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What type of clinician can conduct it? Any clinician in any setting who treats clients with trauma and/or substance abuse can conduct Seeking Safety. No specific degree or experience is required. More: Seeking Safety has been successfully conducted by a very wide range of clinicians (substance abuse or mental health counselors, social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists, bachelor’s level counselors, case managers, nurses, clinical trainees, domestic violence advocates, school counselors, etc.). We have never heard of any adverse event or problem with this, in any setting. Because Seeking Safety focuses on coping skills in the present it is safe to use and easy to learn. See also: the clinician. Many types of training are available, including video-based training, on-site training, and telephone consultation. More: See the section training. It provides a calendar of upcoming trainings, an article on training, and detailed description of different training options including video-based training, on-site training, and telephone consultation. There are currently seven experts on Seeking Safety who conduct training: Lisa Najavits, PhD (Boston); Martha Schmitz, PhD (San Francisco); Kay Johnson, LICSW (New York City and Boston); Karen Krinsley, PhD (Boston); Kevin Reeder, PhD (Little Rock, AR); Laurie Storm, LCSW, CASAC (New York City); and Ruth Fiala, PhD (Cleveland, OH). All can travel to other locations and all have been trained by Lisa to conduct the same training she does, using the same slides, videos, and exercises, and fully supervised by her. Click here to read more about them. Note that others offer training on the model but we have no way to determine the quality of these ad hoc trainings as only the associates named above provide her training (using her materials, supervised by her). If you are interested in onsite training or telephone consultation please email info@seekingsafety.org. If you would like to conduct training under supervision by Lisa, please email to inquire. No specific training is required. Some people conduct Seeking Safety just based on reading the book. However, some programs like to have a formal training to help introduce it to their staff, to inspire confidence in using it, and to discuss specific implementation issues at their site. Training is offered in various ways (see next FAQ). Training options include: w On-site training by Lisa and associates. You can attend an existing training (see the calendar) or book one for your agency. It can be conducted in any length. Typically it ranges from one day to two days, and offers the following topics: background; in-depth description of the model; clinical demonstration of a session; implementation ideas; and experiential exercises (small-group conduct of a session; grounding exercise; role-play of “tough cases”, etc.). The training can be adapted to focus on particular client populations (adolescents, military or veterans, prisoners, women or men, domestic violence, etc.). There is ample time for question-and-answer, and discussion is encouraged. There is no limit on the number of people who can attend a training. Presentations at professional conferences are often shorter, such as a panel or workshop. We provide trainings all over the US and internationally. w Video training. Four and a half hours of training videos are available. w Phone consultation can be used either after a training or on its own. It provides support for clinicians who are implementing Seeking Safety, for as few or many phone sessions as desired. w Certification is also available for programs or researchers who want to determine that clinicians are conducting the model with strong fidelity; see certification below. For more on training in general, see training. Where can I find an existing Seeking Safety training? See the calendar. If you would like to find out the cost of an existing training listed on the [calendar], please contact the organizer listed. If you would like to organize a training at your site, the cost will depend on factors such as length and which of our associates provides it. Thus, we quote rates based on a phone discussion with you. Email info@seekingsafety.org if you are interested in setting up a time to talk by phone. Is a train-the-trainer option available? Not currently. The reason is that simply attending a “train-the-trainer” workshop is no guarantee of quality (in conducting the model, or training and supervising others on it). Moreover, Seeking Safety is easy to implement, and thus we do not see a need to train large numbers of trainers. We currently offer both training videos and expert training in the model, and have ample training dates available. In the future, we hope to develop web-based training that will offer a high-technology training option as well. Do you provide fidelity monitoring? Yes. Fidelity monitoring is sometimes desired by programs or researchers to determine that clinicians are conducting the model per the book. The clinicians would tape one or more sessions, which are then reviewed by one of our team and rated on the Seeking Safety Adherence Scale. The clinician receives feedback over the phone and if desired the clinician and/or program can receive the completed adherence scale. Our goal with this certification process is to provide clinically-useful feedback based on real samples of sessions. Once clinicians achieve strong fidelity, they can be identified as “certified.” Is certification needed in Seeking Safety? No. Our goal is to create as few obstacles as possible for implementation, and thus far we have never heard of adverse events with Seeking Safety (it is a very safe model). We thus do not believe certification is needed. However, certification is available for programs or researchers who want to monitor fidelity of their clinicians.
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