The Misattuned Family: Techniques for Healing Attachment Trauma

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Dafna Lender, LCSW Related seminars and products

The Theraplay Institute

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Dafna Lender, LCSW, is an international trainer and supervisor for practitioners who work with children and families. She is a certified trainer and supervisor/consultant in both Theraplay and Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP) and an EMDR therapist. Dafna’s expertise is drawn from 25 years of working with families with attachment in many settings: at-risk after school programs, therapeutic foster care, in-home crisis stabilization, residential care and private practice. Dafna’s style, whether as a therapist or teacher, is combining the light-hearted with the profound by bringing a playful, intense and passionate presence to every encounter. Dafna is the author of Integrative Attachment Family Therapy (2023) and co-author of Theraplay® - The Practitioner’s Guide (2020).

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dafna Lender maintains a private practice. She is a published author and receives royalties. She receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from Psychotherapy Networker and PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dafna Lender has no relevant non-financial relationships.

Additional Info

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Objectives

1. Practice activities that increase a sense of well-being and connection between family members.
2. Facilitate active dialogue between parent and child using PACE to get at the dyad’s core issues.
3. Practice recognizing escalation in child and parent and employing strategies for de-escalating the situation.
4. Employ techniques to calm and refocus a parent’s energy and communicate messages in a constructive manner.

Outline

• Implement face-to-face between parent and child to create a sense of well-being, connection and joy 
  • Watch and practice activities that increase warm facial expressions, synchronized movement and rhythm 
  • Learn activities that work to calm a dysregulated child and engage a withdrawn child 
• Learn to facilitate active dialogue between parent and child that is both safe and gets at the dyad’s core issues.    
  • Practice using PACE-Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity and Empathy 
  • Learn techniques to discern underlying motives/feelings underneath a child’s behaviors 
• Practice scenarios for de-escalating child and parent dysregulation optimal arousal and affect regulation,  
  • Detect and manage parent/child signs of escalation before they  sabotage the session 
  • Learn techniques for reducing intensity of content to allow child to stay with difficult content 
• Learn gentle ways to intervene and redirect a misattuned or critical parent  
  • Observe techniques for calming and refocusing parent’s energy 
  • Observe techniques for helping parent convey messages in a constructive manner 

Target Audience

• Counselors
• Social Workers
• Psychologists
• Psychotherapists
• Therapists
• Marriage & Family Therapists
• Addiction Counselors
• Case Managers
• Physicians
• Nurses
• Other Mental Health Professionals

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