Description
**This course will provide the participant with 2 General Learning Type BACB® CEUs**
Description of Learning Type CE Event: Trauma is its own ballgame, and it is very prevalent within all fields of mental health — especially with the clients served in Behavior-Analytic settings, who are often at higher risk of abuse and face a myriad of functional challenges. The field of ABA has seen recent reports of our practices being abusive and traumatizing, and we also are seeing incredibly high rates of burnout and exiting the field by providers. It is time that we, as practitioners, learn about trauma from a behavioral perspective, that we learn to respect and meet the needs of our clients, and that we also recognize and meet our own needs, impacted by this work which can, at times, be traumatizing to the clinician. Burnout and compassion fatigue are terms used to explore very real behavioral experiences, and this presentation will address this needed element of Behavior-Analytic training. In addition, the tangible behaviors surrounding trauma are explored, helping those in our field define, observe, and track behavioral data for this incredibly subjective internal experience.
About the Instructors:
- About Nicholas: Nicholas Maio-Aether owns Empowered: A Center for Sexuality in St Louis, where he and his occasional teams of partnered Universities’ students work to assist humans with and without disabilities achieve sexual access, sexual freedom, gender affirmation, and self-control of compulsive behaviors. Nicholas works throughout the US training BCBAs/Behavior Analysts so persons in Individualized Supportive Living (ISL) programs gain access to applicable and generalizable comprehensive sex ed and sexual opportunities. Nicholas provides Sexual Behavior Analysis, and has assisted polycules, kinksters, gay couples, trans and nonbinary humans, among others, on their journeys. Trained by GLSEN in 2003, Nicholas started Gay-Straight Alliances across Alaska while in high school, and provided them sex ed materials and trainings. Nicholas spent five years managing Hustler Hollywood in St Louis before moving into Behavior Analysis, and joined AASECT, where he currently sits on two committees. He then completed a Sex Therapy practicum under Linda Weiner, LMSW, CSTS, in 2019 before getting a second Masters in Marriage & Family Therapy, and meeting those hour requirements under Angela Skurtu, LMFT, CST, along with his LGBTQIA+ Family Systems Specialist certificate in 2021.
- About Grant: My path towards counseling began when I became a member of Alcoholics Anonymous and chose to work towards a sober life. I saw how using experience, strength, hope, and empathy could bring about significant and insightful changes in a person’s way of life. From those experiences as a newcomer in recovery and then a peer counselor for several years, I focused on pursuing my education in Psychology. I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Human Services from Clayton State University in 2018 and a Master of Science in Clinical and Counseling Psychology in 2020 from Clayton State University. It was during my master’s program that I truly found my passion: being a geek therapist. Believe it or not, that’s a thing! Using my knowledge of psychology and my life experience as a huge nerd, I dream of bringing healing and care to an often-misunderstood population. One of the most significant aspects of being a geek is the intersectionality inherent in the community! I work with geeks, nerds, dorks, and dweebs, LGBTQIA folx, members of the Kink community, ethical non-monogamists, and people of all cultures and spiritualities.
Target Audience: Anyone working in the field of Behavior Analysis — legit, this is incredibly important stuff!
Learning Objectives for Participants: As a result of this course, participants will be able to …
- Accurately define and identify trauma and how it can impact a client’s life and worldview.
- Develop a basic understanding of countertransference and how it impacts the clinical relationship (both positively and negatively).
- Explore clinical preparedness to manage the impact of personal trauma experiences and vicarious trauma absorption.
Disclaimer: Always remember that taking a CEU, even a multi-hour CEU is NOT enough to demonstrate competency in the content related to the CEU. It is YOUR responsibility to seek out supervision/consultation with the presenter and/or a subject matter expert (SME). The CBS/CBS-C certification is a SUB-field certification designed for the sub-field of SBA it does NOT lead to licensure of its own. Thus to practice with this certification, you’d have to be a BCBA® or BCaBA® via the BACB® and/or certified in your particular state as a Licensed Behavior Analyst.
