Road Map:Trauma-Focused ACT 6-Week Course

Week 1: Starting Off Safely

 The three stages of trauma therapy
 ACT formulation of trauma
 The neuroscience of trauma
 Polyvagal theory
 The therapeutic relationship
 Establishing goals for therapy

Week 2: Living In The Present

 ‘Fight-flight’ versus ‘flop-drop’ responses
 Working with hyperarousal and hypoarousal
 Increasing the zone of flexibility
 Grounding & centering
 Dropping anchor
 Working with flashbacks

Week 3: Healing the Past

 Avoidance, Acceptance & Creative Hopelessness
 The traumatized body
 Finding safety and security within the body
 Self-soothing & self-touching
 Working with numbness
 Overcoming shame
 The inner child
 Inner child imagery and rescripting

Week 4: The Art & Science of Compassionate Exposure

 The six building blocks of self-compassion
 What is exposure?
 Tailoring exposure to fit the client
 Creativity in working with memories
 How are exposure and acceptance linked?
  What to look for and measure
 Overcoming nightmares through rehearsal and rescripting

Week 5: Building The Future

 Clarifying values, and using them for motivation, inspiration, guidance
 Creating life-enhancing, self-empowering narratives, underpinned by values
work
 Using values to set goals and create action plans
 Overcoming common barriers to change
 Forgiveness - of self and/or others

Week 6 : Finding the Treasure

 Self-as-context and fusion with self-concept
 Healing and growing
 Building or rebuilding relationships
 Coping with setbacks
 What is post-traumatic growth?
 Appreciating life
 The ongoing journey