05/27/2023
Looking For An Attachment Trauma Therapist? Here are some tips:
When looking for an attachment and trauma therapist, there are some essential ingredients. There is nothing like a therapist with experience raising a child from difficult beginnings. Added to that personal experience, training with at least one of the leading experts—Dan Siegel, Daniel Hughes, Bessel vander Kolk, Bruce Perry, Heather Forbes— will likely get you a therapist who “gets you” and your wild and zany family life. An informed therapist needs solid knowledge of the differences between excellent traditional parenting strategies, useful behavioral interventions, and effective therapeutic parenting. Trauma-informed therapeutic parenting needs to be at the top of the list. A few of those are—The Connected Child, Nurtured Heart, Love Matters Parenting, and Beyond Consequences. Therapists who insist on PCIT, TF-CBT, or seeing your child without you in the room most of the time right out of the gate doesn’t understand how those treatments can backfire on a parent. Finally, a good attachment and trauma therapist understands that the whole family is the client, not just the child and that healing therapy for a traumatized child starts from the bottom of the brain to the top—brainstem first, emotional mid-brain second, and the prefrontal cortex last. Talk therapy is never indicated for a child who is still having emotional outbursts regularly. Theraplay is a great modality for connection and creating safety in the parent/child dyad. Start there with engaging and nurturing play to foster the glue of attachment and the healing from trauma.
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