Emotional Regulation, Communication Skills in Complex Trauma

Capability level: Evolving and established.

Event Description:

“In the midst of movement and chaos keep stillness inside of you.” Deepak Chopra



Social Workers and human service professionals across all settings are consistently called upon to respond to individuals and families in periods of heightened emotional stress. We see in our clients, and sometimes in our colleagues or ourselves, the struggle to emotionally and cognitively regulate in the face of mental and physical illness, violence, disempowerment, or miscommunication. Life can be very tough for some and “keeping stillness” in the chaos sometimes requires extra support.

This training will take you on a journey to discover the development of regulation, look at what can divert us from that pathway, and propose practical skills for every therapist and case manager to work with and improve emotional regulation in our clients.

Who should attend? This training is an introduction primarily for those working in therapeutic relationships with clients. However, if you work in non-therapeutic social work or case management roles, this training will still be of benefit in better understanding and responding to your service users when they display dysregulated behaviours in the face of intense stressors.

Can't attend live? Your registration includes a copy of the presentation slides and 2 weeks' free access to the event recording.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this program, participants will be able to:

• Identify the developmental stages of emotional regulation
• Make an assessment from a bio-psycho-social-cultural perspective of emotional regulation as a functional life skill
• Work with the bodily responses to threat that are present during periods of dysregulation
• Reference a toolkit of strategies for working with individuals, dyads and families to enhance emotional coping

Event Structure:

Learning session one: Emotional regulation is biological, social and developmental (20 mins)

Learning session 2: Trauma disrupts normal development in bio-psycho-social ways (20 mins)

Learning session 3: Assessment from a bio-psycho-social-cultural perspective (15 mins)

Learning outcome 4: Interventions that work (20 mins)

AASW Credentials: Mental Health; Clinical; Family Violence