Understanding How People Engage in Emotional Testing and Responding Effectively to Support System Involved Youth

Rachel Michaelsen

Training Description

As part of making sense of our social world, we all test the people around us. If we grow up in stable and nurturing environment, we often learn to successfully negotiate in the world. For those who have experience abuse and neglect, the lack of stability, safety, nurturing and healthy boundaries often leads to emotional and behavioral problems. People who support these youth benefit from identifying the types of tests abused and neglected youth present and knowing how to pass these tests and support the youth in healing and learning to function more effectively in the world. In this class we will identify types of tests and discuss ways to “pass” these tests. This class is useful for anyone supporting system involved youth including child welfare workers, educators, psychotherapist, parents and caregivers.

Learning Objective

• Be able to identify at least one pathogenic belief for a system involved youth they support;
• Determine at least one unconscious goal for each of system involved youth they support;
• Explain the difference between a transference test and a passive into active test;
• Determine how to intervene with a system involved youth based on that youth’s pathogenic belief and unconscious plan.

Agenda 

9:00am - 9:15am Introductions and Logistics

9:15am - 9:30am Defining Problems

9:30am - 10:00am Pathogenic Beliefs

10:00am - 10:45am Testing

10:45am - 11:00am Break (CEUs will not be issued for this time)

11:00am - 11:30am Case Formulation

11:30am - 12:30pm Applying Case Formulation to Real Cases

12:30pm Adjourn

Meet Our Trainer

Rachel Michaelsen, LCSW, is a clinical social worker who has worked in HMOs, public agencies, and private practice as both a mental-health provider and a supervisor for over thirty years. She has taught courses in diagnoses, clinical supervision, law and ethics, childhood psychopathology, time management, vicarious traumatization, energy psychology and more at universities, conferences, and mental-health agencies.

This course meets the qualifications for (3.25) BBS CEUs 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.