A theoretical course illustrated with clinical examples. This course is composed of videos of 5 to 15 minutes each. The PowerPoint of the course to download.
Applying Polyvagal Principles to Help Clients Build Nervous System Resilience
Dr. Debra Alvis, Psychologist
Excerpt:
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Overview
Polyvagal Theory has been termed “the science of safety.” A sense of safety allows us to thrive and fully love life. Yet, many of our clients and patients struggle to find and maintain the safety needed to face the risks and the wonder inherent in living. Polyvagal Theory offers a psychological and physiological understanding of our shifts through mobilization, disconnection, and engagement. This understanding shapes new approaches to trauma treatment, relational concerns, and mood disorders.
This workshop will support you in applying the Polyvagal Theory in your practice and will provide a comprehensive approach to intervention. You will learn how to identify clients’ autonomic responses and how to re-pattern the autonomic nervous system for a greater sense of safety. Experiential exercises and worksheets will guide you in the application of polyvagal knowledge to clinical work.
Accreditation
About the expert
Dr. Debra Alvis, PhD, MMT, C-IAYT, is a licensed psychologist and wellness consultant whose compassion fatigue trainings have helped healthcare professionals around the world, including the medical staff at various flagship state university health centers. She developed the Mind/Body Program at the University of Georgia, which provided clinician training on the integration of contemplative approaches into psychotherapy. As a professor at the University of Georgia, she supervised doctoral students and co-led a research team investigating applied mindfulness practices.
Over the last 20 years, Dr. Alvis has also designed individual and group programs to promote stress hardiness, work-life balance, and resiliency for professionals working in environments with high demands on their empathy. Her work in a range of medical and mental health settings provides her with a keen understanding of these demands and the potential impact on professionals across disciplines.
Dr. Alvis lectures, leads retreats around the world, and maintains a private practice of psychotherapy. Her trainings have helped thousands of clinicians to integrate the richness of contemplative practices and somatic psychotherapies with Polyvagal informed work for greater clinical effectiveness. She is also certified as a mindfulness meditation teacher and as a yoga therapist.
Learning objectives
- Identify the factors that can contribute to compassion fatigue.
- Indicate how compassion fatigue relates to secondary trauma and burnout.
- Delineate the role of autonomic nervous system reactions in compassion fatigue development.
- Assess for vagal system states and related behaviors.
- Employ Polyvagal informed strategies from mindfulness and other mental health treatments to establish greater nervous system resiliency.
- Demonstrate how organizations can build resiliency in their employees and increase retention.
Learning material
Syllabus
- PowerPoint
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Contemplative Practice
- 3. Disclaimers
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Polyvagal Theory & How It Drives Behaviors
- 4. The Biology of Safety and Danger
- 5. Evolutionary Changes and Adaptive Functions
- 6. Defining Neuroception
- 7. Co-Regulation Through Social Engagement Behaviors
- 8. Polyvagal Informed Therapy
- Handouts 1
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Establish Disorder Specific Skills to Address Mood and Attachment
- 9. Recognize & Shift Nervous System States for Depression
- 10. Savor Moments
- 11. AWE
- 12. Build Secure Attachment
- Handouts 2
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Negotiate Trauma Treatment
- 13. Definition of Trauma
- 14. Polyvagal Perspective on Trauma
- 15. Repattern Social Withdrawal & Shutdown Responses
- 16. Why Work with the Body
- 17. Reading and Addressing the Somatic Narrative
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Recognize Autonomic States & Strengthen Resiliency Through Contemplative Practice
- 18. Using the 5 Senses
- 19. Tone the Vagal Nerve
- 20. Interoceptive Awareness
- 21. Vagal Strengthening
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The Polyvagal Therapeutic Container
- 22. The 3 Parts Breath
- 23. Therapeutic Presence, Attunement, Resonance, Trust
- 24. A Lapse of Therapeutic Presence
- 25. Evoking Safety with the Environment
- Handouts 3
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Return to Practice Integrating a polyvagal Approach
- 26. Establish Relational Reciprocity & Repair Skills
- 27. Build Relationships with Self and Others
- 28. Advices and Last Thoughts
- 29. Practice- Bells of Mindfulness
- 30. Practice- Movement with Breath
- 31. Practice- The Use of Poetry and Sound
- 32. Recap
- 33. Conclusion
- Handouts 4
- Handouts 5
- Bibliography
CE Credits
Download a certificate of successful completion.
Audience
This course is intended for mental health professionals.
Registration
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Frequently asked questions
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How long do I have access to the course?
After your registration, the course is accessible anytime and from anywhere for 124 days.
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When does the course start?
That is entirely up to you! When you buy a course, you'll receive an access link that you can activate when you want.
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Is there a student rate?
Yes there is! To learn more, email us at contact@asadis.net.
Legal notice
The courses offered by ASADIS are accredited by different professional organisations. In addition, ASADIS is approved by the Canadian Psychological Association to offer continuing education for psychologists. ASADIS maintains responsibility for the program.
The CPA’s approval of an individual, group, or organization as a CE Sponsor or Provider is restricted to the activities described in the approved application or annual report form. The CPA’s approval does not extend to any other CE activity the Sponsor or Provider might offer. In granting its approval, the CPA assumes no legal or financial obligations to Sponsors, Providers, or to those individuals who might participate in a Sponsor or Provider’s CE activities or programs. Further, responsibility for the content, provision, and delivery of any CE activity approved by the CPA remains that of the CE Sponsor or Provider. The CPA disclaims all legal liability associated with the content, provision, and delivery of the approved CE activity.