Course Description

The reproductive period is one fraught with psychosocial and sociological meaning. Understanding perinatal trauma and postpartum loss requires knowledge and sensitivity across the range of cultural constructs framing it. While the birthgiver most often is the focus of concern, partners, grandparents, and older children (siblings) are profoundly impacted by these experiences. The AIP model is trans-diagnostic and when integrated with the central themes of the perinatal period, becomes a comprehensive attachment-focused, developmental model, useful in case formulation and treatment planning. This session—featuring Mara Tesler Stein, Psy.D. and Paul Miller, M.D.—will introduce participants to this integrative framework, demonstrating its utility across a wide range of issues in the reproductive period. Case examples will illustrate the immediate applicability of this model to practice: explaining pathology, directing meaningful therapeutic endeavor and predicting outcomes of effective therapy for these clients. Participants will reflect on what they bring to this work, and how this shapes clinician engagement and development of treatment plans.

Learning Objectives

1. Participants will be able to describe the philosophy of Relationship Centered care and its application to EMDR Therapy for Perinatal Mental Health.
2. Participants will be able to identify one’s own exposure to loss, trauma, and disruption related to perinatal mental health and how this shapes EMDR clinician engagement with perinatal clients, including clinicians’ ability to effectively take clinical history and develop comprehensive treatment plans.
3. Participants will be able to describe the Three Core Tasks framework for perinatal mental health. To be able to identify specific considerations important to history-taking and evaluation of clients subsequent to a perinatal event using the dual focusing power of the lenses of AIP and Three Core Tasks.

Presenter(s)

Mara Tesler Stein, Psy.D.

Mara Tesler Stein, Psy.D., PMH-C, is a clinical psychologist practicing in Chicago and Jerusalem. She is the founder and director of The Touchstone Institute for Psychotherapy and Training where she offers both EMDR Foundational trainings (through The Institute for Creative Mindfulness) for perinatal specialists & advanced EMDR workshops which take a deeper dive into the intersections and applications of EMDR and perinatal mental health.

Paul Miller, M.D.

Paul is an author, trauma-focused psychotherapist, and psychiatrist; EMDR Europe accredited Trainer and EMDR institute facilitator. He introduced EMDR to Northern Ireland’s NHS and leads Mirabilis Health Institute: a private psychotraumatology clinic. Visiting Professor with the Centre for Maternal, Fetal and Infant Research Ulster University, he supervises PhD candidates exploring EMDR in the perinatal period. He provides EMDR training for Mental Health Nurses and the Advanced Nurse Practitioner MSc in Mental Health at Ulster University. Member of the Council of Scholars, he is in the Training and Credentialing Workgroup. He co-created a Department of Health commissioned Level 6 EMDR training in Queen’s University, Belfast.