Awareness of our Own Reactions and Countertransference when Working with System Involved Youth and Their Families

Pamela Parkinson, Ph.D., LCSW

Training Description

Examine the reasons why you chose to work in this field. They can be a “double-edged sword”- by being both the very things that make us excellent at our work and that can also lead to compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma. Explore how our own “stuff” impacts our work with system-involved youth and their families and, if you are a supervisor, how to support those you supervise with all of this. Discuss self-disclosure with system involved youth and families, explore ourselves and countertransference, identify how we know when we are over-involved with those we support, and review ways to address this.

Learning Objectives

· Participants will be able to identify 2 reasons why is important to separate our own issues (countertransference) from those of the youth and families we support within in our continuum of care.

· Participants will be able to identify 2 ways in which our self-awareness is directly linked to providing support to our system-involved youth and families in a manner that can improve their outcomes.

· Participants will be able to identify 2 strategies for how to identify triggers and address them so that they are less likely to interfere with efforts to support system-involved youth/families.

Agenda

10:00 AM – 10:15 AM  Sign In

10:15 AM – 10:45 AM  Section I: Defining the relationship between our own stuff and the tendency to step over ethical boundaries.

10:45 AM – 11:45 AM Group work on self-exploration and who we really are.

11:45 AM – 12:00 PM    BREAK (CE hours will not be offered for this time)

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM   Identifying our own triggers when working with system-involved youth and their families.

1:00 PM – 1:30 PM LUNCH (CE hours will not be offered for this time)

1:30 PM – 2:00 PM    Culture: Discussing differences with clients.

2:00 PM – 3:00 PM      Role play practice of a variety of typical boundary struggles in everyday work.

3:00 PM – 3:15 PM     BREAK (CE hours will not be offered for this time)

3:15 PM – 4:15 PM Knowing our triggers is the start but now it is time to focus on the strategies for how to process them so that they will not interfere with our work with system-involved youth.

4:15 PM – 4:30 PM     ADJOURNMENT

Meet Our Trainer

Pamela Parkinson, PhD, LCSW, is a clinical psychologist and clinical social worker, whose specialty area is working with youth and their families with an emphasis on the importance of family engagement and on the healing of traumatic attachment ruptures in work with youth, especially youth who we serve in our continuum of care: child welfare, juvenile justice, mental health and the school systems. Dr. Parkinson is also a certified PCOMS evidence-based practice trainer. She currently works as a child/family trainer and consultant to CBO’s in the Bay Area and Pamela has worked in level 14 residential, NPS, hospitals, and a variety of community-based settings including outpatient clinics, schools, diversion, kinship, etc.

Annya Shapiro, LMFT | Executive Director, Daly City Youth Health Center:  Annya, LMFT, joined DCYHC as Director of Behavioral Health in 2020 and has dedicated over 15 years to providing youth and families with trauma-informed mental health support services. Annya is passionate about family work and training clinicians to provide the best possible mental health care for the most vulnerable members of our community. Annya’s commitment to community mental health is evident in her innovative and collaborative approach to identifying and meeting the needs of the communities she serves. She believes that lasting mental health is best achieved when healing and support is extended beyond the individual to families, schools, and communities.  Annya has been promoted to Executive Director of DCYHC but continues to support the center with clinical supervision and training.

This course meets the qualifications for (5.5) BBS CE Hours for LCSWs, LMFTs, LPCCs, and LEPs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences & is provided by Fred Finch Youth Center, CAMFT Provider #045295.