Certified Family Trauma Professional Intensive Training: Effective Techniques for Treating Traumatized Children, Adolescents and Families

CEUs

Handouts

Faculty

Robert Rhoton, PsyD, LPC, D.A.A.E.T.S. Related seminars and products

Vice President

International Association of Trauma Professionals

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Robert Rhoton, PsyD, LPC, DAAETS, is a retired faculty member from Ottawa University (Phoenix) where he worked for 20 years in the Behavioral Sciences and Counseling Department. Dr. Rhoton’s primary interests are training counselors to work with traumagenic family dynamics; child & family trauma; and non-egoic models of treatment.

As CEO of Arizona Trauma Institute, Dr. Rhoton has supervised multiple outpatient clinics, juvenile justice programs, and intensive outpatient substance abuse programs for adolescents, as well as day treatment programs for children and youth, adult offender programs, child and family therapeutic services, advanced training in child and adolescent trauma treatment, family therapy, and family trauma work.

Dr. Rhoton is the past president of the Arizona Trauma Therapy Network (2010-2012). He is a Diplomate of the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress and collaborates and consults with several Arizona community behavioral health agencies to fine tune their understanding of trauma. Dr. Rhoton serves on the Arizona Department of Health Services Trauma Informed Care (TIC) task-force as a community member. He is a gubernatorial appointee to the Arizona Board of Behavioral Health Examiners and Governor’s Office of Youth, Faith and Family.

Speaker Disclosure:

Financial: Dr. Robert Rhoton is the CEO of Trauma Institute International and the Arizona Trauma Institute. He is a consultant for the Department of Child Safety (DCS). Dr. Rhoton receives a speaking honorarium, book royalties, and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. He is a published author and receives royalties. He has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.

Non-financial: Dr. Robert Rhoton serves on the Phoenix Children’s Hospital Adverse Childhood Experience Consortium's executive committee and the Arizona Department of health Services' (ADHS) trauma-informed care task force.

Target Audience

Objectives

1. Utilize the physiology of the body as a means to explain dysfunction and traumatic family patterns to improve clinical outcomes.
2. Utilize clinical strategies to incorporate treatment that reduces the impact of Traumagenesis in families.
3. Explain the clinical implications of the theory that from a family prospective, trauma is more about Traumagenesis than focused on specific events.
4. Identify the parts of the brain and nervous system that create trauma and change family dynamics and relate this to case conceptualization.
5. Utilize clinical strategies to reduce the feelings of shame, guilt and judgement in clients.
6. Correlate the findings of the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACEs) to the lifelong impact on people and families for the purpose of client psychoeducation.
7. Explain the process by which trauma is created and maintained in families and it’s clinical implications.
8. Explain how the process of adaption and change creates problematic behaviors and dysfunctional family dynamics, and how the process of adaptation informs the clinician’s choice of treatment interventions.
9. List the stages of safety building as related to clinical treatment.
10. Put into clinical practice the International Association of Trauma Professionals trauma treatment structure.
11. Assess family dynamics from a Traumageneic prospective and how these dynamics inform clinical treatment options.
12. Apply the primary models of family-based treatment for trauma in a clinical setting.

Outline

Day 1

• Trauma: The Creator of Adaptive and Maladaptive Behavior Traumagenesis
  • Neurobiology/physiology and the creation of adaptive responses
  • Adaptive responses and reason, planning or intentionality
  • Environmental activators of the threat response system
• How Trauma is Created and Maintained in Families
  • Adaptive and maladaptive behaviors
  • Patterns become family culture
  • Family culture becomes a transfer agent between generations
• The Impact of Trauma on Family Culture
  • Patterns and genetics
  • How beliefs and personally relevant truths are established
  • Family homeostasis based on trauma and the resultant behaviors
• Assessing Family Trauma
  • Traumagenic assessment process
  • The 7 domains of assessment for families
  • Family Strengths and Needs and Trauma Assessment FANS-T
• Stabilizing Families for Treatment
  • Reactive adaptation to help families feel safe in therapy
  • Normalize the reactions that operate in the family
  • Build hope through compassion and respect
  • Engage families in the process of treatment

• Treatment from a Family-Based Prospective
  • Benefits of treating families over children for trauma
  • Neurobiological sound approach to treatment
• Essentials for Family-Based Trauma Treatment
  • Manage self and keep out of the threat response system
  • Calm parties by educating them on the treatment process
  • Focus on function over behaviors
  • Deal with shame, guilt and judgment
• IATP Treatment Structure for Families
  • Active ingredients applied to family treatment
  • Relationship building: Safety and predictability in treatment
  • Psychoeducation
  • Self-regulation skill building
  • Growth and resilience in families
• Models of Treatment for Families
  • Figley’s family trauma treatment
  • ARC – Attachment, Regulation and Competency
  • CPP – Child and Parent Psychotherapy
  • Brier and Langtree’s Self-trauma treatment structure
  • Relationship enhancement play therapies
• Resolution of Trauma within Families
  • Put families on the pathway to growth and resilience
  • Activities to help families prepare for intervention
  • Examine family culture for activators
  • Create a shared language around common elements