Theraplay Events
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Marschak Interaction Method Skills Training with Dyadic Emotional Interaction Style scoring (D-EIS)
August 23, 2021 @ 7:00 am - 11:00 am CDT
REGISTER HERE
This is a 3 day training
August 23-25, 2021
Trainer: Saara Salo
**ONLY for professionals who have completed Level One Theraplay & MIM**
This Master Class is for professionals who are seeking a deeper understanding and skills to use the D-EIS, a quantitative rating system, to rate the Marschak Interaction Method (MIM). Quantitative ratings in clinical practice provide objectivity, coherence, and systematic follow-up for clinical work. In learning a new scoring system a practice-based workshop is necessary (reading the descriptions from the manual will not ensure reliability of one’s ratings). The D-EIS consists of 9 variables rated on a Likert-Type 5-point scale tapping the main dimensions of Theraplay from both sides of the parent-child relationship. The variables are: Parental Guidance (comprising Structure and Challenge)/Child Cooperation; Parental/Child Engagement; Parental/Child Nurture; Parental/Child Playfulness; and Parental Representation. The presenter will review theory covering attachment, emotional regulation, and parenting as they relate to the rationale for the operationalization of the D-EIS variables and different scoring points. She will describe theory and concepts of compulsion patterns, disorganized/trauma responses, and avoidant patterns. Participants will practice scoring seven MIMs with the D-EIS scoring manual using clinical practice videos covering children of different ages. They will learn how D-EIS relates to other validated scoring systems and parenting/child socio-emotional variables. They will engage in discussions of how to relate the scoring findings into clinical work (such as Theraplay feeback/planning). Participants will also be introduced to the rating systems for the Family Interaction Style for the Family MIM and the Couples Interaction Style.
Learning Objectives
- Identify why attachment and emotional regulation are important for exploring in a standardized assessment of parent-child relationships
- List three theories related to parenting children
- Restate what compulsive patterns are
- Describe how trauma responses can be seen in the parent-child relationship
- Identify an avoidant pattern of connection
- Demonstrate how to utilize the D-EIS scoring manual
- Explain how to differentiate styles of emotional interaction (tuned, avoidant, inconsistent, disorganized)
- Identify how the D-EIS relates to other validated scoring systems and parent-child socio-emotional variables
- Develop clinical discussions relating the scoring findings to Theraplay feedback sessions
- Demonstrate how to incorporate scoring findings into Theraplay treatment planning
Saara Salo, PhD, has worked with infants and young children over 15 years at the University of Helsinki, Outpatient Psychiatric Unit for Small Children and their Families. She also works with pregnant couples and families at her private clinic over 10 years (www.pilkeklinikka.com). Saara has published articles in refereed psychological journals and written chapters in text-books about the significance of early emotional parent-child interaction and parental reflective functioning in especially high-risk samples (substance –abusing parents, depressed parents). She has supervised and trained professionals in social and mental health for parent-child interactional assessment, intervention and therapy (e.g., Theraplay) both in Finland and abroad (Denmark, Norway, UK). She as co-developed a preventive intervention model called the Nurture and Play which is derivative of Theraplay-therapy and mentalizing techniques with special emphasis in working already starting prenatally. She has co-written a handbook of the MIM (Marschak Interaction Method; Salo & Booth, 2019) as well as developed a rating system for the MIM procedure (D-EIS). Saara trains the MIM method, and Nurture and Play in Finland and internationally. She has extensive interest and knowledge on early parent.-child emotional relations, how to assess it, and improve it using various therapeutic modalities especially in high-risk populations, such as traumatized families.
