NOVEL PRACTICES FOR BREAKING FREE FROM PANIC AND ANXIETY: A Somatic meets Narrative training event

The Workshop

Panic and anxiety are amongst the most frequent problems that people present when seeking therapy. Their personal stories often reflect the impoverishing and debilitating effects that it has on their ability to appreciate and participate in the mundane details of everyday life.

In this one-of-a-kind workshop, Jim and Marie-Nathalie will present a range of valuable assumptions and practices for addressing panic and anxiety that are not normally presented together. They are all non-normative time-sensitive approaches to therapy.  Jim will be focusing on brief narrative practices and Marie-Nathalie will be focusing on somatic approaches and mind-body connection practices.  Together they will present empowering alternative short-term approaches for overcoming panic and anxiety

Narrative therapy can help people with panic and anxiety challenge negative thoughts and beliefs by deconstructing the problem saturated stories and identifying subordinate storylines that contradict the problem saturated narratives. These previously subordinated stories can be developed into “thicker” narratives, thus releasing the hold of the “thin” narratives of panic and anxiety on peoples’ lives.

Meanwhile, somatic approaches and mind-body connections practices will address anxiety and panic, and facilitate the fertile ground for resourcefulness and resilience.

Both approaches privilege people’s local knowledge, emphasizing abilities rather than deficits, possibilities rather than limitations and what is strong, rather than what is wrong in people.

Restoring hope and personal choice with people who are consumed by despair can be challenging. You will be introduced to key elements of somatic approaches that regulate the nervous system, frames that help empower people to use those approaches, treating panic and anxiety as traumatic events that need to be processed so they don’t keep reappearing.

You will also be introduced to the key elements of narrative practices for reconsidering hope, restoring choice, and supporting people in reclaiming their sense of personal agency. You will learn questions that invite people to reconnect with their strongly held values and purposes. You will be introduced to conversational maps that help chart useful therapeutic conversations that produce energy, capture meaning, and create purpose.

This interactive workshop will offer clear presentation, recorded examples of live sessions, experiential exercises, and a comprehensive handout package to create a rich and interactive training experience. There will be an emphasis on hands on (practice-practice-practice) micro-skill development and ways of taking this work into your own practice wisdom.

Participants will explore:

• Storied therapy as a three-act play.
• How to deconstruct the sensations and thoughts of panic and anxiety.
• How to really use breathing as part of treatment.
• Invitational questions for generating meaning, hope and purpose.
• How to turn symptoms into signals for attending to the true needs of the self.
• Practices for using psychoeducation to reduce panic and anxiety.
• Way to identify and develop subordinate stories that make visible what skills and abilities people have to put up against panic and anxiety.
• Practices for treating the trauma of panic or anxiety
• Practices for rapid engagement and the development of rich meaningful conversations.
• Practices such as interviewing away from the problem, absent but implicit and externalizing conversations.
• How to integrate Somatic and Narrative approaches
• How to offer timely service to people, getting them the help they need when they need it.

Certificate verifying 6.5 hours of participation completed will be awarded to each participant.

WORKSHOP HOURS:

Saturday, November 16th, 9:30 AM to 5:00 PM (US Central Time). Includes 2 short breaks and one hour for lunch.

REGISTRATION FEE:

Early Bird Fee: $150.00 (Register by November 10th).

Regular Fee $175.00 (November 11th and after)

Student Fee: $100.00 (Must show proof of status with a student card if requested)

CANCELLATION:

Full refund minus $30.00 cancellation fee until November 10th

50% refund between November 11th and 15th .

No refund after November 16th.

NOTE: Zoom log-in information will be provided to the email you registered with close to the workshop dates.

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS:

Marie-Nathalie and Jim have a long working relationship spanning over one and a half decades of writing projects and many training events in Canada and the U.S., including numerous events where they have taught together on the intersection of narrative practices and neurobiology.

Marie-Nathalie Beaudoin, Ph.D. is the director of Skills for Kids, Parents, & Schools (SKIPS), and has a private consultation practice in California. She has been a pioneer in combining neurobiology, mindfulness and narrative therapy, and has written several key professional articles introducing original clinical practices, in Family Process, International Journal of Narrative Therapy & Community Work, and Journal of Systemic Therapies. In addition to co-editing, Collaborative therapy and neurobiology: Evolving practices in action (Beaudoin & Duvall, 2017), she is the author of popular books, such as The SKiLL-ionaire in every child: Boosting children’s socio-emotional skills using the latest in brain research (2010), written for parents, and Mindfulness in a busy world: Lowering barriers for youth & adults to cultivate focus, emotional peace & gratefulness (2021). Her work has been featured in AAMFT’s Family Therapy magazine, and the ASP professional video, Narrative therapy & neurobiology: Making changes stick in everyday lives (2013).  Marie-Nathalie has been practicing narrative therapy since the 1990s, and received a Shine a Light research grant to conduct the largest empirical study of the effectiveness of narrative practices. Her latest book, co-written with Gerald Monk, was published earlier this year “Narrative Practices and Emotions: 40+ Ways to Support the Emergence of Flourishing Identities”.

With a background in improvisational theater, Marie–Nathalie is an acclaimed international speaker with frequent engagements in Europe, where she is renowned for her entertaining and thought provoking presentations.  In her free time, Marie-Nathalie enjoys spending time in nature with her husband and children.

Jim Duvall, M.Ed. is Co-Director of JST Institute and Editor of Journal of Systemic Therapies. His experience as a therapist, educator, consultant, speaker, editor, and author spans over four decades. He has spent over 300 hours studying and collaborating with Michael White in training, writing and community projects. His work aims to integrate time-sensitive narrative practices within social justice principles.

In addition to numerous articles, book chapters, Jim co-authored a policy paper (Duvall, J., Young, K., Kays-Burden, A., 2012), No more, no less: Brief mental health services for children and youth. His co-authored book (Duvall & Béres, 2011), Innovations in narrative therapy: Connecting practice, training and research, WW Norton and Company is the first book to integrate training and research with narrative therapy resulting in compelling practice-based evidence. He is the co-editor (Beaudoin & Duvall, 2017) of Collaborative therapy and neurobiology: Evolving practices in action.

He has offered hundreds of workshops, courses, and keynote presentations with organizations throughout Canada, US, Australia, Asia and Europe. Other times Jim can be found playing music with his friends or boating on the Gulf of Mexico with his partner, family and their dog, Sailor.