This presentation attempts to cut through the theoretical fluff inherent in the brand name therapies to arrive at the common factors that produce the most efficacious outcome. Brain-based therapy searches for those factors consistent with neuroscience, memory research, and developmental psychology. This approach takes advantage of what we have learned from evidence-based practices and outcome management studies to identify the factors that work, as well as those that are counter-therapeutic. It defines therapy as a mind-brain changing process that transforms dysregulation to the re-regulation of mood, cognition, and behaviors.

 

Recent advances in neuroscience have increased our knowledge of how and why people change. Brain-based therapy synthesizes neuroscience, evidence-based treatment, psychotherapy research, and attachment theory into a hybrid therapeutic model. This model helps identify which elements of psychotherapeutic schools are effective and which may be counter-therapeutic. Brain-based therapy envisions the therapeutic process as brain changing as necessary to change mood and behavior. The model proposes moving beyond the theoretical school paradigm. This session will examine the use of brain-based therapy to enhance outcomes with people who have been traumatized. The role that brain function plays in mood, memory, and behavior will be identified, including discussions on the difference between male and female brains, the middle aged brain, and how alcohol affects the brain. Special attention will be given to addressing the neuro-dynamics of PTSD and the crucial role of memory. Using a synthesized model of neuroscience, attachment theory, and evidence-based treatment, attendees will learn how to more effectively treat clients with PTSD. In this training participants will develop a new way of looking at the therapeutic process, enabling them to move beyond the traditional theoretical school approach. Attendees will learn how to use the Brain-Based Therapy approach to educate clients and make the goals of treatment understandable.

 

 

 

 

 

The human body is a miraculous vessel that acts as a record keeper of life experiences.  Every event, especially difficult or traumatic ones, makes an imprint in how we hold our posture and how we show up in the world.  It’s when our physical tension becomes too great to carry that we look to substances to ease the pain.  This presentation will look at how the body’s memories of trauma play a role in the cycle of addiction.  Attendees will learn the signs of a dysregulated nervous system and how yoga can invite relaxation and reconnect us to a sense of wholeness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Co-Host Sponsor, Retreat Premier Addiction Treatment

 

Addictive disease, like any other chronic lifelong illness, may be accompanied by multiple other disease entities. These can be psychiatric or neurologic, or may involve other medical conditions. Although concurrent, such entities may not have any actual relationship. And while addictive disease is currently viewed as a single disease entity, it may have as substrate any of a number of psychoactive substances, each one resulting in a differing pattern of intoxication, withdrawal, and recovery. Opioid use disorders might therefore be treated somewhat differently than alcohol or marijuana use disorders. Thus it is crucial that the treating clinician understand when comorbidities should be treated concurrently using one solidified technique and approach—and when they should not be. In this session technique and approach, biopsychosocial and spiritual methodologies will be discussed. 

 

Upon completion of this session, attendees will be able to:
 

Behavioral healthcare professionals from across New England know all too well the devastation that has been inflicted by illicit use of prescription drugs and heroin. Daily news reports share tragic stories of overdoses, shattered families, and traumatized communities. What is not always so clear is what is working to address this epidemic: What community resources are making a difference? What government policies are being established? What therapeutic techniques are providers finding particularly effective? Join Addiction Professional magazine editor Gary Enos for a panel discussion with experts from across the region on what's working to address New England's opioid crisis.

 

 

 

Today’s clients are increasingly seeking help for problems related to life online. Parenting concerns, adult obsessions to gambling, porn and spending, cyber-cheating, cyber-bullying and simple tech-overwhelm all figure into this matrix. This thought-provoking, playful, yet highly structured multimedia presentation is geared toward the clinician who feels the need to know more about online life, yet feels overwhelmed by the process. This session will help frame current, digitally driven, tech-related cultural issues, related to what shows up most frequently in the therapy space. The focus is both educational and inspirational, as attendees can both note needed areas professional self-growth, while reflecting on potential countertransference concerns.