Training, Education & Experience

STACEY K. WOOD, MACP, LMFT
License #83624
www.staceykwoodlmft.com
Office: 831.298.0019   email: [email protected]

EDUCATION

~ M.A. Counseling Psychology, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, 2008 (Specialization: Creative Expression, Focus: Somatic Psychology)

~ B.A. Criminal Justice, California State University, Stanislaus, 2004
   (Concentration: Corrections / Specialization of Study: Childhood Sexual Abuse)

PROFESSIONAL TRAINING

• Internal Family Systems: Level 2 Intensive Training: 32 hours - Experiential and didactic training which concentrated on the challenges of treating clients with extremely protective systems or who have experienced childhood trauma. Focused on expanding knowledge of essential processes unique to the IFS model, such as working with internal polarizations, working with dangerous firefighters, and the unburdening process. Emphasized the importance of the therapeutic relationship by deepening participants awareness to their own parts and systems; expanded knowledge of the model; emphasized the importance of the Self in both the client and therapist and included many opportunities for self-exploration and integration of experience.

• Internal Family Systems Therapy, Level 1: 108 hours - Internal Family Systems: an evidence-based theory of multiplicity of mind, with reorganization and renegotiation of the internal family system of an individual as the ultimate goal. Self-regulation, self-awareness, inner-conflict management, self-compassion skills, tracking, and mindfulness practices.

• Internal Family Systems: Developing Intimacy with the Self: 6 hours, Richard Schwartz, PhD: 1 day workshop focused on deepening intimacy within ourselves and in our intimate relationships, and deepening and expanding knowledge of the model. Included guided educational meditations and group discussion.

• Internal Family Systems: Couples Counseling: 7 hours, Richard Schwartz, PhD. 1 day experiential and didactic workshop learning IFS skills utilized in working with couples. Included lecture, study, and group discussion regarding the differences and challenges found in working with couples in comparison to individual clients.

• Mindful Self-Compassion: Core Skills Training: 52 hours, Christopher Germer, PhD, Kristin Neff, PhD. Two 5-day intensives in mindfulness, self-compassion, self-kindness, and acceptance. Training included: Self-reflection exercises, educational lectures, mindfulness and self-compassion meditation, and both somatic and awareness exercises.  

• Sensorimotor Advanced Trauma Training: Complex Trauma and Dissociative Disorders: 50 hours, Dr. Janina Fisher. A mindfulness based approach, which addresses challenges of stabilization in complex trauma and dissociative disordered clients. Increasing client’s capacity for mindfulness and bottom-up regulation, and becoming a neurobiological regulator using somatic attunement and interactive regulatory techniques; working with orienting and defensive responses in dissociative and dysregulated clients, resolving inner conflicts which impede boundaries and defenses.

• Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Level 2: Development, Attachment, and Trauma Treatment: 100 hours, Pat Ogden Ph.D. Training focused on traumatic versus developmental wounding, attachment issues, dependency and differentiation, character development and defense mechanisms; dissociation, somatic tracking, regressed ego states, and the therapeutic relationship.

• Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Level 1: Training for the Treatment of Trauma: 100 hours, Dr. Janina Fisher. A mindfulness based approach to hierarchical information processing dynamics, traumatic memory, somatic resourcing, dissociation, boundaries, orienting and defensive responses, somatic interventions, self-regulation, preventing retraumatization, and emotional/cognitive reframing.

• The Body Keeps the Score: Mind, Brain, and Body in the Transformation of Trauma: 12 hours, Bessel van der Kolk, M.D. and Peter A. Levine, Ph.D. Exploration of the implications of recent research in the neurosciences, from how the brain/body process emotion, to an understanding of effective therapeutic action. 

• EMDR Basic Training (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing): 20 hours, Gerald Puk, PhD: 3 day workshop (1 of 2 - Training still in progress): Experiential and didactic training in EMDR, which accelerates the treatment of a wide range of pathologies and developmental patterns related to disturbing events and present life conditions.

• Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction: 28 hours, Patrick Thornton, LMFT. 8 week course teaching the skills and model of MBSR. Included lectures, guided meditation, preparatory homework and experiential projects, as well as reflection time to deepen our experience and understanding of MBSR. Also included group discussion.

• Pathways Home Health and Hospice: 26 hours, Various trainers. Training focused on how to work with clients in hospice care, the stages of pre-bereavement and post bereavement. Bereavement services, counseling, the dying process, the grief process, phone counseling for bereft clients, and volunteerism. 

• Gestalt Workshops (4): 52 hours, Mariah Fenton Gladis, LCSW. Experiential workshops blending individual, didactic, and group Gestalt work and spiritual practice including ‘Hot-Seat’ work.

• Communication in Relationships Workshop: 14 hours, Various trainers. Emotional release work, authentic communication, active listening, and accountability versus blame.

CLINICAL AND RELATED EXPERIENCE

• Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist in Private Practice, Carmel Valley, CA - Current

Providing counseling to Individuals and Couples presenting with a variety of concerns and diagnoses including: anxiety, depression, relationship struggles, improving communication & listening skills, perfectionism/self-criticism, mood disorders, trauma, personality disorders, and bereavement. Specializations include working with: Self-criticism/perfectionism, anxiety, depression, trauma, PTSD, empowerment, and bereavement.

• MFT Intern Private Practice, Pacifica Counseling, Fresno, CA. January 2014-November 2014

Provided on-site and tele-therapy to adults and couples in a private practice environment. Clients presented with a multitude of issues including emotional abuse, fear of intimacy, PTSD, trauma, boundary development, suicidal ideation, self-harming behaviors, anxiety, depression, and various personality disorders.

• MFT Intern Private Practice, Center for Personal & Relational Development, CA. August 2013-January 2014

Provided on-site counseling services and tele-therapy to adults and couples in Fresno and Santa Rosa for a not-for-profit start-up organization in a private practice/satellite office setting. Clients presented with various issues and including perfectionism, grief, eating issues, abuse relationships with various intimates, depression.

• Adjunct Faculty/Professor, Sofia University/Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Palo Alto, CA. January 2009-February 2013.

Taught an intensive 2 day weekend class titled “Death and Dying” for both the daytime and evening Master’s programs. Responsibilities included: Syllabi creation, textbook selection, assignment creation, assessment and evaluation of student assignments and performance, grading;. Students were educated in various areas related to death and dying including but not limited to: pre-bereavement psychological care and process of family, friends, and patient; the death and dying process; common grief experiences; normalizing grief; tools for sitting with a grieving client; developmental, cultural, religious, spiritual, ethnic and gender differences within the grief process; ‘normal’ vs. ‘complicated’ grief; how to utilize creative expression, mindfulness, and somatic work with grief; group process, and identifying the ‘at-risk’ bereaved. 

• MFT Intern Private Practice, Central Valley Counseling Center, Fresno, CA. December 2011-August 2013

Provided therapy to adolescents, families, couples and individual adults in a private practice setting. Carried a caseload of 15-30 clients presenting with relationship, self-esteem, boundary issues, bereavement, and adjustment issues; suicidal ideation, self-criticism, stress management, anxiety, depression, trauma, interpersonal problems, and PTSD. Duties included: diagnosis (when indicated), record keeping, research of available services, report writing, scheduling, fee-setting, marketing, county referrals and administrative duties.

• MFT Intern Private Practice, Stewart Psychological Services, Fresno, CA. May 2010–November 2011

Provided therapy to children, adolescents, families, and adults in a private practice environment. Carried caseload of 8-12 clients, who presented with behavioral and adjustment issues, suicidal ideation, depression, anxiety, trauma, interpersonal problems, and PTSD. Duties included: diagnosis, treatment planning, record keeping, research of available services, report writing, charting, scheduling, fee-setting, marketing, attending events to promote services, county referrals, and administrative duties.

• MFT Intern, Pathways Home, Health & Hospice, Sunnyvale/Oakland, CA. August 2007–September 2009.

Provided brief and long-term therapy to a culturally and clinically diverse population seeking counseling for interpersonal and attachment issues, anxiety, trauma, depression, and bereavement. Responsibilities included: individual, couples, family, and group therapy; assessment and treatment of Axis 1 and Axis 2 disorders, suicide assessment; bi-monthly tele-therapy with up to forty phone-clients; participation as a team member within an interdisciplinary group (IDG) of doctors, social workers, and nurses to monitor, coordinate, and improve client care; creation of multimedia and creative expression workshops; pre-bereavement counseling; charting, documentation, county referrals, and administrative duties. 

• Conference Director, American Criminal Justice Association: Region One Conference – “Childhood Sexual Abuse”, Modesto, CA. November 1996–January 1998.

Relevant responsibilities included: Topic selection and design; planning and execution of four day event attended by 200 people from 3 different states; recruitment of on-call therapists for conference participants; management and delegation of 50 people; speaker procurement, conducting public interviews for print media; community outreach, fundraising, and public speaking regarding the myths and taboos of sexual abuse.

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

• California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists State Membership (CAMFT).