Diane Poole Heller – Working the Edge in Healing Trauma: Can Therapy Sometimes Be Too Safe?

Working the Edge in Healing Trauma: Can Therapy Sometimes Be Too Safe? – Diane Poole Heller

While most therapists are sensitive to the hazards of retraumatizing clients by pushing them too far, too fast, what about the dangers of playing it too safe? When is too much risk avoidance a disservice to clients and an indication of the therapist’s overprotectiveness getting in the way of growth? In this workshop, we’ll look closely at how to understand clients’ threat threshold and establish an optimal pace in trauma recovery, drawing fully on their resilience and capacity for self-healing. Through video clips and demonstration, you will learn how to:

• Use resourcing and other methods to set up corrective experiences with clients learning how to handle increasing arousal and discomfort
• Recognize your own tendency to be overprotective and rescue vulnerable clients
• Invite and empower clients to face manageable challenges and find ways to test their own limits

1. Articulate strategies to leverage corrective experiences in treatment
2. Summarize the effects of establishing therapeutic presence to help improve client engagement
3. Summarize strategies to help clients test their own limits to improve clinical outcomes
4. Summarize strategies to help reinforce resilience and capacity for self-healing in clients

Overview of working with disorganized attachment in trauma clients

• Identifying secure attachment
• Establishing safety and tracking in the body

Step-by-step discussion through client demonstration video

• How to directly untangle the disorganized attachment
• How to help clients “reclaim their light”
• How to use Polyvagal Theory to help our clients

Concluding remarks from Diane Poole Heller

• Final remarks on client outcomes