2025 ATTACh Regional Conference Workshop Line Up

Conference Keynote

8:30am – 10:00am

George Thompson, J.R., M.D., F.A.P.A

Medical Director, Certified DDP Therapist

Listening That Heals: Polyvagal Pathways from Rage to Connection

What happens when we consistently offer attuned, regulating presence to a child whose nervous system has learned that people are dangerous? This keynote follows the powerful arc of one boy’s life—from age five to eighteen—to show how Polyvagal-informed listening reshaped his capacity for emotional regulation, trust, and connection.

Drawing on the science of Polyvagal Theory and the lived reality of trauma recovery, Dr. George Thompson illuminates how signals of safety, delivered again and again, can slowly turn the social engagement system back on— even in children shaped by fear, rage, and defensiveness. Attendees will follow a long view of healing: from shutdown and aggression to a relationally capable, emotionally integrated young man. Through story, video, and reflection, this session offers a hopeful roadmap for those supporting children with complex trauma histories.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
1) Explain how early trauma disrupts the child’s social engagement system and fosters defensive autonomic states, such as fight-or-flight and freeze-shutdown.
2) Describe how continued attuned listening serves as a neural cue of safety and supports co-regulation.
3) Identify the key elements of the Trust Building Sequence that facilitate relational healing over time.
4) Apply core principles of Polyvagal Theory to support long-term relational safety in caregiving and therapeutic settings.

The Workshops

session 1         10:15am – 11:45am

George Thompson, J.R., M.D., F.A.P.A

Medical Director, Certified DDP Therapist

Polyvagal Practices: Building Safe Connection One Nervous System at a Time

Healing happens through experience. This interactive workshop uses a mapping exercise inspired by Deb Dana to help participants move from understanding the nervous system to feeling it in action. Building on the keynote, we’ll explore how the autonomic hierarchy shows up in daily life and practice shifting between states. Participants will learn to recognize their own responses, communicate safety through attuned listening, and engage in the Trust Building Sequence. Perfect for parents, therapists, educators, and caregivers, this session offers practical tools for co-regulation and connection.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
1) Identify their own embodied awareness of the autonomic states—social engagement, fight-or-flight, and freeze-shutdown
2) Practice communication strategies that send cues of safety and support co-regulation.
3) Experience and reflect on how attuned listening affects their own nervous system in real-time.
4) Understand and apply the steps of the Trust Building Sequence through guided experiential exercises.

Terry Levy, PhD

Director, Evergreen Psychotherapy Center

Erin Coughlin, MFTC, LPCC, NCC

Treatment Team Therapist, Evergreen Psychotherapy Center

Attachment Communication Training

Attachment Communication Training (ACT) is a structured, goal-oriented method of teaching communication and conflict-management skills and creating secure attachment in parent-child and adult intimate relationships. It promotes safety, security, support and empathy, mitigates destructive behaviors (criticism, defensiveness, threat) and enhances secure attachment and positive connection. Videos will illustrate ACT with parent-child and adult partners.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
1) Identify and practice the ACT guidelines of sharing and listening.
2) Explain the difference between a therapist-centered and a relationship-based approach in therapy.
3) List specific contracts established prior to ACT.
4) Discuss how the Life Script is used in ACT.
5) Demonstrate effective use of ACT with dyads.

session 2         1:15pm – 2:45pm

Katelyn Kegaly, MSW, MA Educational Leadership

From Awareness to Action: Implementing a Relationship-Based, Trauma-Informed School Model for Youth

This session highlights how Chaddock School uses a Developmental Trauma and Attachment Model to create a truly trauma-informed, relationship-based K–12 educational environment. Through co-regulation, team collaboration, and family engagement, we help students with complex trauma internalize strengths and achieve lasting success in school and beyond.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
1) Understand how the Developmental Trauma and Attachment Model is applied within a K–12school.
2) Identify the core components of a truly trauma-informed, relationship-based school environment.
3) Explore co-regulation strategies that support emotional safety and self-regulation in students.
4) Examine the role of family engagement in promoting healing and academic success.
5) Recognize the importance of a unified, team-based approach in meeting individualized student needs.

Neil Wallace, MBA Health Service Administration

Senior Executive Director, The Heritage Community

George Ballew, LCSW

Executive Director, Spark Academy

A Life of Overwhelm: Trauma Impact on Neural Development

Understanding the developmental roots of Autism and similar neurodivergent diagnoses helps create a framework and understanding of the challenges faced by those with perceptual differences.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
1) Demonstrate core competency of neurological development.
2) Differentiate behaviors between autonomic processes and cognitively driven processes.
3) Formulate appropriate treatment outcomes and expectations for neurodivergent individuals.
4) Apply key caregiver skills, especially Caregiver Affect Management.
5) Recognize how to use "bottom-up" scaffolding in the skill-building process.

session 3         3:00pm - 4:30pm

Kirsty Nolan, MS Forensic Psychology

Training Manager, Chaddock

When the Treatment Approach Goes Beyond the Treatment Room

Join us as we share what makes our Developmental Trauma and Attachment Program (DTAP®) treatment approach unique and how it can be used across settings to inform interventions and support a child’s individual and ever-evolving needs.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
1) Describe the DTAP® treatment approach pyramid.
2) Describe how the DTAP® treatment approach can help inform treatment goals.
3) Explain how the DTAP® treatment approach can be applied outside of the treatment setting.

Norm Thibault, PhD, LMFT

Executive Director, At the Crossroads

A Life of Overwhelm: Trauma Impact on Neural Development

Understanding the developmental roots of Autism and similar neurodivergent diagnoses helps create a framework and understanding of the challenges faced by those with perceptual differences.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
1) Demonstrate core competency of neurological development.
2) Differentiate behaviors between autonomic processes and cognitively driven processes.
3) Formulate appropriate treatment outcomes and expectations for neurodivergent individuals.
4) Apply key caregiver skills, especially Caregiver Affect Management.
5) Recognize how to use "bottom-up" scaffolding in the skill-building process.