LEARN WITH DR. LANIUS: COURSES
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Recorded Courses
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Finding Solid Ground 5-Day Intensive Training - Recorded & Live Viewing September-December 2026
A 5-Day Intensive Training for Treating Complex Trauma and Dissociation
With Dr. Ruth Lanius and Dr. Bethany Brand
​This training is a comprehensive learning experience for clinicians committed to mastering the treatment of complex trauma and dissociation.
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“I already know how to treat complex trauma.”
That’s an understandable reaction experienced trauma therapists may have when they first hear about Finding Solid Ground (FSG). But one of the most striking findings from our randomized controlled trial gave us reason to question that assumption.
The participants in our study were already receiving individual psychotherapy, often with highly trained trauma clinicians. During the six months when the waitlist group continued their usual therapy without FSG, they did not show significant improvement as a group. When they gained access to Finding Solid Ground, they did.
Patients showed significant improvements in dissociation, PTSD symptoms, emotion regulation, adaptive capacities, and self-compassion. They also reported that their relationships with their therapists improved. And there was another finding that I think is particularly important for clinicians: therapists increased their knowledge about treating complex trauma, even therapists who already considered themselves experts in trauma treatment.
FSG is not simply about teaching grounding or adding another set of coping skills. It helps clinicians understand why some complex trauma patients are reluctant to become grounded, how to help clients decrease their reliance on unsafe behaviors, and how to work with trauma-based ways of thinking and dissociative self-states that can make treatment extraordinarily challenging.
In fall 2026, Ruth and Bethany will teach their five-session Finding Solid Ground Intensive, bringing together the research and clinical strategies they have developed for working with these challenges. If your first thought is, “I probably already know this,” our research suggests FSG may still have something important to offer you and your clients.
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Finding Solid Ground Intensive Trainings are immersive, multi-session educational experiences designed to help clinicians build lasting expertise—not just earn continuing education credits.
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Unlike traditional workshops that introduce concepts in a single day, our structured intensives provide the time, depth, and continuity needed to meaningfully integrate the Finding Solid Ground model into clinical practice. Each session builds upon the last, allowing participants to develop a comprehensive understanding of the research, theory, and practical application of this evidence-based approach.
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Whether you are beginning your journey with Finding Solid Ground or expanding your expertise, these trainings are designed to strengthen your confidence when working with clients experiencing complex trauma, dissociation, emotional dysregulation, and related clinical challenges.
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Why join an intensive training?
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Our intensive format allows clinicians to move beyond simply learning about a treatment model to developing the knowledge and clinical reasoning needed to apply it with confidence.
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Throughout the training, participants will:
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Develop a comprehensive understanding of the Finding Solid Ground model from foundational concepts through practical clinical application.
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Learn directly from the creators and leading experts behind the Finding Solid Ground program.
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Explore the research supporting the model and understand how to translate evidence into everyday clinical practice.
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Strengthen clinical decision-making when working with individuals experiencing complex trauma, severe dissociation, and multiple co-occurring concerns.
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Learn practical interventions and implementation strategies that can be immediately incorporated into treatment.
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Build knowledge progressively through a structured curriculum where each session expands upon previously learned concepts.
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Earn APA-approved continuing education while investing in long-term professional growth.
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More than a workshop
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Finding Solid Ground Intensives are intentionally designed to bridge the gap between traditional continuing education and lengthy certification programs.
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Participants receive an immersive educational experience that provides substantially greater depth than a standalone webinar while remaining flexible enough for busy clinicians. By the conclusion of the intensive, participants leave with a stronger conceptual understanding of the model, greater confidence treating highly complex clients, and practical tools they can immediately integrate into their clinical work.
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This bundle offers up to 25 Continuing Education (CE) Credits!
Finding Solid Ground Consultation Group
Personalized Guidance to Implement the Finding Solid Ground program in Clinical Practice
With Dr. Ruth Lanius and Dr. Bethany Brand
Continue building your expertise in the Finding Solid Ground (FSG) program through this advanced clinical consultation series led by the creators of the model, Dr. Bethany Brand and Dr. Ruth Lanius.
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This four-session live Zoom consultation series is designed for clinicians who have completed foundational FSG training and are looking for additional guidance as they implement the program in clinical practice. Each 60-minute session will focus on common clinical questions, implementation challenges, and practical applications of the Finding Solid Ground model.​​
​​Prior to each consultation session, participants will have the opportunity to submit questions for consideration. Questions may include de-identified clinical cases, challenges encountered while using the FSG program, or broader questions about implementation. To make the best use of the group's time, presenters will review submissions in advance and select questions that reflect common themes and learning opportunities for the group. While not every submitted question can be addressed during the live sessions, the discussions are intended to provide practical guidance that will benefit all participants.
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Enrollment is limited to 25 participants to support a focused learning experience.
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Schedule
Live via Zoom
Time: Wednesdays, 12:00–1:00 PM Eastern / 11:00 AM–12:00 PM Central
Session Dates:
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September 30
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October 28
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November 18
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December 16
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Who Should Attend
This consultation series is intended for clinicians who already have foundational knowledge of the Finding Solid Ground program. Participants should have either:
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Completed the Finding Solid Ground Foundations Training, or
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Be enrolled in the upcoming Finding Solid Ground 5-Day Intensive that Launches in Fall.
Because this is an intermediate consultation series, foundational knowledge of the Finding Solid Ground model is expected.
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Continuing Education
Participants may earn 1 CE credit for each live consultation session, for a maximum of 4 CE credits across the series. CE credit is available only to participants who attend each session live. CE credit cannot be awarded for missed sessions or by viewing a recording, if available.
The Sensory Exchange: 4-Webinar Live Book Club
with the Authors of the Recently Published Book
Sensory Pathways to Healing from Trauma
With the co-authors of Sensory Pathways to Healing from Trauma: Dr. Ruth Lanius, Dr. Sherain Harricharan, Dr. Breanne Kearney, and Benjamin Pandev-Girard
This four-part discussion series offers participants a unique opportunity to hear directly from the authors of the recently published book, Sensory Pathways to Healing from Trauma. This a pioneering book that explores how trauma impacts the brain's sensory systems and the role of sensory-based interventions in recovery.
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Each session focuses on specific chapters of the book, beginning with an introduction by the authors and followed by a community-driven discussion.​​
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Participants who complete this course are eligible for 4 Continuing Education (CE) Credit Hours.
By the end, you will be able to:
Identify the body’s eight sensory systems processed in the brain and discuss how trauma can impact internal and external sensory perception.
Identify key regions in the brain critical to processing sensations and describe how these regions work together to form brain networks.
Describe brain-based healing tools used in clinical practice to empower trauma healing and promote a restoration of the self in the aftermath of trauma.
Trauma & The Senses Conference: Clinical Case Perspectives on Trauma and Sensory-Based Therapies
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Full Day Virtual Recorded Event
With the co-authors of Sensory Pathways to Healing from Trauma: Dr. Ruth Lanius, Dr. Sherain Harricharan, Dr. Breanne Kearney, and Benjamin Pandev-Girard
Join the Community for a dynamic recorded conference of learning and connection, featuring the authors of Sensory Pathways to Healing from Trauma and other leading voices in the field.
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Full-Day Conference: Watch the recording of Dr. Ruth Lanius and co-authors of their new book for an immersive conference exploring the brain, trauma, and emerging approaches to healing, grounded in research and clinical practice.
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Clinical Relevance: Walk away with new ideas to apply immediately in your work with neurofeedback, Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR), or other trauma-informed modalities.
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Flexible Access: Register to join live or watch self-paced recordings for each session. Perfect for sessions you missed live or want to revisit for deeper understanding and clinical integration.
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​​​Participants who complete this course are eligible for 6 Continuing Education (CE) Credit Hours.​
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Register now to access self-paced recordings from all conference sessions including presentations, demos, and panel Q&As!
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
Explain the interplay between bottom-up and top-down brain processes in trauma response and recovery.
Describe how sensory-based interventions can support the re-establishment of safety, self-agency, and embodied presence.
Discuss the role of interoception and its disruption in trauma, and explore strategies for restoring internal sensory awareness.
Finding Solid Ground Intensive Training: Implementing the Finding Solid Ground Program in Clinical Practice
The Complete 5 Session Program
With Ruth Lanius, MD, PhD and Bethany Brand, PhD
​If you’re working with trauma, you’re working with clients who dissociate. Yet many therapists do not know how to spot subtle dissociation or know how to respond when a client cannot get grounded. And only one program for treating dissociation is proven by research to help!
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Treating complex trauma and dissociation is the most challenging work we do – but Ruth, Bethany, and Hygge Schielke created an approach that helps overcome some of the biggest obstacles you’re likely to encounter.​
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The program that they developed, called Finding Solid Ground, has solid research support – and it’s the first research-based program that has been shown to help severely dissociative clients. Therapists who have learned to use Finding Solid Ground feel more confident in their work with even the most severely traumatized and dissociative clients. And clients who participate in Finding Solid Ground develop greater self-compassion, healthier coping skills, and learn to understand and accept their emotions and their parts (if they have parts).
What you will get out of it:
This is the most intensive and foundational training available about the Finding Solid Ground program. The training presents cutting edge updates about the neurobiology of trauma, which informs the skills that clients develop when working with the Finding Solid Ground program. Each training offers Bethany and Ruth engaging in role plays depicting some of the most challenging moments involved when working with individuals who experienced complex trauma.
This course will cover what you need to know about dissociation, dissociative disorders & the Finding Solid Ground (FSG) Program. ​You will learn specific language to use with your clients to engage them in treatment and avoid activating dissociative responses, and ways to help your clients cope with trauma without dissociating or engaging in risky or unsafe behaviors, as well as many other important topics. You will also learn the 4 foundational skills that are key to the Finding Solid Ground approach, and critical order in which to use these skills with clients.
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This course includes 5 recorded sessions, available on demand:
1. Dissociation and the Finding Solid Ground Program
2. Grounding & Separating Past from Present
3. Trauma & Breaking the Self-Injury Cycle
4. Trauma-Based Thinking
5. Awareness and Comfort (with their emotions, bodies and parts of self)
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& Receive Continuing Education Credit!​​​​​​
Learn from Ruth and Bethany to answer these questions:
How do you work with clients who are terrified to get grounded because they fear being overwhelmed by emotions and memories?
What critical steps do you need to take with your client BEFORE focusing on self-harm and risky behaviours?
How can I engage and motivate clients who have found that "treatment never helps"?
Learn more:​
Working Through Roadblocks Using Finding Solid Ground - Advanced Level Course
3 Session Recorded Course
With Ruth Lanius, MD, PhD and Bethany Brand, PhD
You’ve learned the Finding Solid Ground program — or maybe you’ve just heard about it and are curious. Now, take the next step. This immersive 3-part advanced training will help you implement Finding Solid Ground even with the most complex clients — without losing hope, clarity, or connection.
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This advanced, 3-part training is designed for clinicians who want to deepen their ability to apply Finding Solid Ground with clients facing some of the most complex clinical challenges: severe dissociation, resistance to grounding, and repeated engagement in unsafe behaviors.
Whether your client resists grounding, cycles back into unsafe relationships, or struggles with internal conflict, this series offers advanced guidance on what to do next.​
​​​The course is led by Dr. Ruth Lanius and Dr. Bethany Brand, two of the field's leading experts on complex trauma and dissociation, who co-founded this program along with Dr. Hygge Schielke. This course is intended for all of us to come together to connect to see how we can find and maintain solid ground in this difficult world.
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This immersive training brings clarity, compassion, and clinical depth to the hardest moments in trauma treatment —when clients are stuck, scared, or spiraling. You’ll walk away with language, strategies, and insight grounded in science and shaped by decades of real-world therapeutic experience.
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Backed by research. Centered in hope. Grounded in reality. Rooted in compassion. Built for real clinical work.
Learn how to move through the hardest parts — together.
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Who is this course designed for?
​​​This course is intended for clinicians who have already either:
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🔗 Completed watching the 5 Session Intensive Training (which is the course listed above)
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🔗 Read through the Finding Solid Ground book and client workbook
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These resources provide essential context and foundational language that will enhance your understanding of the advanced strategies taught in this course.
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What you will get out of it:
Day 1: How do you help clients who feel outside of their body? Is there a necessary step before working on bodily awareness?
Day 2: How can I help clients who are stuck in or drawn to unhealthy relationships?
Day 3: How should I help clients who fear that grounding will cause emotional flooding or other aversive experiences?
​​​​​​​​This course will help you build on the foundational skills of Finding Solid Ground and help you feel more empowered and confident in using Finding Solid Ground with the most traumatized clients. Each session addresses a core clinical roadblock with practical, research-informed tools:
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Day 1 – Locating the “Where Self” in Severe Depersonalization
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Learn how to gently introduce the concept of the “Where self” to clients who experience themselves from outside their body—whether from a corner of the room or observing through birds outside the window. You’ll explore how to build safety and co-regulation before working toward bodily presence.
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Day 2 – Working with Cycles of Unsafe Behavior and Internal Conflict
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Explore how to support clients who feel drawn to abusive or unsafe dynamics due to deeply embedded childhood survival strategies. Learn to navigate internal conflicts — between parts that want to please an abuser, parts that punish for disobedience, and overwhelmed adult selves — while affirming the client’s inherent right to safety and self-compassion.
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Day 3 – Overcoming Resistance to Grounding and Fear of Overwhelm
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Discover how to support clients who fear grounding will trigger emotional flooding, psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES), or other overwhelming experiences. Learn to validate these fears, pace interventions thoughtfully, and create gradual, somatic-based pathways to stabilization.
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& Receive Continuing Education Credit!​​​​​​
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This training includes recordings of 3 live sessions from 2025 with Dr. Ruth Lanius and Dr. Bethany Brand.
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We look forward to helping you feel confident and equipped to handle anything that comes up in clinical practice.
Finding Solid Ground Training: How to Lead Group Sessions of Finding Solid Ground
With Ruth Lanius, MD, PhD, Bethany Brand, PhD, and Hygge Schielke, PhD
During this training, you will:
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Learn how to teach the full FSG program in group settings
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Explore ways to adjust pacing for clients who need to move more slowly
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Understand how to structure groups for success
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Discover how to incorporate grounding practices into every session
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Develop step-by-step strategies for guiding clients through progressively advanced stabilization skills​
​​Experience lively, pragmatic role plays and small group practice sessions that will illustrate ways to manage common group challenges.
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You’ll leave each training with practical tools as well as feeling inspired and hopeful, with a clear roadmap for helping some of the most underserved clients in mental health care.
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You will get:​
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A recording of the live training so you can learn directly from the experts - Recording available for 180 Days From Registration
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13 CE Credits Available (6.5 CE credit per course)
By the end, you will:
Have practical strategies you can apply immediately to help people with complex trauma and dissociation
Gain the confidence to lead groups that help clients feel safer, more regulated & more connected to themselves and others
Know how to respond when a group member dissociates or graphically describes trauma
Oxford Trauma Conference September 14-17, 2026
In-Person and Online
Ruth Lanius will be speaking at Transform Trauma Oxford 2026, taking place September 14-17, 2026 in Oxford, England. She will be leading a session called Neuroscience of Trauma – exploring the latest neuroscience of traumatic stress and what it means for how we understand and treat PTSD.
Ruth will also be leading a second session with the co-authors of their new book, Sensory Pathways to Healing from Trauma - Dr. Sherain Harricharan, Dr. Breanne Kearney, and Benjamin Pandev-Girard.
We would like to invite you to join us at the conference.
   
At this conference, we will be joined by Gabor Maté, Bessel van der Kolk, Tara Swart, Dan Siegel, Kristin Neff, Dick Schwartz and 100+ other researchers, clinicians and practitioners from across the field.
 
This year's theme – Science, Spirit and the Body: The Synthesis of Healing – explores the meeting point of evidence, experience and the ineffable, examining how modern science, embodied practice and spiritual understanding converge toward a more integrated vision of healing.
Attending gives you the opportunity to:
→ Learn from over 100 world-renowned academics, researchers and practitioners
→ Connect with 6,000+ attendees and network with pioneers in trauma treatment
→ Earn up to 40 CE and CPD credits, included in the cost of your ticket
 
The conference is available both in-person and online, with access to 100+ hours of recorded content for 90 days after the event.
 
As a member of my community, I am pleased to offer you an exclusive discount. Use your code at checkout, or follow the links below and it will be applied automatically:
 
– In-person: save £100 with code RuthIP100 (bringing it to £895)
– Virtual: save £50 with code RuthVT50 (bringing it to £345)
 
We hope to see you there.
Finding Solid Ground Recorded Training: Introduction to the Program & The Foundations of Finding Solid Ground
With Ruth Lanius, MD, PhD and Bethany Brand, PhD
Many individuals with complex trauma fluctuate between chronic overwhelm and emotional numbing and often struggle with high rates of self-harm and suicidality, underscoring the importance of effective stabilization early in treatment.
In this free introductory session, Bethany Brand and Ruth Lanius will provide an overview of the Finding Solid Ground (FSG) program, an evidence-based, skills-focused intervention designed to build adaptive capacities and reduce trauma-related symptoms. Presenters will review FSG’s research, rationale, and structure, and highlight key principles that differentiate it from more general approaches to grounding and stabilization.
You will leave with a foundational understanding of FSG and practical ideas they may consider integrating into their clinical work.
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You are still eligible to receive 1 Continuing Education (CE) credit by enrolling in this free recorded course.
By the end, you will be able to:
Describe the research findings supporting Finding Solid Ground
Summarize the key components of the Finding Solid Ground (FSG) program, including its focus on building adaptive capacities
Describe 2 practical strategies or principles from Finding Solid Ground that you can consider integrating into your practice
Ethics and Finding Solid Ground: Navigate Ethical Challenges While Supporting Patient Safety
- Recorded July 24, 2026
With Ruth Lanius, MD, PhD and Bethany Brand, PhD
This presentation reviews research findings from the Finding Solid Ground (FSG) program, the first randomized controlled trial to demonstrate benefits for individuals with complex trauma, comorbidity, and severe dissociation. Findings suggest that incorporating FSG into ongoing treatment is associated with improved clinical outcomes and lower rates of deterioration than treatment as usual alone.
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​​​​​​Treating individuals with complex trauma and severe dissociation presents significant ethical and clinical challenges, including managing safety concerns, reducing the risk of decompensation, and fostering hope in a highly vulnerable population.
​Qualitative findings indicate that patients experience increased empathy, connection, and improvements in the therapeutic relationship, while clinicians report greater confidence in addressing challenging clinical issues and reduced professional isolation.
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The presentation will discuss how FSG's structured, skills-based, phase-oriented approach may help clinicians navigate ethical challenges while supporting patient safety, collaboration, and adaptive functioning. Practical implications for integrating FSG principles into clinical practice will be discussed.
You will learn how to:
Understand key ethical challenges in treating complex trauma and severe dissociation
Review research supporting Finding Solid Ground for complex trauma and severe dissociation
Identify Finding Solid Ground interventions and consultation strategies to support ethical and effective trauma treatment
Trauma, Development and Neuroplasticity:
​How Can Therapy Help to Restore a Sense of Self After Trauma?
This course brings to life Ruth's work on trauma and the brain. This six-part webinar explores critical brain systems that are affected frequently by trauma and how altered functioning of each brain system can be associated with certain trauma-related symptoms.
The effects of a variety of present- and past- centered therapies, including mindfulness training, body-oriented approaches, neurofeedback, heart rate variability training, brain stimulation, EMDR, CBT/prolonged exposure, will then be discussed to illustrate how trauma treatment can lead to the restoration of critical brain networks and contribute to healing from traumatic stress.
In this short video, Ruth provides a glimpse into the course, including how the brain is impacted by trauma and how this can inform therapeutic approaches to promote healing.
What you will get out of it:
When you complete all 6 sessions, you will get 6 APA Continuing Education credit hours!
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Get access to watch the recording as often as you like for 90 days
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Learn from Ruth to answer these questions:
What brain systems are affected by trauma?
What effect do different therapies have on these brain systems?
What therapies can we integrate to restore these brain networks and promote healing?
What people are saying:
"Ruth's work and the emerging sense of self is what reaches me the deepest and what I relate to personally. She said that those of us with developmental trauma are trying to give birth to a sense of self. She differentiated developmental trauma from later life trauma. "Give birth to a sense of self" - respectful and beautiful. Instead of referring to us as people without a body, without a self, needing restoration - she sees us as trying to give birth to a sense of self. I felt no stigma."​
Debbie Ingraham
Trauma, Balance and Recovery:
How to Restore Emotional Regulation, Balance, and A Sense of Self In the Aftermath of Developmental Trauma
Join Ruth to explore new emerging neuroscientific research to learn effective treatment approaches for developmental trauma. In this course, we look particularly at research and clinical practice with the vestibular/balance and cerebellar systems. New evidence suggests and supports the evidence base for brain-training and other bottom-up therapeutic modalities.​​
In this video, Ruth describes this course, delves into what you will learn, and answer questions.
What you will get out of it:
​In this course, we examine evidence-based, bottom-up treatment approaches that target sensory, vestibular, and motor experience to regulate critical higher cognitive functions, including emotion regulation, cognition, and theory of mind. Participants will come away with a grounded understanding of the emerging neuroscience, based on research with developmentally-traumatized individuals, that supports this integrative approach for traumatic stress syndromes.
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& Receive Continuing Education Credit!​​​
Learn from 4 sessions:
Trauma and the Vestibular/
Balance System
Trauma, Sensory Processing and the Vestibular Balance System: Treatment Implications
Trauma and the Cerebellum
Restoring Emotion Regulation, Balance, & a Sense of Self - In Conversation with Sebern Fisher
How Can Neurofeedback Enhance Trauma Therapy?
A Dialogue With Ruth Lanius, MD, PhD, and Bessel van der Kolk, MD
In this highly informative and interesting 60 minute session, Drs. Ruth Lanius and Bessel van der Kolk meet to discuss their views of trauma and trauma treatment. They cover such topics as emerging biomarkers in the EEG and fMRI analyses of trauma victims. This discussion includes the cognitive, emotional and behavioral symptoms often seen in people with trauma histories that are associated with these brain biomarkers. They then proceed to a discussion of psychophysiological interventions that, based on research and their experience, are seen as part of the therapeutic toolbox needed to address the symptoms associated with complex trauma.
What you will get out of it:
With these international specialists, you will learn:
What biomarkers in an EEG/fMRI relate to trauma?
What method of neurofeedback training has been shown to reduce trauma symptoms, and how does it work?
What is the role of the brain's Default Mode Network in trauma?