What is trauma and why focus on it?

Many of the symptoms for which people seek psychotherapeutic and psychiatric services arise from having experienced highly stressful or traumatic events. The common myth of trauma is that it only happens to people in war zones or to people who have suffered severe bodily harm. This is simply not true, trauma can be caused by common everyday occurrences like car accidents, surgery, domestic violence, and most notably, childhood abandonment or abuse. In fact, the research (see acestudy.org) is very clear on the matter: the earlier and more familial the trauma was in a person’s life, the more they will be affected by it as an adult and the less they will be able to recall any specific events that may have created it. Symptoms such as anxiety, depression, panic attacks, manic episodes, feeling disconnected or numb, disturbed boundaries, painful relationship patterns, and especially addiction are common signs of trauma. At the Love and Trauma Center, healing the resulting wounds is our primary focus and what we do best.

What is CAR therapy?

Containment and Autonomic Regulation (CAR) is a highly technical, experience focused, strategic, body-based form of psychotherapy that brings together current neuroscience research (I.e memory systems, learning theory, Peter Levine’s modeling of the ANS) and the best elements of other therapeutic modalities (such as DBT skill building, attachment, family systems and psychodynamic transference work). A premise of the model is that much of human mental health and functioning is based in our basic animal biology. The cognitive, rational distinctly human aspect is built upon a somatic, mammalian foundation that is non-rational, non-verbal and often times, non-conscious. This bottom-up model of human functioning is a premise of CAR that adds efficiency, contact and movement to the healing process. Currently, Containment and Autonomic Regulation is the only evidence based, research supported body-based trauma therapy available.

Our Trainings

We offer different levels of CAR trainings ranging from:

• 1 Day Intensives
  Westminster, CO. Saturday June 15th

• CAR 1: a two weekend course suitable for practitioners in a primary care setting focusing on autoregulation, procedural skill development, stress and high stress processing, does not involve trauma processing, prerequisite to CAR 2.
  UK in Fall of 2013

• CAR 2: a two weekend course for practitioners in extended care or private practice settings that allow for trauma processing. This course builds on top of CAR 1.
  UK in Fall of 2013

• A-CAR 1: Addiction Focused CAR, this course integrates trauma therapy into the recovery process, two weekends, prerequisite for A-CAR 2.
  UK in Fall of 2013 | Denver (CeDAR) Fall of 2013

• A-CAR 2: Two weekend Addiction Focused CAR, builds on A-CAR 1.
  UK in Fall of 2013 | Denver (CeDAR) Fall of 2013

• R-CAR: Relational CAR, this is our most advanced course. It is much less technical and much more focused on developing the complex skill sets of working with traumatic transference, attachment, family systems. It is a five weekend course and requires CAR 2 or A-CAR 2 as a prerequisite.
  Westminster, CO. June 2013

All of the trainings are skill development focused and body based intended for mental health professionals and graduate students. The primary purpose of the training is to develop highly skilled trauma therapists. To do this, we focus on integrating theory, research, and strategic thinking with very experiential, hands-on, skill development. In fact, a full 50% of our trainings are dedicated to practicing skills under supervision. Many students find the trainings to be demanding insofar as they require a high level of intellectual engagement, working with one’s own personal history of stress and trauma, and mastering a set of skills that are beyond the scope of what is taught in traditional counseling programs.

Next Steps

To learn more about this topic and our approach, a good starting point is the watch The Map video listed above. It will provide a good introduction to how the autonomic nervous system effects mental health and the CAR process (we have other lecture and demonstration videos that you can stream). You can also follow us on Facebook as we release videos, research results and other news items.

You can also download four draft chapters from the Love and Trauma training manual, Containment and Autonomic Regulation: Healing trauma and its effects on ourselves and our relationships

.