SP14 – Helping Trauma Survivors to Have the Relationships They Deserve

SP14 – Helping Trauma Survivors to Have the Relationships They Deserve

Location: Regency Ballroom

Difficulty: Beginner

Survivors of complex childhood trauma –systemic abuse, neglect, and disrupted attachment schemata — enter adulthood with internal working models of relationship that often lead them into difficult and painful connections with others. I will address the specific challenges in empowering these survivors to stop “paying the price of admission” to intimacy, and discuss how therapists can find effective strategies for addressing pre-verbal and early verbal core beliefs about self, being lovable, and being safe in relationships.

Educational Objectives:

1. Describe how early attachment trauma creates problematic relationship schema, the “price of admission” construct
2. Describe strategies for assisting adults to identify their “price of admission” schemata
3. Describe how these problematic attachment schemata manifest themselves in therapy