THE NEW YORK CITY ASSOCIATION OF TRAUMA THERAPISTS
NYCATT
Where trauma therapists gather!
Who we are
We envision a space where therapists gather to share information and support.
The organization aims to disseminate information on advances in the field of trauma therapy, as well as to support the professional growth of its members. NYCATT further seeks to educate the public about the benefits of trauma therapy and provide community and resource development opportunities for its members.
The non-for-profit organization's ultimate goal is to build a community of ethical, highly educated, and well-trained trauma psychotherapists. By bringing together professionals in the field, NYCATT hopes to elevate trauma therapy.
NYCATT appreciates the myriad cultural complexities facing trauma therapists and their clients and is committed to providing an environment that welcomes and respects diversity, equity and inclusion.
NYCATT Monthly Forum
NYCATT continues to plan new events and ways to enhance and grow our community. With that objective, we are pleased to announce a new series of gathering opportunities. The monthly sessions will each last 1.5 hours and will be conducted via Zoom on different days and times, presenting different options for members of the community to participate and learn from experts and distinguished guests. Stay tuned for further details.
Upcoming Event: September Monthly Forum with Abigail Nathanson, DSW
Grief is nearly universal in trauma therapy, yet many clinicians receive far more formal training in trauma than in the science and practice of grief. As a result, grief is often understood through a trauma lens, an approach that highlights important areas of overlap but can also obscure the unique processes of mourning. This workshop explores the similarities and distinctions between grief, Prolonged Grief Disorder, and PTSD, drawing on contemporary grief research and clinical practice to help clinicians develop a more nuanced framework for working with bereaved clients. For clinicians whose formal grief education began and ended with the five stages, or whose understanding of grief has been shaped primarily through clinical exposure, this workshop offers an opportunity to deepen their knowledge with the research, theory, and evidence-informed practices that have transformed the field over the past several decades.
Our Presenter:
Dr. Abigail Nathanson, DSW, LCSW, APHSW-C, ACS, is a palliative social worker, educator, and consultant specializing in grief, trauma, and serious illness. She serves as part-time faculty at the New York University Silver School of Social Work, where she teaches Grief, Loss and Bereavement and developed and helps run the post-graduate training program Advanced Clinical Seminars in Grief and Trauma. Dr. Nathanson is co-editor of The Practice of Clinical Social Work in Healthcare (Springer) and has advanced clinical training in Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP, Level III), EMDR, and Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy. She is the founder of a specialty psychotherapy and consultation practice in New York City, where she and her team work with individuals affected by serious medical illness, caregiving, bereavement, and healthcare work.
Past Events:
June Monthly Forum with Janina Fisher, PhD
Why does trauma result in fragmentation? Because traumatic experiences are too overwhelming to be tolerated or processed, especially by a child’s still developing brains. The mental ability of dissociation provides a way for children to mentally distance from what is happening. The child watches from a distance and observes what is happening to that other child. Fragmenting helps us to survive the moment and, in traumatic environments, becomes a chronic response to ongoing danger facing the individual every day. Understanding the effects of trauma rather than focusing on the events that caused them opens up a new pathway to healing even for survivors who have had many years of therapy. Rather than pathologizing trauma-related symptoms and the parts that carry them, the Trauma-Informed Stabilization Treatment approach emphasizes a mindfulness-based acceptance of the implicit memories of parts. By helping clients befriend their wounded, vulnerable parts and their darkest, most destructive parts, we can help them find wholeness, self-compassion, and healing. To see the video of this and other events, click here:
May Monthly Forum with Debra Ruisard, DSW
The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) study conducted in the 1990s established a correlation between traumatic childhood experiences and multiple mental and physical health issues including substance use disorders. Since then, ACEs research has been informing psychiatric and community interventions for trauma survivors. The substance use treatment field has been slower to adopt a trauma informed approach as this requires a paradigm shift in how we think about addiction and how we interpret and respond to the behaviors commonly seen in individuals with substance use disorders. Through the lens of complex trauma, this session included a trauma informed approach to addiction treatment to assist clinicians in creating trauma-sensitive environments and providing effective trauma-focused interventions. This presentation is a core module for the National Child Traumatic Stress Network’s Trainer Training Curriculum of the Complex Trauma Training Consortium. To see the video of this and other events, click here:
April Monthly Forum with Lana Epstein: Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and EMDR
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy senior trainer Lana Epstein offered an engaging exploration of how Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing can be integrated to enhance trauma treatment. This forum examined how body-based awareness and bilateral processing work together to help clients safely process traumatic experiences and move toward healing. Participants gained an overview of key principles from Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, learned practical strategies for integrating somatic and EMDR interventions, and discussed clinical considerations for working with PTSD. The forum included case examples and time for free discussion and exchange of ideas.
March Monthly Forum with Michelle Lepak and Gregory D. Carson: Presence Psychotherapy
Presence Psychotherapy is a relationally-attuned trauma model that integrates spirituality with parts work and somatic inquiry. Two Presence Psychotherapy articles have been published in peer-reviewed journals. It has been named by both US News & World Report as an effective treatment for trauma and grief, and by Bruce Ecker in Unlocking the Emotion Brain, 2nd Ed. as an experiential modality that carries out memory reconsolidation. Presence Psychotherapy is practiced in 6 countries.
In this workshop, the theory and practice of the model was introduced through didactic presentation, video demonstration, and experiential process. To see the video, click here.
February Monthly Forum with Hatti Figge: Therapist as Embodied Instrument
This event was truly an exploration of what it truly means for us as therapists to be embodied in our
ourselves and our clinical practices; the value of and how we can cultivate grounded, present
relationships with ourselves, understand and use this awareness as a tool in our personal lives
and clinical work. To view of a video of the event, click here:
Stay tuned for updates by becoming a member and following us on social media.
NYCATT Monthly Forum
As trauma therapists, we understand the importance of ongoing learning and collaboration to better serve our clients. Therefore, we are pleased to offer a series of Zoom sessions where members can come together to meet new presenters, learn about new topics that can expand your practice and share insights about challenging clinical situations and novel interventions.
