YEGConference-Trauma – Institute of Child Psychology

2022 YEG CONFERENCE PRESENTER SPOTLIGHT

MORGAN BISSEGGER, R.PSYCH

CHILDHOOD TRAUMA: Finding a Way Through

Trauma can significantly impact a child, and those caring for them are often left with questions about how to best help. Children with trauma can present significant challenges, and they often display patterns of behaviour that can strain the relationship between the child and those caring for them.

During this presentation, Morgan will explore the impact of trauma on neurological development and how this presents in children’s behaviours. The impact on the attachment system will also be examined, as will the role of relationship in healing and growth. Strategies to support children following experiences of trauma will be presented, giving attendees concrete ways in which they can support the children in their lives and care for themselves. This course aims to offer practical information to caregivers and professionals on why certain behaviours may be present, and how they can support their children in moving towards growth and healing.

Examine the impact of trauma on neurological development
Explore the impact of trauma on attachment systems and relational patterns
Foster a greater understanding of behavioural patterns commonly associated with traumatic experiences
Develop tools and strategies to support the children in your life to thrive
Learn about appropriate treatment options available based on the type of trauma a child has experienced and the timing of the incident

Morgan is a Registered Psychologist and Registered Play Therapist; currently practicing in Edmonton, Alberta, as the Clinical Director of the Sexual Assault Centre of Edmonton. Morgan is also a trauma specialist, and supervises and trains clinicians in trauma-informed therapy. Morgan has experience treating children in group homes, schools, foster care, and in clinical settings. Morgan understands the importance of relationships and works primarily from an attachment perspective; she believes that relationship is an essential component of healing.

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Therapeutic Play

Play is to the child what talk is to the adult. Play therapy is a
medium for expressing feelings, exploring relationships, describing experiences, disclosing wishes, and self- fulfillment. Children express themselves and their needs, relive their past, and connect with others through play. The use of toys enables children to transfer anxieties, fears, fantasies, and guilt to objects rather than people. In the process, children are safe from their own feelings and reactions because play enables children to distance themselves from stressful events and experiences.

Therapeutic play is an evidence-based approach to help children with social or emotional deficits learn to communicate better, express underlying feelings they may be struggling with, change their behaviour, develop problem-solving skills, and relate to others in positive ways. It is appropriate for children undergoing or witnessing stressful events in their lives, those struggling with academic and social problems, learning disabilities, behavioural disorders, anxiety, depression, grief, trauma, or anger; as well as those with attention deficit disorders, or who are on the autism spectrum. This training is aimed at introducing therapeutic play to parents, professionals, and caregivers.

This practical workshop is designed to increase connection, while facilitating emotionally therapeutic outcomes in children (i.e., reduced stress; processing of stressful experiences; increased confidence, empathy, pro-social behaviour, self-esteem, and attention span). It is especially useful in instances where play therapy is not accessible.

objectives

Explore the role of the play facilitator
Discuss ethical considerations
Learn about the stages of play and trajectory of therapeutic play
Discover a variety of therapeutic play techniques • Foster an introduction to coding and understanding play
Identify how to create a rich and diverse play room to work with children

instructor

Tammy Schamuhn – Registered Psychologist, Registered Play Therapist, Co-Founder of Institute of Child Psychology

Hunt, Gather, Parent

In this wonderful workshop, based on the book “Hunt, Gather, Parent” Doucleff discusses parenting strategies from families in three of the world’s most venerable communities: Maya families in Mexico, Inuit families above the Arctic Circle, and Hadzabe families in Tanzania. She sees that these cultures don’t have the same problems with children that Western parents do. Most strikingly, parents build a relationship with young children that is vastly different from the one many Western parents develop – it’s built on cooperation instead of control, trust instead of fear, and personalized needs instead of standardized development milestones.

Maya parents are masters at raising cooperative children. Without resorting to bribes, threats, or chore charts, Maya parents rear loyal helpers by including kids in household tasks from the time they can walk. Inuit parents have developed a remarkably effective approach for teaching children emotional intelligence. When kids cry, hit, or act out, Inuit parents respond with a calm, gentle demeanor that teaches children how to settle themselves down and think before acting. Hadzabe parents are world experts on raising confident, self-driven kids with a simple tool that protects children from stress and anxiety, so common now among American kids.

Not only does Doucleff live with families and observe their techniques firsthand, she also applies them with her own daughter, with striking results. She learns to discipline without yelling. She talks to psychologists, neuroscientists, anthropologists, and sociologists and explains how these strategies can impact children’s mental health and development. Filled with practical takeaways that parents can implement immediately, Doucleff helps us rethink the ways we relate to our children, and reveals a universal parenting paradigm adapted for American families.

objectives

Compare the difference between co-operation and control in parenting
Explore how cultures around the world tach children to self-regulate
Discuss how stress impacts a child’s mental health and how this is handled in different cultures
Examine how to build trust instead of fear and how to use personalized milestones with your child
Create a toolbox of practical ideas to help your child thrive

instructor

Dr. Michaleen Doucleff – Award-winning Journalist, Best-selling Author, & Global Health Correspondant

KEYNOTE - The Neuroscience of Happiness

To deal with life’s challenges and find happiness along the way, we need inner strengths like grit and gratitude, compassion and self-worth. To develop these psychological resources, we must install experiences of them into the nervous system.

But the brain has a negativity bias that makes it like Velcro for bad experiences but Teflon for good ones. As a result, useful experiences of psychological strengths usually wash through us like water through a sieve, while frustration, anxiety, and anger are quickly internalized. This flattens the results of both formal interventions such as psychotherapy and informal efforts to heal and grow.

In this experiential presentation, we’ll explore evidence-based ways to beat the negativity bias and turn passing experiences into lasting inner strengths hardwired into the brain. You’ll learn the HEAL methods of positive neuroplasticity for developing any psychological resource. Then we’ll apply these tools to developing greater calm, contentment, and confidence.

Learning is the strength of strengths, the one we draw upon to grow the rest of them. When we know how to foster our own social-emotional learning with the tools of positive neuroplasticity, then we have a remarkable power to steepen our own growth curve each day. Then both adults and children can meet the challenges of life with an inner core of resilient well-being.

presenter: DR. RICK HANSON

Rick Hanson, Ph.D. is a psychologist, Senior Fellow at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, and New York Times best-selling author. His six books have been published in 30 languages and include Neurodharma, Resilient, Hardwiring Happiness, Just One Thing, Buddha’s Brain, and Mother Nurture – with over a million copies in English alone. His free newsletters have 220,000 subscribers and his online programs have scholarships available for those with financial needs. He’s lectured at NASA, Google, Oxford, and Harvard, and taught in meditation centers worldwide. An expert on positive neuroplasticity, his work has been featured on the CBS, NPR, the BBC, and other major media. He began meditating in 1974 and is the founder of the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom. He and his wife live in northern California and have two adult children. He loves wilderness and taking a break from emails.

KEYNOTE - The Power of Showing Up

One of the very best scientific predictors for how any child turns out—in terms of happiness, academic success, leadership skills, and meaningful relationships—is whether at least one adult in their life has consistently shown up for them. In an age of scheduling demands and digital distractions, showing up for your child might sound like a tall order. But as Tina Payne Bryson reassuringly explains, it doesn’t take a lot of time, energy, or money. Instead, showing up means offering a quality of presence. And it’s simple to provide once you understand the four building blocks of a child’s healthy development. Every child needs to feel the Four S’s:

• Safe: We can’t always insulate a child from injury or avoid doing something that leads to hurt feelings. But when we give a child a sense of safe harbor, she will be able to take the needed risks for growth and change.
• Seen: Truly seeing a child means we pay attention to his emotions—both positive and negative—and strive to attune to what’s happening in his mind beneath his behavior.
• Soothed: Soothing isn’t about providing a life of ease; it’s about teaching your child how to cope when life gets hard, and showing him that you’ll be there with him along the way. A soothed child knows that he’ll never have to suffer alone.
• Secure: When a child knows she can count on you, time and again, to show up—when you reliably provide safety, focus on seeing her, and soothe her in times of need, she will trust in a feeling of secure attachment. And thrive!

Based on the latest brain and attachment research, Dr. Bryson shares stories, scripts, simple strategies, illustrations, and tips for honoring the Four S’s effectively in all kinds of situations—when our kids are struggling or when they are enjoying success; when we are consoling, disciplining, or arguing with them; and even when we are apologizing for the times we don’t show up for them.

presenter: Dr. Tina Payne Bryson

Dr. Tina Payne Bryson is the author of the Bottom Line for Baby and co-author (with Dan Siegel) of two New York Times Best Sellers—The Whole-Brain Child and No-Drama Discipline—each of which has been translated into over fifty languages, as well as The Yes Brain and The Power of Showing Up. She is the Founder and Executive Director of The Center for Connection, a multidisciplinary clinical practice in Southern California. Dr. Bryson keynotes conferences and conducts workshops for parents, educators, and clinicians all over the world, and she frequently consults with schools, businesses, and other organizations.  An LCSW, Tina is a graduate of Baylor University with a Ph.D. from USC. The most important part of her bio, she says, is that she’s a mom to her three boys. You can learn more about Dr. Bryson at TinaBryson.com.

Raising Teens While Building Executive Functioning Skills & Teaching Healthy Habits

With all the information available from a variety of sources, it’s so hard to know how exactly to support your teens. Teens are already faced with so much pressure, so when they feel the weight to make good decisions online and in person it can feel extremely overwhelming.

Should you make every interaction a teachable moment? Are you supposed to praise the effort and not the result, or is it the other way around? Can you compliment your teen or is that wrong now? Should you let them struggle or will that mess them up for life?

This is not a workshop that will tell you what you’re doing wrong and what to do instead. Besides, that expert opinion will likely change. This conversation is about you, your teen, and your home.

You will leave understanding why teens behave, think, and feel the way they do. You will leave with foundational knowledge about executive functioning, one of the primary building blocks to making good decisions and regulating emotions. You will learn how to motivate them and teach the skills they need to move toward feeling good about themselves. Isn’t that what we all want? Ultimately, you will learn how to help both you and your teen make more informed decisions when faced with new challenges and when things change again

objectives

Understand adolescent development from multiple perspectives, including social, cognitive, physical, and psychological
Gain an in-depth understanding and appreciation of the executive functioning skills that impact a teen’s development, attitude, emotions, and behaviors
Develop an awareness of the theory of motivation and the role of dopamine in getting chores and homework done, decisions made online and on social media, and peer/sibling relationships and interactions.
Start implementing evidence-based and effective strategies to help with emotional regulation in your teen.
Learn ways to reconnect and repair broken interactions and relationships with your teen

instructor

Dr. Ann-Louise Lockhart – Pediatric Psychologist, Parent Coach

The Self-Driven Child: Why a sense of control is so important for children and teens

Even before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, everyone who works with kids was concerned about the escalating levels of anxiety, depression, and other mental health problems in children, teens, and young adults. The level of concern has escalated dramatically in the last two years related to the uncertainties, disruptions, and losses associated with the pandemic. And for every child or adolescent who is crippled by anxiety or underperforming because of stress, there is another failing to thrive for lack of true intrinsic motivation. In this workshop, Dr. Stixrud will discuss a crucial link between high stress and low motivation, namely a low sense of control. A healthy sense of control is associated with virtually everything we want for kids, including good health, a positive mood, freedom from excessive anxiety, self-motivation, and academic and career success. Unfortunately, students’ sense of control or autonomy decreases every year they are in school.

Dr. Stixrud will discuss the neuropsychological underpinnings of a sense of control, and he will present research and clinical experience related to the benefits children and teens experience when adults foster autonomy. He will also discuss ways in which mental health professionals can support the development of a sense of control or autonomy in their clients. Many of the approaches to be presented are discussed in the books Dr. Stixrud has written with Ned Johnson, including the national bestseller The Self-Driven Child and their new book, What Do You Say? Talking with Kids to Build Motivation, Stress Tolerance, and a Healthy Home. Topics will include fostering a strong sense of control to lower stress and build self-motivation; developing high stress tolerance; empowering kids to make their own decisions; the wisdom of parents being “consultants” to their kids; the benefits kids gain when parents are a non-anxious presence; and strategies for supporting kids who struggle in school without compromising their autonomy.

objectives

Describe the four aspects of life that make it stressful
Discuss at least two important studies that support the importance of a sense of control
Discuss how stress and insufficient sleep undermine a sense of control
Explain ways of using rewards that don’t undermine intrinsic motivation
Discuss how technology can support and undermine control

instructor

Dr. William R. Stixrud – Clinical Neuropsychologist, founder of The Stixrud Group

2022 YEG CONFERENCE PRESENTER SPOTLIGHT

MORGAN BISSEGGER, R.PSYCH

CHILDHOOD TRAUMA: Finding a Way Through

Parenting for Resilience

Therapeutic Play

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Childhood Anxiety

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Stop Spanking Panel

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instructors

KEYNOTE - Staying Present: Parenting Through Intergenerational Trauma

presenter: Dr. Jennifer Mullan

Parenting with Healthy Boundaries

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The Principals of Playful Parenting

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instructor

Hunt, Gather, Parent

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instructor

SHAME-PROOF PARENTING

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The Dance of Attachment: mastering the art of attachment with the children in our care

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instructor

How to talk to kids about racism and discrimination

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instructors

KEYNOTE - The Neuroscience of Happiness

presenter: DR. RICK HANSON

EXPLORING GENDER IDENTITY AND SEXUAL ORIENTATION IN YOUTH

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INSTRUCTORS

KEYNOTE - The Power of Showing Up

presenter: Dr. Tina Payne Bryson

The Naturopathic Perspective: Essential Steps for your Children's Well-being

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Raising Teens While Building Executive Functioning Skills & Teaching Healthy Habits

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The Trauma-Informed Classroom

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Simplicity Parenting

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Holistic Parenting: Nurturing Healthy Brains and Bodies in a Changing World

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Talking to Youth about Relationships, Sex, and Consent

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Understanding Deeply Feeling Kids

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The Self-Driven Child: Why a sense of control is so important for children and teens

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Navigating Blended Families

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The Fourth Trimester

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How to Support Children's Social and Emotional Development

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Childhood Trauma: Finding a Way Through

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