UC Davis Emotional Brain Training Conference

One-Day Program for Faculty, Residents, Students, Staff and the Community
U.C Davis,  Monday October 19, 2009

Emerging research in neuroscience suggests that the primary source of stress may be the brain, in particular, the wiring of the emotional brain that favors stress. The downstream effects of that wiring –– how we process stress, and the wear and tear on the body and brain from repeated episodes of stress –– may contribute to 80 percent of primary health care visits, including the treatment for cognitive, emotional, relational, behavioral and physical stress symptoms.

Important advancements in neuroscience in three areas –– neuroplasticity, attachment and stress –– have informed a method that promotes the rewiring of the emotional brain for stress resiliency. The method was developed at the University of California, San Francisco over the last 30 years. However, in the last five years, the method has been revised to reflect emerging neuroscience and become more accessible and effective. The method is based on repeatedly identifying one’s brain state on a five-point scale, then using a tool that mirrors secure attachment for that brain state to switch the brain to well-being, potentially increasing the strength and dominance of circuits that favor homeostasis and decreasing the strength and dominance of circuits that favor allostasis.

We welcome you to join us for this event to learn more about the science of the method, including describing the four rules of positive emotional plasticity and experimenting with using the EBT tools. The tools are novel and promising and more research on the method is needed. This program provides an introduction to the science and practice for those who are new to the method and an update on it for those who attended the UC Davis program on the method that was held last year. Join us if you are a researcher or clinician or would like to learn more about positive emotional plasticity.

Objectives: Participants will be able:

-        to identify the four rules of positive emotional plasticity to rewire the emotional brain

-        to use the tools for each brain state to switch the brain state toward optimal well-being

-        to describe how to identify the brain state of another and modify expectations and communications based on brain state.

Location: UC Davis M.I.N.D. Conference Center, 2825 50th Street, Sacramento, CA

Schedule:

9:30 a.m.            On-site Registration (space available)

10:00 a.m. The 4 Rules of Positive Emotional Plasticity

11:00 a.m.            Workshop: Switching the Brain from Stress to Joy

12:00 p.m.            Lunch

1:00 p.m.            Workshop: How to Break A Stress Circuit

2:00 p.m.            Reading the Brain State of Others

2:45 p.m.            Using the 1-2-3 Connect Tool: Communicating with Stressed People

3:30 p.m. Evaluation and Adjourn

3:45 p.m.            Post-workshop session for Researchers/Clinicians

4:15 p.m.              Post-workshop session adjourns

Registration:

Contact:            The Institute for Health Solutions: email Kelly@solutionmethod.org call 415.457.3331 #2

Fee:             Complimentary to UC Davis researchers, faculty, residents, students and staff.

Non-UC Davis participation: registration accepted after October 1, 2009 on a space-available basis. Fee: $85.

For research and certification in the method for clinicians: www.institutehealthsolutions.org.

Presenter: Laurel Mellin, MA, RD, Associate Clinical Professor of Family and Community Medicine and Pediatrics, Director, EBT National Research Coordinating Center, Center for Health and Community, in affiliation with the Center for Obesity Assessment, Study and Treatment (COAST), University of California, San Francisco.
Special appreciation to Dennis Styne, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, Chief of Pediatric Endocrinology,
School of Medicine, University of California, Davis and Edna Gun Utter.
Co-sponsored by the Institute for Health Solutions.