10.22.16 marked the day when Austin AMFT took a new step forward with our first ever Spotlight Series Event. Led by TEEN TRUTH’s JC Pohl and My Healing Place’s Brittany Neece the event bought together a paid audience of therapists, counselors, social workers and teachers to learn more about bullying and suicidal ideation. Longtime Austin AMFT Board Member Dorsey Cartwright had this to say about the event, “I am so grateful I was there. I was so deeply moved, stirred, and uplifted by the student-shot videos and presentation.”
“Our focus with this event was to allow our audience to gain additional insight and knowledge around the issues that matter most to their clients. By pulling TEEN TRUTH’s content into the conversation and juxtaposing that with Brittany’s hands on knowledge of working with traumatized and stressed out adolescents we were able to offer a workshop-style event that took the issues to another level,” stated Pohl.
Focused on interventions and explanations that helped attendees connect the stress of bullying and suicidal ideation to the traumatic impact on the brain, Brittany Neece taught, “One of the best ways to help resolve trauma in teens is to create opportunities for them to have an empowering experience regarding personal control, safety, and hope (which is what was lost during the trauma). By teaching them how to regulate their emotions and practice these skills, they can then have more control over their behavioral reactions to stressful and overwhelming feelings.” Additionally, she showed clips from this powerful Ted Talk on suicidal ideation: https://youtu.be/D1QoyTmeAYw
Thanks again to JC and Brittany for volunteering their time to make this inaugural event a success. You can learn more about their work at www.jcpohl.com or www.myhealingplace.org and of course stay updated with Austin AMFT on Facebook and Twitter!
