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Online Learning

Bringing Trauma-Informed Yoga into Mental Health Clinical Practice


Credit Available - See CEUs tab below.

Categories:
Trauma |  Yoga
Faculty:
Debra Premashakti Alvis, PhD
Duration:
6 Hours 08 Minutes
Format:
Audio and Video
Original Program Date:
Jun 15, 2018
SKU:
POS052680
Media Type:
Online Learning


Description

Watch this state-of-the-art workshop and discover yoga-based interventions to regulate the autonomic nervous system and learn exactly how to incorporate these interventions into your psychotherapy session.

Watch Debra Premashakti Alvis, Ph.D., RYT, in an in-depth training on the principles and practices of trauma-informed yoga, with a special focus on chair yoga postures, yogic breathing exercises, and yoga nidra, the yogic sleep. She is one of the first practitioners to combine yoga with the wisdom of neuroscience and techniques from somatic psychology into a personalized approach for bringing yoga into the session, groups, and yoga classes. The focus of this work is on regulating the client’s autonomic nervous system as the groundwork for trauma healing.

Debra trained with Dr. Bessel van der Kolk’s The Trauma Center in Boston and will share transformational skills for you and your clients. Learn first-hand why organizations as diverse as the U.S. Army and the U.S prison system have embraced yoga as an evidence based approach to treat post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression.

Through lecture, experiential exercises, video clips, and case studies, you will leave with the background and tools you need to add trauma-informed yogic interventions to whatever style of therapy you currently practice

Discover how trauma-informed yoga can improve your clinical outcomes!

CEUs


General Credits

This course is available for 6.25 total CPDs

The HPCSA has declared that any on-line courses CPD/CEU credited by a certified US board, is automatically CPD/CEU credited in South Africa. 

As there are different boards for different disciplines, we at Acacia suggest that you use the Counselling CPD/CEU credits. These correspond to South African credits of one CPD/CEU per 60 minutes. If you choose to use your discipline's credits, please do so at your discretion.


Florida Social Workers

PESI, Inc. is an approved provider with the Florida Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapy and Mental Health Counseling. Provider Number 50-399. This self-study course qualifies for 6.25 continuing education credits. 



Handouts

Faculty

Debra Premashakti Alvis, PhD's Profile

Debra Premashakti Alvis, PhD Related seminars and products


Debra Premashakti Alvis, PhD, is a licensed psychologist and private practitioner with over 30 years of clinical experience in supporting clients’ recovery from trauma, mood and relational concerns. Debra began working with parts of the self over three decades ago training extensively in Jungian oriented psychotherapy and contemplative approaches. She applied movement, mindfulness, and the expressive arts to explore parts of the self. She deepened her understanding of inner parts through multiple Internal Family Systems therapy educational trainings, combining her embodied contemplative approach with the IFS model. She finds that this integrative approach strengthens the self through facilitating the resolution of inner conflicts.

A seasoned international presenter and consultant, Dr. Alvis is a therapeutic yoga educator and mindfulness meditation teacher. She retired as faculty member from the University of Georgia where she developed and led the mind/body program. The program included a clinician training program integrating mindfulness, yoga and psychotherapy. A personal contemplative practice, research experience, and a deep understanding of Polyvagal Theory further enrich her presentations. She draws upon this unique background to provide effective, easily applicable skills designed for immediate integration into clinicians’ practices.
In addition to teaching, Dr. Alvis maintains a private practice and has more than 25 years of clinical experience in treating clients with a variety of conditions by mindfulness principles, body-oriented principles and traditional psychotherapeutic approaches. She also has an over 30-year personal contemplative practice.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Debra Alvis maintains a private practice and receives a speaking honorarium from PSIvet, Ridgeview Institute, Twin Lakes Recovery Center, eCare, Essential Therapy Training, Alma, CEU Creations and Mountain Area Health Education Center. She is a paid consultant for Evergreen Certifications. Debra Alvis receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Debra Alvis is a member of the American Association of College Student Personnel, the Association for Contemplative Mind in Higher Education, the Association of Specialists in Group Work, the Athens Area Psychological Association, and the Georgia Psychological Association.


Additional Info

Program Information

Access for Self-Study (Non-Interactive)

Access never expires for this product.


Objectives

  1. Evaluate ways that autonomic nervous system dysregulation contributes to PTSD symptoms.
  2. Ascertain symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder which can be decreased through a trauma-sensitive yoga practice.
  3. Practice trauma-informed chair yoga postures for use in the individual or group psychotherapy session.
  4. Determine the benefits of bringing yogic deep relaxation into the therapy session.
  5. Specify yogic strategies to help reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression in clients.
  6. Apply applications of chair yoga and three-part deep breathing practices into your clinical work, using scripts and practice sessions.

Outline

The Yoga Tradition and Neuropsychology
  • Yoga, Patanjali and MIR’s
  • The importance of heart rate variability (HRV)
Embodied Psychotherapy
  • The Triune Brain: left out of traditional psychotherapy?
  • Regulating the brain’s trauma center
  • Tracking body sensation and breathing deeply
  • A frame of reference from Somatic Psychotherapy
  • Neuroplasticity and interpersonal neurobiology
Apply Trauma-Informed Yoga Postures in the Psychotherapy Session for PTSD, Anxiety and Depression
  • The evidence in evidence-based yoga practice
  • Yoga and polarities
  • Guided script for chair yoga:
    • 5 trauma-informed chair yoga postures
    • Guiding and integrating the poses into your existing treatment modality (EMDR, Somatic Experiencing, etc.)
  • Chair trauma-yoga:
    • Tracking body sensation
    • Gaining self-mastery
    • Increasing self-regulation
    • Expanding present-moment awareness
  • Experience a chair yoga warm up and posture sequence
Yoga and the Breath
  • Respiration and the autonomic nervous system (ANS)
  • Breathing techniques to regulate the ANS and calm symptoms of trauma, anxiety and depression
  • Experience the three-part deep breath and script
Structure of the Embodied Psychotherapy Session or Group
  • Evaluating the client
  • Opening the session
  • Healing polarities:
    • Inner/outer
    • Sympathetic/parasympathetic activation
    • Sensing/action
    • Cognitive/somatic
  • Healthy symptoms of trauma discharge
  • Key points in making referrals to yoga classes
Therapeutic Value of Yoga Nidra (Yogic Sleep)
  • The benefits of sleeping while awake
  • Varieties of Yoga Nidra
  • Guided experience of Satchidananda’s Yoga Nidra
  • Discussion of Yoga Nidra script
Using Meditation
  • The relaxation response
  • Mindfulness meditation: open-focused meditation
  • A guided experience of both styles of meditation
  • The benefits of meditation in the trauma psychotherapy session
Case Study

Target Audience

Counselors, Psychotherapists, Social Workers, Case Managers, Marriage & Family Therapists, Addiction Counselors, Nurses, Nurse Practitioners, Clinical Nurse Specialists, Other Mental Health Professionals, Occupational Therapists & Occupational Therapy Assistants

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