Putting Neurodevelopmental Research into Your Everyday Practice
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Training Description
In this training, attendees will be introduced to the concept of cumulative harm and its neurodevelopmental sequelae. Emotional abuse, loss of emotional relationships, and domestic violence have been identified as primary contributors to behavioral problems in children. The impact of such complex trauma on child development is referred to as cumulative harm, and has significant implications for neurological functioning. Attunement, or how one engages with and attends to a child, has been identified as critical in reducing the adverse effects of cumulative harm and improving brain functioning to allow for more effective emotion regulation and the fostering of healthy relationships.
Trainer Biography
Kevin Creeden, MA, LMHC is the Director of Assessment and Research at the Whitney Academy in East Freetown, MA. He has over 30 years of clinical experience treating children, adolescents, adults and families working extensively with sexually and physically aggressive youth. Over the past 20 years, his primary focus has been on issues of trauma and attachment difficulties, especially with regard to the neurological impact of trauma on behavior and he has authored several articles and book chapters on the neurodevelopmental impact of trauma on sexual behavior problems. In the past, Mr. Creeden has served as the president of the Massachusetts chapter of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC), a Teaching Fellow at Boston College, an Instructor in Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School at Cambridge Hospital, and a guest faculty at the Boston University School of Social Work. Presently, he is a guest faculty at the Simmons School of Social Work advanced training program in Trauma-Focused treatment. Mr. Creeden trains and consults both nationally and internationally to youth service, community, forensic services and mental health service agencies.
Learning Objectives
This training is designed to help you:
- Identify brain structures involved in emotion regulation and the processing of harm
- Describe the impact of cumulative harm on neural connections
- Discuss interventions designed to address neurological damage resulting from complex trauma
