Tuning into Trauma in Coaching Supervision

1. Tuning into Trauma in Coaching Supervision Americas Supervision network Larissa Thurlow PCC, Coach supervisor September 16, 2019

2. Grounding • Stand/sit comfortably • Shift your attention from thinking to feeling • Language of the body; conscious moment of where you are and how coming into call

3. How can we work Skillfully with someone who might be suffering with Traumatic stress? • How do we do well by people? How do we provide a resourcing rather than triggering experience for clients/Supervisees? • What are the tools we need in our toolkit? • How do we avoid doing harm?

4. What is Trauma?

5. Trauma Sensitive/Trauma Informed Supervision • Realizing the widespread nature of trauma; study and research into how prevalent it is. • Being able to recognize trauma symptoms • Being able to respond effectively • Actively avoiding re-traumatization

6. GrouP Discussion: What are the ethics? (How) do we work with trauma in Supervision? • How do we know if trauma is an issue for our client? • How do we ensure we’re not making things worse? What can Supervision offer? • What are the boundaries of Supervision? How do we respect them while also respecting our clients needs? • How do we know when someone is ready to do healing work and if coaching/supervision is appropriate?

7. What are the ethics? (How) do we work with trauma in Supervision? • How do we ensure not making things worse? What are the practices can offer? • Coaching vs. Psychotherapy • How do we know when someone is ready to do healing work and if coaching/supervision is appropriate? • Intuition-is the terrain something you can hold? • ICF-ethical responsibility not to go deeper if not trained as professional-not talking about or resolving the past • Future focused…NOT details/going backwards • Don’t need to know story to support people • 2-3 referrals don’t ask deepening questions

8. coaching/therapy ‘boundary’ • Co-created in the realationship: • At one extreme, relatively ‘conservative’- with both client and Supervisor avoiding any discussion of personal material • Both Supervisor and client seem willing to undertake deep and extremely personal explorations.

9. Boundary Creation • Three factors seem to have a bearing on how the ‘boundary’ is configured in each relationship: • Client shapes the ‘boundary’ – motivations, willingness, resourcefulness • Supervisor shapes the ‘boundary’- ethics, perception of role and personal competence • Organisational contract shapes the boundary

10. Specific signs that indicate working on trauma • What if client isn’t coming specifically for trauma help? How know when working with trauma? Window of tolerance (Dan Siegal) • All of us have window of optimal arousal (sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system balance) • Trauma-people are on either side of window HYPER or HYPO (too much/too little) • Is client experiencing life as TOO MUCH (constantly intense dysregulating thoughts, super anxious) or TOO LITTLE (numb, disassociated) • Our job is NOT to DIAGNOSE-that is Psychotherapy domain • Our job is to ask questions, to know if person is feeling safe, stable, regulated integrated, emotions they can tolerate

11. Recognizing Potential struggle with Trauma Body/somatic-extremeagitation, can’t relax, hyperventilating, exaggerated startled response, increased heart rate, hot flashes, flushing, sweating Cognitive-racing, repetative obsessive or intrusive thoughts, rapid disorganized speech, planning/decision making, memory impaired Emotion-emotional volatility, mood swings; euphoria, mania, grandiosity; anxiety, panic; reports of flashbacks, nightmares, irritability, anger

12. Trauma informed Practices • Up front contracting (check if seeing other supports such as therapist, or think they need) Assessment • Level 1: Assess in real time. Follow up at end of sessions-are sessions helping or not? Did the work leave client more in window of tolerance-sense of agency, well being and self regulation or create more dysregulation leaving people feeling spun out, unable to integrate and in a bad place? • Level 2: Working with trauma professional and Supervisor at same time

13. What about Vulnerable Populations? • Acknowledgement that live in social context where some are supported more in their safety than others. • Disrespectful to say resourcing will “cure all”…failing to acknowledge that will break trust. Respect the practices they already have. Are these practices supporting you outside of session? • Don’t project/assume but be curious. Know social context. • Supervisor being well regulated in self helps client. Psychobiological regulation. Mirror each others’ energy and impact. Wellbeing, spaciousness

14. Resourcing • Take care of self first…what best supports you to be within window and self regulated? What supports good sessions? What doesn’t? • Helping the nervous system to become more resilient. • Tools to enable and increase window of tolerance: choice/agency/well being “I am in choice and control” • Somatic experiencing (Dr. Peter Levine)-grounded methodology.

15. Additional Resources • Window of Tolerance-Pat Ogden • https://www.therapistuncensored.com/tu65/ • Referring a Client to Therapy; A Set of Guidelines (ICF) • Somatic Experiencing practices titration, pendulation • The body remembers-Babette Rothschild (practical practices) • The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel  van der Kolk M.D.