Dusty Miller’s work has been successfully implemented in a variety of settings, including the Western Massachusetts sites for the national SAMHSA Women and Violence Project. Dr. Miller provides training in the U.S. and Canada in trauma and addiction-centered projects, specializing in working with low income women, men and adolescents.  Dr. Miller has worked with the Hazelden Foundation, a leading US agency specializing in addictions, and is a frequent speaker at the Renfrew Center Foundation conferences, the annual Psychotherapy Networker Symposium, The New England Institute Cape Cod Summer Symposium and Santa Fe Symposium, and regional conferences throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Whether delivered by hand grenade or by hurricane, by fist, machete, or burning plane, traumatic experiences are universal across cultures, and so are attempts to heal them. How well those attempts succeed depends in part on the stories a culture tells itself about victimizers and victimhood—about recovery, wholeness, and resilience. This is particularly true of intimate family violence, which broke into the light in the late 20th century, casting ripples that continue to this day.  We clinicians are still feeling our way toward a middle path, one that avoids the extremes of disempowering pity and “buck-up” denial. Our clients (and if we’re survivors, we ourselves) still struggle to negotiate what sociologist Ervin Goffman called “spoiled identity”: the isolating experience of being cast outside the circle of “normal” life. Helping a client move from subjugation by the worst thing that might ever happen to a nuanced and effective life has turned out to be more complex—and oddly enough, more commonplace than many therapists imagine.

The Workshop:

This presentation helps participants understand and work with the co-occurrence of trauma and addiction, using exercises for healing mind, body and spirit.  Dr. Dusty Miller describes her treatment model, which blends psycho-educational, process and expressive activities.  She also teaches methods for strengthening spiritual practice from her workbook for trauma survivors, Your Surviving Spirit: A Spiritual Workbook for Coping with Trauma.

Present and Past Trainings
ATRIUM Institute
Individual consultations and supervision
Psychotherapy Networker Symposium
New England Educational Institute
Hazelden Foundation
Retreat Healthcare Continuing Education Series
Renfrew Center Foundation
New England Society for the Treatment of Trauma and Dissociation
Leading Edge Seminars