Lisa Ferentz, LCSW-C, DAPA
Dear Therapist
Being in this profession can feel like a double-edged sword…especially when dealing with challenging cases like clients who self-harm.
On one side, you have the opportunity to make a profound impact on your clients’ lives, offering support and guidance through difficult times…
On the other side, you may face your own fears and uncertainties, particularly when confronted with complex cases that may be outside of your comfort zone or area of expertise.
I want you to ask yourself these questions and answer honestly…
When a client discloses that they are self-harming, what is your immediate emotional response? Do you feel equipped to handle the situation?
When dealing with challenging cases of self-harm, what fears or anxieties surface for you as a therapist?
Have you ever referred your client to another therapist out of fear or doubt?
Look, feeling overwhelmed or uncertain when facing clients with self-harm behaviors is a natural reaction…
It’s a testament to your care and commitment to your clients’ well-being.
But I’d like to challenge you to reframe the way you look at self harm and the traditional approaches to it.
I’d like you to think of self harming behaviors as tools that are actually helping your client to mask something more painful: the effects of trauma, guilt, and shame.
I’ve developed a protocol called CARESS which was designed to give clients something else to do to cope.
It’s a strengths-based approach that doesn’t equate self-destructive behaviors with Borderline Personality Disorder or inherent pathology.
I’m inviting you to join me in exploring the CARESS approach inside of my new course – Working with Self-Destructive Behaviors.
Learn more about the approach below and how it will teach you to help your clients get through their most vulnerable moments (and yours too!).
5 In-Depth Training Modules
5 Pre-Recorded Training Calls
Downloadable Course Materials
Private Member Dashboard
Here’s What You’ll Receive
Interview with Janina Fisher — Beyond Borderline: De-Pathologizing Complex Trauma
Bonus Video: Guidelines for Processing Clients’ Artwork
Bonus Video: Taking Care of Ourselves: Addressing Vicarious Traumatization & Burnout
Bonus Video: What Does it Really Mean to be Trauma-Informed?
Plus, These Special Bonuses
Attachment, Affect Regulation and Dysregulation, and Defining Traumatic Experiences
In this opening module, Lisa explores the relationship between trauma, attachment, and affect regulation. She’ll help participants distinguish between co-regulation and auto-regulation, and the states of dysregulation, hypo-arousal, and hyper-arousal. You’ll learn about the impact meaning-making has on the sequelae of trauma.
You’ll learn:
- The 4 attachment styles and their impact on a child’s cognitive and emotional development
- How disorganized attachment shows up in the parent-child relationship
- The challenge of attaching to abusive caretakers
- 5 potential relationship losses experienced by survivors of trauma
- How to process the impact of loss through artwork
The Challenges of Adolescence, The Strengths-based Perspective, Understanding Self-Destructive Behaviors, A Paradigm Shift in Treatment
In Module 2, Lisa will cover the unique challenges of the adolescent brain, and how it differs from the adult brain. She’ll define a broad explanation of self-destructive behaviors, and explore the benefits of working with a strengths-based, de-pathologized perspective when working with them. You’ll understand the concepts of trauma-re-enactment and the meta-communication of self-harm.
You’ll learn:
- 3 “tipping points” that make adolescents vulnerable to turning to acts of self-harm.
- 6 reasons why clients engage in self-destructive behaviors.
- The meta-communication of self-harm and the connection to trauma reenactment syndrome
- Key concepts when treating self-harm
- The “whack a mole” metaphor and its relevance to working with self-destructive behaviors
The Cycle of Self-Destructive Behavior, A Case Study
In Module 3, you’ll explore the cycle of self-destructive acts and how triggering, negative cognition, negative affect, dissociation, and anxiety influence the process. You’ll learn how to create a template to use in therapy, and see it used in a case study.
You’ll learn:
- The “cycle of self-destructive behaviors” and how it can be used as a teaching tool in therapy sessions.
- How to assess for triggers that set the cycle of self-harm in motion, and how the cycle escalates
- About dissociation and how it leads to an analgesic effect
- Negative AND positive outcomes in the cycle of self-harm
Creatively Treating the Cycle of Self-Destructive Behaviors PART 1: Triggers, Negative Thoughts, and Emotions
In Module 4, you’ll learn how to identify “intervention sites” in the cycle to reduce and eventually extinguish self-destructive behaviors. Lisa will introduce alternative coping strategies to share with clients.
You’ll learn:
- The journal prompt REACTS to help identify triggers
- 2 strategies to address triggers and increase healthier boundaries
- How to manage negative self-talk and increase self-compassion
- 2 ways to reduce emotional flooding.
- Additional ways for clients to learn somatic resourcing
Creatively Treating the Cycle of Self-Destructive Behaviors PART 2: The CARESS Method
In the final module, you’ll cover methods to address tension, anxiety, and dissociation using psychoeducation, breath work, anchoring, and more. You’ll learn the CARESS method as an alternative to standard safety contracts and being on-call for your clients 24/7.
You’ll learn:
- Techniques to help clients with tension, anxiety, dissociation, and grounding.
- How to implement CARESS as an alternative to standard safety contracts
- Safe guidelines for how to use art therapeutically
- 4 open-ended questions to use when processing clients’ artwork.
What’s Included in Each Module?
Meet Our Presenter
Lisa Ferentz
Lisa Ferentz, MSW, LCSW-C, DAPA, has been a recognized expert in the strengths-based, de-pathologized treatment of trauma for over 40 years. She presents workshops and keynote addresses nationally and internationally, and is a clinical consultant to practitioners and mental health agencies in the United States, Canada, the UK, and Ireland.
Lisa has been an Adjunct Faculty member at several Universities, and is the founder of The Ferentz Institute, now in its seventeenth year providing continuing education to mental health professionals and graduating over 3000 clinicians from Certificate Programs in Advanced Trauma Treatment. Lisa is the author of Treating Self-Destructive Behaviors in Traumatized Clients: A Clinician’s Guide, Letting Go of Self-Destructive Behaviors: A Workbook of Hope and Healing, and Finding Your Ruby Slippers: Transformative Life Lessons From the Therapist’s Couch. Lisa is also a radio show host, blogger, writer, and teacher on self-harm and self-care.
CE Information
This program has been approved for 6 distance learning CEs by the following organizations: CAMFT, NBCC, NASW MA Chapter, NYSED MHC.
Complete CE info can be found by clicking here.
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