psyd mft
Punk drummer then Songwriter then Dharma Practitioner then Social Justice Educator then EMDR/Trauma/Addiction Therapist then Author/Podcaster now simultaneously...
I am creating more content around the topics I am passionate about, and I had the opportunity to contribute to the Santa Barbara Chapter of CAMFT Newsletter... thank you to Jenn Kennedy for inviting me to write the piece... looking at EMDR and mindfulness for addiction treatment, and what the implications are for Marriage and Family Therapists...
A download of my contribution is available by clicking: here
As part of my preparation to speak at this year's 2016 EMDRIA Conference in Minneapolis, I have been journaling my thoughts on the different aspects and hopeful impact of my presentation. For more information on the conference, click here. For additional journal entries, click here.
We live in difficult but exciting times – as the role of trauma in many different disorders and dilemmas has become apparent, we have the unique opportunity to focus our attention on trauma and trauma recovery being at the center of the healing path. This is particularly true for the millennia old dilemma of how to best treat addictions.
Many over the years have pointed to the importance of trauma recovery and trauma resolution in the process of addiction recovery. Even those that believe that trauma recovery is crucial have wildly varying opinions as to how and when that should happen. That conversation is starting to skew toward trauma being an integral aspect of the addiction experience, and recovery from traumatic experiences and their consequences being a game changer in addictions recovery.
Having sat with a great number of addicts over the last couple of decades, I have noticed that a vast majority of recovering addicts have some kind of childhood trauma history. There are those that know they have had difficult pasts, and others who describe terrible things but swear that they are not affected by them. For those addicts who did not have trauma in their early years, almost certainly they took actions in their active addiction that were often traumatic in nature.
This being the case, it would seem that discovering a method or methods through which we could successfully stabilize the recovering addict, and then reprocess their traumatic memories, would be the most potent path to recovery. For the last 27 years I have been practicing Buddhist mindfulness meditation, including living at a monastery for a year. When I became a therapist, mindfulness of course informed my theoretical orientation and my methods. I have found nothing more powerful than Buddhist psychology and Buddhist practice as a means to greater understanding and to healing. That is why I helped Noah Levine develop the Los Angeles based treatment program based on his book Refuge Recovery, and he in turn trusted me to move forward with EMDR as a guiding orientation for our therapeutic work, so that we might effectively reprocess trauma using this highly researched therapy.
If the goal is to be able to reprocess traumatic memories in order to prevent relapse rather than to contribute to it once again, it is important that we be extremely mindful of the stabilization phase of recovery. My stabilization strategy is grounded in Buddhist mindfulness, and this and other addiction recovery methodologies all fall within the scope of the first two phases of EMDR therapy. Many people think of EMDR as "Follow my fingers" (or lights or tones), but in fact there is much to be done before reprocessing memories. From stabilization and resourcing we can then move toward reprocessing these troubling memories in order to support long term addiction recovery.
This is all deeply grounded in EMDR therapy, including the Adaptive Information Processing Model upon which it is based. We may be on the verge of a much more effective approach to treating addiction, by changing the short and long term goals of treatment, and by leaning into the trauma recovery aspect of the addictive cycle.
My next post will address the implications of this theory and practice for addiction treatment centers...
My second appearance on Issues with Anna is up... giving my Buddhist and therapeutic reflections on the phrase "Everything Happens for a Reason..." after Mishka Shubaly details why it triggers him...
My good friend Anna David has a new podcast called You've Got Issues, where she talks to artists and others about their pet peeve issues... and then she hands it off to a panel of experts to look at the underlying causes and conditions that may inform these pet peeves...
I recorded several of these with Anna as one of her experts breaking down the issues focused upon in the interview... other experts include Jeff Kober, Noah Levine and a 10 year old named Archer... I had a great time recording these, and the first one regarding people wearing their pajamas on a plane is up and available...
Dave Smith and Noah Levine are rolling out the Refuge Recovery podcast... until now it has featured meditations only... they have put out the first of many interviews to come, this first one with me about my recovery journey, my Buddhist journey and practice, and my excitement about Refuge Recovery Centers and the future of treatment... on the eve of the 2nd Refuge Recovery Conference...
Refuge Recovery Centers where I am Clinical Director is a trauma focused Buddhist addictions treatment center that uses the Refuge Recovery program as described in Noah Levine's book of the same name as its foundation for the treatment. Meanwhile, Refuge Recovery the non profit peer led fellowship has been expanding extensively over the last few years. There are now meetings all over the US and throughout the world, and new ones are popping up every day. The 2nd Annual Refuge Recovery Conference will take place at Against the Stream Melrose in Los Angeles from June 24-26, 2016.
On Saturday, June 25 from 3pm-5pm, Dharma workshops will be conducted for participants by George Haas, Mary Stancavage, Dave Smith and myself. This is a wonderful opportunity to share my Dharma and recovery path through explaining some aspects of the Dharma that hopefully will be helpful to those in attendance at the conference. It promises to be an exciting event --- if you ever wanted to picture yourself in an AA conference in the 1940s when the fellowship was new and going through its growing pains and making decisions about the future, this is an opportunity to get to replicate that feeling.
Refuge Recovery Centers has allowed me to not only synthesize all that the Dharma has brought into my life along with all the elements of my recovery and my professional life thus far, but also allowed me to infuse the Center with the spirit and practice of EMDR therapy in conjunction with Buddhist mindfulness. I hope to touch upon the relationship between trauma recovery and Dharma in my workshop, and I hope to help attendees to a greater understanding of their own journeys.
Heading out to Claremont tomorrow to give a talk on the use of Mindfulness and EMDR therapy in the treatment of Body Image issues and Eating Disorders. This is an exciting time for me, as the training of all the clinicians at Refuge Recovery in EMDR is almost complete, and my presentation at the EMDRIA Conference in August has been accepted and scheduled. My colleague Dr. Jamie Marich and I are forging ahead with our book on Mindfulness and EMDR. The theory and ongoing practice of using the 8 phase protocol as a way of seeing cases at an addictions rehab truly seems to be making a difference, and I am looking forward to initial research and ongoing research on the subject.
When I was invited to give this talk in Claremont, it struck me that body image difficulties make perfect targets for trauma reprocessing, and it also became clear that this 8 phase protocol template for running an agency could have even wider implications. I am going to continue to present on the topic, write about the topic, and see what we all can do to hopefully better the lives of those who struggle with trauma related disorders.
More to come!
Enjoy some of the audio recordings from the 2nd Clinical Dharma Half Day Retreat with guest teacher Dave Smith:
A free podcast download of Josh Korda & I discussing the Roads to Healing the Underlying Causes of Addiction from our talk at Dharma Punx NYC on Tuesday, March 22, 2016.
Click here to listen / download.
Guy MacPherson at the Trauma Therapist Podcast does wonderful interviews, and I had the honor of sharing my experience in his latest episode... have a listen and share if you like... of special interest to my fellow therapists, but also to those curious about trauma treatment…
I had the privilege of being the teacher for the month of January for CTZNWELL's #MindfulMondays weekly online meditation... The archived footage is below if you would like to meditate with me on Setting Intention and New Beginnings...
Dr, Stephen Dansiger speaks on the Bramaviharas, the Four Divine Abodes of Loving Kindness, Compassion, Appreciative Joy and Equanimity. He also touches upon the 4 Noble Truths and the 8 Fold Path of the Buddha. http://www.drdansiger.com http://www.facebook.com/DharmaSpringCommunity
A talk I did as part of DharmaSpring on the Bramaviharas, the Four Divine Abodes of Loving Kindness, Compassion, Appreciative Joy and Equanimity - also touching upon the 4 Noble Truths and the 8 Fold Path of the Buddha.
Recorded on Saturday, Jan 09, 2016 during a Day Long Retreat
Dr. Stephen Dansiger and Buddhist teacher Noah Levine provide answers to participants questions at the Inaugural Clinical Dharma Half Day Retreat. Steve and Noah address some of the issues to be dealt with in subsequent retreats and classes. These will be of interest to professional helpers and those who help people avocationally.
Noah Levine and I provide answers to participants questions at the Inaugural Clinical Dharma Half Day Retreat. We address some of the issues to be dealt with in subsequent retreats and classes. These will be of interest to professional helpers and those who help people avocationally.
Recorded at the Inaugural Clinical Dharma Half Day Retreat on Saturday, Jan 30th, 2016 at Against The Stream, Santa Monica, CA.
Bought myself a copy of the PESI / Psychotherapy Networker video series on Mindfulness Meets Clinical Practice featuring Jon Kabat Zinn, Jack Kornfield, Tara Brach and others... I am cueing it up... and will be sharing my thoughts in later posts...
A successful launch of Clinical Dharma with our first Half Day Retreat. Thank you so much for your attendance, your practice and your work! Also thank you to Lynne Biehl for the photo. #clinicaldharma #againstthestream
- Dr. Steve
Against The Stream - Melrose
Class dates: February 5 / 12 / 19 / 26, 2016
7:30 - 9:00PM
The three poisons – Greed, Anger, and Delusion – can be extinguished according to Buddhist teaching.
Are they extinguished suddenly, or are they actually more often transformed through dedicated practice?
In this four class series we will look at each of the poisons individually to gain insight into their nature and to discover the practices that can help us in their metamorphosis. The fourth class will bring all of our sitting, talks and Q&A discussion into focus, with the goal of each of us leaving the last gathering with a personal practice blueprint for transformation.
Early Buddhist teachings will be referenced as well as Zen teachings and teachers from the modern Insight tradition.
Cost: $20 per evening or $70 if paid in advance. There will be an opportunity to offer dana to the teacher at each class (teachers receive a portion of the reg fee and are supported by dana). Please pay at the highest level you can afford to support the Against The Stream programs and those who have less.
Some scholarships and work-study are available. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.
$100 Plus Monthly Supporters of Against The Stream attend for no reg fee (but dana to the teacher is appreciated).
This class will be held at 4300 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, 90029
Join the inaugural Clinical Dharma Retreat for helping professionals with Dr. Stephen Dansiger and guest Noah Levine, followed by a 12 week class series in person or online.
Saturday, Jan 30th, 2016 (10AM - 1PM) @ Against The Stream - Santa Monica
1010 Colorado Blvd, Santa Monica CA
Free (Dana optional)
Clinical Dharma is a series of 12 classes designed by Dr. Stephen Dansiger to help helpers to infuse their self care, and their care of others, with the 4 Noble Truths and the 8 Fold Path of the Buddha. Also featured as part of Clinical Dharma is the opportunity to go on short retreats with Dr. Steve and guest teachers, where the focus will be on how our work practice is fed by our practice of Buddhist mindfulness. These workshops can be found both in person and online.
All attendees of this first retreat will be given a 10% discount for one year on any Clinical Dharma classes, retreats or products.
Please RSVP on the calendar event page:
As I am in the midst of creating a Buddhist rehab where the template for treatment is based in the 8-phase protocol of EMDR therapy, it was a pleasure to be interviewed by Regina Walker at thefix.com about the effectiveness of EMDR for addiction treatment.
At Against The Stream I am encouraged to infuse my Dharma Talks with my years of Zen Practice. Here I talk about Ordinary Mind:
Loving Kindness (metta) can be incredible powerful. This Dharma Talk I did for Against The Stream on the subject followed a guided loving kindness meditation.