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1. Differentiate between event-based and interactional trauma as it relates to assessment and treatment planning with the family.
2. Utilize therapeutic tools, scripts, and handouts to conduct family therapy with traumatized children more effectively.
3. Identify “undercurrents”, or hidden causes of trauma, that are contributing to symptomology within the family to increase the effectiveness of treatment.
4. Create clinical treatment plans that are designed to address the specific needs of each client/family.
5. Utilize various scaling techniques to evaluate progress in treatment and identify potential risks for relapse.
6. Ascertain when it is appropriate to begin active treatment as opposed to stabilization of symptoms to ensure the safety of the child and family members.

7 Essential Assessment & Treatment Techniques
#1 – Psychoeducation: Trauma, Behavior, and How the FST Model Can Help

• Why the Family System Trauma (FST) Model works
• The long-term impact of out of control behavior and an upside-down hierarchy
• What is event-based v. interactional trauma?
• Setting expectations for treatment
• Video case example: ”The police officer who apologies to his family”

#2 – Undercurrents: Help Families Identify the Core Drivers of Unhealed Trauma

• Recognize unhealthy interactional patterns that cause or maintain the trauma
• Root work vs. Weed work: Where you will spend your session time?
• How to inject healthy undercurrents into the family
• Video case example: An out of control mother: villain, victim or hero?

#3 – The 15 Minute Motivational Phone Call: Engage the Family Before Treatment Begins

• 7 questions to quickly motivate and build rapport
• The importance of understanding before persuading
• Avoid the call becoming a therapy session: the “stick and move” technique
• Closing arguments – the most important piece of the call
• Video case example: “Just fix my kid”

#4 – The Stress Chart and Seed/Tree Diagram: Assess and Diagnose Quickly and Accurately

• Using scaling from 0% (no stress) to 100% (total stress) to quickly get to the problem
• Identify four toxic “seeds” that maintain the child’s problem behavior or symptoms
• Assess for the child’s safety stressors (self-harm, suicide, bullying, aggression)
• Identification of seeds and symptoms by child, family and FST therapist
• When to stabilize and when to start active trauma treatment
• Video case example: ”Knowing where to tap” to locate the core trauma drivers

#5 – The Ethnographic Interview: Using Client Feedback to Improve Outcomes

• 5 key questions for the end of each session (and why)
• Why real-time client feedback will improve outcomes
• How to elicit honest responses from clients and families
• Deliver vs. content: It’s not what you say but how you say it
• Video case example: ”We finally feel a part of the treatment”

#6 – Trauma Playbooks: Step-by-Step Strategies that Convert Treatment Concepts to Action

• How to create a customized trauma playbook that:
  • Activates the client and family to execute their part of the plan
  • Heals the stronghold of shame, blame, performance and approval
  • Uses the child’s love language and is easily understood by everyone
• How to adjust playbooks as treatment progresses
• Troubleshooting, dress rehearsals, and next steps
• Video case example: The self-harming teen overcomes the stronghold of shame

#7 – Evaluate Progress and Relapse Prevention

• Mini-scales technique: Reveal progress made on problematic undercurrents
• Map out next steps of treatment and beyond
• Identify red flags to prevent potential relapse
• Video case example: See the mini-scales and decision tree techniques in action

Limitations of the Research and Potential Risks

Scott P. Sells, Ph.D., MSW, LCSW, LMFT, is former tenured professor of social work, Savannah State University, Savannah, GA and Associate Professor at UNLV in Las Vegas, NV. Dr. Sells is the author of three best-selling books, Treating the Tough Adolescent: A Family-Based, Step-by-Step Guide (1998), Parenting Your Out-of-Control Teenager: 7 Steps to Reestablish Authority and Reclaim Love (2001), and Treating the Traumatized Child: A Step-by-Step Family Systems Approach (Springer, 2017). He has over 20 publications in such periodicals as Psychotherapy Networker, Contemporary Corrections, Journal of Child and Adolescent Substance Abuse, Professional Issues in Criminal Justice, Family Process, and Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, plus book chapters in the Handbook of Family Therapy Research Methods (1996) and Social Worker’s Desk Reference, 2/E (2008).

Dr. Sells has extensive experience as a keynote speaker for the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy, the National Association of Social Workers, the Southeastern Psychological Association, and others. He was invited to be one of six expert presenters at the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy’s prestigious Summer Institutes as well as the world-renowned Cape Cod Institute. Dr. Sells is currently the founder and model developer of an evidence-based model as the FST | Family Systems Trauma Model that is being used by both juvenile justice and child welfare in over 14 states and in Europe.

Speaker Disclosures:

Financial: Scott Sells is the owner of Savannah Family Institute, Inc. He receives a speaking honorarium from PESI, Inc. He has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.

Non-financial: Scott Sells has no relevant non-financial relationship to disclose.

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CE Information Coming Soon
Continuing education credit information is coming soon for this non-interactive self-study package.

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**Materials that are included in this course may include interventions and modalities that are beyond the authorized practice of mental health professionals. As a licensed professional, you are responsible for reviewing the scope of practice, including activities that are defined in law as beyond the boundaries of practice in accordance with and in compliance with your professions standards.

All members of the PESI, Inc. planning committee have provided disclosures of financial relationships with ineligible organizations and any relevant non-financial relationships prior to planning content for this activity. None of the committee members had relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies or other potentially biasing relationships to disclose to learners. For speaker disclosures, please see the faculty biography.

• Psychologists
• Social Workers
• Mental Health Counselors
• Marriage and Family Therapists
• Addiction Counselors
• Other Mental Health Professionals Who Work with Kids