Hello PDA Professionals and happy summer!

I’m pleased to announce the next Clinical Discussion which will be held on:
Friday July 24th at 3pm.

Facilitating is my colleague Laurie Sparks-Dennison, LISW. I’m looking forward to hosting and supporting the discussion along with her.

The topic emerged from our most recent coffee and connection as we shared our process of building a PDA practice. We talked there about where and how we begin, who we focus on, how we best use ourselves, how we talk to schools and communities and how we build our confidence. This felt like an important clinical discussion and Laurie agreed to do a short teaching on:

How do you build a PDA practice with confidence?

If experienced in your PDA practice, come and share with others! Looking for a confidence boost or just a good conversation about building practice, Laurie is a social work researcher, supervisor, and therapist and will teach how to use your personal knowledge and clinical strengths, how to actively assess your growing edge and offer suggestions for building your confidence.

Laurie and I will then facilitate a discussion on the unique strengths and challenges PDA professionals face when supporting PDA parents and families. Share what it means to YOU to build your practice and help other PDA families. Most of us care about this for reasons important and special to us. We get it. Come and be part of the community conversation.

About Laurie: I first met Laurie at coffee and connections last winter as Melinda Stewart and I first began to host these gatherings. She studied with Dr. Julie DeFilippo and I in our winter study group and I’m continuously impressed with her humor, authentic voice and professionally incisive clinical conceptualizations. She herself has extensive social work experience and personal connection to PDA so has a unique take on building a PDA affirming practice.

A little bit about Laurie from Laurie:
Hey, I’m Laurie and I’m a neurodivergent therapist and have always been drawn to other humans who march to the beat of their own drum, live on the fringes, and go off the beaten path. I approach support through a trauma-informed, PDA/ neuro-affirming, gender-affirming and culturally sensitive lens with a goal to meet people where they’re at and help folx build a life that’s meaningful to them. I’m also fully EMDR and Reiki I/ II trained and a Registered Yoga Teacher with an obsession for making therapy feel safe and accessible for everybody.

We hope you can join us for what will be a nourishing and supportive clinical conversation. Follow this google calendar invite to RSVP and receive the Zoom link.

https://calendar.app.google/tDTJMevMMSCuB5md7

Kindly,

Elise Jacobson, LICSW
Private practice, expertise, PDA
Founder, PDA Therapy Collaborative
Social Work Practice Teacher