Animal Assisted Therapy For The Treatment Of Our Clients And Ourselves: Facilitating Wellbeing And Resilience In Live And Online Psychotherapy

With Bonnie Goldstein, LCSW, Ed.M., Ph.D.

ONLINE ONLY

Description:

Animal assisted therapy offers a hospitable presence, in conjunction with the therapist, to address challenging moments as client and therapist collaboratively work towards insight, understanding and coherence. Drawing insights from her background in psychodynamic psychotherapy, interpersonal neurobiology and sensorimotor psychotherapy, Dr. Goldstein views the animal-assisted modality as an invitation for clarifications and understandings to emerge, utilizing the positive experiences with a pet in order to pave the way--along with the empathetic mediation and guidance of a therapist--to improve therapeutic connection and outcome. Through insight-oriented therapy, treatment aims to suspend the need to jump to strategy, answers, and conclusions in order to welcome what is surprising and new. Brief videotaped sessions and experiential exercises will impart techniques to integrate Animal Assisted Therapy into live and virtual sessions.

This 2 hour webinar will focus on:

1. Illuminating four prerequisites for an attachment bond (proximity seeking, safe haven, secure base, and separation distress) as informed by the literature on human–pet interactions to foster relationships.

2. Fostering an understanding of the unique role that pet-client interactions can play in the therapy room, including the role of the pet as a security-enhancing attachment figure.

3. Integrating Animal Assisted Therapy into the session in order to enhance the development of adaptive patterns of attachment and healthier ways of relating to others and to propel awareness, understanding and healing of prior adverse traumatic experiences.

4. Facilitating the identification of client's personal strengths (or Resources as viewed through the lens of Sensorimotor/Somatic Psychotherapy) in order to awaken or capitalize on existing strengths.

5. Helping clients understand non-verbal, “somatic narratives”, illuminated through an exploration of posture, gestures, movement patterns, stance, etc.; these non-verbal, often implicit cues offer a lens upon which clients can understand and explore ongoing issues and concerns.

Cost & Details:

Tuition: Early bird rate: $39.00; $49.00 after November 22.

Non-credit Fee: $10

You also have an opportunity to include a tax-deductable donation to The Maple Couseling Center.

Excluding the cost of the webinar, all amounts donated are tax deductible. The Maple Counseling Center is a tax exempt organization as described in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code; EIN 95-2753118. Please consult with your tax advisor with any questions.

Class Schedule: Friday, December 6, 2024

10:00 AM

• Four elements of Animal Assisted therapy that transform traditional treatment modalities

• Using Animal Assisted therapy to develop and enhance communication skills

• Brief video segments illustrating Animal Assisted therapy in order to manifest change

• Short experiential exercises demonstrating ways to work with somatic indicators of stress and deescalation of high arousal

• Q&A

10:55 AM

• Break

11:05 AM

• Clinical application of elaboration of concepts of Animal Assisted therapy as a path towards developing self-understanding and self-regulatory skills in order to facilitate communication and relational ability

• Collaborative Mindfulness-in-action through Animal Assisted therapy (e.g., addressing moments in the session when the client/family gets activated and for when the clinician gets activated), propelling different ways of being outside the therapeutic miles

• Case studies

• Q&A

Access: Online via Zoom OR In-Person. For Zoom, the link will be provided to you. Be sure to register using the email address that you use to login to zoom as the link will only work with the specific address you register with.

Attire: Dress comfortably.

Tech Requirements: You will need a stable internet connection and the most recent version of Zoom Client for Meetings (available free here).

Tech Courtesy: We want your experience to be positive, so please:

- Log-in to the session a few minutes early.

- Submit questions via the chat feature.

- Limit chat submissions to workshop topics only.

This webinar offers 2 hours of Continuing Education Credit for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs, & LEPs and is appropriate for all mental health professionals.

Clicking the Register now button will take you into zoom to complete your enrollment and pay your fee. You will be asked to log in to Zoom. Be sure to add “noreply@zoom.com” to your email app’s trusted senders list to assure that confirmation and reminder emails go to your inbox.

You can also register by phone: 310.474.2505

Objectives:

In this interactive program, participants will learn how to:

1. Identify the three core features of engaging Animal Assisted Therapy interventions for people with ASD/ADHD diagnoses.

2. State and describe two goals of Animal Assisted Therapy that research demonstrates contributes to enhancing treatment sessions.

3. Illustrate the ways to enhance communication through Animal Assisted Therapy which have been shown to be a highly beneficial in treatment practice.

4. Describe two ways that animal assisted therapy promotes compassion.

Presenter Bio:

Bonnie Goldstein, LCSW, Ed.M., Ph.D.

Bonnie Goldstein, LCSW, Ed.M., Ph.D., aims to synthesize the pearls of traditional psychotherapy with a progressive integration of somatic psychotherapy & mindfulness to foster and heal relationships. She oversees a team of associates and offers training opportunities for emerging clinicians at the Lifespan Psychological Center in West Los Angeles. For over three decades she has been at the forefront of integrating curriculum and training for therapists and educators, working to bring people together so that they may motivate and inspire one another in far-reaching ways. Dr. Goldstein has published numerous professional articles, co-edited three professional books and has co-developed with Dr. Pat Ogden the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute’s Child, Adolescent & Family series of post-graduate professional workshops for mental health professionals. www.DrBonnieGoldstein.com.

Suggested Reading:

1. Pet in the Therapy Room: An attachment perspective on Animal-Assisted Therapy Sigal Zilcha-Manoa *, Mario Mikulincera and Phillip R. Shaverb a School of Psychology, Interdisciplinary Center (IDC), Herzliya, Israel; b University of California, Davis, USA ( 2011)

Disclosure: The Lifespan Learning Institute and The Maple Counseling Center have implemented a process where everyone who is in a position to control the content of any educational activity must disclose any potentially relevant financial relationship with a commercial interest. The presenter listed above have been determined to be free of conflict for the purposes of this workshop.

Continuing Education Credit:

Continuing Education Credit: The Lifespan Learning Institute and Maple Counseling are cosponsors of this Continuing Education program.

CE Provider Approval Statement: Lifespan Learning Institute (Provider # 050085) is approved by the California Association of Marriage and FamilyTherapists to sponsor continuing education for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs, & LEPs. Lifespan Learning Institute maintains responsibility for this program/course and its content.

Credit statement: Course meets the qualifications for 2 hours of continuing education credit for LMFT’s,LCSW’s, LPCC’s and LEP’s as required by the California Board of Behavioral Science.

Target Audience: This webinar is designed to enhance the skills of master’s level clinicians working with individuals, couples and groups, and will benefit most mental health professionals of all levels.

Course Completion Certificates: Awarded at the end of the course in exchange for a completed evaluation form. (Or successful completion of an online test and a completed evaluation form)

Communications: All pre-conference and post-conference communications will be via email or online. This includes but is not limited to: Registration confirmation, digital syllabus, Evaluations, CE certificates, etc.

Cancellations and Refunds: If Lifespan Learning Institute cancels or postpones a program, a full refund will be issued. If you need to cancel: Cancellation must be made in writing (by mail or by email) and received by Lifespan Learning Institute at least 10 days prior to the first date of the program. All cancellations are subject to a 20% cancellation fee.

Grievance Policy: Lifespan Learning Institute is fully committed to conducting all activities in strict conformance with the Ethical Principles of the APA & CAMFT. The full policy and filing procedure are available at LifespanLearn.org

Students with Disabilities: In accordance with the American with Disability Act (ADA), please contact our office (310.474.2505) at least 2 weeks before the program if you need special accommodations.

Sponsors:

The mission of Maple Counseling is to provide low-cost comprehensive mental health services to individuals of all ages, couples, and families, and to provide training for graduate and postgraduate students who are working towards licensure in the mental health field. Since its inception, in 1972, Maple Counseling has helped over 300,000 people receive critical mental health service. Maple Counseling provides programs and services to people of all ages, annually servicing over 7,700 individuals throughout all areas of Los Angeles County, and expanding to support all of California via telehealth. Maple offers ongoing counseling services in a safe space for adults through individual, couples, and group sessions, as well as to children, teens, and families, and provides psychiatric services through the Kapelovitz Psychiatry Program for eligible clients. In addition, Maple Counseling offers several community-based programs onsite at various schools including Community Circle, The Ted and Hedy Orden & Family Community-Based Preschool Mental Health Program, and School-Based Counseling Services that serve over 1,600 students a year.

Lifespan Learning Institute s is a non-profit organization founded by a group of senior clinicians who sought to impact the direction of mental health training by providing training in classic and cutting-edge research. Our board members search internationally for presenters with the newest research in the field. As a result we have a vast collection of programs with leaders and legends in mental health. For over 30 years Lifespan Learning Institute has been dedicated to providing advanced continuing education for marriage family therapists, social workers, psychologists, psychotherapists, physicians, nurses, and counselors. From psychotherapy legends (e.g. John Bowlby, Heinz Kohut, D.W. Winnicott), to Mindfulness Leaders (e.g. Jack Kornfield, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Thich Nhat Hanh) to today's integrative pioneers (e.g. Daniel J. Siegel, Allan Schore, Pat Ogden, Diana Fosha, Mary Main & Erik Hesse) in the mental health field, we continue to provide the latest research and critical thinking. Continuing education credit offered through conferences, workshops and home study programs. We cover areas that interest you: Attachment Theory, Self Psychology, Trauma Treatment, Mindfulness, Development, Psychoanalytic Theory, Couples Therapy and more.