Virtual Training Series

There are many ways to practice mindfulness – being in the present with moment-to-moment awareness and non-judgement. Join us for this three-hour didactic and experiential workshop drawing on some of the meditation, stress management and breath-work practices of MBSR.

Participants will experience selected poetry and mindfulness writing prompts designed to cultivate and deepen the qualities of attention, acceptance, compassion, appreciation and affirmation as well as develop an integrated understanding of some of the neuroscience behind various types of writing approaches and their nervous system impact.

We will experience directly the regulating power of responding versus reacting to thoughts and sensate focus interspersed with writing activities and reflective sharing. This workshop is an introduction to the concepts of the applied neuroscience of expressive writing and MBSR and does not substitute for training in either.

Nancy is a licensed clinical social worker in the states of NY and CT, a registered poetry therapist, certified in journal therapy and a trainer in both methods. She is a holistic psychotherapist trained in experiential trauma approaches (EMDR, IFS, Somatic Experiencing and the action methods of Psychodrama) and has a multi-modal practice She is in full-time private practice and heads her consulting firm, Change Your Narrative LCSW PLLC, which allows her to provide continuing education and consultation services for area organizations, corporations, clinics and clinicians. She is a Senior Adjunct for Adelphi University’s School of Social Work as well as an Online Campus Advisor for Columbia University’s School of Social Work.

She is on the Kint faculty and the Therapeutic Writing Institute. Nancy has enjoyed the multi-modal use of the arts as a writer, teacher and clinician for over 25 years.

Course Objectives:

• Apply at least two of the eight principles of mindfulness to the task of expressive writing

• Differentiate through their own written and observed experience the difference between reacting to thoughts/stimuli and responding

• Prepare beginning sample writing prompts for work with their particular population

Agenda:

6:00-6:50

• Entrance meditation / relaxation / writing exercise to set tone and expectations for workshop
• Overview of the core principles of mindfulness-based stress reduction (non-judgment, patience, beginner’s mind, trust, non-striving, acceptance and letting go
• Inclusion of some of the research about mindfulness-based interventions
• Experiential exposure to some illustrative writing prompts and examples from literature

6:50-7:15

• Overview of various types of writing and research on their related impact on the nervous system (metaphor, poetry, expressive writing, creative non-fiction, illness narratives)
• Experiential writing practice exercises

7:15-7:30 BREAK

7:30-8:10

• Synthesis writing
• Dyad and breakout group work to process the response to the various types of writing
• Whole group processing

8:10-9:15

• Discussion of crafting writing prompts for specific populations, case discussion, questions about application
• Closure writing and meditation activity, evaluations

Content Level: Intermediate, Advanced

Target Audience: Psychologists, Psychoanalysts, Psychiatrists, Social Workers, MFTs, Counselors, Substance Abuse Counselors, Occupational Therapists

CE credits available: 3 CEs ($20). Click here for CE language.

Cancellation Policy: All registrations are non-refundable.

Certificates: Certificates are available following course completion at www.ceuregistration.com

Disclosure Statement: Nancy S. Scherlong has no relevant financial or nonfinancial relationships to disclose.

CEs are available through R. Cassidy Seminars.

For questions or concerns, please contact info@kintinstitute.org

Trauma deeply impacts peoples’ capacity for connection and relationship. Songs can have immense value in clinical work for music therapists and non-music therapists alike. Working with songs through a trauma-informed framework can help provide rich opportunities for safety, remembrance and reconnection – key needs of all trauma survivors.

This workshop will begin with a brief overview of foundational trauma concepts, as well as an interactive discussion about the different types of songs. Participants will engage in a multi-modal, multi-part song listening experiential that can be adapted both for use with clients and for deepening therapeutic insight/processing.

Maya Benattar, MA, MT-BC, LCAT is a music therapist and psychotherapist in private practice in Midtown Manhattan. She specializes in helping women who are struggling with anxiety, perfectionism, or developmental/intergenerational trauma. In addition to her clinical work, Maya offers supervision/consultation for other therapists, provides professional development and wellness workshops, and offers online and in-person Reclaim Your Rhythm workshops for helpers and healers.

Maya received her master’s degree from New York University, and has completed extensive postgraduate training in vocal psychotherapy, creative arts therapies in trauma treatment, and music and imagery. She has over a decade of diverse clinical experience in medical, educational, community, and private practice settings. For more information about Maya and her work, visit her website at www.mayabenattar.com.

Course Objectives:

• Identify at least 3 components of a trauma-informed framework

• Apply 3 ways to use/adapt songs within a trauma-informed therapy framework

Agenda:

1:00 Overview of physiological/emotional/relational aspects of trauma

1:10 Review of foundational concepts, including: Big T/little t trauma, window of tolerance, Judith Herman’s stages of recovery, key needs of trauma survivors

1:30 Songs as a way to meet these key needs, including ways to adapt/what to be aware of

2:00 3 part song listening process, including time for group processing

2:50 Q & A

Content Level: Beginning/Introductory, Intermediate

Target Audience: Psychologists, Psychoanalysts, Social Workers, MFTs, Counselors, Substance Abuse Counselors, Creative Arts Therapists

CE credits available: 2 CEs ($15). Click here for CE language.

Cancellation Policy: All registrations are non-refundable.

Certificates: Certificates are available following course completion at www.ceuregistration.com

Disclosure Statement: Maya Benattar has no relevant financial or nonfinancial relationships to disclose.

CEs are available through R. Cassidy Seminars.

For questions or concerns, please contact info@kintinstitute.org

Transgender, non-binary, and gender diverse clients experience significantly high rates of trauma, often due to systemic and cultural biases related to gender conformity. When amplified by the experience of trauma, navigating one’s gender identity in an invalidating, ciscentric world can be destabilizing. The chaos of both experiences colliding can create confusion for both client and therapist. Where do these narratives overlap? Where do they diverge? Through a combination of discussion and experiential learning, participants will navigate how to help clients story their gender narratives and traumatic experiences in order to make meaning and experience integration.

Kat Lee, MA, RDT, CCLS is a drama therapist with additional training in working with medically compromised children and their families. She treats children, adolescents, and adults at the Post Traumatic Stress Center in New Haven, CT, where she also assistant directs a trauma-centered, public health program for adolescents in the school system. She is a proud graduate of the inaugural cohort at Kint.

Creative arts therapies are gaining traction for trauma treatment. Ritual is widely cited as essential to best practice trauma treatment to support the development of new neural pathways. Therapists who tend to their clients’ suffering also benefit from creative processes and rituals to express and contain intense emotions, and promote resilience.

We live equally in the light and in the dark. Many of us live in contexts which privilege the light, and where darkness is frequently shunned. Just as the tiniest of seeds needs to bed down in the darkness of earth to grow, humans require resting into a fertile, dark void to regenerate, and foster creativity.

This two hour virtual ritual will equally honor dark and light through a reflective creative process. This ritual offering is an opportunity for therapists, healers and anyone confronting the suffering of others through their work to gather in a shared liminal space.

Come prepared with writing and drawing materials, a comfortable place to sit, nesting materials (yoga mat, blankets, pillows, cushions), a little space to move, and a candle and matches/lighter. You may also want to have water.

Dr. Amber Elizabeth Gray, The Kint Institute’s Executive Director, moves from a diverse landscape of experience. 28 years studying and teaching Haitian dance led her to Dance/Movement Therapy and Continuum. A human rights psychotherapist, she works with survivors of political violence in the U.S and is an international consultant, advising many programs worldwide on staff care and wellness programming. Considered a trailblazer in Dance Movement Therapy, Continuum and Somatic Psychology with survivors of torture and war trauma, Amber provides clinical training on the integration of refugee mental health and torture treatment with creative arts, mindfulness, and body-based therapies worldwide. She originated Polyvagal informed Soma-Movement & Dance Therapy, based on 20+ years immersion in Polyvagal Theory and collegial idea-sharing with Dr. Porges. She regularly leads eco-somatic “wild-zeness” retreats with humans, animals, and the earth mother to inspire embodied regenerative activism. She is a Sevito in the Fran Ginee tradition of Vodou, an animal rights activist, and a lover of all things wild.

Marianne is a board certified art therapist and licensed mental health counselor who works with people of all ages. She has been providing trauma informed care to individuals and groups in outpatient settings since 2012 and began offering supervision in 2015. Marianne has offered trainings on trauma stabilization, preventing vicarious traumatization for direct care workers and educators, and working with therapist shame in clinical practice. Currently, Marianne provides art therapy and EMDR to individuals as part of a group practice of trauma informed therapists in Winchester, MA. Marianne completed Kint’s Level 1 training in 2017 as part of their first cohort.