Webinar event date: 
sep 22, 2021 1:30 pm EDT
Webinar Presenters: 

Sly Sarkisova, MSW, RSW Psychotherapist & Consultant

Sly Sarkisova is a Toronto based queer and non binary trans-identified psychotherapist who has been a leader innovating in the field of mental health, addictions and trauma counselling for the past 20 + years in occupied Musqueam, Tsleil-Waututh, and Squamish territories (Downtown Eastside, Vancouver) and Mississauga, Anishinaabe (Regent Park, Toronto). In his private practice Sly provides Consultation, Clinical Supervision, and training around trauma informed integrative psychotherapy, and mental health practices to organizations and individuals. Communities needing support related to identity, poly, kink, sex work, addictions, mental health, and trauma related concerns see him for psychotherapy.

Description

This is Part 1 of a 2 part series. 

Historically, our approaches to responding to mental health have followed a western diagnostic and medical model that pathologized the individual as the source of their own problems. This two-part webinar series will explore critical understandings of mental health through a trauma-informed, structural lens that situates illness in the individual in tandem with their surroundings. 
 

In Part 1 of this two-part webinar, we will explore an intersectional, decolonizing approach to helping clients manage distress. We will investigate intergenerational, interpersonal, and systemic harms as they figure into coping presentations and issues our clients bring to psychotherapy. At the end, we will endeavor to understand mental health as a product of past and cumulative experiences and social situatedness.
 

In Part 2 of this webinar, we will expand upon a reconceptualization of mental illness and integrate this knowledge into our practice approaches. We will explore further, mental health symptoms and diagnoses as patterns of responses to distress and coping in the social sphere.  As providers, we will develop tools for moving from an individual model of distress/survival to an integrative model of social functioning per the client's identified needs.

Webinar Objectives 
1.      Integrate intersectional analysis into our conceptualization of clients' responses to trauma
2.      Help clients identify immediate needs for improving coping
3.      Create a holistic response strategy and framework with the client
4.      Incorporate compassion centered psychoeducation strategies and tools into our practice

If you're already registered for the Intersectional Trauma-Informed Care for Providers, Part 2 webcast, click below: