Child Well-Being and the New Science of Resilience: Practices to Heal Trauma and Nurture Hope

January 23, 2025

Dr. Linda Chamberlain and Abigail Bocanegra, LMFT are the featured speakers for the 2025 NWCF virtual Forum, Child Well-Being and the New Science of Resilience: Practices to Heal Trauma and Nurture Hope. This virtual event is on January 23, from 10:00AM – 3:00PM. Post-event on-demand viewing included with registration.

Developmental scientist Dr. Linda Chamberlain has a renowned ability to translate science into practical strategies and tools. She will demonstrate techniques to balance the nervous system, highlight surprising facts about the hormone oxytocin, and discuss polyvagal insights for parenting – all with a focus on building collective resilience. She is joined by Expressive Arts Psychotherapist Abigail Bocanegra who will share how she centers cultural wisdom and integrates the healing arts into her therapeutic work with children and families. Abigail’s approach revitalizes Indigenous health and healing practices through the arts, offering a holistic method for reconnecting with ancestral and innate healing capacities. Attendees will learn the latest research on the role of the nervous system in healing trauma, building resilience, and preventing burnout; develop an expanded understanding of a culturally responsive and expressive arts approach to healing; and gain practical tools and skills they can apply immediately to their own work. Center for Early Relational Health: 4 CEUs available for mental health professionals.

Click here to learn more and register for this virtual event 

Description:

Join us at 5:30pm for snacks and introductions to fellow clinical social workers and mental health colleagues. Workshop will begin at 6pm. 

From total “equipoise” to decisive directional influence, we will explore the ethics of respecting self determination in clinical practice, through play and discussion. Using ideas of neutrality and directional influence as understood in motivational interviewing, attendees will reflect on their urge to influence or remain neutral and then apply their own theoretical and ethical reasoning to make a decision about equipoise or influence in a variety of clinical situations.

Instructors:

This workshop is taught by Lara Okoloko, LICSW and Ryan Petros, LICSW, PhD. Lara teaches at the UW School of Social Work, maintains a private practice, is a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers, and serves as the Ethics Chairperson for the WSSCSW. Ryan is a clinical social worker, researcher and social work instructor. He is an Associate Professor at the UW School of Social Work and serves as Professional Development Chairperson for the WSSCSW.

Learning Objectives:

1.Attendees will be able to identify the difference between equipoise, internal urges to influence, and style of counseling, from a Motivational Interviewing perspective.

2.Attendees will be able to identify reasons why neutrality or directional influence may both be ethical responses to client situations, using the NASW Code of Ethics.

This program is approved for 1.5 hours of Continuing Education for LICSWs, LMHCs, and LMFTs by the WSSCSW.