Description:
Lying, stealing, manipulating, Oh My!! These are some of the most emotionally charged and challenging behaviors faced by helping professionals. So, what do all of these behaviors have in common??? Dopamine! Dopamine is the neurochemical that gives us a will to live. If we cannot find it safely through connection and interaction with others, we will be driven to find it elsewhere. Any risk-taking behavior that we succeed at gives us a release of dopamine for surviving the risk. Unfortunately, this means if we have not had a chance to obtain dopamine in safe ways, these unsafe ways become highly engrained. This happens because dopamine gives us the feeling of being alive and that we matter. Those attempting to assist people engaging in these behaviors can often fall into a cycle of frustration and power struggle, resulting in lose/lose outcomes. Setting power struggles aside, we will place lying into context that drives it and engage brain-based interventions to help reconnect the dopamine reward system with safe connection instead of risk. We will also explore how our own belief systems about lying impacts our interactions with those struggling to feel safe enough to allow reality to be real, share their truth, or take responsibility for their actions. By looking at what research tells us and what our work experiences have shown us, we will develop strategies to assist in negotiating this work that is as important as it is challenging.
Upon completion of each session participants will be able to:
1. Explore traditional and emerging neuroscience-based understandings of lying.
2. Identify and address their own beliefs about the truth and know if they believe if the truth is owed to everyone or must be earned through trustworthy behavior.
3. Practice collaborative, non-adversarial ways to understand and engage those who have developed belief systems about truth very different from their own.
4. Be introduced to a multimodal approach to increasing felt safety (neuroception) in those who engage lying as a survival skill.
5. Practice recognizing and addressing the role of shame, grief and fear in chronic, challenging behaviors and how to release it and develop replacement behaviors that promote resiliency.
6. Identify and explore the hidden resilience (determination and creativity) in the survival skill of lying to help those we serve and support engage that resilience to develop prosocial ways to meet their needs.
IN PERSON ONLY-Child Focus Training Center
MUST ATTEND FULL TRAINING. PARTIAL CREDIT WILL NOT BE GIVEN.
Presenters:
Mary Vicario LPCC-S, CTS
Mary Vicario is a licensed professional clinical counselor supervisor (LPCC –S) and a certified trauma specialist with over 35 years of experience working as an educator, counselor, clinical director, and consultant with individuals, families, organizations, and systems. She trains nationally and internationally translating the latest research on the neuroscience of trauma and resilience into interventions for all ages and ability levels. Mary is a proud participant in multiple grants to further develop and link trauma informed and resilience-based care across systems and communities. She is honored to provide Trauma Responsive Care Certification through the Tristate Trauma Network for anyone working with trauma survivors. Mary can be reached at www.findinghopeconsulting.com
Dr. Veronica R. Barrios, Ph.D.
Dr. Veronica R. Barrios is a Queer, Latinx, interpersonal violence scholar. She is an Assistant Professor at Miami University where she instructs courses on Culturally Informed Practice and Interpersonal Violence. Her work is grounded in intersectionality theory, discussing issues around the absence of and need for diversity, practices that limit and create equity, and the need for radical inclusion. Specifically, Dr. Barrios investigates the culture of nondisclosure of violence. Her scholarship is used to conduct trainings for local and national audiences (i.e. practitioners, researchers, educators) on the topics of cultural and trauma responsive strategies for working with individuals across the lifespan.