Into the Magic Shop: Treating Trauma through Curiosity and Mystical Wisdom

Description

Into the Magic Shop: Treating Trauma though Curiosity and Mystical Wisdom
Inspired by the work of neurosurgeon James Doty, ally of the Dalai Lama, this presentation increases knowledge and competence in the use of the mystical, magical, and spiritual pathways, to engage clients and instill curiosity from the first session forward. Studies show that between 20% and 57% of clients never return after the first session. This presentation offers evidence to support a growing body of work that suggests that instilling curiosity, encouraging the mystical, the magical, and the spiritual to manifest in a therapeutic session, is one path forward toward increasing commitment to the therapeutic process.

Opening this seminar, Carol Juul, LCSW sketches the life story of James Doty, a famous neurosurgeon, who was once a child with a mentally ill mother and alcoholic father living in a desert town in California. Doty attributes his transformation to four magic tricks he learned from a woman in a magic shop in a rundown strip mall, three of which limn the tenets of hypnosis. "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious," (Albert Einstein). This seminar weaves Erickson's "power of curiosity as a change agent," with the compelling truth about the influence of a healing relationship, offering a magical and metaphysical template for treating trauma.

Target Audience

Mental health professionals including psychologists, substance use counselors, clinical social workers, licensed counselors, marriage and family therapists, school counselors, and other professionals interested in this topic

Objectives

Upon completion of this seminar, participants should be able to:

• Demonstrate how wonderment actively engages clients in the therapeutic process from the first session forward
• Explain how to establish curiosity as a change agent in the first session
• Articulate how therapists may design treatment plans which integrate curiosity about stories, to positively impact client's health and healing
• Describe how to foster a client's natural intrigue with recommendations of movies/books/reading material

Faculty

• Carol Juul, LCSW, ACSW