Author: sgiacomucci (Page 3 of 7)

When Talking Isn’t Enough: Action Methods in Addiction (and Trauma) Recovery

By Scott Giacomucci, DSW, LCSW, BCD, CGP, FAAETS, PAT

Published November 2021 in The Group Psychologist – newsletter of APA Division 49: Group Psychology and Group Psychotherapy – https://www.apadivisions.org/division-49/news-events/action-methods-addiction

Addiction, substance use, and overdose rates have significantly increased in recent years, particularly during the covid-19 pandemic. Relapse rates are high and many clients struggling with substance use disorder have been to treatment multiple times. Most of these clients have accrued significant knowledge about addiction and recovery – they could probably present a lecture on addiction just as well most addiction counselors! The problem is, however, that knowledge alone does not lead to change – it must be put into action. This very concept is reiterated by the popular Alcoholics Anonymous saying that “self-knowledge availed us nothing.” Families understand this just as well as others as they have heard their addicted loved one apologize and verbally commit to recovery many times, only to experience them continue to drink, use drugs, and engage in the same behaviors. When it comes to addiction, words so quickly become meaningless unless followed with action. Psychodrama and other experiential therapies have a unique capacity to engage clients in addiction treatment, addressing underlying fueling factors of addiction, and role training clients for the life skills needed for sustained recovery (Dayton, 2005; Giacomucci et al., 2018).

Many addiction experts have asserted trauma to be one of the primary causes of addiction – some research studies indicate self-reported histories of trauma in over 80% of inpatient addiction populations (Cohen & Hien, 2006). Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is one of the most common co-occurring disorders for folks with a substance use disorder (Creamer et al., 2001; Roberts et al., 2015). Trauma and addiction exist in a cyclical relationship. Trauma survivors often turn to alcohol or drugs (or other addictive behaviors) to self-medicate the stress, feelings, or physical sensations related to prior trauma, loss, neglect, or abandonment (Morgan, 2019). Furthermore, the lifestyles often associated with addiction makes someone much more vulnerable to experience more trauma, which in turn creates more adverse feelings to fuel substance use. All addiction treatment is trauma treatment; addiction recovery is incomplete without trauma recovery. Maintaining long-term recovery from addiction requires that we address underlying causes which often include trauma, loss, neglect, and abandonment. Otherwise, we are simply engaging in symptom control and avoiding the causes of the addiction.

When it comes to addiction and trauma, words and talking is limited. Many people in recovery and trauma survivors have no words for their trauma, avoid talking about it, or talk about their trauma but are clearly dissociated from the associated feelings. Research even shows that the Broca’s Area, the language and speech center of the brain, (and the entire left brain hemisphere) is largely inactive when one remembers a traumatic memory (Rauch et al., 1996; van der Kolk, 2014). Similarly, addiction involves the hijacking of survival systems and choices which often appear absent of rational thought (Morgan, 2019). Neurobiologically, both trauma responses and addictive behaviors operate below levels of consciousness, rational thought, or cognition. Trauma impacts the body and the nervous system in implicit and unconscious ways. Even when one doesn’t consciously remember a traumatic event, the nervous system may still be impacted and imprinted by it. Both trauma and addiction impact an individual biologically, psychologically, socially, and spiritually (or existentially) (Giacomucci, 2021). Breaking these cycles requires new experiences that can create new neural pathways in the brain. Experience changes both the brain and the mind – this is the most important neuroscience finding of the century (Siegel, 2012). The brain maintains neuroplasticity, or the ability to change, throughout the entire lifespan. This means that new experiences have the power to renegotiate and change the impact past experiences have had upon an individual. Experiences in treatment, therapy, and recovery can be corrective and effectively repair the damage done from past experiences of trauma or addiction (Giacomucci & Stone, 2019).

Psychodrama and other action methods actively engage the whole person in the therapeutic process. Instead of relying only on talking or cognition, experiential therapies involve the body. Psychodrama, the first body-oriented therapy, integrates role-playing techniques into group therapy allowing clients to move beyond talking and into action (Giacomucci, 2021). Experiential sociometry methods from the field of psychodrama quickly cultivate mutual aid, cohesion, and connection (Giacomucci, 2017, 2020b). Rather than verbally discuss a future relapse prevention plan, we can role-playing scenes related to relapse prevention in the safety of the group to practice for the real world. Instead of just talking about a deceased loved-one, psychodrama allows us to talk directly to that person and find closure (Giacomucci, 2020a). Rather than talk about addiction, with psychodrama we could talk directly to addiction. In psychodrama, a client could have a dialogue with their self in the past or with a vision of themselves in recovery in the future. The lynchpin of psychodrama is the role reversal, which is when the client assumes the other role(s) in the scene and responds to themself from that role. This allows for avenues of resolving grief/loss, instilling hope, cultivating understanding, accepting forgiveness, or simply putting oneself in the shoes of another. The psychodramatic experience can be both fun and powerful at the same time – it offers new corrective emotional experiences to clients that may be impossible otherwise (Giacomucci & Marquit, 2020).

Many addiction counselors intuitively try to make their groups and programs more engaging through creative exercises. Psychodrama training offers a time-tested and systematic approach to using action methods in addiction treatment and beyond. Experiential therapies and psychodrama in particular have had a long relationship with the addiction treatment world tracing their connections back to psychodrama’s use in the original addiction therapeutic communities or prominent trainers such as Virginia Satir, Sharon Wegscheider-Cruse, or Tian Dayton who were very active in teaching psychodrama to addiction counselors (Dayton, 2005). As the addiction treatment community continues to evolve it has been further adopting trauma-informed principles, philosophies of empowerment, and holistic approaches – all of which are congruent with psychodrama (Giacomucci, 2021). In my own experience integrating psychodrama at Mirmont Treatment Center, an addiction treatment center, we found that the patients respond very well to it. It was one of the most requested therapies on their patient satisfaction surveys propelling us a few years before covid-19 to significantly expand our use of experiential therapies and psychodrama throughout the entire inpatient clinical program. The trauma-focused psychodrama group that I run is in such high demand that it almost always has a waitlist of patients wanting to join.

Trauma and addiction result in repetitive patterns, reenactments, helplessness, frozenness, and stuckness. Talking about it is often simply not enough to promote change or healing. Clients often state that their addiction treatment groups (inpatient, PHP, IOP, and OP) feel no different than a free 12-step meetings or other support groups. Many clients are sick of talking about it again and again throughout their treatment experiences and have lost hope in the ‘talking cure’. Breaking free of the cycles of addiction and trauma requires action and more action. The experiential nature of psychodrama and experiential therapies helps to get clients into action – exploring new roles, rehearsing new behavior, role training new skills, renegotiating somatic imprints of trauma, releasing frozen emotion, and developing action insights throughout the process.

References:

Cohen, L. R., and Hien, D. A. (2006). Treatment outcomes for women with substance abuse and PTSD who have experienced complex trauma. Psychiatr. Serv. 57, 100–106. doi: 10.1176/appi.ps.57.1.100

Creamer, M., Burgess, P., and McFarlane, A. C. (2001). Post-traumatic stress disorder: findings from the Australian National Survey of Mental Health and Well-Being. Psychol. Med. 31, 1237–1247. doi: 10.1017/s0033291701004287

Dayton, T. (2005). The Living Stage: A Step-by-Step Guide to Psychodrama, Sociometry, and Experiential Group Therapy. Deerfield, FL: Health Communications Inc.

Giacomucci, S. (2017). The sociodrama of life and death: young adults and addiction treatment. Journal of Psychodrama Sociometry, & Group Psychotherapy, 65(1): 137–143.

Giacomucci, S. (2020a). Addiction, traumatic loss, and guilt: a case study resolving grief through psychodrama and sociometric connections. Arts Psychotherapy, 67:101627.

Giacomucci, S. (2020b). Experiential sociometry in group work: mutual aid for the group-as-a-whole. Social Work with Groups 33, 53–68. doi: 10.1080/01609513.2020.1747726

Giacomucci, S. (2021). Social Work, Sociometry, and Psychodrama: Experiential Approaches for Group Therapists, Community Leaders, and Social Workers. Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6342-7

Giacomucci, S., Gera, S., Briggs, D., and Bass, K. (2018). Experiential addiction treatment: creating positive connection through sociometry and therapeutic spiral model safety structures. Journal of Addiction & Addictive Disorders, 5, 17.

Giacomucci, S., & Marquit, J. (2020). The Effectiveness of Trauma-Focused Psychodrama in the Treatment of PTSD in Inpatient Substance Abuse Treatment. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 896. https://dx.doi.org/10.3389%2Ffpsyg.2020.00896

Giacomucci, S., & Stone, A. M. (2019). Being in two places at once: Renegotiating traumatic experience through the surplus reality of psychodrama. Social Work with Groups. 42(3), 184-196. https://doi.org/10.1080/01609513.2018.1533913

Morgan, O. J. (2019). Addiction, Attachment, Trauma and Recovery: The Power of Connection. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company Publishing.

Rauch, S.L., van der Kolk, B.A., Fisler, R.E., et al. (1996). A Symptom Provocation Study of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Using Positron Emission Tomography and Script-Driven Imagery. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 53(5): 380–387.

Roberts, N. P., Roberts, P. A., Jones, N., and Bisson, J. I. (2015). Psychological interventions for post-traumatic stress disorder and comorbid substance use disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Clin. Psychol. Rev. 38, 25–38. doi: 10.1016/j.cpr.2015.02.007

Siegel, D.J. (2012).  Developing mind:  How relationships and the brain interact to shape who we are. New York: Guilford Press.

van der Kolk, B. A. (2014). The body keeps the score: brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. New York: Viking Press.

The Phoenix Center offers low-cost trauma therapy and EMDR sessions through our graduate internship program. We are invested in training the best experiential trauma therapists in the field. You can trust that you will experience excellent quality clinical services provided by Phoenix Trauma Center interns. Our interns receive regular training and 2-3 hours of weekly supervision from our director Dr. Scott Giacomucci, DSW, LCSW, BCD, CGP, FAAETS, TEP. Interns also receive weekly supervision from an additional supervisor at the Phoenix Center – in addition to supervision provided by their university program (professors and field placement liaison). They participate in regular trainings and professional development to increase their understanding and expertise of trauma. Each of our interns are offered opportunities for training in EMDR, psychodrama, and Internal Family Systems (IFS). Our interns support our therapists co-leading psychotherapy groups and are engaged in leading their own free or low-cost community groups.

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Intern’s sessions start at $85 (with a very flexible sliding scale)
Contact us to secure your spot – [email protected] | 484-440-9416

SEE OUR CURRENT GRADUATE INTERNS OFFERING LOW-COST THERAPY HERE

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Benefits of Working with an Intern

As noted, by our friends at Spilove Psychotherapy, there are many benefits to working with a graduate intern which includes lower costs, receiving the expertise of multiple supervising therapists, the benefits of ‘beginner’s mind’, increased passion, and up-to-date practice standards.

Lower-Cost Therapy Sessions – Our interns are all masters-level students towards the end of their programs and getting ready to enter the field. Nevertheless, their session fees are half or one-third of what other therapists charge; and they can be very flexible with their sliding scales.

Receiving the Expertise of Multiple Supervising Therapists – All interns are receiving supervision, training, teaching, and oversight from multiple experienced therapists. This includes weekly supervision with Phoenix Center’s director and another therapists from our center – as well as oversight and/or teaching from multiple professors and a field placement liaison from their university graduate program. Most interns are actively engaged in more reflection, training, supervision, and professional development than other professionals who have already graduated. This means that your intern therapist is spending hours each week reading, writing, reflecting, discussing, and reviewing their work – actively trying to be the best that they can be.

The Benefits of ‘Beginner’s Mind’ – Though many of our intern therapists have experience in the mental health field already or have years of experience in another field, they are starting a new chapter in their professional journey and becoming a therapist. Interns are just starting out so they aren’t just going through the motions of being a therapist. Interns are exploding with curiosity, excitement, passion, and creativity!

Increased Passion and Energy – Interns aren’t weighted down by years of vicarious trauma or burnout that sometimes impact experienced therapists. Instead, intern therapists are bringing new energy, spontaneity, and passion into their work each day. They are excited to begin a new career that they have been preparing for and eager to offer the compassion, connection, and validation that you might be craving.

State-of-the-Art Practice Standards – Graduate students are actively engaged in intense learning through reading, discussions, reflection, and supervised practice. Our field is evolving rapidly (especially with new research findings related to trauma and the brain). Most therapists in PA are only required to complete 15 hours of continuing education each year which simply isn’t enough to stay current on all the new findings in the field. Graduate students however are learning state-of-the-art practice standards. Intern therapists enter the field while continuing to pursue rigorous studies providing current information about the practice of psychotherapy.

This video presents an introduction to the 4 ‘R’s of Trauma-Informed Care:
-Realize
-Recognize
-Respond
-Resist Retraumatization

Each of the 4 are described in detail by Dr. Scott Giacomucci, a Fellow of the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress (FAAETS). These four ‘R’s are essential knowledge for all trauma-informed practitioners, providers, and organizational leaders. The four ‘R’s provide a simplified framework for applying trauma-informed principles from the SAMHSA. See other videos on this channel for additional context including:
SAMHSA’s 6 trauma-informed principles – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANRlWfuWOGQ&t=1s
What is Trauma? – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4Js6VTu9yw&t=
What is PTSD? – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbpdG2tiX8c&t=
Post-Traumatic Growth – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFGJI1o-ciQ&t=

Visit our website to learn more about how we can help your organization implement trauma-informed principles and trauma-focused group work – https://www.phoenixtraumacenter.com/training-for-your-team-in-experiential-trauma-therapy/

#trauma #stress #traumatic #traumainformed #traumafocused #traumainformedprinciples #traumatherapy #traumahealing #traumawork #ptsd #traumaticstress #posttraumaticstress #posttraumaticstressdisorder #ptsdhealing #ptsdtherapy #organizationaldevelopment #traumathearpist #SAMHSA #traumainformedcare #traumainformedpractices

We are excited to share the newly released on-demand video training by Dr. Scott Giacomucci, Addiction & Trauma: A Psychodramatic Approach, hosted by the new Action Explorations Education online education platform.

This course involves a lecture on the intersection of addiction and trauma as they related to the basics of psychodrama psychotherapy. A 1-1 individual psychodrama session is demonstrated via telehealth with a focus of strength-based roles for recovery. After the psychodrama demonstration, the demo is processed and analyzed with additional insights.

Here’s a trailer for a sneak peak of the course:

Access the 4.5 hour course ($100 for 100 day access) here – https://actionexplorations.education/home/course/addiction-amp-trauma-a-psychodramatic-approach/16

#trauma #addiction #traumarecovery #addictionrecovery #traumaandaddiction #traumahealing #traumainformed #addictiontreatment #emptychair #psychodrama #posttraumaticstress #traumaticstress #PostTraumaticStressDisorder #ptsd #socialwork #counseling #psychology #experientialtherapy #experientialtraumatherapy

Free Downloadable Handout here – https://www.phoenixtraumacenter.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Post-Traumatic-Growth-Handout.pdf

Dr. Scott Giacomucci, DSW, LCSW, BCD, FAAETS, PAT

What is Post Traumatic Growth?

Post traumatic growth (PTG) is the phenomenon of growing after trauma or hardship.

This idea is depicted throughout literature, history, religion, legends, and philosophy. It is certainly not a new idea, though the term “post traumatic growth” and the study of it are new. The fact that growth often occurs as a direct result of difficulties, losses, traumas, and changes is evidenced throughout time. One might even argue that all of our personal strengths are a result of surviving and finding our way through difficulties, struggles, and hardships.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, & Post-Traumatic Growth

A traumatic experience is one that overwhelms our ability to cope and process. One event may be traumatic for one person and not traumatic for another person – it is a subjective experience. An inclusive definition of trauma includes violence, abuse, death/loss, neglect, abandonment, collective trauma, discrimination based on identity, and witnessing trauma. Post-traumatic stress (and PTSD) is characterized by avoidance, numbing, hyperarousal, hypervigilance, dissociation, reexperiencing (flashbacks, nightmares, intrusive images, etc), and negative thoughts, beliefs, and emotions. Many trauma survivors experience aspects of post-traumatic growth and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder at the same time.

About 25% of adults that experience a traumatic event will develop Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). However, because of the increased vulnerability of children, childhood trauma is even more impactful resulting in 50% of children developing PTSD symptoms after a traumatic experience. At the same time, Post-Traumatic Growth research found that over 65% of trauma survivors report some type of growth after trauma.

After surviving a traumatic event, you are significantly more likely to experience post-traumatic growth than post-traumatic stress disorder.

Five Common Areas of Post-Traumatic Growth

The literature on post traumatic growth demonstrates five distinct areas that trauma survivors identify as common domains of growth. The five domains of post traumatic growth are:

1. A new sense of opportunities after trauma

Trauma and loss shake us to our core and challenge us in ways that we might not have imagined as possible. As a result, many survivors begin to see new possibilities in life and the opening of new doors of opportunity.

2. New value in relationships

The process of coping with trauma requires relationships – friends, family, therapists, support groups, etc. As humans, we are neurobiologically wired to regulate our emotions through relationships. The experience of utilizing support after trauma increases these connections and helps us remember how important they are.

3. New sense of personal strength

Surviving trauma and asking for help to cope with its aftermath requires incredible strength. Trauma survivors demonstrate extraordinary courage, resilience, vulnerability, trust, hope, and compassion, among other strengths. When an overwhelming event forces us to utilize all the strengths we have (and often develop new ones), we are much more aware of them going forward. “If I survived that trauma, I can survive anything”

4. Greater appreciation for life

Trauma, by its nature, threatens our safety, security, and often our lives. Trauma and loss remind us how precious life is and how fragile it can be. It has the ability to help us see the big picture and reconsider our priorities in life.

5. Deepening of spiritual/religious views

Because trauma is so often experienced through relationships and involving other human beings, many trauma survivors turn to spirituality or religion for strength, hope, and inspiration. Trauma is an existential crisis that challenges us to make sense of it, often through spiritual, religious, or existential belief systems.

These five domains of post-traumatic growth are sometimes simplified further into three categories: 1) Quality of Life, 2) Perception of self, & 3) Experience of relationships and others

Examples of Post Traumatic Growth

Examples of post traumatic growth exist all around you – and in your own life story. Chances are that you have grown in some way after a difficult experience in your life. Some common examples of post traumatic growth include: valuing relationships more after death; appreciating life more after working through a hardship; helping others that are experiencing something you went through previously; positively changing your perception of yourself after getting through a difficult time; creating change and new possibilities in your life after trauma; starting your own support group; creating changes in your community after a painful experience; advocating for policy changes and social change; etc.

Examples and metaphors of post traumatic growth even exist in nature: the extraordinary pressure that creates diamonds; an irritant in an oyster creates a pearl; volcanos that create new islands; forest fires that give way to new growth; stars in the darkness; sunrise after the dark night; and even plants growing from manure and dirt!

Post-traumatic growth is also something that professionals experience as a direct result of vicarious trauma and working with trauma survivors. For more info an vicarious post-traumatic growth, visit this link – https://www.phoenixtraumacenter.com/vicarious-post-traumatic-growth/

#trauma #traumarecovery #traumahealing #traumatherapy #posttraumaticgrowth #vicariousposttraumaticgrowth #ptsd #ptsdrecovery #ptsdtreatment #experientialtherapy #growthaftertrauma #traumacounseling #traumapsychology

The Phoenix Center for Experiential Trauma Therapy is a psychotherapy practice located in Media, Pennsylvania specializing in the treatment of PTSD, trauma, grief/loss, and substance abuse.

We offer a variety of therapy services including:

• Individual Trauma Therapy
  • EMDR, IFS, Gestalt, Psychodrama, Psychodynamic, Relational, Existential, Experiential, Motivational Interviewing, and CBT
• Group Trauma Therapy
  • Psychodramatic and Psychodynamic
• Low-Cost Trauma Therapy with our graduate interns

We also offer various free community groups and workshops led by interns and therapists. Note that these are not therapy groups but instead are community groups focused on peer support, education, and personal growth.

Furthermore, we offer a variety of services for professionals including:

• CE events and trainings for professionals
• License supervision
• EMDR consultation
• Experiential therapy supervision
• In-service trainings for your staff
• We can provide CEU’s for your events/trainers

You can also find a variety of free educational resources available through the Phoenix Center including:

• Free ebook by Dr. Scott Giacomucci for professionals on social work, psychodrama, and group therapy
• Free educational videos on trauma, addiction, and psychodrama on our youtube channel
• Free handouts for clients/professionals on our website

For a downloadable tri-fold of our services, click here – https://www.phoenixtraumacenter.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Phoenix-Center-Trifold-2021.pdf

To contact us regarding services, please email [email protected] or call us at 484-440-9416

By Dr. Scott Giacomucci, DSW, LCSW, BCD, FAAETS, PAT

Published by APA Div 49, The Group Psychologist

“Recent findings have challenged trauma therapists to consider alternative and adjunctive approaches to talk therapy and cognitive approaches. At the same time, these new findings serve to validate experiential philosophy, theories, and approaches that Jacob Moreno proposed decades prior.”

Read the full article here on APA’s website – https://www.apadivisions.org/division-49/news-events/psychodrama-trauma-treatment

The Phoenix Trauma Center’s mission is to provide quality services to our clients and high quality education for professionals. We are invested in training the best experiential trauma therapists in the field. Our internship program allows us to fulfill both parts of our mission while also providing financially accessible services. We receive a dozen or two internship requests each year and carefully choose graduate-level interns that already have experience, training, or other advanced knowledge related to our work. You can trust that you will experience excellent quality clinical services provided by Phoenix Trauma Center interns.

Our interns receive regular training and weekly supervision from our director Dr. Scott Giacomucci, DSW, LCSW, BCD, FAAETS, PAT. Interns also receive weekly supervision from an additional therapist at the Phoenix Center – in addition to supervision provided by their university program (professors and field placement liaison). They participate in regular trainings and professional development to increase their understanding and expertise of trauma. Our interns support our therapists co-leading psychotherapy groups and are engaged in leading their own free or low-cost community groups.

Intern’s sessions start at $75 (with a very flexible sliding scale)
Contact us to secure your spot – [email protected] 484-440-9416

Learn About Our Graduate Intern Therapists

It is also important to note that our interns are only with us for about a year and may or may not stay with us upon graduate. This means that your intern therapist may need to end sessions with you when they graduate and/or you may need to begin working with a different intern at that time.

Benefits of Working with an Intern

As noted, by our friends at Spilove Psychotherapy, there are many benefits to working with a graduate intern which include lower-costs, receiving the expertise of multiple supervising therapists, the benefits of ‘beginner’s mind’, increased passion, and up-to-date practice standards.

Lower-Cost Therapy Sessions – Our interns are all masters-level students towards the end of their programs and getting ready to enter the field. Nevertheless, their session fees are half or one-third of what other therapists charge; and they can be very flexible with their sliding scales.

Receiving the Expertise of Multiple Supervising Therapists – All interns are receiving supervision, training, teaching, and oversight from multiple experienced therapists. This includes weekly supervision with Phoenix Center’s director and another therapists from our center – as well as oversight and/or teaching from multiple professors and a field placement liaison from their university graduate program. Most interns are actively engaged in more reflection, training, supervision, and professional development than other professionals who have already graduated. This means that your intern therapist is spending hours each week reading, writing, reflecting, discussing, and reviewing their work – actively trying to be the best that they can be.

The Benefits of ‘Beginner’s Mind’ – Though many of our intern therapists have experience in the mental health field already or have years of experience in another field, they are starting a new chapter in their professional journey and becoming a therapist. Interns are just starting out so they aren’t just going through the motions of being a therapist. Interns are exploding with curiosity, excitement, passion, and creativity!

Increased Passion and Energy – Interns aren’t weighted down by years of vicarious trauma or burnout that sometimes impact experienced therapists. Instead, intern therapists are bringing new energy, spontaneity, and passion into their work each day. They are excited to begin a new career that they have been preparing for and eager to offer the compassion, connection, and validation that you might be craving.

State-of-the-Art Practice Standards – Graduate students are actively engaged in intense learning through reading, discussions, reflection, and supervised practice. Our field is evolving rapidly (especially with new research findings related to trauma and the brain). Most therapists in PA are only required to completed 15 hours of continuing education each year which simply isn’t enough to stay current on all the new findings in the field. Graduate students however, are learning state-of-the-art practice standards. Intern therapists are enter the field while continuing to pursue rigorous studies providing current information about the practice of psychotherapy.

Are you interested in interning at the Phoenix Center?

Our interns are able to provide quality service at a low cost. This is an opportunity to grow together! Our center understands the need for quality services and the financial difficulties some may have accessing services. Our internship program allow us to bring our clients low-cost trauma therapy services.

Please note, this is a very competitive internship program accepting final-year graduate students only. We are receiving an increased number of internship requests each year. Those with prior training and experience in experiential therapy, trauma therapy, and personal growth work will be given priority. Furthermore, we will prioritize interns who share our goal of making quality trauma therapy services accessible to diverse communities.

We strongly encourage Black, Indigenous, People of Color, LGBTQIA+, and bilingual people to apply.

To apply for an internship placement, send the following to [email protected]:

• Updated resume/CV
  • Include all related experience/training in trauma, addictions, and experiential work
• Cover letter detailing how your interests align with our work
• 2 professional references who would be familiar with your work (1 must be from a field supervisor)