Workshops

Berman, P., Structured Interventions for Treating Victimized Children and Teens (3 hr).
This workshop provides a brief introduction to tailoring interventions to the developmental needs of children and youth. The bulk of the workshop uses case histories to illustrate how an understanding of adverse childhood experiences can be used to structure the skill building that these victimized minors need for returning to adaptive functioning. This workshop has been designed for individuals who are new to considering the impact of development on their clinical work as well as for individuals seeking to increase their effectiveness in working with minors who have been victimized by interpersonal violence. This workshop can be adapted for intermediate audiences.

Objectives

  1. Participants will be able to recall at least three behavioral, cognitive, and psychosocial differences between minors of different ages.
  2. Participants will be able to recall at least three skills based on research on adverse childhood experiences that might be deficient in victimized minors.
  3. Participants will gain practice in designing treatment goals that support skill building for victimized minors of different ages.

Berman, P., Developing Comprehensive and Individualized Case Conceptualization and Treatment Plans (3 day).
This workshop focuses on teaching the meta-skills involved in developing case conceptualizations and treatment plans. Each day of the workshop focuses on a complex clinical case and the day involves participants in interactive exercises to develop a thorough understanding of the client from the perspective of a particular psychological theory. Each day involves a different client and utilizes integration of a different theory. The workshop ends with a review of the meta-skills in developing plans that are tailored to the unique needs of complex clients.

Berman, P., Improving Interviewing Skills Through Practicing Micro-Skills (2 day).
This workshop focuses on first introducing the micro-skills of effective interviewing including verbal and nonverbal attending, paraphrasing, reflective listening, empathetic responding, redirecting and supportive confrontation. The second phase of the training involves experiential practice with these skills using complex, simulated clients developed by Dr. Berman. This workshop has been designed for individuals who are new to the interviewing process or are seeking to enhance their skills. This workshop can also be adapted for intermediate audiences.

Objectives

  1. Participants will be able to recall at least three skills that are of value in deepening rapport with clients during treatment.
  2. Participants will be able to recall at least three strategies for keeping clients on track as they relate their concerns in treatment.
  3. Participants will practice using the micro skills of effective interviewing in role-play simulations.

Berman, P., Recognizing Warning Signs of Interpersonal Victimization and Perpetration (2 hour).
This workshop provides the latest research on signs of victimization and perpetration and discusses the relationship between victimization and engaging in perpetration that occurs for most individuals who engage in behaviors that harm others. This workshop is for individuals who are interested in enhancing their understanding of the impact of interpersonal violence on both the victims and perpetrators of violence.

Objectives

  1. Participants will be able to recall at least three signs of an individual who might have been or is experiencing victimization by interpersonal violence.
  2. Participants will be able to recall at least three signs of an individual who might have been or is engaging in perpetration of interpersonal violence.
  3. Participants will be able to recall at least three interconnections between the past histories of those who are victims or perpetrators of interpersonal violence.

Berman, P., Using Research on Violence, Resiliency & Culture to Strengthen Treatment Planning with Cases of Substance Abuse (2 day).
This workshop provides training in using research on violence, resilience, and culture to develop effective treatment plans with clients who abuse substances. Both didactic and experiential practice in interpreting case history information and designing treatment goals for clients will be used. Two case histories will be provided. The first will be used to illustrate the impact of adverse childhood experiences on risk for substance abuse and how knowledge of these adverse experiences can be used to build an effective treatment plan. The second one will consider how research findings on resiliency can be used to develop a strength-based treatment plan in cases of substance abuse. Third, participants will have the opportunity to practice a strategy for developing a culturally sensitive treatment relationship and if time allows, culturally-informed treatment goals. This intermediate level workshop has been designed for individuals who are already involved in their professional careers and are seeking to enhance their ability to adapt their mode of interaction and treatment of clients to their unique personal histories and current difficulties. This workshop can also be adapted for advanced audiences.

  • Participants will be able to recall at least three findings about the impact of adverse childhood experiences on adaptive functioning.
  • Participants will be able to recall at least three factors that have been found to increase resilient functioning.
  • Participants will be able to practice a strategy for developing a culturally sensitive treatment relationship.
  • Participants will be able to interpret case history information for signs of adverse childhood events, resilience and cultural misunderstandings.
  • Participants will be able to design treatment goals that focus on decreasing the impact of adverse childhood events and increasing client resilience.

Berman P., Assessment of Violence Across the Lifespan: Experiential Practice with Case of Ellen Kilkenny
This 90 minute workshop deals with the case of Ellen KilKenny born who is 75 at the time of the workshop. She has a son Mark who is now 51 years of age, and grandson Ernesto now 30 years of age. The case opens after a report of elder abuse and financial exploitation was made by the priest of St. Bernard’s Catholic church. Ellen has been a member of his congregation for more than 20 years although he has never interacted with her besides brief interactions after her attendance at one of his services. He approached her last week after noticing she had two black eyes. She told him that she had fallen on her way to the bathroom last night and hit her eyes on the doorknob. This case will be analyzed considering the research on the impact of violence on development, the impact of gender role socialization, and the impact of culture and how these will influence the case conceptualization and treatment planning process. Participants will have the opportunity to write treatment goals for Ellen, Mark, and Ernesto. This intermediate workshop is for professionals who are already providing clinical services and are seeking a deeper understanding of the impact of interpersonal violence across the lifespan including how intergenerational transmission of interpersonal violence may occur. This workshop can be adapted for advanced audiences.

Objectives

  1. Analyze case history information based on research on violence exposure, development, and gender.
  2. Conduct a power analysis using the ADDRESSING model of cultural awareness.
  3. Design individualized treatment goals accounting for the impact of violence exposure, development, gender, and cultural differences.

Berman, P. Perpetration in University Settings.
This thirty minute workshop describes the physical abuse, sexual assault, emotional abuse, and many other forms of violence that occurs on university campuses. Research documenting heterogeneity within university perpetrators of violence will be discussed.  Two types, the interpersonally violent group and the type that shows a lack of concern for the emotions of others may show the greatest similarities to criminal justice populations of perpetrators while those who use only emotional forms of victimization may be the most disparate. This brief workshop is designed for professionals working in academic settings who need to be alerted to the warning signs of victimization and perpetration so that they can refer individuals in need of additional support to appropriate resources.

Objectives

  1. Describe the relative impact of child victimization and perpetration on different forms of adult perpetration.
  2. Describe the relative impact of gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, GPA, on different forms of adult perpetration.
  3. Analyze the implications of diverse forms of adult perpetration for effective treatment and violence prevention services within university settings.

Berman, P. Enhancing resiliency in traumatized youth.
This 60 minute workshop discusses research on the five major factors that have been found to increase resiliency in development including: building or increasing attachments and close relationships; building or increasing intelligence, ingenuity, and problem-solving capabilities; building or increasing self-regulation and self-direction; building or increasing mastery motivation, agency, and related reward systems; and, building or increasing faith, hope, and belief that life has meaning. The case of Ernesto is followed from age 2 through adolescence to demonstrate how the research on resiliency can be used to inform treatment planning from a strength-based perspective. This intermediate workshop is designed for individuals already providing clinical services who are seeking to enhance their abilities to use strength-based treatment plans. This workshop can also be adapted for advanced audiences.

Objectives

  1. Participants will be able to recall at least three factors that have been found to increase resilience when facing life struggles.
  2. Participants will be able to interpret case history information for signs of cascading negative effects.
  3. Participants will be able to design treatment goals that increase clients’ resilience as they work to stop abusing substances.

Berman, P. Increasing treatment success through understanding the impact of adverse childhood events
This 60 minute workshop discusses the research on adverse childhood experiences (ACES) and the physical and psychological welfare of children, youth, and adults. The Center for Disease Control considers ACES the leading because of adverse physical and psychological health within the USA and across the world. This workshop uses the case of Doug to illustrate the impact of adverse childhood experiences in early childhood and the cascading negative events they have in on later childhood, adolescence, and adulthood of effective interventionism carried out. The implications that the five adverse experiences Doug had as a developing child had for his ability to effectively parent now that he has an adult will be discussed. Doug enters treatment as an adult indicate he wants to be a good father and not abusive like his father was. Thus, goals that he could see leading towards being a good father, might be motivate him to understand his ACES and how they have been blocking his success in some ways. This intermediate level workshop is designed for individuals who are already providing clinical services but are seeking strategies for overcoming blocks to treatment success. This workshop can also be adapted for advanced audiences.

Objectives

  1. Participants will be able to recall at least three findings of the Adverse Childhood Experiences research literature.
  2. Participants will be able to relate the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences on their clients’ present day victimization or perpetration experiences.
  3. Participants will be able to compose treatment goals to reduce clients’ substance abuse that integrate the impact of the clients’ history of adverse childhood experiences.

Berman, P. (2022). Addressing the Impact of Violence: Concrete Action Steps for Addressing            Interpersonal Violence, Common Factors Underlying Forms of Interpersonal Violence.                   

This 30-minute workshop describes how common risk factors that occur in childhood underscore many different forms of interpersonal violence. A concrete example for how child abuse can set the stage for other forms of violence such as bullying, dating violence, intimate partner violence, and elder abuse will be provided. Examples of how toxic stress from adverse childhood experiences can lead some individuals to become withdrawn, more prone to anxiety and depression, and more likely to be repeatedly victimized. Other examples will demonstrate how this same type of toxic stress can lead some individuals to become aggressive, and more prone to anger and hostility, and more likely to be the person who harms others.

Objectives

  1. Participants will be able to recall at least three of the common risk factors that occur during childhood that lead to interpersonal violence.
  2. Participants will be able to recall at least three examples to illustrate why there can be intergenerational transmission of violence.
  3. Participants will be able to recall at least two examples of how toxic stress can lead to dysfunctional behavior.

Berman, P. (2022). Preventing Future Harm: Taking Action to Reduce Violence in PA Communities, The       Power of Policies that Promote Resilience in Children, Families & Communities.

This 30-minute workshop describes in detail the five common factors than more than thirty years of research has demonstrated can build resilience in individuals and families. Specific types of public policies that could be developed to enhance one or more of these common factors will be described and how these could lead to a reduction in violence, trauma, and many social ills such as substance abuse, school failures and others. Effective public policies would take advantage of evidence-based research that have indicated programs that are effective in building resilience such as Head Start for preschool children and the Nurse-Family Partnership for new parents.

Objectives

  1. Participants will be able to recall at least three of the common factors that have been found to build resilience.
  2. Participants will be able to recall at least three evidence-based strategies that could be used to build resilience in individuals, families, and communities.
  3. Participants will be able to recall at least three strategies they could use within their personal and community lives to enhance resiliency in others.

Berman, P. (2022). Intimate Partner Violence in Later Life: Building Resilience & Recovery.

This 1 – 3 hour workshop starts with an introduction to victimization in older adults in order to set a research context for the information that follows. Three dynamic patterns that intimate partner violence can follow in older adulthood is illustrated through the use of 3 clinical cases that differ in terms of the timing in which violence enters the relationship. The timing of violence influences the emotional, cognitive, and relationship skills that victimized individuals may have.   The timing of violence also may influence the barriers to gaining disclosure of the violence as well as the openness of the older adult to treatment interventions.  There will also be a discussion of how the dynamics of intimate partner violence can be integrated into trauma-informed treatment plans that build resilience.                    

Objectives

  1. Participants will be able to describe three dynamic patterns within Intimate Partner Violence in Older Adulthood.
  2. Participants will be able to describe three barriers to disclosure of IPV in older adulthood.
  3. Participants will be able to integrate an understanding of the pattern of IPV into treatment planning that builds resilience.

Berman, P. (2022). National Strategy to End Child Sexual Abuse.

If we are going to prevent child sexual abuse, we can’t be narrow in our focus, and advocate only for a piece of the ugly, painful, harmful network of circumstances that lead to child sexual abuse. We must focus on the entire network and advocate for what it will take to END IT ALL. We must bring together those who work with every form of interpersonal violence. We must bring together those who work with every age group.  We need those who seek to prevent, Suicide, Substance Abuse, Mental Health access, Intergenerational Trauma, High Quality Public Education, to all join together for a major effort that can lead to reduction of all of these problems. To do this we must all recognize what we have learned through more than thirty years of research has been saying is that most forms of interpersonal violence have common underpinnings including those you see on this screen: having adverse childhood experiences growing up such as child abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, neglect, witnessing violence, having a parent incarcerated, having a family member addicted to alcohol or substances, racism,  having a parent with a serious mental illness and other things that make it more difficult for children to develop secure positive attachments to adults and make it less likely they have adults in their lives who will positively guide them in learning how to understand and control their thoughts, emotions and behavior. 

If we want to help people who have been harmed to understand “why did this violent event happen,” the answer is most likely that the person (people) who hurt them were exposed to violence during their childhood and/or adolescence.

Objectives

  1. Participants will be able to recall at least three common factors that underscore many different forms of interpersonal violence including child sexual abuse and sexual assault.
  2. Participants will be able to recall at least three reasons why a focus, exclusively, on one form of violence will not be effective in ending child sexual abuse and sexual assault.
  3. Participants will be able to recall at least three reasons why interventions to prevent common factors must focus on both those who are victimized as well as those who do the harming.

Berman, P. (2021). Problem-Based Learning in the Training of Professionals Working with Cases of            Elder Abuse.

Objectives

Berman, P. (2021). Dealing with Family Court When There are Child and IPV Abuse Allegations. Invited      Speaker at the 26th International Summit on Violence, Abuse & Trauma, Across the                           Lifespan, San Diego, CA.

Objectives

Berman, P. (2019). Oppression and Violence in Older Adulthood. Invited Keynote Panel at the National      Partnership to End Interpersonal Violence 2019 Think Tank, San Diego, CA.

Objectives

Berman, P. (2019). Parallel Plenary: Hate Crimes and Oppression Related to Trauma and Violence in Older Adulthood, Invited Presentation at The 24th International Conference on Violence, Abuse, & Trauma Across the Lifespan, San Diego, CA.

Objectives

Berman, P. (2018). Changes in the Meaning of Intimate Partner Violence: Case of Ellen. Invited               Workshop.  The 23rd International Conference on Violence Abuse and Trauma. San Diego, CA.

Objectives

Berman, P. (2018). Developmental barriers to engaging in prevention dialogues.

This 1-3 hour workshop will highlight two cases, Ann (age 70) who was the victim of elder abuse and financial exploitation and Dan (age 80) who was the perpetrator of child emotional abuse and neglect and is now the victim of elder abuse.  The developmental barriers to engaging in prevention dialogues with Ann and Dan will be discussed including those raised by: physical development, cognitive development, social development, family relationships, life-meaning creation, and generational cohort effects.

Objectives

  1. Participants will be able to describe at least three barriers to engaging in violence prevention with older adults that might occur that are linked to changes in physical, cognitive, and social development in older adulthood.
  2. Participants will be able to describe at least three barriers to engaging in violence prevention with older adults that might occur that are linked to meaning making and cohort effects in older adulthood.
  3. Participants will be able to utilize an understanding of potential barriers to engaging in violence prevention with older adults to their own professional work.