SMART Foundations Course Descriptions

This 15-hour educational experience is divided into 5 Units. Each Unit combines:

• Five 2 hr. live online meetings engaging these concepts through:
  • Embodied learning exercises
  • Video reflection
  • Live demo examples
• Asynchronous didactic presentations on core concepts
• Meaningful independent activities to apply learning to your clinical setting

The course is co-facilitated by SMART Trainers. Enrollment is capped at 24 participants. This beginning level course is a prerequisite for all future SMART courses and appropriate for Mental Health professionals, Social Workers, Psychologists, Marriage and Family Therapists, Mental Health Nurses, and Psychiatrists.

Foundations of the SMART Treatment Model

• Framework of SMART
• The Hierarchy of Development and the Brain
• Senses of Self
• Foundations of Somatic Regulation and Attachment-Building

Learning Objectives

• Describe at least 2 ways Developmental Trauma impacts a child’s developing brain
• List 3 bottom-up processes in the SMART Hierarchy of Development that support higher cortical functioning
• Identify one essential function of each of the following sensory systems - Tactile, Vestibular and Proprioceptive Systems
• Describe the role of embodied play in SMART to support reworking and integration or traumatic experiences
• Define co-regulation and describe its role in somatic regulation and attachment-building.
• Recognize behavioral indicators of when a child is using auto-regulation, co-regulation and self-regulation

States and Regulation Tools

• SMART as a state-based approach
• SMART Regulation Map, Child Indicators of Integrated State, Traumatic States and Fluid Zones
• Introduction to the 7 Tools of Regulation

Learning Objectives

• Identify at least 2 behaviors that indicate when a child is functioning in an Integrated State or Traumatic States (Hyperarousal or Hypoarousal)
• Describe 2 indicators that help you recognize when the child is functioning in the Fluid Zone on the SMART Regulation Map
• Identify 3 Tools of Regulation (not equipment) as described in the SMART model and give an example of a child-based activity (e.g. handstand) as an example of each

Therapist Skills and Video Reflection

• Tending to Safety in SMART
• SMART Therapist Skills
• Role of Video and Video reflection for SMART Treatment

Learning Objectives

• Describe 3 different ways to Tend to Safety from the SMART perspective
• Explain 3 ways to adapt the physical space in a clinical setting to support Safety
• Define 3 skills unique to SMART that reflect the importance of the body in child trauma treatment
• Explain 2 reasons to your supervisor or program director how Video Reflection improves clinical work in the SMART model

Assessment and Treatment for Somatic Regulation and Trauma Processing

• Application of SMART components for Assessment
• Role of video in Assessment
• Specific coaching in how to apply skills and tools for

• • Enhancing somatic regulation
  • Processing traumatic material

Learning Objectives

• Identify 3 behavioral indicators to Track Out for when assessing for Somatic Regulation in session
• Identify at least 3 examples of non-verbal or embodied forms of traumatic expression
• Utilize the SMART Regulation Map to assess a child’s state to determine if they are re-experiencing or reworking traumatic material

Assessment and Treatment for Attachment-Building and Integration of Course Content

• Specific coaching in how to apply skills and tools for attachment building
• Integration of Trauma Processing and Attachment-building in a SMART treatment through use of discussion and clinical video
• Embodied practice using multisensory equipment to support creating new rhythms of engagement.
• Generalizing learning to home and community settings

Learning Objectives

• List at least 2 forms of embodied play to support Attachment-Building and create new rhythms of engagement
• Describe 2 different ways to involve caregivers in a SMART therapy to support generalizing new skills to daily life
• Describe the goal of the integrative process of weaving Somatic Regulation, Trauma Processing and Attachment-Building in SMART