An Epic Journey: Reimagining Containment for Trauma Work

Is your client struggling to engage in trauma processing? Do your current containment exercises seem to be ineffective? Or do you simply want another tool for your therapeutic toolbox to help the people you serve? Creative use of a common trauma therapy exercise can provide additional containment during and after session, reduce obstacles and barriers to treatment, and refresh your clinical practice.

The container exercise is a common visualization exercise meant to help confine trauma reintegration work to the therapy session and reduce intrusive symptoms. While implementation of the exercise may vary from one practitioner to another its elements remain the same. Halley Palmer, LICSW, proposes a more expansive and creative use of “the container” that invokes powerful imagery from popular media, and sets your client at the center of their own journey.

Participants will have an opportunity to develop a container of their own in order to better understand how the intentional use of language, themes, tropes, and the senses can benefit their work.

Learning Objectives:

1. Describe the container exercise, its purpose, and application during trauma treatment.
2. Utilize knowledge of their client’s interests to develop engaging and effective containment for trauma therapy.
3. Evaluate, assess and evolve the container exercise to maintain the container’s efficacy for the entirety of the client’s treatment.
4. Define the stages of Trauma Recovery.