Cravings
Roots of Addiction and Chronic Pain in Early Adoption
NOW CLOSED
Friday 9 December 2022
A Live Webinar with Lucy Hill, Dr Marilyn Sanders and Dr Frances Sommer Anderson
CE Credits: 3 hours
- Includes a subtitled recording of the event and a transcript, with access for a year (14 days post the event)
- Bookings close at 4.00am EST Tuesday 6 December 2022
Skin-to-skin contact between the newborn and birth mother helps to lay a foundation for secure embodied attachment. Conversely, dysregulation in the wake of early separation in the form of a suboptimal postnatal environment can predispose the adopted baby to the risk of addiction and chronic somatic pain in adulthood.
READ MORE...Our presenter, Lucy Hill, was born in the early 1960s in a mother and baby home and was relinquished by her mother at the age of two months. On seeking treatment for a 10-year history of chronic back pain, she engaged a psychoanalyst who specializes in treating chronic pain from a relational, trauma-informed perspective. At the outset, she experienced “craving” for her analyst, similar to yearnings she had for alcohol and sugar. Exploration of this desire for body contact with her analyst, led her to initiate a successful search for her birth mother. Their reunion revealed the complexities of the disrupted early attachment, and it stimulated latent grieving for the loss of mother.
Lucy and her analyst will present the adoptee’s perspective as it unfolded in the safe holding space of psychoanalysis. Commentary by a neonatologist and pediatrician will elaborate the optimal conditions for mother and baby during pregnancy and discuss the impact on the baby after birth and relinquishment.
We acknowledge that adoption arrangements have changed a great deal since Lucy was adopted in 1962 in London, UK. There are birth mothers, now called First Mothers by some, surrogate mothers, carrying mothers. We welcome women, men, and gender non-conforming parents, clients and therapists to join us to learn more about cycles of addiction and chronic pain in cases where there has been early separation.
FULL PROGRAMME
09.00 EST
Introductions
09.05
Dr Marilyn Sanders
Whisked away
The human newborn has an evolutionarily-based biological expectation of the mother’s presence. The newborn expects mother’s physical and emotional proximity, her sensitivity and attunement, her contingent responsiveness and social connectedness. Sadly, there may be disruptions of the newborn’s expectations by anticipated or unanticipated events. Examples of physical separation may include maternal illness requiring separation, relinquishment for adoption, or the baby’s medical need for intensive care services. Others may be in physical proximity but unable to emotionally access their mothers due to maternal stress and distress. Marilyn’s talk will describe the neurobiology of early maternal-infant relationships and the impact of disruptions of early connectedness on short- and long-term infant and maternal well-being.
09.45
Lucy Hill
Finding my voice in my own adoption
Lucy sought assistance from Dr Frances Sommer Anderson following over ten years of unresolved chronic back pain. During initial in-person sessions, Lucy made only brief reference to her adoption at two months old as she had no access to emotional experiences that she could connect it to. The analytic couple developed their relationship online, physically separated in different continents and time zones which, in between appointments, quickly began to feel torturous for Lucy. The cravings for Fran became so overwhelming, she sensed that she needed to disclose them to ensure the efforts in therapy continued to be authentic. These feelings were tinged with shame and conflict and tangled with increasing urges to use sugar and alcohol. To raise them felt perilous. The disclosure however proved to be a transformational navigation tool, an entry port into the heart space of longing that Lucy’s Birth Mother had left in her wake.
10.25
Q&A
10.45
Break
11.00
Dr Frances Sommer Anderson
Like mother… alive, but out of reach
The flexibility of the analytic holding space for Lucy, an international client who came for treatment of chronic back pain, facilitated the emergence of her cravings for contact with her analyst’s body. Prior to experiencing back pain, she had similar cravings for alcohol and sugar and was in recovery from alcohol addiction five years when they met. Through implicit embodied communication, her analyst’s willingness to receive and elaborate Lucy’s cravings for her analyst’s body enabled Lucy to view cravings for alcohol and sugar, and chronic back pain, as proxies for craving her birth mother’s body. This process evolved into a successful search for her birth mother. The unfolding of her reunion and the vicissitudes of the attachment relationship will be elaborated.
11.45
Q&A
12.00
Discussion with Q&A
12.30
End
FEES (USD)
Bookings close at 4:00am EST Tuesday 6 December 2022
Live Webinar:
$96 (Member $48)
(Click here to become a member)
Includes a recording of the event
CE
This event is accredited by:
- ASWB
- NBCC
Certificates of attendance for 3 hours will be provided.
To receive the full CE credits, you are required to attend 100% of the live event. No partial credit will be given.
This event is NOT accredited by the following organisations:
- NYSED (Psychology)
- NYSED (Psychoanalysis)
- NYSED (Social Workers)
Please note that if you are unable to attend all of the live event, you will need to undertake our event specific test in order to receive the CE certification. This will be made available soon after the live event has taken place.
Please contact events@conferonline.org for any further questions.
Confer, #1813, is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved as ACE providers. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. Confer maintains responsibility for this course. ACE provider approval period: 08/19/2022 – 08/19/2023. Social workers completing this course receive 3 continuing education credits
Confer has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7136. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Confer is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.
VENUE
This is a live online webinar using Zoom software. Zoom is free to download and use.
For more information about Zoom click here.
To download Zoom free of charge click here.
For special accommodations for individuals with disabilities see our FAQs.
SCHEDULE
Friday
09.00 EST Introductions
09.05 Dr Marliyn Sanders
09.45 Lucy Hill
10.25 Q&A
10.45 Break
11.00 Dr Frances Sommer Anderson
11.45 Q&A
12.00 Discussion with Q&A
12.30 End
CONTENT LEVEL
- Intermediate
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
- Recognise the importance of helping the adoptee find their own narrative about their experience of having been relinquished for early adoption.
- Identify the roots of addiction and chronic pain in the wake of emotional dysregulation due to very early separation from the birth mother.
- Integrate commentary by a neonatologist with psychoanalytic theories of early development.
- Identify the neuroceptive states of the autonomic nervous system.
- List the biological expectancies of the human newborn.
TARGET
AUDIENCE
- Psychologists
- Counselors
- Social Workers
- Psychotherapists
- Addiction Professionals
- Marriage and Family Therapists
- Psychiatrists
- Other related mental health professions.
BOOKING CONDITIONS
Regrettably, refunds cannot be given in any circumstances except as follows:
- You cancel in writing to info@conferonline.org 60 days before the first date of the event you have booked, in which case you will be entitled to a 100% refund.
- You cancel in writing to info@conferonline.org 30 days before the first date of the event you have booked, in which case you will be entitled to a 50% refund.
This does not apply to parts of an event such as a seminar within a series but only to a whole event or complete series. You may give your place to another person if you let us know that person's name at least 24 hours before the event begins.
We reserve the right to change a speaker at one of our conferences without offering a refund. However, if a solo presenter cancels we will offer a full refund OR transfer of your fee to another Confer event. If the entire event is canceled we will offer you a full refund.
We reserve the right to change our prices at any time. Regrettably, discounts offered after you made your booking cannot be claimed or applied retrospectively.