Do you work with transgender and/or gender diverse people? Do you have knowledge about gender diversity and want to explore the intersectionality with minority stress and the trauma of systemic betrayal? Trauma is not an individual experience, it happens within systems that often enable it. We develop our capacity to process distress, integrate meaning and remain connected to ourselves, others and the world around us. This development is foundational: safety, bonding, belonging… a burgeoning sense of identity. Our ‘attachment’ to life and others continues to develop as we get older. Dysphoria means a profound state of unease or dissatisfaction. What happens when that ‘attachment’ is ruptured by a dominant culture that displays a profound state of unease or dissatisfaction towards people who are trans? If a person senses that simply being themselves could mean rejection at one end of the scale and death at the other, do they internalise that, do they experience it as constant threat? Where do our cultural and professional narratives, which create our beliefs and approaches, obstruct our ability to provide clear unbiased therapeutic support for gender diverse people? When are we seeing 'gender dysphoria,' and when are we seeing distress/dissociation from one’s ‘self’ brought about by societal and family systems that often marginalise, attack and abandon those who are different? Is it even possible to accurately assess this, when each is so interwoven with the other? We will examine these questions and posit effective methods moving forward using current research connecting minority stress to symptoms of trauma, and the impact of systemic betrayal, abandonment and the abuse of power on traumatic threat responses for individuals and communities. As well as recognising best practice clinical and non-clinical recommendations, this workshop will involve theory, self-reflection, discussion, application and contain an experiential component.
This course is based on the recorded webinar, Societal Dysphoria: When the Trauma of Systemic Betrayal and Gender Diversity Intersect created by Dragan Z. Wright, PostGrad Dip Psychotherapy, MMUS, Cert TA, Cert Somatic Therapy, Cert Sexological Bodywork. in 2020.
Publication Details
Publication Date:May 2020
Course Material Author
Dragan Z. Wright, PostGrad Dip Psychotherapy, MMUS, Cert TA, Cert Somatic Therapy, Cert Sexological Bodywork.
Dragan Zan Wright is a transgender psychotherapist who identifies as non-binary and embraces she, he and they.' Dragan is a survivor of complex childhood and adult trauma and has been engaged in a long journey of recovery from the resultant developmental and mental health manifestations. In seminars and workshops Dragan weaves together his fourteen years of professional experience, relevant therapeutic theory and his lived experience of trauma, resilience and gender diversity. Dragan is an authentic, engaging and humorous speaker who has for the last seven years been presenting workshops throughout Australia, both publicly and in-house for various services, on behalf of the Blue Knot Foundation, the Mental Health Coordinating Council and the Disability Justice Program. These include an in depth look at working therapeutically with complex trauma, historical trauma, trauma informed practice, and protection from vicarious trauma. In 2018 Dragan also began running his own training packages in 'Trauma Informed Gender Affirmative Care' and 'Complex Trauma: Transgender and Gender Diversity - When experiences intersect.' He has run these for a wide array of people including sexual assault services, LGBTIQA+ services and Gestalt Master's students. Dragan is committed to speaking publicly and providing quality education in order to support societal and cultural change, particularly within the Mental Health and Gender Affirmation sectors.
Dragan Z. Wright, PostGrad Dip Psychotherapy, MMUS, Cert TA, Cert Somatic Therapy, Cert Sexological Bodywork. authored the material only, and was not involved in creating this CE course. They are identified here for your own evaluation of the relevancy of the material this course is based on.
Sandi Cardaman has been a Licensed Mental Health Counselor for more than 15 years. She has worked with eating disorders, domestic violence and clients who are working with the dependency system.
Target Audience
Counselors, marriage and family therapists, psychologists and social workers. This course is appropriate for all levels of knowledge.
Learning Objectives
After taking this activity, you should be able to:
1
Name their cultural and professional bias related to gender diversity and societal trauma, and identify how this may help or hinder their work
2
Recognize the traumatic pain of family and societal abandonment for gender diverse people, and that daily micro-aggression, can in and of itself, cause the symptoms of traumatic stress
3
Share their ideas of effective approaches when working with gender diverse people, who may also be experiencing a dominant society's ‘unease and dissatisfaction’ with their diversity
Disclosure to Learners
CE Learning Systems adheres to the ACCME's Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited
Continuing Medical Education. Any individuals in a position to control the content of a CE activity –
including faculty, planners, reviewers, or others ― are required to disclose all relevant financial
relationships with ineligible entities (formerly known as commercial interests).
The following relevant financial relationships have been disclosed by this activity's planners, faculty, and
the reviewer:
Planners and Reviewers
The planners of this activity have reported that they have no relevant financial relationships.
Material Authors
There are no known relevant financial relationships to disclose.
Course Creator
Sandi Cardaman – None to report.
Commercial support
There is no commercial support for this distance-learning course.
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