Issue: 3
Fall  2013 
In This Issue
Associate Partner
Open House
FAQs by Dr. Gil
Book Release
Group Services
HEARTS Update
Starbright 2014
Play Watch
Research Watch
Recommended Resources
Recommended Reading
A Courtroom for All: Creating Child and Adolescent-Fair Courtrooms

Recommended Reading 
A NCTSN Article 
 

Testifying in Court about Trauma: How to Prepare: A helpful and informed guide to ease professionals into the witness role. 

 

View Article from NCTSN 



Recommended Reading  
The Center for Ethical Practice


Recommended Viewing  
The Daily Dot
 
"Everyone saw the biracial Cheerios commercial, but kids saw it differently..."
 
Kids Respond!


SIGN UP FOR STARBRIGHT & 
GIL INSTITUTE NEWS

PRACTICE UPDATE!  

Dear Readers: Eliana Gil, Myriam Goldin, and Jennifer Shaw, Founding Partners of Gil Institute for Trauma Recovery and Education are thrilled with their expanding group private practice.  Since its inauguration in January 2013, we continue to provide an array of mental health services, specializing in childhood trauma.  In addition, we have expanded our services to include our HEARTS Project, Theraplay, Circle of Security Parenting Groups, and an array of group therapy programs. Our full time staff has also increased and includes:  Andrea Driggs-McLeod, Sonal Patel, and Karyn O'Leary.  Mahagony Hall also joined our part-time contractors and we also have two residents in Marriage and Family Therapy:  Jodi Cobb and Lexie Pfeifer.  In addition, Joseph Heeter is a Resident in Professional Counseling and Aliya Robbins is our second-year art therapy intern from GW University.

 

We are a group of like-minded professionals who remain invested in our own learning and we stay current on contemporary research findings and treatment approaches.  Please contact us to learn more about our services and check our website for staff bios and clinical activities.

AN ANNOUNCEMENT FROM DR. GIL

Dear Friends and Colleagues: I have been extremely blessed to be "on the lecture circuit" from approximately 1975 or so until now.  I think I have visited every state and traveled internationally to Costa Rica, Ecuador, Chile, Ireland, London, and Australia.  It has been my pleasure to be a favorite presenter for many of the Association for Play Therapists across the country and I have had fun meeting play therapists and colleagues who share my interest in working with children and families.  This picture has a back-story:  I was doing a training in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, one of my favorite places to train (Terry Kottman territory).  The play therapists in Iowa are interesting and interested and ready for fun!!  During this two-day training last month, I gave out some pipe cleaners and asked each table to use the pipe cleaners to make a little piece of art that they could display at the front of their tables.  Spontaneously, they passed their little art pieces around the room and everyone linked them together, a beautiful symbol of this play therapy community and a serendipity wonderful moment!!  

 

There have been many like this as I have traveled around.  Thus it is with some ambivalence that I will be going "off the road" as of July 2014.  I am going to meet all my commitments through July of next year, and then I will stop doing large workshops in favor of small, more intimate trainings, such as those offered at Starbright Training Institute.  It has been a long and glorious ride and I pass the baton to many other enthusiastic presenters who have lots to offer and tons of energy to spare!!  


I am beginning to carve out my immediate future and look forward to supervision, consultation, & trainings.  I find supervision a real treat and teaching one of my favorite things to do.  I am exploring conducting some webinars that I can prepare and send "live," from the comfort of my home.  Please watch for announcements of more exciting ventures through Gil Institute and Starbright Training.  Since rumors fly quickly, I wanted to make sure I communicated clearly about the changes that are pending for me in my professional life.

Heather McTaggart Bryan, LPC, Associate Partner

Eliana Gil, Myriam Goldin, and Jennifer Shaw are proud to announce Heather McTaggart Bryan is an Associate Partner with Gil Institute!! 

 

Congratulations to Mrs. Bryan, who has been a committed & valued team member from the beginning. We are thrilled to have her as part of GITRE's partnership team!

GIL INSTITUTE OPEN HOUSE & BOOK SIGNING!

OpenHouse  

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6th

12:00PM to 2:00PM

Food, Drinks, Networking, & Books onsite!

8626 LEE HIGHWAY, SUITE 200, FAIRFAX, VA 22031



 

FAQ's FROM THE LECTURE CIRCUIT! - Dr. Gil

Building an Evidence-Based Clinical Practice

Building I travel across the country doing workshops on a variety of topics related to child and family play therapy and interpersonal complex trauma in children. On average, I have done about 15 national and international trainings for the last ten years or so - more prior to that time.   Providing workshops allows me to interact with large numbers of mental health professionals, and thus, I get a sense of "the pulse" of my colleagues, at least those mental health professionals working with high-risk children in a variety of private and public agency settings.


The questions I am most frequently asked of late are: 1) How do you provide ethical services in managed cared required timeframes?; 2) How do you respond to the pressure to provide evidence-based practices? and 3) How do you document play therapy practice to meet Medicare charting requirements?  

BOOK RELEASE: Congratulations Drs. Gil and Shaw
Based on extensive clinical experience, this book provides authoritative guidance and practical tools in a challenging area for child mental health professionals. The authors explain the many possible causes of problem sexual behaviors and demonstrate assessment and treatment procedures that have been shown to work with 4- to 11-year-olds and their families. Four chapter-length case examples illustrate how to integrate elements of cognitive-behavioral therapy, play and expressive therapies, and family-based approaches. Helpful reproducible worksheets and forms can be downloaded and printed in a convenient 8 1/2" x 11" size. Hardcover and E-books available for order October 2013.
 

GROUP THERAPY SERVICES 

FOR CHILDREN

Girls with a History of Sexual Trauma 

Boys with a History of Sexual Trauma

Children of Divorced or Separated Parents

Boundary Project: Children with Sexual Behavior Problems

 

FOR ADOLESCENTS 
Adolescent Girls with a History of Sexual Trauma

Adolescent Boys with a History of Sexual Trauma

Self-Esteem Building: Group for Adolescent Girls 

 

FOR PARENTS AND CAREGIVERS 
Circle of Security - Parenting Program (COS-P)-English & Spanish

Support Group - Parents of Abused Children-English & Spanish

Support Group - Parenting after Separation / Divorce 

Boundary Project: for Caregivers of Children with SBPs

 


NEWS FROM HEARTS PROJECT
Hope through Equine Assisted Recovery and Therapy Services 
  
HEARTS Logo
HEARTS Project is a new equine-assisted therapy collaboration between Gil Institute therapists and Katie Fallon, EAGALA-certified
 
equine specialist. Katie provides services with her horses in a wonderful location in McLean, Virginia. 

HEARTS is offered to individual clients, as well as groups. Parents and caregivers have a chance to observe and participate in sessions. 
Katie Fallon is the Founder and President of Bridle Paths in McLean, VA, and collaborator with Gil Institute's new HEARTS Project


STI's training calendar, January through July 2014, 
is now available! New workshops will be added in 2014.

A few seats remaining for the following 2013 institutes:
DECEMBER 14-14 (Dr. Jennifer Shaw)

 Treating Sexual Behavior Problems: Integrating Play Therapy and Mindfulness with Children & Caregivers

 

DECEMBER 15-16 (Dr. Eliana Gil)

The Use of Therapeutic Art to Assess & Treat 

Traumatized Children

 

View / Print January - July 2014 Training Calendar! 

 

Institute Details and Registration information


PLAY WATCH
New Zealand study on re-enactment of earthquakes could help kids deal with trauma: A new study will look at how playing could help children deal with trauma from the Canterbury earthquakes. 
 
University of Canterbury health sciences researcher Junita Nawawi said acting out experiences through play could help children make sense of what they've been through.

RESEARCH WATCH
ResearchWatchIs gender nonconformity in childhood associated with increased risk of child abuse and/or PTSD? 
 
Journal Article: Childhood Gender Nonconformity: A Risk Indicator for Childhood Abuse and Posttraumatic Stress in Youth
  GIL INSTITUTE FOR TRAUMA RECOVERY & EDUCATION
8626 Lee Highway, Suite 200
Fairfax, VA  22031   P: 703.560.2600

www.gilinstitute.com