2-Day: Intensive Training Brainspotting for Trauma, Complex PTSD and Anxiety: A Step-by-Step Guide to Integrating Brainspotting into Your Clinical Practice

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Speaker

Ilene Naomi Rusk, PhD, C Psych Related seminars and products

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Ilene Naomi Rusk, PhD, C Psych, is a neuropsychologist and neuroscientist with over 35 years of experience in clinical practice. Dr. Rusk trained with Brainspotting developer Dr. David Grand and has incorporated this cutting-edge approach into her clinical practice, utilizing it alongside other embodied trauma healing therapies and weaving in science, spirituality, and meditation training. A seasoned EMDR and Brainspotting practitioner, she trains other therapists on Brainspotting and has established herself as an expert in the field. Dr. Rusk founded the Brain and Behavior Clinic in Boulder, Colorado and currently serves as the director of the Healthy Brain Center there. Dr. Rusk is also the director of resilience trainings for DisasterShock, an international 501C-3 humanitarian organization dedicated to healing stress and trauma in educators and children after natural and man-made disasters. Dr. Rusk consults and speaks all over the world about trauma healing, stress resilience, brain and mental health, personal transformation and healing into aging.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Ilene Naomi Rusk is the founder and Director of the Healthy Brain Program. She has an employment relationship with The Brain and Behavior Clinic. Dr. Rusk receives a speaking honorarium from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Ilene Naomi Rusk is a member of the Rocky Mountain Brainspotting Institute, EMDRIA, and the International Neuropsychological Society. She is a contributing author with Psychotherapy Networker.

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Objectives

1. Describe the evidence base and research limitations regarding the effectiveness of Brainspotting for the treatment of trauma and other mental health conditions. 
2. Understand the neurobiology of storing and releasing trauma and the implications for treatment. 
3. Compare and contrast Brainspotting with EMDR and other trauma treatment modalities to make informed treatment decisions. 
4. Define and describe the concept of Brainspots and how they relate to trauma processing. 
5. Identify appropriate clients who would benefit from Brainspotting therapy. 
6. Demonstrate how to conduct an initial assessment and set up a Brainspotting session.  
7. Demonstrate the ability to find Brainspots and use the pointer during a Brainspotting session. 
8. Understand the importance of the dual attunement frame in Brainspotting sessions for both relational and neurobiological attunement. 
9. Understand and describe subjective levels of sensory awareness. 
10. Utilize brain-body and relational attunement techniques from Brainspotting to work with emotional distress and create a safe environment for clients to process trauma.
11. Develop skills in working with body sensations and affect to help clients process and resolve trauma memories. 
12. Utilize Brainspotting techniques including resource tapping, tracking and titration to help regulate the client's nervous system and reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression. 
13. Adapt Brainspotting for different populations, including adults, children and adolescents. 
14. Evaluate the potential treatment risks associated with Brainspotting to provide safe and effective treatment. 
15. Describe ways that clients can use Brainspotting tools on their own, between sessions, in order to build additional resources.

Outline

The Science and Practice of Brainspotting

• Origins and benefits for different types of trauma
• Understanding “brainspots”
• Eye movements and unconscious and emotional brain regions
• Comparisons with EMDR, somatic experiencing and other modalities
• Brain-body techniques and relational attunement
• The neurobiology of storing and releasing trauma
• Treatment risks and research limitations

Core Principles of Trauma Healing in Brainspotting

• How remaining open and uncertain optimizing trauma processing
• Dual Attunement Frame: relational and neurobiological attunement
• The client as guide and clinician as follower in trauma healing
• The process of falling in and out

Setting Up a Brainspotting Session: Assessment, Finding a Brainspot and a Step-by-Step Guide to the Process

• Identifying good candidates for brainspotting
• Assessment tools, clinical interviews and questionnaires
• Pacing the session and building trust
• The Pointer in Brainspotting: how to use in sessions
• SUDS and somatic-sensory awareness
• Biojateral music and its use in talk therapy
• At-home practice for clients
• Key differences in session setup and techniques from EMDR
• Finding a brainspot: Methods to locate brainspots during sessions
• Using progress measures and outcome measures

Brainspotting Techniques for Trauma: Working with Emotional Distress, Physical Sensations and Negative Patterns

• How trauma affects memory
• The importance of reprocessing trauma memories
• Identifying and strengthening internal resources
• Relational attunement to help clients feel seen, heard, and understood
• Working with transference and countertransference
• Using dual focus to process and resolve trauma in a more integrated way
• Using the body to identify and process trauma memories
• How to use bilateral sound to downregulate hyperarousal states
• Techniques for working with body sensations, emotions, and affect
• Integrating brainspotting with other trauma therapies, such as EMDR and polyvagal therapies
• Working with dissociation

Brainspotting for Treating Anxiety and Depression: Techniques for Symptom Relief and Enhancing Mood and Well-Being

• Working with core beliefs and negative self-talk using brainspotting techniques
• Using positive imagery resources for calm and emotional regulation
• How to use tracking to help clients feel more in control of their responses
• Using titration: focusing on small components for better trigger management
• Cultivating mindfulness and presence in session
• Using brainspotting to address specific symptoms

Other Applications of Brainspotting in Clinical Practice

• Psychological and spiritual expansion and self-awareness
• “Bodyspotting” for chronic physical conditions and acute pain
• Adapting to children and adolescents
• Working with diverse populations

Target Audience

• Counselors
• Social Workers
• Marriage & Family Therapists
• Psychologists
• Physicians
• Addiction Counselors
• Nurses
• Other Behavioral Health Professionals