As researchers and clinicians well know, the therapeutic alliance between clients and clinicians is the best predictor of outcome in psychotherapy. This high energy seminar presents a new, integrative system of mindfulness and positive-psychology-based techniques for enhancing and managing the alliance with the most challenging child or adolescent clients. Dr. Abblett’s system of mindfulness-based clinical communication tools will help attendees do their most effective work, regardless of technical or theoretical approach, with the top five “difficult” child or adolescent clients:
1. Angry-Volatile-Defiant
2. Chronically and Suicidally Depressed
3. Highly Anxious and Avoidant
4. Substance Abusing
5. Trauma Reactive
This workshop will help practitioners untangle “stuck” and complex client situations before they lead to negative treatment outcomes. It will also assist caregiver teams and solo practitioners to create more positive, strengths-based responses and communication with kids within any treatment technique, whether it be cognitive-behavioral, behavioral, systems, or any other prominent approach, as well as different modalities (i.e. group/ individual) and various treatment settings.
Learning Objectives
At the end of this conference, participants will be able to:
Demonstrate skill in managing challenging sessions with young people by conducting in-the-moment assessment
Integrate psychology and mindfulness-based communication skills into your existing toolkit of techniques to make you more effective even with the most challenging kids and teens
Develop conceptualization and intervention skills with these top five challenging client categories
Demonstrate skills for proactive, consistent communication with the top five challenging kid clients on your caseload in order to maximize the quality of the therapeutic alliance.
Demonstrate skills for assessing and intervening to address symptoms of burnout in working with challenging teen clients.
Mitch Abblett, PhD, is a clinical psychologist, clinical administrator, adjunct professor, supervisor, consultant and national/international trainer. For the last decade, he served as the Clinical Director of Judge Baker Children’s Center’s Manville School, a Harvard-associated therapeutic day school for special education children with significant learning, emotional and behavioral challenges. In addition, Dr. Abblett has also worked with a variety of child, teen and adult populations presenting challenging behavior patterns such as aggression, trauma reactivity, combat veterans, sexual perpetration and addiction. He maintains a private practice working with children, adolescents and adults, with a specialty focus in mindfulness-based interventions for managing reactivity, building resilience, and resolving communication problems in relationships. Dr. Abblett provides consultation to school systems and clinical/public service organizations.
He has appeared on television programs, and has published in professional periodicals regarding children’s mental health needs. Dr. Abblett has conducted numerous trainings regarding mindfulness-based applications for client populations, and is a dynamic, engaging speaker. He is the author of The Heat of the Moment in Treatment: Mindful Management of Difficult Clients (W.W. Norton & Co.), and co-author of Growing Mindful: A Deck of Mindfulness Practices for All Ages (PESI Publications), and Mindfulness for Teen Depression (New Harbinger). He writes a blog regarding family and parenting for Mindful Magazine at www.mindful.org.
What Brattleboro Retreat conference attendees said about Dr. Abblett in 2014:
"Simple but powerful content. Messages very well-articulated. Great visual and oral presentation. Appreciated the integration of attachment theory, ACT and general mindfulness."
"Excellent and knowledgeable presentation. Held attendees interest throughout. Time seemed to fly by due to the presentation; extremely interesting and relevant."
"This was excellent! Mitch was extremely engaging and knowledgeable."
"Really informative. Learned techniques to utilize with parents and students. Inspired me to be more present in the moment and practice it."
"Great presenter. Enjoyed and appreciated how he integrated humor, media and real life clinical experience. Presented “real life” practical implications for mindfulness work as it relates to client success and clinician self-care."
