(HS Dana 096355 2024) Overcoming Loneliness

Course overview

A growing number of clients are coming to therapy feeling isolated, lonely, and disconnected. But the key to helping lies far beyond encouraging people to make friends or join social groups. Often something deeper keeps clients from feeling connected, a sense of belonging, and being able to reach out. Polyvagal-Informed Therapy provides a different way of working with these issues through the lens of the nervous system. In this workshop, you'll see a real, live demonstration of this approach to loneliness along with a roadmap for how to understand and work with loneliness in your practice. We'll explore: How to understand loneliness, dis-connection, and isolation from the perspective of threat and safety in the nervous system Using co-regulation and neuroception skills to assist clients in moving from fear to safety at the level of their body and nervous systems How to recognize the four pathways of connection as they relate to feelings of loneliness A live demonstration of polyvagal-informed therapy