Dissociation is a highly creative and adaptive coping strategy in an environment that is dangerous and chaotic. In the face of trauma, we employ the protective strategy of trying to “unknow” that which is too terrifying to integrate.
However, the word dissociation itself can evoke fear and confusion in the hearts of therapists. In our clinical conversations when we use the word “dissociation” we are often not even talking about the same thing. In this workshop, we will examine the various definitions of dissociation and we will explore the experience in the room when we encounter it.
This workshop will be interactive, allowing for exploration of the clinical material of our clients and our own experience as therapists. We will work together to take the mystery out of assessing, diagnosing and treating dissociation and complex trauma.
In this workshop we will:
- Identify the multiple definitions of the term “dissociation”
- Learn how to assess for and diagnose structural dissociation
- Identify the clinical skills and personal resources needed to treat complex trauma and dissociation
- Discuss working with attachment wounding and how it shows up in the therapeutic relationship
- Learn specific approaches to working with dissociated parts
Event Details
Facilitator: Amy Zajakowski Uhll, LCPC
6 CEUs are offered for LCPCs, LCSWs, LMFTs, and Clinical Psychologists.
CCIH is a licensed CEU provider in the state of Illinois. If you are a licensed provider in another state, contact our office manager at officemanager@theccih.com to inquire about CEUs.
Fee: $175
CCIH strives to make training accessible for as many participants as possible. For this workshop, we are offering a lowered fee of $125 for students or other participants in need of a reduced fee. Contact Victoria at officemanager@theccih.com to request.
This event will take place virtually. Participants will be emailed a Zoom link a few days in advance.
Amy Zajakowski Uhll is the founder and director of the Chicago Center for Integration and Healing. For more than 30 years, Amy has been committed to exploring the harm caused by traumatic experiences. She helps individuals discover their own unique journey toward healing and supports other therapists in their work with trauma.
Amy spent the early years of her career working in community mental health. Her experience there deepened her awareness that there is no single approach that can treat all of human suffering, and she began her career-long interest in integrating body-centered and neurobiological approaches with more relational and developmental work. She specializes in complex and developmental trauma and dissociative disorders.
In 2011, Amy founded CCIH as part of her ongoing mission to create a community centered around the treatment of trauma. At CCIH, Amy had a lead role in creating the center’s treatment philosophy, therapist training programs and Integrated Practices curriculum. In addition, she has created and facilitated many professional development workshops and offered trauma-informed training and consultation to individual therapists, group practices, social service agencies and other groups.
Amy understands that trauma reverberates at all levels of human experience: the individual, relational, communal and societal. She supports therapists as they interrogate their own history of wounding, implicit biases and present experience in the development of their own authentic approach to healing work. She holds that the healing of traumatic experiences is an essential agent of social change.
Amy is originally trained in psychodynamic treatment and graduated with her Master’s in Counseling Psychology from Northwestern University in 1991. She also completed the Level 1 Training for the Treatment of Trauma (2006) and Level II Emotional Processing, Meaning Making and Attachment Repair (2018), through the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute of Boulder, CO.
CCIH Cancellation Policy: If you are unable to attend, you may send a substitute or request a refund. All refund requests must be made in writing at least one week prior to the event and are subject to an administrative charge of $30. Alternatively, you may transfer your full registration fee to a future workshop. Cancellations and transfer requests made less than one week prior to event will not be honored and registration fee will be forfeited. Requests must be emailed to theccih.office@gmail.com and will not be accepted by phone. We reserve the right to cancel the workshop, in which case participants will receive a full refund.