Layers of Trauma: A Recorded Session Analysis

led by Ava Rose, LCSW & Pat Ogden, PhD

The debilitating aftermath of trauma lies in the patterns of response that endure over time and impair the survivor’s well-being in the here and now.  The past cannot be undone, but addressing and changing these habits of organizing internal experience through Sensorimotor Psychotherapy can resolve the cumulative effects of repeated trauma.

In this presentation of a recorded zoom therapy session, Pat is the therapist, and Ava Rose, certified in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy (SP) and method actor, portrays one of her own clients, “Ellen,” who has a history of recent and past sexual abuse, as well as intergenerational trauma.

Learning Objectives Include:

• Analyze the significance of body awareness to improve clinical outcome
• Apply 3 mindfulness interventions in session
• Evaluate transgenerational trauma and its clinical implications
• Identify somatic symptoms of trauma 

This session demonstrates working to resolve traumatic arousal with the SP intervention of “sensorimotor sequencing” and using body oriented techniques to elicit active defenses.  Since the client froze during previous abuse and tends to freeze currently when faced with challenge, experiencing her capacity to defend is especially empowering.

During the session, layers of trauma emerge, including past, recent and trans-generational.  We demonstrate how to work with the effects of these traumas as they emerge by staying focused on how internal experience is organized into habits of response, and facilitating change through mindful, body oriented interventions.

CREDITS: 2
FEE: $115