DON’T TAKE THE BAIT!: Working with Reluctant Clients & The Power of Shame 

Come and enjoy 2 topics in one workshop!

Presenting in a Hybrid format- you choose virtual or in person attendance upon registration.
In-person will take place at 10 Dearborn Rd. Peabody, MA 01960. 

DON’T TAKE THE BAIT: Working with Reluctant Clients 

Are the clients pushing your buttons lately? Learn to listen to their difficult behavior as an alternative (and powerful) form of communication. Sorting out our feelings from the clients’ feelings can be an on-going process. Using clips from popular films, this workshop will focus on the dynamics of projective identification as well as self-care guidelines for the voluntary worker engaged in a dance with the involuntary client. 

Objectives:  

• To learn to identify the psychodynamic process of projective identification. 
• To identify the individual helping professional’s motivation for continuing in the work. 
• To learn to use the “strengths perspective” to motivate involuntary clients. 

 THE POWER OF SHAME 

Shame is a common sequelae to trauma and often is an underlying cause of many behaviors that bring people to the attention of helping professionals. Shame can also be the “glue” that holds families together. This workshop will explore the role shame plays in criminal, abusive, addictive and self-destructive behaviors. Implications for interviewing and treatment approaches will be covered as well as the challenges to countertransference management represented by shame. 

OBJECTIVES: 

• To differentiate guilt from chronic shame
  
• To learn to remain empathic when the worker’s shame is activated by the client’s shame
• To learn five treatment techniques to gradually alleviate chronic shame. 

About the Speaker:

 Linda T. (Lynn) Sanford, LICSW  began her career over 45 years ago working with victims of sexual assault. She has also worked for twenty years with youth who have been convicted of crimes against people (homicide, manslaughter, and multiple sexual assaults).  In 2013 and 2014, Sanford worked as a Military Family Life Consultant on Marine Corps Air Station at Iwakuni, Japan. She also worked with children whose parents were deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq at Ramstein Air Base in Germany and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska. 

In 2009, Sanford achieved the rank of Professor of Practice.  She taught at various graduate schools of social work for 25 years.  She is the author of Strong at the Broken Places: Building Resiliency in the Lives of Survivors (1990, 2004) and The Silent Children (1980). Sanford is also co-author of Women and Self-Esteem (1984) and In Defense of Ourselves (1978). 

Sanford received the Massachusetts National Association of Social Workers “Outstanding Contribution to Social Work Practice Award” and the Devereux Foundation “Legacy of Caring Award” in 2010.