In addition to teaching for UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs and the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Denver, Dr. Madril provides training services to humans organizations and mental health professionals on issues related to mindfulness, self-compassion, trauma-informed practice and resilience to vicarious trauma and empathic distress. He is currently offering the following trainings, which may be facilitated online or in-person:
Maintaining Equanimity and Promoting Synchronicity During Relationship-Focused Treatment of Complex Trauma with Adults
Course Description
Individuals who have experienced intense and prolonged traumatic experiences are at risk for developing complex posttraumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) as defined by the Disorders of Extreme Stress Not Otherwise Specified (DESNOS) formulation, which includes adverse symptoms such as emotional dysregulation, intrusive negative beliefs, alterations in consciousness, and somatic disturbances. In addition, such individuals may often react to reminders of the trauma with autonomic responses such as anger, avoidance, and anxiety that interfere with their ability to successfully establish meaningful and lasting relationships with others.
While participating in therapy may appear to be a viable solution to resolving these deep-seated emotional issues for individuals with complex trauma, the therapeutic relationship itself may represent an implicit “reminder of the trauma” to the client given the highly relational nature of psychotherapy and the interpersonal context that may characterize their experiences of abuse from the past. This may lead to any number of distressing reactions to therapy such as strong ego-systonic projections onto the therapist, autonomic activations of subcortical neural networks, and abreactions that threaten the quality and longevity of the therapeutic alliance. Still, caring clinicians are faced with the challenge of understanding and competently responding to the intense emotional—and sometimes illogical—responses from the client while attempting to maintain a sense of equanimity as the professional “leader” of the helping process when the client is momentarily incapacitated by emotion and traumatic reenactment. Given such troubling symptoms, it is important for clinicians to develop and test ways to help those with CPTSD “grow through” their unconscious negative responses to participating in trauma therapy and develop new ways to cope with relationship-based fears.
What You Will Learn
This training is designed to equip trauma therapists with new techniques to maintain equanimity and promote synchronicity during relationship-focused treatment of complex trauma treatment. Therapists will learn how to integrate attachment and trauma theories into their clinical work with clients; they will learn interpersonal neurobiology-based micro-skills to develop attunement with clients; skills to effectively manage ego defenses that are activated during trauma reprocessing; skills to contain emotional abreactions; tools to promote the reintegration of clients’ projections onto the therapist; how to develop a two-person relational approach to managing countertransference, and skills to cultivate compassion for clients with challenging CPTSD symptoms.
Learning Objectives
1. To equip participants with the knowledge and skills to actively identify the signs and symptoms of complex post-traumatic stress disorder, including autonomic activations of subcortical neural networks and abreactions that threaten the quality and longevity of the relationship between client and therapist.
2. To equip participants with the knowledge and skills to identify and discuss the three primary attachment categories related to complex post-traumatic stress.
3. To equip participants with the knowledge and skills to identify the underlying emotional and relationship-based needs of clients with histories of complex trauma.
4. To equip participants with the knowledge and skills to define the relational reconstruction subphase of complex trauma treatment and use this information to conceptualize their clinical work with clients with histories of complex trauma.
5. To equip participants with the knowledge and skills to actively identify and effectively respond to abreactions, ego defenses, and countertransference through the lens of relational or two-person-based treatment of complex post-traumatic stress disorder.
6. To equip participants with the knowledge and skills to actively identify 10 relational skills that can be applied to clinical work with clients who desire to create and maintain meaningful relationships in their lives, but who struggle with interpersonal issues related to trust, esteem, intimacy, safety, and control.
Brief Course Outline
The course will be presented in two parts to enhance participant reflection and application of theory to practice:
PART ONE (2 hours):
- What is Complex Trauma?
- Understanding Trauma & Attachment Theory
- Introduction to the Relational Reconstruction Subphase of Complex Trauma Treatment
- Review of Psycho-biological Interventions
- Exploration of the Intersection Between Ego Defenses & Complex Trauma
PART TWO (2 hours)
- Two-Person Model for Working with Transference & Abreactions
- Relational Approaches to Trauma Therapy
- Experiential Application of Relationship-Focused Therapy Skills
Mindfulness-Based Strategies to Increase Psychological Resilience to Vicarious Trauma and Empathic Fatigue in Today’s Diverse Work Spaces
Course Description
This workshop will equip you with a practical framework for understanding the potential causes of your anxiety. The same framework will be used to help you gain an understanding of the steps to cultivate daily habits that may provide you with long-term relief from overwhelming anxiety and other distressing emotions. In addition, Dr. Madril will review a practical set of tools and techniques to increase your ability to successfully manage your anxiety symptoms over time. These skills have been thoughtfully assembled and drawn from treatment modalities demonstrated through science to be helpful in resolving anxiety such as: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), and self-compassion practices. This training integrates various modes of instruction including experiential exercises, mindfulness meditation, yoga/mindful movement, periods of silence, video, didactic-style teaching, and home-based practices.
What You Will Learn
- Practical knowledge about the potential causes of your anxiety.
- Practical tools to cultivate daily habits designed to generate enduring feelings of peace and well-being.
- How to integrate CBT tools into your daily life to prevent anxiety from becoming overwhelming.
- How to integrate simple body-based practices into your self-care program that will contribute to your overall emotional health.
Learning Objectives
Introduction to Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy
Course Description
MBCT is based on Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, which was developed to help people suffering with chronic physical pain and long-term medical conditions. It includes meditation techniques to help participants become more aware of their experience in the present moment, by tuning into moment-to-moment changes in the mind and the body. This two-hour training will introduce participants to the practice of mindfulness meditation and several exercises derived from cognitive therapy that, for example, demonstrate the links between thoughts, feelings, body sensations and action tendencies and how individuals can care for themselves, especially when they notice a downturn in their mood. Participants will learn to tools to develop the capacity to allow distressing emotions, thoughts, and sensations to come and go, without feeling that they must suppress them, run away from them, or fight them.
What You Will Learn
Participants will learn practical mindfulness skills to better manage symptoms of depression & anxiety that arise in day-to-day life. In addition, Dr. Madril will share new ways of relating to troublesome emotions supported by evidence-based concepts such as radical acceptance and “being with” rather than “pushing away” from difficulty. Participants will be invited to engage in individual and group-based experiential exercises to practice emotional regulation tools and reinforce their practical understanding of the theories and concepts of MBCT. Participants will leave with an understanding of how to design and implement an individualized MBCT program for themselves should they choose to continue their mindfulness practice for enhanced emotion-regulation.
Learning Objectives
1. To equip participants with a foundational understanding of how mindfulness can be introduced into daily life as a means of increasing one’s ability to manage difficult thoughts and emotions.
2. To equip participants with the knowledge and skills to identify and discuss the three mindfulness techniques to manage cognitive rumination and emotional distress.
3. To equip participants with a foundational understanding of how cognitive therapy can be introduced into daily life as a means of increasing one’s ability to manage difficult thoughts and emotions.
4. To equip participants with the knowledge and skills to identify and discuss the three cognitive-based techniques to manage cognitive rumination and emotional distress.
5. To equip participants with an active understanding of how to build a daily program of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for themselves.
Brief Course Outline
- What is Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy? How can it enhance my ability to establish and maintain a sense of emotional well-being in my life?
- Raisin Exercise
- Body Scan Meditation
- Mindfulness in daily living
- 10 – 15-minute sitting meditation—awareness of breath, body, sounds, and thoughts/feelings, particularly noticing how we relate to thoughts that arise.
- Moods, thoughts, and alternative viewpoints exercise.
- 10 – 20-minute sitting meditation—awareness of breath and body; noticing how we relate to our experiences through the reactions we have to thoughts, feelings, or body sensations arise; especially when difficulties arise within the practice; noticing their effects and reactions to them in the body.
- Discuss how to keep up momentum developed over the course.
- Review and discuss plans and link them to positive reasons for maintaining the practice.
- End the class with a concluding meditation.
The Resilience Institute for Trauma Recovery will be offering the following direct practice seminars to social work students during 2025 and 2026:
- An Attachment-Based Approach to Assessing and Treating Co-Occurring Addiction and Trauma
- Ego States Therapy for Treating Complex Trauma
- Maintaining Equanimity and Promoting Synchronicity During Relationship-Focused Treatment of Complex Trauma
- Understanding the Intersections of Intergenerational Trauma, Epigenetics, and the Social Environment
- Brief Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Veterans with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
- “You Shall Not Pass!”: Peaceful Resistance to Institutional Racism & Discrimination through Radical Social Work Practice
- Healing from the Roots: Treating Families with Histories of Trauma
Please find the course descriptions below:
Seminar:
An Attachment-Based Approach to Assessing and Treating Co-Occurring Addiction and Trauma
Description:
This advanced course provides a comprehensive exploration of assessing and treating addiction and trauma through an attachment-based lens. Drawing extensively on attachment theory, regulation theory, and cultural perspectives, this two-hour seminar examines the intricate relationship between childhood development, trauma, and addiction, with a particular focus on the role of attachment in the formation of compulsive behaviors.
Participants will delve into the following core areas:
- Integration of Attachment-Based Assessment Tools: Learn to incorporate the Adult Attachment Interview into clinical assessments for a deeper understanding of client’s ability to securely attach to others.
- Attachment and Emotional Regulation: Examine Alan Schore’s Infancy Attachment Model and its implications for emotional self-regulation, particularly how insecure attachment impacts the development of maladaptive emotional regulation strategies.
- Impact of Family and Environmental Stress: Analyze how family and environmental stress can precipitate maladaptive coping mechanisms in children and its long-term effects on addiction.
- Fantasy and External Stimulation: Explore how children use fantasy and external stimulation as substitutes for endogenous opioids, and how these mechanisms relate to addiction.
- Addiction as Emotional Regulation: Understand addiction through the lens of emotional regulation, considering how dysregulated emotions contribute to chronic compulsive behaviors.
- Trauma and Addiction Intersection: Investigate the interplay between trauma and addiction in adulthood and the implications for treatment.
- Evidence-Based Treatment Techniques: Review effective, evidence-based approaches for treating co-occurring addiction and trauma, and techniques for fostering a secure attachment between therapist and client.
The seminar includes a critical examination of case studies, encouraging participants to apply assessment skills, theoretical frameworks, and treatment planning to real-world scenarios. This interactive component aims to enhance critical thinking and practical application of course concepts. By the end of this seminar, social work students will be equipped with the knowledge and skills to apply an attachment-based approach to addiction assessment and treatment, fostering deeper insights and more effective therapeutic interventions for clients with co-occurring symptoms.
Seminar:
Ego States Therapy for Treating Complex Trauma
Description:
Ego State Therapy (EST) evolved from a psychodynamic understanding of personality as a product of an individual’s ego states to a conceptualization of how ego-energized and object-energized mental elements are bound together to cope with a traumatic event. It uses techniques that are common in group and family therapy but applies them to an individual patient to resolve conflicts that manifest in a “family of self” within a single individual.
Part One:
In the first part of this two-hour seminar will equip you with a foundational understanding of Ego States Therapy as a powerful evidence-based intervention for those who present with complex histories of psychological trauma and seek relief from disturbing trauma-related symptoms as an adjunctive therapy as well as a primary intervention for treating trauma. This course will teach you practical EST tools to work with infant and child states and tools for creating internal caregivers. It will equip you with skills to strengthening the client’s core self to better manage day-to-day stress.
Part Two:
The second part of this skills-based seminar will teach you how to conduct an in-depth ego states assessment with a client. You will learn how to determine when EST may be helpful in relieving traumatic distress. You will learn various tools and techniques to conduct a diagnostic exploration of ego states “map” ego states that are holding onto dysfunctionally stored information. You will learn how to use the ego states maps you have created with clients to guide you in creating reliable and valid trauma-informed individual treatment plans for practice.
Seminar:
Maintaining Equanimity and Promoting Synchronicity During Relationship-Focused Treatment of Complex Trauma
Description:
I. Background and Significance
Individuals who have experienced intense and prolonged traumatic experiences are at risk for developing complex posttraumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) as defined by the Disorders of Extreme Stress Not Otherwise Specified (DESNOS) formulation, which includes adverse symptoms such as emotional dysregulation, intrusive negative beliefs, alterations in consciousness, and somatic disturbances. In addition, such individuals may often react to reminders of the trauma with autonomic responses such as anger, avoidance, and anxiety that interfere with their ability to successfully establish meaningful and lasting relationships with others.
While participating in therapy may appear to be a viable solution to resolving these deep-seated emotional issues for individuals with complex trauma, the therapeutic relationship itself may represent an implicit “reminder of the trauma” to the client given the highly relational nature of the psychotherapy and the interpersonal context that may characterize their experiences of abuse from the past. This may lead to any number of distressing reactions to therapy such as strong ego-systonic projections onto the therapist, autonomic activations of subcortical neural networks, and abreactions that threaten the quality and longevity of the therapeutic alliance. Still, caring clinicians are faced with the challenge of understanding and competently responding to the intense emotional—and sometimes illogical—responses from the client while attempting to maintain a sense of equanimity as the professional “leader” of the helping process when the client is momentarily incapacitated by emotion and traumatic reenactment. Given such uncomfortable symptoms and distress, it is important for clinicians to develop and test ways to help those with CPTSD “grow through” their unconscious negative responses to participating in trauma therapy and develop new ways to cope with relationship-based fears.
II. Seminar Focus
This seminar is designed to equip trauma therapists with new techniques to maintain equanimity and promote synchronicity during relationship-focused treatment of complex trauma treatment. Therapists will learn how to integrate attachment and trauma theories into their clinical work with clients; they will learn interpersonal neurobiology-based micro-skills to develop attunement with clients; skills to effectively manage ego defenses that are activated during trauma reprocessing; skills to contain emotional abreactions; tools to promote the reintegration of clients’ projections onto the therapist; how to develop a two-person relational approach to managing countertransference, and skills to cultivate compassion for clients with challenging CPTSD symptoms.
III. Educational Goals
This multi-modal seminar is designed to support the mental health professionals in two distinct ways: (1) The research-based content, reflective discussion, and experiential exercises will increase the participants’ active awareness of the “signs and symptoms” of complex post-traumatic stress disorder, especially those symptoms related to the development of relationships and interpersonal effectiveness; (2) The research-based content, reflective discussion, and experiential exercises will provide the professionals with a clear and practical process to integrate attachment and trauma theories into a relational treatment approach with clients; (3) The research-based content, reflective discussion, and experiential exercises will provide the professionals with a clear and practical process to identify and integrate adaptive coping strategies to address ego defenses, abreactions, and countertransference that arise during the process of treating individuals with histories of complex trauma. This training integrates various modes of instruction including experiential exercises, small group learning, mindfulness meditation, yoga/mindful movement, periods of silence, video, and didactic-style teaching.
Seminar:
Understanding the Intersections of Intergenerational Trauma, Epigenetics, and the Social Environment
Description:
This advanced two-hour seminar delves into the complex interplay between intergenerational trauma, epigenetics, and the social environment, offering critical insights for social work clinicians. Participants will gain a nuanced understanding of both Intergenerational and Transgenerational Trauma, distinguishing between these concepts and exploring how historical trauma impacts successive generations.
The course will provide a comprehensive overview of how historical trauma influences future generations, emphasizing the significance of cultural and cultural diversity in fostering resilience against mental health issues. Attendees will also receive a practical introduction to epigenetics, focusing on its role in the development of trauma and related mental health conditions.
Furthermore, the seminar will examine how the social environment—encompassing factors such as caregiving and family stress—interacts with epigenetic processes to influence susceptibility to posttraumatic stress disorder. By integrating these elements, the course aims to equip clinicians with a deeper understanding of the multifaceted nature of trauma and its implications for practice.
Seminar:
Brief Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Veterans with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
Description:
I. Background and Significance
Many military veterans suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). According to RAND, at least 20% of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have PTSD and/or depression. As PTSD is characterized by a constellation of symptoms, including hyperarousal, veterans who meet the criteria for this diagnosis are, by definition, struggling to manage heightened emotions related to their trauma. This is highly problematic because we know that the lack of emotion regulation strategies in PTSD often leads to various types of maladaptive coping such as substance abuse; it also significantly predicts suicidal ideation and attempts. In fact, a recent review of academic journals and information obtained from government agencies, and think tanks related to veterans’ PTSD and suicides identified clear linkages between PTSD, suicide, and military service. Moreover, population-based studies have indicated that male veterans face roughly twice the risk of dying from suicide as their civilian counterparts.
Mindfulness as an intervention for treating trauma is promising. What is more, manualized mindfulness-based interventions have been shown to be effective treatments for PTSD within the veteran population. For example, veterans with PTSD who completed an eight-week Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) training showed significant reductions in avoidance of PTSD symptoms. Similarly, significant reductions in anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation were observed in veterans after completing an eight-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) group.
While these manualized mindfulness-based interventions do help veterans better cope with PTSD, they are much too lengthy. For example, MBCT and MBSR require 8 weeks for veterans to complete, and a few sessions before veterans are taught any techniques to address their PTSD symptoms. This leaves veterans with the onerous burden of having to use whatever existing skills they possess to independently cope with their PTSD symptoms for a month or more even while they are actively engaged in formalized trauma treatment, and we know from the literature that veterans with PTSD often turn to drugs and alcohol to manage their trauma-related distress or may readily drop-out of treatment.
This two-hour seminar will review several key MBCT techniques for engaging military veterans in the process of learning to better manage their post-trauma symptoms, such as the following:
- Skills for regulating emotion.
- Skills to identify the connection between automatic thoughts/beliefs and worsening trauma symptoms.
- Skills for learning to “be with” trauma- related distress (thoughts/emotions/sensations) using mindfulness.
- Skills for practicing how to “invite in” and work traumatic stress through the body.
Seminar:
“You Shall Not Pass!”: Peaceful Resistance to Institutional Racism & Discrimination through Radical Social Work Practice
Description:
In this two-hour seminar, we will explore and master the principles of ethical social work practice as a means of peaceful resistance against institutional racism and discrimination. Titled “You Shall Not Pass!” to underscore the refusal to accept systemic injustice, this course equips social workers with the tools and strategies needed to advance social justice through clinical practice.
Objectives:
1. Emotional Regulation & Self-Care: Learn to maintain emotional balance and resilience through a structured self-care regimen, crucial for effective and sustainable practice in challenging environments.
2. Witnessing Client Experiences: Develop the skills to fully engage with and understand your clients’ lived experiences, ensuring empathy and accuracy in your support and interventions.
3. Systems Thinking: Integrate systems thinking into every facet of your clinical work to address the complex, interconnected nature of institutional racism and discrimination.
4. Resource Knowledge & Professional Networking: Identify essential resources and build robust relationships with other human service professionals to enhance your advocacy efforts and support for clients.
5. Advocacy through Engagement: Embrace vulnerability and strength by actively stepping into your clients’ communities to advocate for their needs and drive systemic change.
6. Emotional Resilience: Cultivate the ability to detach personal feelings from professional challenges, ensuring a balanced approach to confronting institutional issues.
7. Connecting to Larger Systems: Position yourself within broader influential systems to amplify your impact and contribute to more significant systemic change.
This seminar combines theoretical insights with practical strategies, fostering a reflective and action-oriented approach to social justice in clinical practice. Participants will emerge with a deeper understanding of their role in challenging institutional racism and discrimination while enhancing their ability to advocate effectively on behalf of their clients.
Seminar:
Healing from the Roots: Treating Families with Histories of Trauma
Overview: This comprehensive training is designed for mental health professionals looking to deepen their understanding of trauma’s intergenerational impact and enhance their ability to treat families with complex histories of trauma. Drawing from trauma-informed care principles, this course will provide participants with the tools, strategies, and theoretical frameworks needed to address the psychological and relational patterns that persist across generations.
Objectives: By the end of this training, participants will:
- Understand the Dynamics of Intergenerational Trauma: Learn how trauma can be transmitted from one generation to the next and the ways in which family systems perpetuate maladaptive patterns and coping mechanisms.
- Assess Family Histories: Gain skills in assessing the impact of historical, cultural, and systemic trauma on families, particularly in marginalized or underserved communities.
- Integrate Trauma-Informed Interventions: Explore evidence-based therapeutic modalities that are effective in treating families, including Family Systems Therapy and Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT).
- Develop Cultural Competence: Enhance cultural sensitivity and competence when working with diverse family structures and backgrounds, understanding how different cultures experience and respond to trauma.
- Support Healing at Multiple Levels: Learn to intervene at the individual, relational, and systemic levels to promote healing and resilience within the family unit, while also addressing broader societal factors that may contribute to ongoing trauma.
- Facilitate Communication and Boundaries: Equip participants with strategies to foster healthy communication, set boundaries, and build trust in therapeutic settings.
Key Topics Covered:
- The Nature of Trauma: A review of trauma’s definition, types, and how it affects individuals and family systems, including attachment issues and the role of epigenetics in trauma transmission.
- Understanding Family Systems and Trauma: How family dynamics can amplify or mitigate the effects of trauma, with an emphasis on family roles, patterns, and communication styles that often emerge in families with trauma histories.
- Case Studies: Real-world examples of families impacted by different types of trauma (e.g., abuse, neglect, violence, migration, systemic oppression) and practical strategies for engaging them in therapy.
- Cultural Considerations in Trauma Treatment: Understanding cultural variations in the expression of trauma and responses to therapy, with a focus on integrating culturally relevant approaches to treatment.
- Building Trauma-Informed Relationships with Families: Techniques for building rapport, establishing trust, and managing resistance from family members who may have experienced mistrust in systems of care.
- Working with Children and Adolescents in Traumatized Families: Special considerations for treating younger family members, understanding attachment disruptions, and facilitating the involvement of children in family therapy.
Format: This interactive training will blend didactic presentations with case discussions, role-play exercises, group work, and reflective practices. Participants will have opportunities to engage in hands-on activities to apply concepts to real-world scenarios, ensuring they leave the training with actionable strategies to incorporate into their clinical practice.
Training abstracts are available upon request.
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What People Are Saying…
Our office asked Tony to provide a 4-hour training to our direct services staff on vicarious trauma / compassion fatigue and the training was absolutely perfect. Participants shared how helpful the training was, giving them not only an understanding of what vicarious trauma and compassion fatigue was, but providing them the tools they needed to help address some of the challenges they faced in their day-to-day work. Tony created an environment that allowed our staff to be vulnerable and share very personal stories about client stories and even personal trauma they’ve experienced. Overall, our direct services team of 50 staff were very grateful and hope to continue trainings like the one we received from Tony in the future.
–Nasim Khansari, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Los Angeles office
I found Tony to be thorough, organized, and helpful when preparing for the training and the delivery of continuing education units for our licensed staff. Tony is not only a respectful, dedicated, and caring trainer; he truly lives what he teaches. The entire experience was a positive one, and we are looking forward to having him back soon.
–Susan Mayer-Zeitlin, MFT Wrap-around Services Supervisor, San Fernando Valley Community Mental Health Center
Everyone on my team who participated in Tony’s vicarious trauma prevention training found it quite valuable. It’s been interesting to see most of my teammates applying the concepts covered in the training to situations other than simply interacting with challenging content and behaviors. For example, I’ve personally found the breathing exercises to be very helpful when conducting difficult conversations with colleagues. While a couple of folks previously felt as though they had a complete handle on work-related stress, the training helped them realize that there are indeed aspects of the job that have a greater impact on their lives than they realized. This is a really nice revelation to have and a great mindset to be in coming out of the training!
–David Watkis, Safety Lead for Automattic, Inc.
Previous Clients:
- Automattic, Inc.
- San Fernando Valley Community Mental Health Center
- Asian Americans Advancing Justice
- Pennylane
- Aspire Public Schools
- Chrysalis
- Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services
- The Center for Nonprofit Management
- UC Davis Center for Human Services