Experiential Therapy for Working with Relational Trauma

Description: Relational trauma often develops within family systems and can result in rigid relational roles, attachment disruptions, and recurring patterns of dysregulated relationships. While traditional insight-oriented therapies help clients understand these patterns cognitively, experiential approaches allow clinicians to work directly with emotional and relational processes as they emerge in the present moment. These approaches can help clients recognize and reorganize relational dynamics that are often maintained outside conscious awareness. This presentation provides advanced clinical skill development in the use of experiential methods for working with relational trauma within a structured and contained therapeutic framework. Experiential approaches rooted in Gestalt therapy, psychodrama, and family systems theory, originally developed by pioneers such as Fritz Perls, Jacob Moreno, and Virginia Satir, utilize techniques such as family sculpting, role-play, inner child work, and psychomotor interventions to help clients identify entrenched relational roles and explore corrective emotional experiences in a clinically supported environment. Participants will observe a structured clinical demonstration of a hypothetical alcoholic family system sculpture illustrating systemic roles such as hero, scapegoat, lost child, and mascot. The demonstration will illustrate how experiential interventions can illuminate family dynamics, deepen client insight, and facilitate relational reorganization. The material presented reflects trauma-informed and evidence-informed clinical practices supported by contemporary experiential and trauma treatment literature, including work by Dayton (2021), Fisher (2021), and Giacomucci (2021). Emphasis will be placed on therapist attunement, pacing, containment, and ethical use of experiential interventions in clinical practice. Ethical considerations, client readiness, therapist competence, and scope of practice will be addressed throughout the presentation. Limitations of experiential approaches and the importance of appropriate training, supervision, and clinical judgment when implementing these techniques will also be discussed.

CE Broker Tracking #: 20-1377120

This event is sponsored by FMHCA, an NBCC-Approved Continuing Education Provider. FMHCA NBCC Provider# 2058. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified.  FMHCA is solely responsible for all aspects of the program. This course is approved by the Florida Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapy and Mental Health Counseling, LMHC, LMFT, LCSW – FMHCA CE Broker #: 50-748

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify three clinical situations in which Gestalt-based experiential exercises may be used to address relational trauma and unresolved emotional experiences in therapy.
2. Describe how experiential interventions such as family sculpting, role-play, and inner-child exercises can reveal relational roles and patterns within family systems.
3. Demonstrate how structured experiential techniques can be used to increase client insight and facilitate corrective relational experiences in the treatment of relational trauma.
4. Explain clinical considerations including therapist attunement, pacing, containment, and ethical use of experiential methods when working with trauma-affected clients.

About the Presenter:

Suzi Marsh Meffen, MSW, LCSW is a licensed clinical social worker in private practice in Florida with more than four decades of experience in addiction treatment, family systems therapy, relational trauma, and experiential psychotherapy. Her clinical work integrates trauma-informed, attachment-based, and experiential approaches including Gestalt techniques, family sculpting, role-play, inner-child work, and psychomotor interventions. Early in her career she worked as a group therapist in a Codependency Treatment Center and trained in experiential family work through workshops with Sharon Wegscheider-Cruse. She later hosted an 11-year Atlanta mental health and addictions radio show interviewing leading voices in psychology and personal development. A former amateur stand-up comedienne, she also presents at professional conferences.

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