Welcome to July…
A TIME TO EXPERIENCE WELLNESS AND BE INSPIRED
This month has brought a lot of amazing opportunities and growth to my practice.
As well as some much needed rest and time with loved ones during these beautiful longer days.
I am so happy to have you join me here where I will share different tools and strategies and information on how you might create a sense of awareness, balance, and wellness in your life. For those of you who are existing clients I am grateful to be a collaborator with you on your journey. If you are considering becoming a client, I invite you to reach out to me at this link to book a consultation that is free and where you can ask a few questions about what it is you are looking to work on in your life.
Some of the things that I am up to;
Completing a year long immersive study with Gabor Maté and Sat Dharam Kaur and an international group of other therapists learning about core emotions and experiences that direct our current lives. It is a beautiful talk therapy that helps clients get to the root of what happened to them and allows them to access and express emotions of traumatic memories, big and small that stay in our bodies until they are acknowledged. Gabor says: “Trauma is the invisible force that shapes our lives. It shapes the way we live, the way we love and the way we make sense of the world. It is the root of our deepest wounds”
I will be off again to Alberta, Canada in August to complete my advanced training in Accelerated Resolution Therapy. This modality similarly gets to the route of the wounding we hold in our systems and allows for an expression without having to talk about what happened to us. I have been practicing ART for about three months now, and with every client that resolves trauma, the importance of bringing this therapy to my community is affirmed. The reason I go to Alberta for my training is because Colleen Clark is the trainer that brought ART to Canada the number of years ago. Her passion for this therapy, her experience with veterans, first responders, military workers, inspires me too help people in my community in the same way that she has in Alberta and across Canada.
Stay tuned soon for an interview with Colleen that I had a few weeks ago! here is a link to her book if you are interested in reading more about ART and Colleen.
Attending Trauma Summit 2024 in Belfast Northern Ireland. See below for pictures and more info on what I learned!
Moving to a new office space! Just a reminder that my new space is located at 101 Worthington Street East - Suite 401-A, North Bay, Ontario P1B9G5
Some Modalities I use during the course of Therapy
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Accelerated Resolution Therapy
A therapeutic technique designed to help people overcome the stress associated with troubling memories. Combining eye movements and imagery, ART offers a swift alternative to traditional therapy methods, with an impressive track record for treating conditions like PTSD, anxiety, and depression.
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The Gottman Method - Couple's Therapy
The Gottman Method is an approach to couples therapy that includes a thorough assessment of the couple’s relationship, and integrates research-based interventions to disarm conflicting verbal communication; increase intimacy, respect, and affection; remove barriers that create a feeling of stagnancy; and create a heightened sense of empathy and understanding within the context of the relationship.
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CI: Compassionate Inquiry
Compassionate Inquiry is an approach, which reveals what lies beneath the appearance we present to the world. This approach helps to recognize the unconscious dynamics that run our lives and learn how to liberate ourselves from them.
I am the first practitioner in Northern Ontario to be certified in Accelerated Resolution Therapy. The results with clients have been so positive and they affirm my continued learning and application of this trauma therapy.
ART’s effectiveness in treating post-traumatic stress (PTS) is remarkable. In one of the first published studies, 80 participants with PTSD underwent ART and showed an 80% positive response rate after just four sessions. Combining components of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy with deliberate eye movements and imagery, ART offers a swift alternative to traditional therapy methods.
Click here to read more about ART’s benefits
Click here to read the evidenced based research for ART’s benefit for first responders, military, post traumatic stress and more…
Here is a short video on ART that I found helpful:
Tools and Tips For Your Well-Being This Month
This Month’s Book Recommendations
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Come Passion: The Soulful ART of Healing Trauma
by Colleen E. Clark MSW
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Anchored: How to Befriend Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory
by Deb Dana LCSW
Colleen E. Clark, MSW RCSW, BCETS, BCBT, BCBT, BCSA and author, became a social worker in 1985, a clinical social worker in 1992, and has been in clinical private practice since1994. She brings inherent wisdom and depth of healing for children, youth, teens, adults and couples and families, she has had the honour to work with on their journey through healing to wholeness. Ms. Clark brought Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) to Canada 9 years ago and has since trained over 1200 Mental Health Professionals from the west to east cost of Canada. She is a Master ART Certified Practitioner, Clinical ART Specialist, RCRR Lead Certified ART Trainer Canada. She holds a diplomat with the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress, is board certified in bereavement trauma and sexual abuse trauma, has presented her work nationally and internationally.
Come Passion isn’t a manual on Accelerated Resolution Therapy, but rather a description of the relationship between the client and the practitioner that really explains the process and how to prepare for this transformative process. Colleen Clark is my mentor, and this book really has helped me enhance my work and refine my skills.
My favorite quote: “When you ask, “What drives you and why?” you have a compass to direct your actions toward healing, treatment, and life.”
Deb Dana, LCSW, is a clinician and consultant specializing in using the lens of Polyvagal Theory to understand and resolve the impact of trauma and create ways of working that honor the role of the autonomic nervous system. She developed the Rhythm of Regulation Clinical Training Series and lectures internationally on ways Polyvagal Theory informs work with trauma survivors. She is a founding member of the Polyvagal Institute, clinical advisor to Khiron Clinics, and advisor to Unyte.
In Anchored, Deb shares a down-to-earth presentation of Polyvagal Theory, then brings the science to life with practical, everyday ways to transform your relationship with your body using field-tested techniques to become more aware of your nervous system moment to moment―and change the way you respond to the great and small challenges of life by:
Befriending Your Nervous System―attuning to what’s going on in your body by developing your “neuroception”, along with lots of practices and guidance to gently shape your nervous system for greater resilience, intuition, safety, and wonder.
My favorite quote: “Take a moment and find something that reminds you of the feeling of being anchored in regulation and then put it somewhere you’ll see it as you move through your day.”
My New Podcast: Ask Angela launches soon!
In the meantime, you can check me out as a guest on To North Bay with Love with Lisa Boivin where I talk a bit about Accelerated Resolution Therapy and Compassionate Inquiry!
Trauma Summit 2024
I was so excited to be able to attend the trauma summit 2024 in Belfast, Northern Ireland in June.
I was able to attend lectures and meet so many of my trauma informed thought leaders/mentors including: Gabor Maté (CI, attachment science, authenticity), Deb Dana (Polyvagal Theory), Stephen Porges (Polyvagal Theory), Dick Schwartz (Internal Family Systems), Ruth Lanius (Neurobiology of Trauma), Dan Siegel (Interpersonal Biology) and a few others!
I learned a lot about what is up and coming in trauma care including Polyvagal Theory.
What Other Experts Are Saying…
“PTSD occurs following a trauma that was so awful that in retrospect you don’t understand how you survived. What that causes is an extreme feeling of vulnerability that you get past but that doesn’t go away.”
– Paul Goulston
“After a traumatic experience, the human system of self-preservation seems to go onto permanent alert, as if the danger might return at any moment.”
― Judith Lewis Herman
“Take a moment and find something that reminds you of the feeling of being anchored in regulation and then put it somewhere you’ll see it as you move through your day.”
― Deb Dana