Hi everyone! 👋🏼 It’s me, Katie - I’m one of the occupational therapists at the BAC - and I also manage our social media accounts! (so now you know who to blame for all the cheesy puns and excessive use of emojis 😬🙋🏻♀️)
You may have noticed we didn’t post anything last week...well, that’s because I was in Montréal, Canada 🇨🇦 attending a multi-day intensive training on the “neurological interplay between attachment, developmental trauma, and sensory processing issues.” (Whew, that’s a mouthful!) In shorter terms, I learned all about Psycho-Sensory Processing Intervention!
In my years of practice, I've found that there can be two distinct intervention approaches to facilitate self-regulation and overall social-emotional well-being in children. Occupational therapists tend to use physical (or body) based approaches to stabilize arousal and support sensory processing issues, while mental health therapists tend to use cognitive (or mind/thinking) based approaches to achieve the same goal. This course, led by occupational therapist, author, speaker, and consultant extraordinaire, Kim Barthel, bridged that gap for me. In my time spent with Kim, I explored sensory strategies and postural control/movement techniques, in addition to attachment theory and therapeutic relational process work (e.g. compassionate dialoguing skills, relational attunement, and therapeutic use of self). I left the course feeling confident in my ability to use a holistic, mind-body approach to help children and families navigate complex challenges. I'm so eager to share this cutting edge research and these innovative approaches with my team and our community - stay tuned for more!
