LEARN REAL, APPLICABLE TOOLS TO CONNECT WITH & HELP YOUR CHILD
4-Week Group Parenting Workshop
About This Group
You will leave armed with tools, knowledge, and new ideas to implement in your home. This training is meant for any parent that has a child that struggles with behavioral outbursts and non-compliance while enhancing the parent-child relationship.
The Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI®) Introduction and Overview Class Series is an introduction to principles that enhance your understanding about how to interpret behavior and respond appropriately. At this training, you will learn and practice:
- Empowering Principles to address physical needs
- Connecting Principles for attachment needs
- Correcting Principles to disarm fear-based behaviors
WHEN: Tuesdays starting April 20, 2021, 5:30 – 7:00 p.m.
COST: $200 per individual, $300 per couple (strongly encouraged in 2-parent homes); cost includes all 5 weeks plus a workbook. Scholarships available.
REGISTER: Call 512-451-7337, option 8 or email frontoffice@samaritan-center.org
Registration Deadline: April 13, 2020 due to required check-in with group leader prior to start
WHAT IS TBRI®?
TBRI® offers practical tools for parents, caregivers, teachers or anyone who works with children, to see the “whole child” in their care and help that child reach his highest potential.
TBRI® is an attachment-based, trauma-informed intervention designed to meet the complex needs of vulnerable children or children from “hard places.” TBRI® is based on years of attachment, sensory processing, and neuroscience research. As TBRI® addresses the child’s physical needs, attachment needs, and tools to disarm fear-based behaviors, it is applicable to all children and parents.
About the Facilitator: Kamini Verma, LCSW-S, RPT-S completed the TBRI® Practitioner and Educator training in 2014 and for the past 10 years has specialized in working with children and adolescents.
Isolation No More, a partnership with NAMI Central Texas
Isolation No More
8-week group for creating connections
Are you feeling isolated? You are not alone!
COVID has put so many restrictions on social interactions, our social outlets and being able to see family.
We are having much less face-to-face interactions (not going to work in person, the gym, church, to hear
live music with friends — to name a few).
After a year of increased isolation many are now anticipating the transition to more face-to-face, which can
be anxiety producing. Humans are social beings and feeling isolated leads to increased feelings of depression
and anxiety. This group is here to help us connect and feel less isolated.
WHEN: Mondays starting April 12, 2021, 5:00 – 6:30 p.m.
COST: $10 per group, or $80 total for the 8-week series. Scholarships available.
REGISTER: Call 512-451-7337, option 8 or email frontoffice@samaritan-center.org
About the Facilitator: Delia (Dee) Esparza, PhD, LMFT, PMHCNS-BC: Dee is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and a Board Certified Psychiatric Mental Health Clinical Nurse Specialist. She has more than forty years of experience as a therapist. Twenty-three of those years were spent treating veterans with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder due to a theatre of war trauma or military sexual trauma. She is proud of her dear husband, a Vietnam Marine veteran, and has a deep respect for all the women and men who have served in the military forces.
Veterans Helping Veterans
8-Week Wellness & Resilience Group for Veterans
About This Group
We are providing an extra layer of support for veterans during these challenging times by including leaders from the veteran community with specialized experience in the different dimensions of wellness: environmental, emotional, intellectual, social, vocational, spiritual, and physical.
We will begin with expectations of the group followed by a short volunteer self-check-in of our group participants. The facilitator will then introduce the topic followed by the guest speaker who will discuss the group topic for a short 15-20 mins. We will then have a group discussion over the topic and conclude the group by giving the participants an opportunity to ask the guest speakers questions.
Week 1: Support Group Introduction/Meet your Fellow Participants
Week 2: Support Group Intro Continued/Meet your Guest Speakers
Week 3: Environmental Dimension with Blake Holbrook, Samaritan Center
Week 4: Vocational/Financial Dimension with Daniel Hamilton, Voices of Veterans (Texas Veterans Land Board)
Week 5: Emotional and Intellectual Dimension with Misty Ely, Tarrant County Jail V.A.L.O.R. for Incarcerated Veterans
Week 6: Social Dimension with Eric Pichardo, Texas Department of Criminal Justice Veteran Services Coordinator
Week 7: Spiritual Support with Reverend Christian Hawley, St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church
Week 8: Physical Support with Kim Layne, Director of Integrative Medicine at the Samaritan Center
WHEN: Wednesdays, 18:00 – 19:00
PLATFORM: Zoom
COST: FREE with proof of military service (DD214, Driver’s License with Veteran, Service Member ID)
REGISTER: Call 512-451-7337, option 4 or email Manny@Samaritan-Center.org
Co-Facilitators
Manny Gonzalez is an OIF/OEF Marine veteran. He has provided Peer Support to veterans for over four years in the Austin and Greater Houston communities. He has served veterans in jails, transition houses, halfway houses and many other places where veterans need the help most.
Blake Holbrook is an OIF Army veteran with a passion for helping veterans. Having overcome the transition from combat to school, employment, and now supervising the Veterans Dorm at the Travis State Jail, he hopes to utilize his experiences to help veterans live a fulfilling life.
Discovering Gratitude & Self-Care Practices
An 8-Week Group for Women to Nourish Mind, Body, & Spirit
About This Group
The field of Positive Psychology has shown that we can literally heal and change our physiology through the simple practice of gratitude, while it’s a fact that we have more to give to others when we ourselves are nourished. Participants can join at any point during the series as we explore the many different, often overlooked, and sometimes surprising things for which we might feel gratitude – including simple ways we can care for ourselves, mind… body… and spirit.
Week 1: The Positive Effects of a Gratitude Practice
Week 2: Self-Compassion & Self-Care (It’s more and less than you think!)
Week 3: Simple Breathing Techniques to Center and Soothe
Week 4: Mindful Movement to Re-set Your Nervous System and Take the Edge Off
Week 5: Nourish Your Body – Foods & Supplements to Make You Feel Whole
Week 6: Laughter IS the Best Medicine – Laughter Yoga & Its Brain Benefits
Week 7: Defining Purpose, Connecting to Something Bigger than Yourself
Week 8: Self-Expression IS Caring for Yourself… and Caring for Others, Too!
WHEN: Mondays, 5-6 p.m.
COST: $10 per session, $80 for the series* (Free to veterans and family members with proof of eligibility)
REGISTER: Call 512-451-7337, option #8 or Email frontoffice@samaritan-center.org
Co-Facilitators
Rochelle Pearce, LPC, is a counselor with extensive experience working with survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, and with individuals struggling with PTSD, anxiety, and depression.
Kim Layne, LAc, is the Director of Integrative Medicine and has treated hundreds of veterans over the past seven years for anxiety, insomnia, pain, and many other conditions with a combination of acupuncture, bodywork, herbal medicine, nutrition, Tai chi, and other modalities.
HEALING TRAUMA
Ongoing Group for Survivors of Military Sexual Trauma
About This Group
Research has shown that trauma has profound effects on the lives of survivors. These effects include not only damage to the survivor’s mental health, but also to her/his physical health. This support group will address both of these areas. Peter Levine’s book, Healing Trauma, uses his somatic experiencing exercises to reconnect with the body and release the trauma energy stored there. The group will learn and experience a new exercise each week. Additionally, group members will participate in group review and discussions guided by a workbook entitled, Help End Abusive Relationship Tendencies (HEART), that focuses on issues survivors deal with after the occurrence of personal violence. The group is designed to offer survivors opportunities for personal growth as they work toward healing their trauma(s).
WHEN: Wednesdays, 4:30 - 5:30 p.m. starting 12/02/20
COST: FREE for any military-connected individual with proof of eligibility (see list of acceptable forms HERE) including Veterans, Service Members, and Family Members
REGISTER: Call 512-451-7337, option 8 or email frontoffice@samaritan-center.org
Co-Facilitators
Delia (Dee) Esparza, PhD, LMFT, PMHCNS-BC: Dee is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and a Board Certified Psychiatric Mental Health Clinical Nurse Specialist. She has more than forty years of experience as a therapist. Twenty- three of those years were spent treating veterans with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder due to a theatre of war trauma or military sexual trauma. She is proud of her dear husband, a Vietnam Marine veteran, and has a deep respect for all the women and men who have served in the military forces.
Rochelle Pearce, LPC: Rochelle is a Licensed Professional Counselor with extensive experience working with survivors of abuse and sexual assault and the associated judicial process. She strives to instill hope and understanding of the meaning in our experiences and the purpose to our lives. She is a proud wife of a US Army veteran and has a passion for supporting those who have so bravely served in the line of duty to maintain the freedoms of our country.
Support Group for Mothers
Support Group for Mothers of Adult Children with Severe Mental Illness/Psychosis
About This Group
Finding your own support helps you process and makes you more resilient to the immediate and long-term challenges of caring for a loved one with a mental health condition. During this group, you will meet with other mothers of adult children with a severe mental illness and a licensed therapist. Discussing your experiences with others can help you feel connected to those who share similar life challenges, receive support and provide support to others. There is also a wealth of experience and sharing of resources. The virtual group will be held over a secure and private platform, easily accessible by phone, tablet, or computer.
WHEN: Each Tuesday, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm
COST: $10
REGISTER: Call 512-451-7337, option 8 or email frontoffice@samaritan-center.org
About the facilitator: Nelda Carpenter, LCSW is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who has been with Samaritan since 1998. She has many years of experience working with diverse populations of children, teens and adults in various professional settings. Years of volunteer experience with children, teens and families related to spiritual development magnified for her the importance of addressing the totality of mind-body-spirit in her professional work and she feels goals are best met when physical, emotional and spiritual aspects are considered in the therapeutic process.
Nelda draws from a variety of counseling theories in her practice. She works with many issues including grief and loss, trauma, abuse, marital issues, anxiety, depression, bipolar, and healing from divorce or personal hurts in families and churches. She utilizes hypnosis and EMDR to address many issues and she uses play therapy with children as young as two years of age. She recognizes the importance of laughter in healing and, when appropriate, introduces fun into therapy.
Nelda has served on the state board of Texas Association of Play Therapy. She has also spoken at retreats and presented psychoeducational workshops in the community and continues to welcome those opportunities.
Monthly Parent Support
Parent Support Group
About This Group
Monthly parenting support group for parents of the Samaritan Center. This group provides a space and time for parents to receive support, give support and have a knowledgeable and compassionate child therapist as a resource. Topics will vary based on what the parents bring to the group. Group is provided virtually via Zoom at this time.
WHEN: 4th Tuesday of each month, 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm
COST: $20 for individuals, $25 for couples
WHO: Open to all parents who are clients of Samaritan Center
REGISTER: Call 512-451-7337, option 8 or email frontoffice@samaritan-center.org
About the facilitator: Nelda Carpenter, LCSW is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who has been with Samaritan since 1998. She has many years of experience working with diverse populations of children, teens and adults in various professional settings. Years of volunteer experience with children, teens and families related to spiritual development magnified for her the importance of addressing the totality of mind-body-spirit in her professional work and she feels goals are best met when physical, emotional and spiritual aspects are considered in the therapeutic process.
Nelda draws from a variety of counseling theories in her practice. She works with many issues including grief and loss, trauma, abuse, marital issues, anxiety, depression, bipolar, and healing from divorce or personal hurts in families and churches. She utilizes hypnosis and EMDR to address many issues and she uses play therapy with children as young as two years of age. She recognizes the importance of laughter in healing and, when appropriate, introduces fun into therapy.
Nelda has served on the state board of Texas Association of Play Therapy. She has also spoken at retreats and presented psychoeducational workshops in the community and continues to welcome those opportunities.