Experiential Workshop: Finnish Group Analytic Society, Kaupunkilahetys, Helsinki, Finland
Experiential Workshop
EXPLORING THE SOURCE OF VICARIOUS TRAUMA AND BURNOUT AND EMPTYING THE CONTAINERS
Instructor: Heidi Ahonen, PhD
Are you a helping professional, therapist, nurse, social worker, missionary worker, pastor, rescue worker, or volunteer? Do you work with traumatized people? Do you witness or share heartbreaking experiences day after day? This experiential workshop is ideal for those who listen to the traumatic experiences of others and find those experiences to be traumas that burdens them as well. Vicarious trauma and compassion fatigue affect helping professionals’ physical, psychological and spiritual health as they observe and interact in daily traumatic accounts or react to the traumatic situations of others. Vicarious trauma and compassion fatigue not only steal away a helping professional’s passion, but also deteriorates their health. Many of us have unknowingly experienced it. It manifests as a sense of helplessness and ultimately leads to burnout and depression if disregarded. During this experiential workshop a variety of experiential techniques will be used to help participants identify and explore their vicarious traumatization, burnout, stress and resources.
Place: Finnish Group Analytic Society, Kaupunkilahetys, Helsinki, Finland
Time: Sept 8, 2012 at 9 am – 2 pm
WORKSHOP CONTENT
9- 10:00 Introduction of Vicarious Traumatization? What it is? What are the sings? What contributes it?
Break
10:15-11:45 Experiential workshop
Lunch Break
12:30 -14:00 Experiential workshop
Heidi’s Bio
Heidi Ahonen, PhD, Psychotherapist, Group Analyst, Accredited Music Therapist, and Compassion Fatigue Specialist, is a professor of Music Therapy at Wilfrid Laurier and director of the Manfred and Penny Conrad Institute for Music Therapy Research. Her teaching career includes posts at North Karelia Polytechnic, the Sibelius Academy for Further Education and the Finnish Mental Health Association’s Psychotherapy Training Institute. She has extensive clinical and supervisory experience and has published widely on various therapeutic methodologies and qualitative research. Heidi is the author of Group Analytic Music Therapy (2007) by Barcelona publishers. Heidi has trained music therapists and psychotherapists and conducted workshops for healthcare professionals since 1991. As a clinician, Heidi practices music psychotherapy and in the music therapy field she has developed group analytic music therapy methods, group analytic music therapy supervision model, integrated art and music therapy methods and music listening, imagination and improvisation methods. She specializes in adult clients with childhood traumas, PTSD, burn-out, vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue, and depression.