Wednesday, September 21, 2011

I got up and headed down a few minutes early to help a bit.  Then I ate breakfast - It was great pastries, cereal, milk, coffee, soda, yogurt, fruit, OJ another kind of juice - it was wonderful for someone like me who HAS to have something besides carbs to make it through the day - I was trying to get by without buying much because being unemployed, I really shouldn't have gone to the conference - my excuse though is I paid for the conference and the flight when I HAD a job (yea that was my excuse - LOL) - so breakfast was great and I chose the session with John Briere  http://www.johnbriere.com/itct_a.htm - For me - I chose this session Integrative Treatment for Complex Trauma in Adolescents because not only do I want to know more how to work with the teen kids I often work with but I also wanted to see if there was anything new I could use with my nearly 16 year old daughter.  While nothing was actually "new" to me - one of my issues is that pretty much therapy the courts allow has to be evidence based - the problem is I do not have one protocol and I change constantly from client and family to client and family.  I am always having to "fake" some of what I did and write it down differently to "fit" an evidenced based theory.  Well John Briere has this ITCT-A "theory" that was government funded - and it is all in a book - basically he put everything I already do (and a few things I do not) into a book as an evidenced based method that has flexibility so as a therapist it was helpful.  But honestly what John Briere spoke to - did not touch me as a mother or even a therapist but as a person who lacks trust and has constant triggers and flashbacks.  Maybe I was never ready before to really see myself as I am but wow - as Dr. Briere was speaking I got a chance to reflect on what my hubby had to go through and still goes through dealing with me and my past issues.  This then helped me see that some of my daughter's reactions are "flashbacks" and triggers.  Very helpful.  Lunch was very tasty and there was amazing conversations going on at the tables.
Also fun to note was a wonderful bubble machine blowing bubbles - I danced in them - it made me feel soo good -Bubbles - what an awesome idea.  There was a parent reception and several of us went out to eat together.  It was a wonderful evening and a lot of fun getting to put email addresses and names to faces.