Clinical Title: Running from Trauma: Helping Clients Slow Down and Heal
Book Title: The Tell by Amy Griffin
Book Description: As a young, overachieving girl growing up in West Texas, Amy Griffin was repeatedly sexually assaulted by her teacher. It became a secret she hid from herself and everyone else for decades.
Indeed, for decades, Amy ran. Through the dirt roads of Amarillo, Texas, where she grew up; to the campus of the University of Virginia, as a student athlete; on the streets of New York, where she built her adult life; through marriage, motherhood, and a thriving career. To outsiders, it all looked perfect. But Amy was running from something—a secret she was keeping not only from her family and friends, but unconsciously from herself.
“You’re here, but you’re not here. Where are you, Mom?” Amy’s 11-year-old daughter asked her one night. So began Amy’s quest to solve a mystery trapped in the recesses of her memory—a journey that would take her into psychedelic-assisted therapy, to the limits of the judicial system, and ultimately, home to the Texas panhandle, where her story began.
In her search for the truth, Griffin:
- Interrogates the pursuit of perfectionism, control, and maintaining appearances that seems to drive so many women.
- Asks, when, in our path from girlhood to womanhood, did we learn to look outside ourselves for validation?
- Wonders what kind of freedom is possible if we accept the whole story and embrace who we really are?
- Suggests a way forward for many of us, revealing the power of radical truth-telling to deepen our connections—with others and ourselves.
Facilitator: Gail J. Cummings, JD, MSS, LCSW
Clinical Objectives: By reading the book and participating in the discussion, participants will:
- Analyze the adaptive personality qualities that trauma survivors often develop that might lead to “running” from trauma.
- Discuss how to address physical symptoms of trauma and navigate with clients what it means to listen to messages from their bodies.
- Apply steps in the therapeutic encounter to foster healing.
- Discover the healing properties of truth-telling through various platforms.
About our Facilitator: Gail J. Cummings is a business lawyer turned psychotherapist and strategic career and executive coach. In the private therapy practice she founded in 2002, Gail works with individuals and couples across a wide range of issues and specializes in anxiety, depression, complex relationship dynamics, and challenging career issues. In her coaching practice, Gail focuses on working with individuals to help them find their voice, strategize about career advancement, and pursue personal and professional satisfaction.
Gail is also a frequent public speaker on topics including negotiating for yourself, finding and owning your value, time management, integrating wellness into your everyday life, and professional branding.
Gail graduated with her M.S.S. from the Bryn Mawr College Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research and is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Prior to opening her private practice, she worked at the Children’s Crisis Treatment Center as a Trauma Therapist and the University of Pennsylvania Student Counseling Center as a Staff Therapist.
Gail practiced corporate law for 15 years before going back to school to pursue her dream of becoming a psychotherapist. She earned her J.D., cum laude, from the George Washington University Law School, and her B.A. in Psychology, magna cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania. Gail continues to be a member of the Pennsylvania Bar.
For more information on Gail’s practice, please visit www.gailcummings.com.
This event is open to PSCSW members only. Participants who attend this program must be present for its entirety to earn 3 continuing education credits.
Continuing Education Credits:
FOR PENNSYLVANIA SOCIAL WORKERS, MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPISTS, AND PROFESSIONAL COUNSELORS: This program is approved for 3 credits for professional workshops sponsored by the Pennsylvania Society for Clinical Social Work, a state affiliate of the Clinical Social Work Association listed in Section 47.36 of Title 49, Chapter 47 of the PA Code, State Board of Social Work Examiners. This program is also approved for 3 credits for professional workshops for marriage & family therapists (Section 48.36) and professional counselors (Section 49.36).
FOR NEW JERSEY SOCIAL WORKERS: This program is approved for 3 clinical credits. Attendance at programs or courses given at state and national social work association conferences, where the criteria for membership is an academic degree in social work, are a valid source of continuing education clinical credit (N.J.A.C. 13:44G-6.4(c)4).
PSCSW Members - Before you begin any registration, you must log in to the website to pay the member rate. If you register without logging in, you will pay at the nonmember rate. If you need assistance logging in, please contact the PSCSW office at: pscsw@pscsw.org.