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Resources

Click on the buttons below to access additional resources provided by Lisa.

eBooks
Vlogs
Video Testimonials
Publications
Videos & Podcasts

Trauma-Informed Assessments

A clinician's guide to safely identifying and exploring connections between clients' current struggles and prior histories of trauma, abuse, and neglect.

The ubiquitous buzzword in the mental health field is "trauma-informed care." This is an exciting and necessary step in ethical, well-paced treatment for traumatized clients. However, in the earliest stages of therapy, knowing how to engage in a "trauma-informed assessment" is just as important. Clinicians often feel pressured by their practice settings to obtain intimate and personal information as quickly as possible for the purposes of "assigning the case."

This is done without first establishing a context of trust and safety, and with little regard for the impact that prematurely revealing a trauma narrative has on a prospective client who has found the courage to seek out treatment. This clinician's guide will help you to safely identify and explore connections between clients' current struggles and prior histories of trauma, abuse, and neglect, while still respectfully pacing the work and avoiding de-stabilizing traumatized clients.

The cover of the eBook: Trauma-Informed Assessments.Click here to download Trauma-Informed Assessments

Addressing Guilt and Shame in Our Therapeutic Work with Traumatized Clients

How to creatively increase self-forgiveness, self-compassion, and healing.

Guilt is usually about something that a client has or has not said or done – either a behavioral choice or harsh words that were expressed that are now accompanied by regret. Shame, on the other hand, flows from the client’s misguided belief that they are fundamentally flawed or damaged. The truth is most trauma survivors grapple with varying degrees of guilt and shame, and until these powerful and debilitating emotions have been identified and addressed, it is hard for clients to achieve the level of healing they deserve and need.

When clients find themselves stuck in these toxic emotions, the good news is they don’t have to remain stuck: they have options and choices! This eBook serves as a clinical framework so therapists can compassionately assist their clients in understanding the root causes of guilt and shame. In addition to suggestions for psychoeducation, this material also provides creative strategies that incorporate the therapeutic relationship, cognitive re-framing, and somatic and expressive modalities that allow for the processing and releasing of such emotions.

The cover of the eBook: Addressing Guilt and Shame in Our Therapeutic Work With Traumatized Clients.Click here to download Addressing Guilt and Shame

What people say about Lisa's eBooks:

1
"Such a valuable resource with tactics that I will be able to implement in my work with clients. Thank you Lisa!"

Arlene Foreman, LPC

2
"A tremendous resource that I return to time and time again."

Jane Coates, PHD

3
"When I opened and read Lisa’s e-book, I immediately thought this needs to be read by all therapists! I immediately started sharing it with therapists I knew. Lisa's wisdom about trauma-informed care comes shining through in this e-book! This is a must read!"

Robyn E. Brickel, M.A., LMFT

4
"Lisa Ferentz's Trauma Informed Assessments offers clinicians a way of assessing their client’s trauma histories in a safe, appropriately paced, strengths-based manner. I highly suggest that all therapists who work with clients with traumatic backgrounds study this manual in order to do thorough assessments without re-traumatizing their clients in the process. This clear, concise manual is a gem!"

Susan Osofsky, LCSW

Vlogs: 21-30
When Words Fail – Using Words
Ever experienced a roadblock in therapy with a client when asking important questions? Drawing can be incredibly valuable tool to help clients express and articulate what they’re feeling. Get to know how you can invite your client to illustrate their emotions through the lines, shapes, and color.
3:42
Connecting Trauma and Spirituality
Learn why it's important to view clients through a bio-psychosocial and spiritual lens, and how to how to assess for spiritual resources.
4:08
Therapists as Loving 'Mirrors'
Learn about the clinical benefits of pausing the work, asking permission and reflecting back for the client what you hear or observe during a session. Discover how this can deepen the therapeutic relationship and a client's level of self-awareness.
3:18
Digital Technology Parenting and Attachment
Now more than ever with kids being homeschooled, staying in place, and more disconnected from peers and outside activities, clinicians need to ask questions about excessive video gaming and the use of digital technology. Learn how this can impact attachment and why it's important for therapists to bring it up in therapy.
3:42
The Power of Mandalas
Learn why this expressive modality can have such a profound impact on affect regulation, while helping to keep clients in the optimum window of arousal.
3:17
Assessing for Family of Origin Dysfunction
In order to better understand clients' destructive behaviors, distorted cognitions, or shame-based, negative affect, clinicians understand the importance of putting clients' "symptoms" and struggles in a historical context. Learn three important trauma informed questions that will help to safely shed light on clients' family-of-origin experiences.
3:45
Intellectualizations vs. Emotional Connection
Learn why many clients present trauma-based experiences with emotional detachment and the importance of not pathologizing this in treatment.
3:11
Guilt vs. Shame: The Fundamental Differences
Understand the difference between guilt and shame. Learn the tactics you can use to help your clients navigate and work through those emotions, erase any cognitive distortions they may have, learn self-compassion and move away from the core feelings that provoked the guilt and shame.
3:55
Unconditional Positive Regard & Pets for Clients With Trauma
Interacting with a pet can be an amazing, reparative experience for clients who've endured trauma. A pet can help restore a client's sense of self-worth, self-esteem, enhance trust and build secure attachment. Explore the value of inviting clients to forge a relationship with a pet as a means to improve their mental health and wellbeing.
3:13
Clinician Take Care of Thyself! Here's How.
It's critically important that, as mental health providers, we practice what we preach. Learn the important steps that you can take now to keep yourself emotionally and physically healthy, so that you can be an effective clinician and a positive role model for your clients.
3:20
Vlogs: 11-20
How to Keep Clients from Downplaying Their Own Accomplishments in Therapy
Understand why we need to be careful, during therapy, as we listen to clients compare their own accomplishments with those of others. Learn what we can do to counteract our clients' thinking to keep them from legitimizing their inaccurate feelings of worthlessness.
3:10
Challenging the Myths of Medication Therapy – Part 2
When warranted, and facilitated by a physician, medication may enable clients to do the work that you want to do with them in the therapy process. Part 2 of this series focuses on medication issues that come into play when discussing the possibility of the following: length of time to be on a medication and exploration of the client's prior use of medication that may have left a negative experience.
3:55
Challenging the Myths of Medication Therapy – Part 1
Many clients see taking medication as a sign of weakness. However, taking medication when indicated as part of the therapeutic process, can have a positive effect on your clients' cognitive functioning. Understand the myths of using medication as a part of therapy so that you can alleviate your clients' unfounded concerns.
2:57
The Holidays and Self-Destructive Behavior
The holiday season often sparks a time of tremendous vulnerability in clients — when they start to engage in self-destructive behavior. Understand why the holidays may drive people to self-harm, and what you can do to help your client get through this time of year in manageable and healthy ways.
3:14
The Value of Expressive Therapies
Understand the value of incorporating expressive modalities into your work with clients, allowing them to access their traumatic experiences in a safe therapeutic environment.
2:59
Internal vs. External Validation
Understand the difference between internal and external validation, and how to help clients find a balance between the two that will strengthen their self-worth.
3:09
Installing and Enhancing Gratitude
Research indicates that when we go to a place of gratitude it literally has an impact on our brain chemistry. Here's how you can install and enhance a sense of gratitude into the lives of your clients', who have a history of trauma and pain, to help them focus on what they do have, rather than what they don't have.
3:40
How to Respond to Disclosures of Trauma
Here is how you can offer your client a reparative experience in the way that you respond to their painful disclosures of trauma.
2:21
Letting Go of Self-Destructive Behaviors
Lisa discusses her workbook "Letting Go of Self-Destructive Behaviors," and how mental health clinicians can use it to offer clients ways to communicate the pain they experience, and short circuit the overwhelming thoughts and feelings. Learn about methods that you can use to help clients genuinely feel self-soothed and comforted.
3:01
Increasing Self-Compassion
Do you have clients that speak negatively about themselves? Learn about external resources that you can suggest to help your clients discover kinder ways to think about oneself and speak with self-compassion.
2:47
Vlogs: 1-10
It Makes Sense Given Where You've Come From
Why it makes sense that trauma survivors engage in destructive behaviors after they've experienced their trauma. And how depathalogizing and normalizing their behaviors can help.
2:34
Working With Clients' Dissociation
Is dissociation an issue for some of your clients? Do they tend to zone out during sessions? Watch this video to discover why this might happen, and learn ways that you can help them to, instead, be grounded and present during therapy.
3:13
The Cycle of Self-Harm
Learn about a template for psycho-education and intervention that helps clients organically let go of their self-destructive behaviors..
3:21
Challenging The "Borderline" Diagnosis
Why "Borderline Personality Disorder" is a death sentence in the mental health community.  Please keep an open mind as you watch this video to learn why.
2:58
The Shattered Vase: Transforming Trauma
Help your clients to understand that they can move forward from trauma to a new beautiful and meaningful way of living, even after they've been traumatized.
2:46
Be Afraid and Do It Anyway
Discover how to help your clients understand that their fear is not connected to a current reality. It's connected to the past, and the capacity in their present life can help them to weather through that fear.
2:35
Healing Without an Abuser's Apology
Lisa explains how it is possible for someone who has endured a trauma to heal and move forward in life, even if the abuser doesn't take responsibility and apologize.
2:22
What's Right About Your Clients
Lisa helps you to explore how your client has been able to survive, transcend, and thrive beyond their trauma and how it impacts their course of therapy.
2:12
Moving Beyond 'Why' When Trauma and Abuse Happens
Lisa addresses the question of why the trauma or abuse happened, and how you can respond to clients with answers that will bring back a sense of control into their lives.
2:07
The Meaning Clients Attach to Trauma
As a way to help your clients move through and beyond their trauma and pain, Lisa explores her favorite mantra, "Experience is not what happens to us. It's what we do with what happens to us," by Auldus Huxley.
2:31

What Level I Grads Are Saying About the Trauma Certificate Program:

Kevin Thorne, LCSW-C, LICSW, LCSW
"I found this training to be very insightful. It gave me the opportunity to take these acquired skills to people who are experiencing trauma currently or in the past."
1:13
Orly Rosenberg, LMSW
"This the most phenomenal training that I've ever attended... And, I would recommend it to anyone looking to gain advanced training in trauma or psychotherapy in general."
0:40
Charmeika Lewis, LCSW-C
"I’m so excited that I took this training with Lisa. I wanted to have expert knowledge, and I loved everything. The stories that Lisa told – they were so rich. She is such a wealth of knowledge."
0:54
Chaya Wohlfarth, LMSW
"Lisa is an incredible teacher. I walked away from every single class with an extremely practical and brilliant tool that I can use with my clients. This training has impacted my passion for the work, my entire outlook, and my confidence as a therapist."
0:42
Click here to learn more about the Trauma Certificate Program

Peter Clark

Linda Graham

Melody Beattie
With instructive life stories, personal reflections, exercises, and self-tests, Codependent No More is a simple, straightforward, readable map of the perplexing world of codependency.

Brene Brown

Rick Hanson

Peter Levine

The leading peer-reviewed journal for health and healthcare in the Internet age.

Sherrie Campbell, PHD
This book encourages you to shine in your own full expression in this beautiful life where you know you are loved just for being exactly who you are.

Michele Costello

Ron Kraus and George Stricker

Tara Brach

Brene Brown

Telemedicine and e-Health is the leading international peer-reviewed journal covering the full spectrum of advances and clinical applications of telemedicine and management of electronic health records.

Telemedicine Today is the leading news and information source for the telemedicine industry, with a readership that includes telemedicine practitioners, physicians, hospital administrators, healthcare information specialists, vendors, consultants, policy makers, and others interested in this dynamic field.

By Kathleen Myers and Carolyn Turvey

Spencer Johnson and Kenneth Blanchard
A book that uses a simple parabel to reveal profound truths about dealing with change so that you can enjoy less stress and more success in your work and in your life.

A great website that offers many resources for stress reduction, meditation, guided imagery, relationship building, etc.  Access books, podcasts, online trainings, etc. from some of the best experts in the mental health field!

Dr. Martin Rossman, UCTV
This series explains how our bodies experience stress and demonstrates effective strategies to help you thrive in a fast-paced world.

Therapy Chat Podcast with Laura Reagan and Lisa Ferentz

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