Trauma & Attachment Therapy

Imaginal Nurturing, Ego States and Attachment

I've taken two different versions of April Steele's Developing a Secure Self course. Each time I learned more about creating good, strong, attachment experiences in clients with unfortunate childhoods. (Most of my caseload!) April teaches assessment, therapeutic stance, and has scripted protocols for bringing clients' loving adult attention to their infant and toddler selves. Clients can take home Cd's of the soothing protocols to enhance their experience of loving containment. Most of my attachment disordered clients loved them. A few, with phobias of their smaller selves, hated them, until we did enough trauma work that they could accept all parts. No matter what kind of therapy you do, April's training manual and scripted Cd's are very helpful.

April just came out with a distant learning course, complete with DVDs of lecture, power-point, and wonderful client videos. Because she's "practicing for retirement", she's no longer doing in person training. Here's what she says about it:

"Imaginal Nurturing, Ego States, and Attachment: An Integrated Approach to Early Deficits is the most up-to-date material on the Developing a Secure Self approach. It is not simply a video of a workshop you were unable to attend, but rather was created specifically for distance learning. In it, you will have the opportunity to "sit in on" segments of numerous sessions with a client who generously allowed some of her therapy to be videotaped to foster the learning of other therapists in the Developing a Secure Self approach. Many other clinical examples are given throughout the training. There are also two experiential segments so you have some personal experience of what you will be asking clients to do. 

The 12-hour program consists of 6 DVDs, 2 CDs, and a comprehensive 53-page manual. It requires only a DVD player and CD player. More information is available at http://april-steele.ca/training-information.php or you can contact April directly at [email protected]."

It's $200 and for a bit more you can get 12 CE's for taking the post-test.  I think everyone should have this training. If you need consultation after the training, April is available by Skype or phone from her home on Gabriola Island in British Colombia.

Trauma Treatment Handbook: Protocols Across the Spectrum

My copy of the new book arrived today. Here is what Diana Fosha says about it:

"This is a thorough, accessible, and very practical book, filled with resources and sound ideas, filtered through the intelligence and experience of a savvy, compassionate, down-to-earth, and very experienced clinician. It is like a travel guide to the land of trauma and trauma treatment: if you are new to it, it will orient you to all there is to do and see; if you're a frequent traveler, it is a worthwhile reminder of all that is out there, above and beyond the familiar places you always visit. Once could ask for a better guide. I highly recommend it."

I explain trauma, complex trauma, dissociation and how to assess them and prepare for treatment, and all the kinds of treatment that I know about from the main-stream to the obscure. I talk about working with military, sexually-abused, and relationally traumatized people, and how to take care of yourself while doing the work.

 Some of my heroes comment on it. Dan Siegel wrote the introduction, despite my lack of research. Diana Fosha, Stephen Porges, Kathy Steele, and Onno van der Hart wrote very nice blurbs on the back. I'm humbled by their support.

This is the first book written completely by me. I'm amazed to be responsible for synthesizing so many people's therapies in one book. The design is great, and the photos, by Doug Plummer (my beloved) are gorgeous.

April Steele's New Book

April Steele has updated her self-published book, and every therapist should have it. You don't have to know EMDR to use her techniques. Her CD's are wonderful, too. She's a treasure, and since she's "practicing for retirement", she's no longer teaching workshops. If you want her materials, order them from her. Get the whole toolkit. It's worth it!

Here's the blurb:

The Book

Developing a Secure Self: An Attachment-Based Approach to Adult Psychotherapy (2007) presents an approach that evolved out of my search to find a focused way in which to address directly the needs of my clients that are rooted in early insecure attachment relationships - a way that is as direct as EMDR is in processing traumas. This approach has three components:

- an attuned therapeutic relationship seen as being one of attachment

- Imaginal Nurturing - ego state work that includes guided imagery

- emotional skills strengthening

Developing a Secure Self (DSS) creates an attachment-focused context for EMDR trauma processing without compromising the integrity of EMDR protocols.

The 175 pages of this handbook include principles, dozens of clinical examples, sample Imaginal Nurturing scripts and organizational tools. It is in a convenient three-ringed binder so pages can be readily removed for clinical use, personal notes can be added, and pages delineating any further developments in this approach can be added eliminating the need to purchase an up-dated edition.

A table of contents can be seen at http://www.april-steele.ca/handbook.php.

Differences between editions

The first two editions came out in 2004. The changes in the second edition were primarily editorial, making the book more reader-friendly. Both were written for EMDR therapists. The 2007 edition is for all therapists, but maintains the references to EMDR and the section specifically on incorporating Imaginal Nurturing into EMDR trauma work.

In the past few years, I have provided both consultation and therapy for EMDR therapists who have taken my training or read my book. That experience allowed me to bring to the new edition an awareness of what people did not seem to be getting about this approach which is primarily how to weave it through the therapy rather than doing periodic Imaginal Nurturing interventions. Therefore, in this version, there are more examples of how this ego state work is woven into the therapy as a whole.

If you already have an earlier edition... 

there is an 11-page update available for a nominal charge of $5. There is no need to buy the new edition.

Developing a Secure Self Therapeutic Toolkit

The toolkit is comprised of the book and all four Imaginal Nurturing CDs. It provides you with an opportunity to expand the learning from the book to experience Imaginal Nurturing guided imagery yourself. The CDs were developed for clients to use between sessions and can be loaned, given, or sold to them. Information about the CDs including a sound clip is available at http://www.april-steele.ca/tapes.php.

To purchase

Books, CDs, and toolkits can be purchased at  http://www.april-steele.ca/purchase-products.php using PayPal or credit card.