The Neuroscience of Safety: Polyvagal Theory on Supporting Children Across All Diagnostic Categories

Credit

Handouts

Faculty

Mona M. Delahooke, PhD Related seminars and products

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Mona M. Delahooke, PhD, is a clinical psychologist who’s worked with multi-disciplinary teams for over 30 years. A senior faculty member of the Profectum Foundation, she’s the author of the national bestseller Brain-Body Parenting, How to Stop Managing Behaviors and Start Raising Joyful, Resilient Kids,. and the award-winning Beyond Behaviors: Using Brain Science and Compassion to Understand and Solve Children’s Behavioral Challenges.

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Mona Delahooke maintains a private practice and has employment relationships with the Los Angeles Department of Mental Health, the Profectum Foundation, and Villa Esperanza Services. She receives royalties as a published author. Dr. Delahooke receives a speaking honorarium, recording, and book royalties from Psychotherapy Networker and PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Mona Delahooke is a member of the American Psychological Association, the Zero to Three Foundation, the Infant Development Association of California, and the Partnership for Awareness.

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Objectives

1. Apply the lens of the Polyvagal theory to distinguish the adaptive nature of behaviors in children diagnosed with and without DSM diagnoses.
2. Differentiate between viewing and manipulating surface behaviors and addressing the upstream causes of behaviors across diagnostic categories of the DSM.
3. Evaluate how the process of neuroception can be utilized as a guiding principle for treatment planning and treatment techniques.

Outline

• Understanding Behaviors as adaptations of the autonomic nervous system: A paradigm shift
• Case Study that illustrates the Problems with Targeting Surface Behaviors: Know the Problem in order to shift the strategies
• The Neuroscience of Safety: How the PVT helps us “look inside” the nervous system. The guiding principle of neuroception and how it can help clinicians
• Understanding Individual Differences and Tailoring our Support for Children and Families
• The Developmental Iceberg: Categorizing Individual Differences in Tailoring Support for each child
• Individual differences in sensory processing, and how the auditory system can trigger defense or receptivity. The difference between passive and active pathway interventions and the use of the Safe and Sound Protocol as an example of a passive pathway intervention that harnesses the neuroception of safety. 
• Safety is Treatment and Treatment is Safety: Practical Tips
• How the neuroscience of safety helps us plan treatment goals: Examples and principles of neural exercises and how they apply the ‘vagal brake’ to calm and promote resilience

Target Audience

• Addiction Counselors
• Counselors
• Marriage and Family Therapists
• Social Workers
• Other Mental Health Professionals