Description:

Severe mental illness predominantly strikes the young, derailing normal social, cognitive and emotional development, predisposing to traumatic experience. Brief therapy interventions are particularly apt because they encourage skill acquisition and decontextualization via remedial experiential learning. This presentation will detail the use of strategic, somatic experiencing-influenced and Ericksonian interventions, among them pattern interruption, symptom prescription, ordeals and other Ericksonian elements treating chronically ill clients with attention to the structure and delivery of such interventions.

Educational Objectives:

*Sessions may be edited for content and to preserve confidentiality*

1. Describe how mental illness predisposes younger clients towards traumatizing experiences.
2. List and describe three brief therapy interventions suitable for use treating the severely mentally ill.
3. Discuss why brief therapy strategies are particularly appropriate to use with severely mentally ill clients.