Ignoring the impact of trauma on the client's family overlooks powerful dynamics that are crucial to treatment outcome. Participants in this workshop will learn how to involve the trauma sufferer's partner and other family members as resources in the healing process. Participants will learn how to better educate clients about the typical symptoms of trauma, the stages of trauma recovery, how to help family members both soothe and set limits with the traumatized person, and the typical pitfalls families encounter - including the depleting response of "enough already" as a family member tries to heal from a trauma.
This workshop will focus on providing treatment strategies clinicians and other human services providers can use in their work with youth who are troubled by circumstances that complicate the negotiation of the "normal developmental struggles" of adolescence. A framework for understanding adolescents who are prone toward angry, aggressive and explosive behaviors will be presented. Specific strategies for enhancing effective assessment, engagement and treatment with troubled adolescents will be provided.