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January 2013
The Institute Insider
Keeping you connected ~ Nurturing your professional growth
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Meet Our Faculty
 | | Victoria Eisner, M.A., ADTR, NCC |
Victoria is a clinical therapist and teacher with more than 20 years experience. She has held faculty or staff positions at the Center for Eating Disorders at Sheppard Pratt, Commission on Mental Health Services at St. Elizabeth's Hospital, Omega Institute, and the University of Montana. Victoria's early experiences as writer, actress, dancer, singer and choreographer as well as ongoing explorations of yoga, chi gong, dance, mindfulness meditation, drumming, conscious breath work, psychotherapy and other body-centered therapies continue to inform and deepen her understanding and appreciation of the power of movement, thought, imagery, art and breath.  | | Judith Fischer |
Judith Fischer has a Bachelors Degree in Therapeutic Recreation from Southern Illinois University and a Masters Degree in Dance Therapy from Goddard College, with additional training as a personal and executive coach through MentorCoach, a program accredited by the International Coach Federation.Read more about Judith.  Victoria and Judith, together, will present Moving in
Self: Enhancing the Effectiveness of Therapeutic Presence, a three-day, creative and experiential training (for 24 CEU's) in April 2013. To learn about this training, and register, click here. |
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 Message from Lisa Ferentz LCSW-C, DAPA Founder and President Dear Friends, I hope you are finding ways to joyfully celebrate the holiday season, even as we continue to acknowledge feelings of shock and sadness regarding the latest shooting tragedy, along with a compromised sense of emotional, physical, and financial safety and security on a national level. For me, and I hope for all of you, a connection to family and loved ones, the ability to laugh, reminisce, and create new memories together has been a much needed source of comfort and hope, and ultimately, a source of healing. In this spirit, the theme of this month's newsletter relates to the power of "being there" for one another, both personally and professionally. I think it is one of the most meaningful ways we can repair the impact of senseless acts of violence, the wounds of trauma, the desensitizing and ironically disconnecting effects of technology, and the anxiety and fears of uncertainty that creates vulnerability in all of us. Use this time of year as a newfound reminder to reach out to those around you and let them know you are "there" for them. Allow your self to receive acts of loving kindness from others so you can be grounded in the reality that others are "there" for you as well. The Institute is taking it's annual winter break in January and February, but rest assured that we want to "be there" for you, too, and we can't wait to resume our wonderful trainings at the end of February! Please check out the Spring calendar so you can plan ahead, and know how much we love seeing you, sharing ideas, connecting with you in our trainings, and growing together as a professional family.
Wishing you all the best in 2013! Lisa Ferentz |
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The Reassurance of Not Being Alone
by Lisa Ferentz, LCSW-C, DAPA
 | | With everything else that we do, we are ultimately saying to our clients, "I'm here. You're not alone." |
Over the holidays, I did something that has become a wonderful twice a year ritual in my life. I flew out to California to visit my extraordinary 98 year old grandmother. She doesn't always remember what she had for breakfast, but she can enthrall and amaze by recounting a lifetime of memories that include the first and last names of childhood friends, experiences in grade school, detailed recipes from holiday meals, exotic trips around the world, breaking the glass ceiling in every job she held, raising her children and being an integral part of nurturing two more generations in our family. Our conversations also include the latest topics covered in her current events club and the most recent book she read and reported on for her book club! When we arrive at her beautiful apartment complex for assisted living, she is waiting in the lobby and her first words, joyfully exclaimed, are always, "You're here!" To read the rest of this article, click here.
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Hold Me Tightby Sue Johnson
Published Jan. 1, 2009 - Psychology Today
Love demands the reassurance of touch. Most fights are really protests over emotional disconnection. Underneath the distress, partners are desperate to know: Are you there for me? I grew up in my parents' pub in England, where there was always a lot of drama. And all the drama-fights, flirting, tears, tantrums-revolved around love. I also watched my parents destroy their own love for each other. Since that time I've been on a mission to figure out exactly what love is. My mother described it as "a funny five minutes." It's also been called a mysterious mix of sentiment and sex. Or a combination of infatuation and companionship. Well, it's more than that. To read the rest of this article, click here. |
Clinician ResourcesPublicationsOnline- www.Marriage.about.com
A good link for articles on how to be a supportive partner or spouse during times of crises, along with suggestions to strengthen your relationship by "being there" for one another - www.npr.org/blogs/participationnation
Check out the "participation nation" series for wonderful blogs about the American spirit of volunteering, doing acts of kindness, and making a big difference in the world by being there to help others in need.
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Self-Care and Counseling Tips
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 COUNSELING: As we explore the concept of "being there" for our clients, it's important to not make assumptions about HOW clients would best experience our support. There are many ways that they can experience us as "being there" for them: reaching out to take their hand; putting an arm around their shoulder; holding safety in silence for them; saying a comforting word, giving them a tissue, encouraging them to go with their feelings, reflecting back what we observe and hear. However, we really cannot know what a client needs in any given moment, unless we ask them. If we don't ask we are imposing OUR definition of comfort and that may or may not resonate or be helpful given a client's past experience with touch, words, etc. There are several advantages to ASKING our clients what would be most comforting in any given moment, or how we could best communicate that we are "there for them." When they articulate their needs, it creates opportunities for them to discover what they really would be helpful by tapping into their own inner wisdom. It tells them that we care about their needs and have faith in their ability to find the answers. It gives them the safe experience of expressing their needs in the presence of someone who is kind and non-judgmental, which can hopefully translate into more confidence about asking other people in their lives to "be there" for comfort when they need it.
SELF-CARE: Although our focus has been on "being there' for clients, it is just as vital to be able to set limits as clinicians and let our clients know when we can't be there for them. Specifically, consider the possibility that putting ourselves into a standard safety contract ("Call me when you get the urge to hurt yourself") fosters a kind of co-dependency and gives clients the wrong message and unrealistic expectation that we are on call- 24-7. In order for us to not burn out, it is essential that we offer clients additional external and internal resources for comfort and support. Remember the value of giving them 24-hour telephone and Internet hotlines, resources for 12 -step meetings or hospital based support groups, and access to clergy for spiritual guidance. Giving them tools for meditation, re-grounding, and affect regulation are equally important. We must also make sure that we are connected to resources that give us the ability to decompress, process our experiences, and release all that we have witnessed and held throughout the work day. We need to let others "be there" for us!
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Featured Spring 2013 Trainings
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The Institute for Advanced Psychotherapy Training and Education, Inc. is an approved sponsor of the Maryland Board of Social Work Examiners for continuing education credits for licensed social workers in Maryland. CEU approval for all trainings is also granted to Psychologists, LCPC's and MFT's. In addition, reciprocity has been granted for clinicians in Washington, D.C., Virginia,
and West Virginia.
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