VIDEO: What's New in Trauma Treatment?
Best Practices and More
Here, Networker assistant editor Chris Lyford speaks with family therapist and trauma specialist Mary Jo Barrett about the evolution of trauma treatment and the importance of bringing families into the mix.
Daily Blog
VIDEO: Combining Trauma Treatment with Family Therapy
Making Sure Treatment Sticks Outside the Therapy Room
Far too often, trauma survivors appear to progress in therapy and then go home and fall right back into the same old patterns of negative emotion and dysfunctional relationships. According to Mary Jo Barrett, author of Treating Complex Trauma, a client’s family can be the therapist’s biggest ally in making sure progress is sustained outside the consulting room. Still, she says, many clinicians overlook how family therapy can support recovery.
Daily Blog
Understanding Trauma and the Cycle of Growth
Mary Jo Barrett on Discovering How Clients Learn
Clients may experience and respond to trauma in any number of ways, so the first step to determining how to best help them work through their trauma is to understand their growth cycle.
Daily Blog
Creating Neighborhoods of Healing
A Trauma Therapist’s Passage with Chicago Gang Members
By Mary Jo Barrett - I'm on a five-day camping trip with 20 gang members as part of a program called Pride ROC. Most of these guys have suffered repeated abuse and severe poverty, seen friends and family members shot, stabbed, or fatally overdosed on drugs. Not surprisingly, every one of them suffers from complex trauma—which is why I’m here as a therapist, trying to apply what I know and use in my office in a place far away from the comfortable world I usually inhabit.
Daily Blog
Is Trauma Therapy Doing Enough for People of Color?
What is a therapist to do?
When it comes to addressing systemic racism and injustice, “therapy’s not enough,” says trauma expert Mary Jo Barrett. But that doesn’t mean therapists can’t be a part of the effort to create change.
Daily Blog
Strengthening Trauma Therapy by Bringing in the Family
Mary Jo Barrett on the Healing Potential of Families in Trauma Treatment
By Mary Jo Barrett - Mostly, I think we avoid family therapy because families can be so exhausting, creating an atmosphere of great emotional volatility, which requires us to be on our toes all the time. But the therapy experience takes on an entirely different dimension when family members learn to be healing agents for each other. Clients, especially those who’ve been traumatized, often feel disconnected from themselves and somehow separate and cut off from other people.
Daily Blog
When Guiding Turns to Flirting
A Therapist Shares Her Story
By Mary Jo Barrett - Before it happened to me, I had never heard even my closest colleague talk about falling in love with a client. In our consultation group, the subject was once broached purely theoretically, and everyone became uncomfortably quiet. Yet, I want to break our conspiracy of silence so that we can get help when we need it. And believe me, when it came to Scott, I did.
Daily Blog
The Art of Not Knowing the Answer
A Trauma Specialist Shares Her Most Therapeutic Moment
By Mary Jo Barrett - My very first case was the Byford family. The father was serving a six-month sentence for domestic abuse. During a home visit several months into treatment, the daughter, Laura, announced, “Dad is getting out of jail today! And he’s coming here!” My mind went blank. Her mother looked at me. Suddenly, it was as though I passed whatever strength I had to her, and she then passed it back to me.
Daily Blog
Working with Abusers and Their Families
Can Good and Evil Can Exist in the Same Person?
By Mary Jo Barrett - Families suffering from trauma, abuse, and neglect can begin to make the crucial distinction between a chronic state of overarousal and vigilance and "reality" only once a sense of physical and psychological safety has been established. Only after this first stage is it even possible to focus on changing dysfunctional mindsets, counterproductive behavior, and destructive family patterns.
Daily Blog
The Agreement
Tackling a Teachable Moment on Race
September/October 2020
In the days after George Floyd’s murder, and amidst their work to address gang-related trauma and violence, a white therapist and her Black cofacilitator wrestle with the nuances of privilege and relationship.
Magazine Article
The Missing Ingredient in Trauma Treatment
Bringing the Client’s World into the Treatment Room
In the past few decades, we’ve made important strides in our ability to help overwhelmed and hopeless people overcome the stigma previously attached to trauma symptoms, learn new thinking and self-regulation skills, and even find a new sense of restored well-being. But then they go home, and far more often than we’d like, when they’re back in their daily lives with family, friends, and coworkers, they don’t do so well.
Daily Blog
Then, Now & Tomorrow
Oral Histories of Psychotherapy 1978-2017
January/February 2017
A group of innovators and leaders look back over different realms of therapeutic practice and offer their view of the eureka moments, the mistakes and misdirections, and the inevitable trial-and-error processes that have shaped the evolution of different specialty areas within the field.
- Trauma: Retreats and Advances BESSEL VAN DER KOLK
- Couples: In Search of a Safe Haven JOHN GOTTMAN
- Systems Therapy: The Art of Creating Uncertainty SALVADOR MINUCHIN
- Family Violence: Out of the Shadows MARY JO BARRETT
- Psychopharmacology: The Jury Is Still Out JOHN PRESTON
- Race Matters: How Far Have We Come? KENNETH HARDY
- Neuroscience and Therapy: The Craft of Rewiring the Brain DANIEL SIEGEL
Magazine Article
Survival Skills
Chicago Gang Members Take a Challenging Leap
January/February 2019
In one violent Chicago neighborhood, embattled gang members see themselves as UPOWs—urban prisoners of war. To introduce them to a new set of survival skills, a therapist specializing in complex trauma helps take them off the streets and into the wilderness. Can her unlikely approach, which at times resembles a seminar on brain science, make a real difference in their lives?
Magazine Article
Bonus - Read the entire article FREE!
The Crush
Challenging Our Culture of Avoidance
March/April 2002
Before it happened to me, I had never heard even my closest colleague talk about falling in love with a client. In our consultation group, the subject was once broached purely theoretically, and everyone became uncomfortably quiet. Nobody shared a personal experience. The message we gave each other was clear: Whatever you do, don't talk about having a crush on a client! And that may be why I would rather write about being seen naked by a client at the health club, or dealing with anti-Semitic remarks in session, than describe to you what happened.
Magazine Article
When Client Relationships Lean Romantic
Pulling Back When Therapy Stretches Ethical Boundaries
Before it happened to me, I had never heard even my closest colleague talk about falling in love with a client. In our consultation group, the subject was once broached purely theoretically, and everyone became uncomfortably quiet. The message we gave each other was clear: Whatever you do, don't talk about having a crush on a client. Yet, I want to break our conspiracy of silence so that we can get help when we need it. And believe me, when it came to Scott, I did.
Daily Blog
Setting Boundaries in an Age of Informality
Discussing Ethics with Clients from the First Session
By Mary Jo Barrett - As the status of the therapist has shifted from that of an oversized figure with Svengali-like powers to that of an overworked and underpaid service provider at the mercy of the client-consumer who might sue him or her for some infraction, what are we to make of our traditional ethical codes?
Daily Blog
Reflections on the Path and Purpose of Trauma Work
Ending the National Health Problem of Family Violence
By Mary Jo Barrett - Family violence remains a national health problem that few therapists have been trained to deal with and, sadly, few of us want to address. On a good day, it’s a messy, complicated business, which doesn’t bring much financial reward or professional status. But over 40 years, we've amassed a wealth of knowledge on how to help traumatized families.
Daily Blog
Today's Most Effective Interventions for Deep Healing
Finally, get clear insight into exactly what trauma treatment methods will work for your clients so you can begin to dramatically improve outcomes! Join seven of the leading pioneers of trauma treatment—Bessel van der Kolk, Peter Levine, Janina Fisher, Pat Ogden, Mary Jo Barrett, Bill O'Hanlon and Skip Rizzo—to get in-depth insight into the most powerful trauma treatment methods available today (including Somatic Experiencing, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, EMDR, Parts Therapy, Neurofeedback, Virtual Reality-assisted therapy and more). Gain an inside understanding of each approach as these experts walk through the specific steps they take with clients facing similar challenges to what you see in your office every day.
Copyright:
8/6/2018
Authors:
BILL O'HANLON, MS, LMFT
BESSEL A VAN DER KOLK, M.D.
JANINA FISHER, PH.D.
PETER A. LEVINE, PH.D.
PAT OGDEN, PHD
MARY JO BARRETT, MSW
ALBERT "SKIP" RIZZO, PH.D.
Product:
NRS001275
Finally, get clear insight into exactly what trauma treatment methods will work for your clients so you can begin to dramatically improve outcomes! Join seven of the leading pioneers of trauma treatment—Bessel van der Kolk, Peter Levine, Janina Fisher, Pat Ogden, Mary Jo Barrett, Bill O'Hanlon and Skip Rizzo—to get in-depth insight into the most powerful trauma treatment methods available today (including Somatic Experiencing, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, EMDR, Parts Therapy, Neurofeedback, Virtual Reality-assisted therapy and more). Gain an inside understanding of each approach as these experts walk through the specific steps they take with clients facing similar challenges to what you see in your office every day.
Copyright:
8/6/2018
Authors:
BILL O'HANLON, MS, LMFT
BESSEL A VAN DER KOLK, M.D.
JANINA FISHER, PH.D.
PETER A. LEVINE, PH.D.
PAT OGDEN, PHD
MARY JO BARRETT, MSW
ALBERT "SKIP" RIZZO, PH.D.
Product:
NRS001275
3 CE Hours
The ethical guidelines for therapists were once governed by simple, unambiguous rules, but in today's informal therapeutic climate, these old rules aren't so straightforward anymore. Learn how to navigate these murky ethical waters.
The ethical guidelines for therapists were once governed by simple, unambiguous rules, but in today's informal therapeutic climate, these old rules aren't so straightforward anymore. Learn how to navigate these murky ethical waters.
Losing Focus as a Therapist
Mary Jo Barrett on Being Better Attuned to Clients
We know that our primary initial responsibility as a therapist is to listen intently to what the client says, giving them our undivided attention. But being only human, there are times when we get distracted and are no longer focused on what the client is telling us.
Daily Blog
The Crush
Challenging Our Culture of Avoidance
Before it happened to me, I had never heard even my closest colleague talk about falling in love with a client. In our consultation group, the subject was once broached purely theoretically, and everyone became uncomfortably quiet. Nobody shared a personal experience. The message we gave each other was clear: Whatever you do, don't talk about having a crush on a client! And that may be why I would rather write about being seen naked by a client at the health club, or dealing with anti-Semitic remarks in session, than describe to you what happened. Yet, I want to break our conspiracy of silence so that we can get help when we need it. And believe me, when it came to Scott, I did.
Daily Blog
Copyright:
3/21/2014
Authors:
DON MEICHENBAUM, PH.D.
JANINA FISHER, PH.D.
MARY JO BARRETT, MSW
JOHN BRIERE, PH.D.
Product:
NOS047010
Copyright:
3/21/2014
Authors:
DON MEICHENBAUM, PH.D.
JANINA FISHER, PH.D.
MARY JO BARRETT, MSW
JOHN BRIERE, PH.D.
Product:
NOS047010
Can We Talk?
Let's End the Conspiracy of Silence About Ethical Dilemas
March/April 2002
One way or another, all therapists face similar questions about therapeutic boundaries: Should we accept the gift? How much do we self-disclose? What do we do when a dual relationship can't be avoided? How do we safely negotiate the currents of sexuality? Moved by our best instincts, our weaknesses or simply by the sheer ambiguity of the situation, we can often find ourselves striking out on our own and coloring outside the lines.
Magazine Article
Outside the Box
Bringing Families into Trauma Treatment
May/June 2014
If we don’t open up the one-on-one therapeutic cloister, trauma sufferers may never learn how to engage in the give and take of real-life relationships. By failing to include their families, we too often fail to help them weave change into their daily lives.
Magazine Article
