Attachment Treatment: Theory & Techniques Level I: Theory & Science
A healthy attachment between an infant and loving parents or caregivers creates a lasting sense of security and safety for the child. This allows for optimal growth, development, relationships and ultimately learning. When the attachment relationship is disrupted or fails to develop, children feel insecure, unsafe and anxious. Many difficulties experienced by individuals throughout life can be traced back to growing up not feeling safe. Not only does a person’s behaviour develop under the influence of attachment but actual brain development is affected by early attachment interactions.

The goal of this workshop is to give counselors, therapists, teachers, early childhood educators, social workers and parents an understanding of how these early attachments affect our actions throughout life. Ultimately, understanding the attachment model of counselling helps provide valuable insight and skill to those of us who are in therapeutic, education and caregiving roles. This information will be of interest to anyone working with children, adolescents, adults and families.
As well, this training is divided into separate workshops, which can be taken individually for continuing education credits. 
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Conflict Resolution Skills
Conflict has many sources, including disagreements, stress, personality differences and differences of opinions. While the results of conflict impact us individually, it also often has negative effects on the performance of groups. Many conflicts would not spiral out of control if people used conflict resolution techniques that are easy to learn and utilize. This workshop will teach participants to understand the dynamics of conflict and equip them with the skills needed to respond confidently when faced with situations of conflict.

http://www.achievecentre.com/f11mb.html   

Dealing with Difficult People
Everyone encounters difficult people on a regular basis and typically conversations with them leave people feeling frustrated, stressed, angry and tired. This workshop will analyze what is happening in those exchanges and demonstrate how people can adapt their strategies to bring about more productive conversations with those they find difficult. The effect of intervention styles will be explored, in particular, how different styles interact with each other. Participants will also learn how to change their interactions with difficult people in order to influence their behaviour, resulting in more positive outcomes.

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Addictions and Mental Illness: Working with co-occurring disorders
Many people struggling with a mental illness are also struggling with an addiction. Recovery for people coping with both of these issues is complicated because they affect each other and are intertwined. Caregivers may often be at a loss for where to start - did the addictions cause the mental illness, did the mental illness cause the addictions or is there something else leading to both? This workshop provides a framework for working systemically with both issues at the same time. Participants will explore the impact of both addiction and mental illness, an overview of the theoretical frameworks for both issues, and how to integrate strategies in a way that supports health and change.
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Substance Abuse and Youth: Creating opportunities for change
Intervention attempts with youth who are struggling with substance abuse are often met with resistance. While some youth choose not to use substances or their use stays as experimentation, for others, their use quenches a much larger unmet need and a pattern of use and abuse develops. Participants of this workshop will examine the needs underlying youth’s choices to use substances. They will also consider issues that make working with youth different than working with adults and explore short term and longer term intervention strategies.

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Working Through Personality Differences
Personality differences often lead to clashes that negatively affect productivity, teamwork and morale. No matter how skilled or dedicated people are, the ability to work collaboratively with others will determine ones’ effectiveness. Understanding the various personality styles and their impact on workplace dynamics helps people communicate and work successfully with others. Utilizing the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), this workshop will provide participants with a personal assessment, equip them to understand personality styles which are different than their own and provide strategies to effectively interact with.

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Assertive Communication
Understanding our communication style and how we interact with others is essential to positive and productive relations. Effective communication requires us not only to be aware of ourselves, but also to be responsive and aware of others. Being assertive in communication is the ability to express positive and negative ideas and feelings in a transparent, welcoming and direct way – to state clearly and without defensiveness what one needs. Participants of this workshop will build an awareness of their communication patterns and learn to deal confidently with people around them. This workshop is fun, practical and highly effective at improving communication awareness and skills.
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Violence Threat Assessment: Planning and response
After a violent incident, it is not uncommon to find that many different people were aware of clues that violence was being planned. Yet, without a clearly defined process to gather information and assess the situation, violence prevention is extremely difficult. This workshop provides a communication and decision-making model to help businesses, schools, organizations and communities become more effective in their management of threats. Participants will learn strategies to help them identify, assess and manage individuals who may be escalating towards violence.

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Self-Injury Behaviour in Youth - Issues & Strategies
Self-injury refers to deliberate, self-inflicted tissue damage, such as cutting or burning. Self-injury has reached alarming proportions amongst our youth, with North American studies indicating adolescent prevalence of between 14 and 18 percent. Helping professionals are therefore increasingly encountering young people who are engaging in self-injury. This workshop will begin with a general overview to assist participants in understanding the experience and motivations of adolescents who intentionally injure themselves. The content will then focus on practical strategies for working with youth struggling with this complex issue. Participants will leave this workshop with increased insight regarding self-injury behaviour in youth and direction for effective interventions.

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Emotional Intelligence – Increasing Harmony and Productivity
Emotional intelligence (EI) refers to the ability to identify and assess the emotions of oneself and others and then to use that information to guide ones’ actions. While cognitive skills are also important, it is emotional intelligence that has the greatest impact on people’s ability to be productive and work well with others. Participants of this workshop will learn to utilize emotional intelligence more effectively through both self-assessment and skill development exercises, resulting in an increased sense of how to engage more effectively with others.
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Mediation - A Process for Conflict Intervention
When two people are in conflict, the negative impact of the dispute typically affects more people than just the disputants. Others often get sucked into a conflict that becomes time consuming and limits the productivity of everyone. When people involved in conflict cannot resolve it on their own, a third party facilitator may be what is needed to resolve the dispute. This skills based workshop is designed to give participants the understanding to work with disputing parties to identify interests, clarify issues and work towards options for resolving the conflict. Participants will have the opportunity to experience scenarios that will help prepare them for intervening in various conflict situations.
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De-escalating Potentially Violent Situations
For those who work in an environment where there is potential for violence, it is important to develop the skills needed to defuse dangerous situations. This workshop is designed to teach people to de-escalate potentially violent situations through assertiveness and interpersonal communication. The training will explore how anger and violence interplay, including opportunities for self- assessment of personal styles. Participants will develop a clear understanding of how to assess the potential for violence and respond with a diverse set of interpersonal tools and strategies designed to defuse potentially violent situations.

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Anxiety: Practical intervention strategies
Anxiety represents our body’s natural alarm system, signalling us to the possibility of danger. When this response arises too frequently or intensely and doesn’t match actual situations of danger, it can interfere with life and cause great distress. It is estimated that over a quarter of the population will experience anxiety at some time, and there is an increasing concern for rising anxiety among children and youth. Participants will explore the natural purpose of anxiety and how it can become ‘disordered,’ including links with panic, depression, trauma and other health concerns.The main focus of the workshop will be to learn practical and accessible strategies to assist both adults and children in reducing anxiety.

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Gender and Sexual Identity in Youth
Gender and sexuality are central features of identity development in adolescence. When a person's internal experience of gender and/or sexuality does not match with what would typically be expected based on their external appearance, it can cause great distress and difficulty. Caregivers can also struggle with knowing how best to respond and support youth in these situations. Participants of this workshop will develop an awareness and understanding of what this experience can be like, and how to create more accessible and welcoming environments for lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender, two-spirited, transsexual, queer and questioning individuals.

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