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 

9:30 AM – 9:45 AM  Sign In

9:45 AM – 10:15 AM  Section I: Defining the relationship between our own stuff and the tendency to step over ethical boundaries.

10:15 AM – 11:15 AM  Group work on self-exploration and who we really are.

11:15 AM – 11:30 PM  BREAK (CE hours will not be offered for this time)

11:30 AM – 12:30 PM  Identifying our own triggers when working with system-involved youth and their families.

12:30 PM – 1:00 PM  LUNCH (CE hours will not be offered for this time)

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

1:30 PM – 2:30 PM  Role play practice of a variety of typical boundary struggles in everyday work.

2:30 PM – 2:45 PM  BREAK (CE hours will not be offered for this time)

2:45 PM – 3:45 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.

3:45 PM – 4:00 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. Dr. Parkinson has spent most of her career working with system involved youth in our Continuum of Care (foster care, juvenile justice, mental health and the kids struggling in our school systems). She is a certified PCOMS evidence-based practice trainer. Pamela currently works as a child/family consultant to CBO’s in the Bay Area and has worked in level 14 residential, NPS, hospitals, and a variety of community-based settings including outpatient clinics, schools, diversion, kinship, etc.

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