The Therapeutic "Aha!": 10 Strategies for Getting Your Clients Unstuck
The Therapeutic

Author: Courtney Armstrong

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2015-04-27

Total Pages: 188

ISBN-13: 039370839X

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A concise guide to shaking things up in therapy. Courtney Armstrong’s The Therapeutic “Aha!” explores the thrilling and rare moment when a client reaches an elusive realization, allowing them to make meaningful change. In 10 straightforward strategies, this practical book demonstrates how to shake things up in therapy when a client is stuck or stalled to jumpstart progress. Readers will learn how to spark the “emotional brain”—the part of the brain that houses automatic, unconscious patterns—and create new neural pathways that engage and advance the healing process. Divided into three parts—(1) Awakening a Session, (2) Healing Emotional Wounds, and (3) Activating Experiential Change—the book walks readers through specific techniques for harnessing the emotional brain and re-patterning its routine. Elegant therapeutic insights and coping strategies only go so far; until we intervene with something our emotional brain can understand—a compelling felt experience—old, established neural patterns will persist. The brain-based strategies Armstrong presents include how to enliven the therapeutic alliance; elicit exciting goals; identify the root of an emotional conflict; reverse trauma with memory reconsolidation; invoke inspirational imagery; and use stories, humor, music, poetry, and even mindfulness to induce change. Concise, reader-friendly, and filled with helpful case stories and client–therapist dialogue, this wonderfully accessible book puts a new spin on neuroscience knowledge, showing clinicians exactly how it can be used to make those once-elusive therapeutic breakthroughs more frequent, leading to greater healing for your patients.

The Therapeutic Aha
The Therapeutic Aha

Author: Courtney Armstrong

Publisher: National Geographic Books

Published: 2015-04-28

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 0393708403

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A concise guide to shaking things up in therapy. Courtney Armstrong’s The Therapeutic “Aha!” explores the thrilling and rare moment when a client reaches an elusive realization, allowing them to make meaningful change. In 10 straightforward strategies, this practical book demonstrates how to shake things up in therapy when a client is stuck or stalled to jumpstart progress. Readers will learn how to spark the “emotional brain”—the part of the brain that houses automatic, unconscious patterns—and create new neural pathways that engage and advance the healing process. Divided into three parts—(1) Awakening a Session, (2) Healing Emotional Wounds, and (3) Activating Experiential Change—the book walks readers through specific techniques for harnessing the emotional brain and re-patterning its routine. Elegant therapeutic insights and coping strategies only go so far; until we intervene with something our emotional brain can understand—a compelling felt experience—old, established neural patterns will persist. The brain-based strategies Armstrong presents include how to enliven the therapeutic alliance; elicit exciting goals; identify the root of an emotional conflict; reverse trauma with memory reconsolidation; invoke inspirational imagery; and use stories, humor, music, poetry, and even mindfulness to induce change. Concise, reader-friendly, and filled with helpful case stories and client–therapist dialogue, this wonderfully accessible book puts a new spin on neuroscience knowledge, showing clinicians exactly how it can be used to make those once-elusive therapeutic breakthroughs more frequent, leading to greater healing for your patients.

Getting Unstuck in ACT
Getting Unstuck in ACT

Author: Russ Harris

Publisher: New Harbinger Publications

Published: 2013-07-01

Total Pages: 223

ISBN-13: 1608828077

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Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is a powerful, evidence-based treatment for clients struggling with depression, anxiety, addiction, eating disorders, and a host of other mental health conditions. It is based in the belief that the road to lasting happiness and well-being begins with accepting our thoughts, rather than trying to change them. However, ACT can present certain roadblocks during treatment. As a mental health professional, you may adopt basic principles of ACT easily, but it generally takes at least two or three years of hard work and ongoing study to become truly fluid in the model. During that time, you will probably find yourself "stuck" at some point, and so will your clients. In Getting Unstuck in ACT, psychotherapist and bestselling author of ACT Made Simple, Russ Harris, provides solutions for overcoming the most common roadblocks in ACT. In the book, you will learn how to deal with reluctant or unmotivated clients, as well as how to get past certain theoretical aspects of ACT that some clients may find confusing. This book will help clients deal with sticky dilemmas and unsolvable problems, and will help simplify key ACT concepts to help you break down psychological barriers. Other common problems with ACT that the book addresses are inconsistencies and sending mixed messages, talking and explaining ACT instead of doing it, being too eager to treat a client, being a "Mr. Nice Guy or Ms. Nice Girl," or putting too much focus on one process while neglecting others. The chapters of the book are based in real life scenarios that take place between therapist and client, and the author provides feedback by analyzing mistakes in what was said and where improvements could be made. As more and more mental health professionals incorporate ACT into their practice, it is increasingly necessary to have a guide that offers them effective solutions to common ACT roadblocks. For that reason, this book is a must-have for any ACT therapist.

Transforming Traumatic Grief
Transforming Traumatic Grief

Author: Courtney M. Armstrong Lpc

Publisher:

Published: 2011-07-01

Total Pages: 132

ISBN-13: 9780983499916

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Although losing someone you love to a sudden or violent death is a shocking experience, there are steps you can take to heal. This book provides compassionate support and creative ways to soothe and transform your emotions with powerful, but simple strategies that: - Promote healing and calm feelings of anxiety, anger, or despair - Alleviate nightmares, intrusive images, and ruminating thoughts - Relieve guilt and regrets so you can open up to new experiences in your life - Help you get the kind of support you want from other people - Retain "the living story" of your loved one and sense them as a positive presence in your life Recent reviews: "Courtney Armstrong's Transforming Traumatic Grief provides practical tools to comfort grievers, promotes resilience and hope for those who have been devastated by tragedy and loss, and shows ways to create renewed meaning in life beyond grief and trauma." - Bill O'Hanlon, author of Thriving Through Crisis and Quick Steps to Resolving Trauma "Unlike other books detailing therapies that work at the cognitive level of the mind, "Transforming Traumatic Grief" is a how-to book of practical (and even more importantly) attainable activities and proven strategies for those dealing with grief and loss. As a therapist specializing in trauma counseling and her own personal experience with loss, Armstrong builds a strong case for why we need to speak to the emotional brain in a language it understands. Unless we do, she argues, the traumatized and grief-stricken simply can't experience a shift in how they're feeling. Written in a voice that emanates from a very personal place, Armstrong's book is both comforting and empowering. It's for anyone having difficulty moving through grief or growing from their traumatic experience. It's also for therapists who want to help their patients help themselves in between appointments or post-therapy." Nancy Gerhsman, www.artforyoursake.com "A must-read! An indispensable guide for transforming traumatic grief into healing reconnection." - Jon Connelly, Ph.D, LCSW, Founder, Institute for Rapid Resolution Therapy

Rethinking Trauma Treatment: Attachment, Memory Reconsolidation, and Resilience
Rethinking Trauma Treatment: Attachment, Memory Reconsolidation, and Resilience

Author: Courtney Armstrong

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2019-06-25

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13: 0393712567

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Creating safety, hope, and secure attachment to transform traumatic memories. What makes trauma therapy effective? The answers might surprise you. While therapists have been bombarded with brain science, hundreds of new models, and pressure to use evidence-based techniques, research has demonstrated that the therapeutic relationship ultimately predicts therapy outcomes. This is especially true for traumatized clients. But, what kind of therapeutic relationship? Forming a secure therapeutic alliance with traumatized clients is tricky. How do you help clients trust you after they’ve been abused, betrayed, or exploited? How do you instill hope and convince clients who’ve been devastated by loss to believe that a better life is possible? In this accessible guide, Courtney Armstrong distills discoveries from attachment theory, brain science, and post-traumatic growth into practical strategies you can use to: 1) build trust and a secure therapeutic relationship; 2) transform traumatic memories into stories of triumph and courage; and 3) help clients cultivate resilience and a positive post-trauma identity. Packed with dozens of scripts, step-by-step worksheets, and inspiring client stories, this book gives you tools for each phase of the trauma therapy process and shows you how to: Engage and motivate clients based on their attachment style Manage trauma-related dissociation, anxiety, and anger Transform traumatic memories so they no longer haunt your client Work with different types of trauma, from sexual abuse to traumatic grief Evoke inner resources for healing and positive emotional states Counter compassion fatigue and burnout so youcan thrive as a therapist Merely talking about a traumatic event is not enough because the parts of the brain where traumatic, implicit memories are stored don’t understand words. Heartfelt, relational experiences catalyze brain change and buffer the impact of trauma. In this book, Armstrong demonstrates that neuroscience is validating what therapists have suspected all along: the brain changes through the heart.

Prescriptive Memories in Grief and Loss
Prescriptive Memories in Grief and Loss

Author: Nancy Gershman

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-12-21

Total Pages: 309

ISBN-13: 1351680803

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Prescriptive Memories in Grief and Loss: The Art of Dreamscaping introduces a wide range of therapists to a novel, strengths-based and imaginal practice for helping clients at various points on the grief and loss continuum. Grounded in recent empirical research on how the emotional brain encodes new memories, this book describes how to create a resource-rich "prescriptive memory." Chapters by internationally recognized authors explore the theory and application of dreamscaping from a transdisciplinary perspective, including protocols for use with individuals and groups and guidelines for collaboration with other therapists and professionals. Illustrated with full-color dreamscape images co-created by clients and therapists, this is an exciting and innovative guidebook to a new method for cultivating hope and promoting restoration and growth.

The Art of Creating a Magical Session
The Art of Creating a Magical Session

Author: Paul J. Leslie

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-01-10

Total Pages: 165

ISBN-13: 0429773587

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Recent research has repeatedly confirmed that it is not the technique nor the theory, but the interaction between therapists and clients that creates change in clients. This practical guide outlines the ways in which psychotherapists can find new methods of moving their therapy sessions toward dynamic, healing interactions by shifting away from an overreliance on techniques and theories. The Art of Creating a Magical Session discusses the key elements needed to create the interaction conditions for transformational therapeutic change to occur. Using a conceptual approach to client transformation, the book draws from a diverse range of sources including indigenous traditions and rituals, as well as the latest research on the common factors that contribute to success in the therapy room. Each chapter focuses on educating and inspiring mental health professionals to easily adapt and apply creative and resourceful approaches to help their own clients begin inner transformations. With case studies and narratives woven throughout, this accessible guide will support mental health practitioners as they approach their practice in new ways and achieve deeper, and more magical, therapy sessions. It will be valuable reading for psychotherapists, psychologists, social workers and counselors.

Single Session Therapy
Single Session Therapy

Author: Michael F. Hoyt

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2024-07-09

Total Pages: 266

ISBN-13: 1040050581

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Single Session Therapy: A Clinical Introduction to Principles and Practices explores the best ways to use a Single Session Therapy (SST) mindset to better achieve therapeutic goals. This text presents comprehensive ideas and methods on how to make a single session of therapy efficient and effective with individuals, couples, and families, including those of various cultural backgrounds. It emphasizes productive mindsets and includes the following topics: concepts and methods, multi-theoretical approaches, training, various clinical problems and multicultural populations, the latest research findings, access, and implementation. Numerous clinical examples from different expert SST practitioners are presented and discussed throughout. This book is an essential reference for professionals involved in brief therapy practice, research, and teaching.

Preparing for Trauma Work in Clinical Mental Health
Preparing for Trauma Work in Clinical Mental Health

Author: Lisa Compton

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-09-08

Total Pages: 275

ISBN-13: 100017350X

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This workbook is a foundational and unique resource for clinicians preparing to work with clients affected by trauma. Chapters integrate a holistic understanding of the unique client within trauma-specific case conceptualization, promote trainees’ identification of personal values and past experiences that could impact their ability to provide safe and ethical services, and offer ways to reduce the risk of occupational hazards such as vicarious traumatization. The trauma treatment process is presented within the tri-phasic framework, which is applicable across settings, disciplines, and various theoretical orientations. Each chapter also provides experiential activities that link the chapter content with clinician reflection and application of knowledge and skills, which instructors and supervisors can easily utilize for evaluation and gatekeeping regarding a student’s mastery of the content. An ideal resource for graduate-level faculty and supervisors, this book offers a versatile application for mental-health related fields including counseling, psychology, social work, school counseling, substance abuse, and marriage and family therapy. Designed for students and professional clinicians, this groundbreaking text fills an important education and training gap by providing a comprehensive and enlightening presentation of trauma work while also emphasizing the clinician’s growth in self-awareness and professional development.

Single-Session Integrated CBT (SSI-CBT)
Single-Session Integrated CBT (SSI-CBT)

Author: Windy Dryden

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-12-01

Total Pages: 171

ISBN-13: 1317225066

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Until quite recently, therapist training was predicated on the notion that therapy is an ongoing process. Single-Session Integrated CBT (SSI-CBT) questions this. In this book, Windy Dryden takes long standing research on SSI therapy and transfers it to the field of CBT in a timely and conceptual application. Based on his extensive work demonstrating the benefits of single-session CBT to public and professional audiences, Dryden has developed a single-session approach for work in the therapy and coaching fields. Comprising 30 key points, and divided into two parts - Theory and Practice - this concise book covers the key features of SSI-CBT. It will offer essential guidance for students and practitioners experienced in CBT, as well as practitioners from other theoretical orientations who require an accessible guide to the distinctive theoretical and practical features of this exciting new approach.