Professional Development in the Manawatu

Creating Trusting Connections: helping children who have experienced trauma and loss

Presenter: Dr Sian Phillips

Healthy relationships in the early years facilitate optimal brain integration and development and are correlated with mental health. However, when children experience abuse, neglect or multiple caregivers, the high level of stress associated with these experiences changes the architecture of their brain and makes it difficult for them to establish relationships. In the absence of good enough relationships, these children are at risk for neurological, cognitive, emotional and behavioural challenges that effect their ongoing mental health and longterm wellbeing. Many children, when placed in a setting that provides attuned and sensitive responsiveness, are able to learn how to engage in and benefit from the dyadic experiences provided by a different family member, foster or adoptive parent. Other children who have been much more traumatised and compromised in those aspects of their development often have much greater difficulty responding to their new caregiver. This workshop combines contemporary understanding of brain development and the principles of Dyadic Developmental Practice (DDP) to guide both helping professionals and carers in how they best support a child who cannot trust relationships.
Participants will understand:

• How toxic levels of stress impact on brain development.
• Insecure and disorganised attachment patterns and the relevance for ongoing development.
• The vulnerability behind challenging behaviour and how that behaviour might be adaptive.
• How to use Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity and Empathy (P.A.C.E.) to help a child regulate their emotions, make sense of their world in less shame-based ways and to learn how to trust relationships.

Sian Phillips is a psychologist in private practice in Kingston, Ontario. Since gaining her Ph.D. from the University of Toronto she has specialised in the assessment of childhood trauma and attachment difficulties, working with children and caregivers for the last 20 years. Sian is a certified DDP therapist, consultant and trainer. She is also an adjunct professor at Queen's University, supervising students in their clinical placements. Her vast knowledge in this area, when combined with her interactive and engaging teaching style and thoughtful use of case study material, mean this one-day workshop will be relevant for counsellors, therapists, education professionals, social service and mental health providers working with children and their families, and those caring or parenting children with attachment and trauma histories.

Imago Relationship Therapy Training: intro workshop

Presenter: Brenda Rawlings MNZAC

This Two Day Training presents an opportunity to experience Imago Relationship Therapy (IRT), giving an overview of Imago theory and clinical practice, and the relational processes which underpin this transformational work. In these two days, we offer an in-depth understanding of relational dynamics from both an attachment and developmental perspective, incorporating developments from clinical research and neuroscience. This module introduces therapists to the Relational Paradigm, and what it means to view couple dynamics through a relational and dialogical lens. Participants will be introduced to the practice of the Imago Dialogue through both clinical and experiential work and receive an introduction to the impact of neuro-biological functioning on couple relationships, the need to integrate the positive (including the Appreciation Dialogue), and clear steps for relationship repair which promote safety and connection. These two days can be taken independently without proceeding to the next step, the Imago Clinical Training. There are no specific requirements for attending these two days of training.

Brenda Rawlings trained originally as a Social Worker through Massey University. In 1989 Brenda retrained in Counselling, beginning in private practice in 1991. She has specialised in relationship counselling since 1998. She is a leader, both in New Zealand and internationally in the field of relationships. She is currently Dean of the Imago International Institute and in 2013 was the recipient of the Harville Hendrix Award for Clinical Excellence.

MAURI ORA:The Metrics of Flourishing

Presenter: Sir Mason Durie

Regardless of whether your professional focus is on prevention, promotion, treatment, education, rehabilitation or development, well-being is ultimately dependent upon the dynamic interaction of people with each other and with the wider cultural, social, economic, political and physical environments in which people live. Sir Mason will unwrap how Māori wellbeing is the product of these combined forces acting on the past and present experiences so that future prospects can be enhanced. Some of the key areas that will be discussed include: 

• Mauri Ora and Mauri noho – flourishing and languishing
• Current and future cultural demographics in New Zealand and implications for a changing society
• Personal and environmental risks to wellbeing, and measures to build resilience
• The application of Māori perspectives to therapeutic interventions
• The importance of Whānau and Whānau development for Aotearoa in the future

Sir Mason Durie is from Rangitane, Ngāti Kauwhata and Ngāti Raukawa.  He is a medical practitioner and specialist psychiatrist and has held the positions of Professor of Māori Studies and Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Massey University.  He has particular interests in health, education, indigenous advancement, mental health care and Māori development.  He has served on a number of Boards and Trusts, including the Families Commission, Secondary Futures, Te Papa Tongarewa, the Foundation for Research Science and Technology, the National Health Committee, the Mental Health Foundation, the Alcohol & Liquor Advisory Council, the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Māori Health, the Whānau Ora Governance Group and the Mental Health Foundation.  He was knighted in 2010 for his contributions to Public Health and especially to Māori Health. 

When a Baby Dies: Caring for Parent; Caring for Self

Presenter: Deborah Davis, PhD - Developmental Psychologist from Denver Colorado, USA.

VCA Speaker Series 2017 - Half-day workshops in the main centres on working with bereaved families following baby loss and taking care of yourself as a professional. 

Part One: Caring for Parents 

• Providing quality bereavement care 
• Using emotional intelligence to communicate with grieving parents 
• Fostering the benefits of relationship-centred care 

Part Two: Caring for Self: 

• Dealing with vicarious or secondary trauma 
• Overcoming compassion fatigue 
• Developing caregiver resilience 

Deborah Davis, PhD has been researching and writing about the emotional aspects of perinatal bereavement and bereavement care since 1984. She is the author of 7 books, including Empty Cradle, Broken Heart (3rd ed. 2016), and a contributor to many others, including chapters in professional manuals. Since 2011, she has been blogging for Psychology Today.

POSTIVE PSYCHOLOGY: Practical Applications with Young People and Families

Presenter: Dr Denise Quinlan

There are two complementary strategies for improving the well-being of people. One is to relieve what is negative in life; the other is to strengthen what is positive. Mainstream psychology focuses largely on the first strategy; positive psychology emphasizes the second. In less than a decade, positive psychology has caught the attention of the academic community and increasingly is successfully utilised by helping professionals to improve the overall wellbeing of the people they work with. Positive psychology approaches balance practice so that they are as concerned with strength as with weakness; as interested in building the best things in life as in repairing the worst; and as concerned with making the lives of people fulfilling as with healing pathology. The value of positive psychology is to complement and extend the problem-focused psychology that has been dominant for many decades. Its focus is on potential, and it aims to discover and promote the factors that allow individuals, families and communities to thrive. In this highly engaging workshop Dr Denise Quinlan will introduce positive psychology models and techniques that are of particular relevance to work with children, young people and families. Some of the key areas that will be discussed include:

• The science behind positive psychology and why it has proven to be so successful
• Positive psychology’s links to positive youth development and resilience, emotions research and cognitive and social neuroscience
• An introduction to positive psychology concepts that build, promote and develop well-being
• Why relationships and social connection are vital for well-being at all ages, and how mindset, optimism, and positive emotions and experiences contribute to well-being
• An exploration of a suite of practical positive psychology techniques and tools that can be used to facilitate well-being which have applicability across a range of professional settings
• How to optimise positive psychology interventions when risk and vulnerability are present.

Dr Denise Quinlan specialises in the science of well-being.  She holds a Masters degree in Applied Positive Psychology from the University Pennsylvania, and a PhD focused on well-being in education. She lectures in positive psychology for an Australian-based Diploma of positive psychology and a Masters in Positive Leadership and Strategy at IE University in Spain.  She has published in international journals and authored multiple chapters on topics relating to positive psychology and resilience. Denise is the creator of the ‘Awesome Us’ strengths programme which was recently piloted in New Zealand schools. Denise speaks with an engaging energy and clarity on this topic that will ensure participants leave equipped with practical strategies that can be incorporated immediately into your their existing practice framework.