Friday Lunchtime Program: Introduction to Affect Centered Therapy, John Omaha, PhD, LMFT

Introduction to Affect Centered Therapy

Presented by John Omaha, PhD, LMFT

 1.5 CEUs

John Omaha earned his doctorate in counseling psychology at the 

During the attachment phase of development, if parenting is "good enough," the child learns skills for emotional regulation. When there are deficits in attachment, the child is vulnerable to emotional overwhelm, and trauma can compound vulnerability by emotionally loading the child who lacks the capacity to self-regulate. The vulnerable adolescent or young adult often turns to substances (i.e., drugs, alcohol, and/or food) or behaviors (such as sexual compulsivity or violent acting out) to manage overwhelming emotions. The AMST method developed by John Omaha is a set of skills aimed at recognizing, tolerating, and regulating a range of emotions using tactile alternative bilateral stimulation. Instead, the ACT approach serves to uncover and resolve childhood experiences that set the client on a trajectory toward the presenting problem. During his presentation, John Omaha will give us an overview of the AMST and ACT approaches and will illustrate his method of treatment with the case history of a client with bulimia.

John Omaha earned his doctorate in counseling psychology at the International University of Professional Studies in Hawaii for his dissertation The psychodynamic basis of chemical dependency. He currently provides psychotherapy as a licensed MFT to individuals and couples in Santa Rosa, where he has his private practice. He has trained in EMDR, Levels I and II. He is the creator of Affect Management Skills Training (AMST) and Affect Centered Therapy (ACT), and he has given workshops for EMDRIA, ISSD, APA of DC, and PESI throughout the US, in the UK, Sweden, and Australia. He is the author of Psychotherapeutic Interventions for Emotion Regulation published by Norton in 2004. His primary areas of focus in the treatment of individuals and couples are addictions, alcoholism, eating disorders, sexual compulsivity disorders, anxiety, and depression.