 19th, 2019, 8:30am-12:00pm & 1:00pm-3:30pm, Catholic Charities, Harrisburg, PA

This workshop is a continuation of Enhancing the Trauma-Informed Narrative, a workshop delivered in March 2019. The main goal of this workshop is to help participants apply the core trauma concepts introduced in this previous workshop to a case study. An integrated approach to trauma treatment is presented that builds on the core principles of Bloom’s Sanctuary Model, Perry’s Neuro-Sequential Model of Therapeutics, and Herman’s Stages of Trauma Recovery. Focus is given to techniques and strategies for establishing safety and stability with clients impacted by traumatic exposure and traumatic responses. The workshop applies Herman’s three stages of trauma recovery to engage participants in didactic and experiential learning that promotes healing with this population. Using case-based learning, Bloom’s SELF (safety, emotion, loss/letting go, future) and Perry’s 3-R (regulate-relate-reason) frameworks are utilized to assist participants in developing and critiquing treatment objectives and goals. Throughout, participants are challenged to ensure that the language they use is healing-centered and not pathology oriented.

Objectives
As a result of attending this training, participants will be able to:

1. Apply core trauma concepts to a child trauma case study
2. Describe the differences between a top-down and a bottom-up approach to child trauma treatment
3. Identify the three stages of trauma recovery
4. Match different brain states to each stage of trauma recovery
5. Critique a treatment plan from a neurobiology-of-trauma perspective
6. Create a treatment plan for a child case study using a bottom-up approach

Recognizing Enmeshment in Families

Friday, April 12th, 2018, 8:30am-12:30pm, Mercer County Behavioral Health, Mercer County, PA

The focus of this workshop is the role that the family structure plays in shaping children’s development of social-emotional competencies and their response to treatment. Enmeshment is one of four structural patterns associated with serious emotional disturbance. Enmeshment is often subtle and very difficult for clinicians to see. When it is missed and not addressed, children and adolescents may not be as responsive to standard interventions. This workshop describes the characteristics of enmeshment. Treatment guidelines are highlighted, as well as common clinical traps therapists are likely to encounter when working with enmeshed relational patters.

Objectives
By attending this training, participants will be able to:

Explain how enmeshed relationship patterns shape children’s social-emotional competencies
Recognize the markers of enmeshment
Identify the primary focus of treatment when working with enmeshment
Describe common clinical traps when working with enmeshment

How Independent Prescribers Can Ensure Troubled Children Get the Right Treatment

Wednesday, October 17th, 2018, 8:30am-4:00pm, Tara-A Country Inn, Clark, PA

Despite the well-meaning efforts of helping professionals, there are too many children with severe emotional and behavioral problems who do not improve in the treatments they are prescribed. In fact, some seem to get worse the longer they have been in treatment. This is because there is too much focus on general services and not enough on specific treatment tailored to a specific child in a specific social context. To make the latter happen, the root psychological and contextual causes of challenging behavior need to be fully understood.

With a few small changes in the way the role is conceptualized, Independent Prescribers have the capacity to make a real difference in children’s lives. This workshop offers one way to re-conceptualize the role and unlock this potential. One key is to ensure that the evaluation process leads to a clear data-based clinical conceptualization that considers root causes of problems.

8:30 AM- 12:00 PM
The morning portion of the workshop is open to Independent Prescribers and their staff. Through case studies, reviews of videotaped sessions, and interactive discussions, the morning workshop highlights principles and practices for creating developmentally informed, contextual case conceptualizations that can be better linked to more focused treatment.

1:00 PM – 4:00 PM
The afternoon portion of the workshop is designed to be a collaborative, small work-group format where the ideas from the morning are discussed with respect to how they could be translated into practice. Strategies for maximizing current assessment procedures and report writing are discussed. Current barriers are discussed, along with potential solutions.

Objectives
By attending this training, participants will be able to:

Identify what children with Severe Emotional Disturbance (SED) have in common
Describe common myths about the causes of challenging behavior in children with SED
Define the elements of an effective developmental, contextually-informed case conceptualization
Re-vision the role of the Independent Prescriber
Identify small changes in assessment procedures that could yield more clinically useful information
Identify how reports can be used to focus treatment.

Understanding and Treating Enmeshment in Families

Thursday, November 7th, 2018, 8:30am-12:30pm, Venango County Human Services, Franklin, PA

Family structure refers to the way family members organize their relationships with respect to boundaries, close-distance, and power. Children’s presenting problems are best understood and treated in the context of their family’s structure. Enmeshment is one of four structural patterns most associated with serious emotional disturbance in children. This workshop describes the characteristics of enmeshment and how this interactional pattern shapes children’s development of social-emotional competencies and their response to treatment. Treatment guidelines are highlighted, as well as common clinical traps therapists are likely to encounter when working with enmeshed relational patterns.

Objectives
By attending this training, participants will be able to:

1. Explain how enmeshed relationship patterns shape children’s social-emotional competencies
2. Describe three dimensions of family structure and how they organize caregiving
3. Recognize the markers of enmeshment
4. Identify the primary focus of treatment when working with enmeshment
5. Describe common clinical traps when working with enmeshment