How They Work, Why They Work
In addition to individual, couple and group psychotherapy, The Legacy Center offers a variety of intensive workshops to help participants grow and heal. Three to five days in length, these workshops include Legacy I and II, Couples Workshop, and Sexual Healing I and II.
Treatment Model
Although the focus of each workshop is different, the theory underlying all our workshops is the same. Legacy Workshop theory holds that through the trauma of childhood abuse and neglect, we take on and carry the feelings and beliefs of the abuser. The experience of abuse in childhood is the root of adult codependency, low self-esteem, and addictive/compulsive behaviors.
Treatment consists of identifying the abuse (without blaming parents or caregivers), separating your identity and beliefs from that of the abuser, receiving group reinforcement to validate your experience of reality, and releasing your carried feelings of anger, shame, fear, and pain. Methods are modeled after those recommended by Pia Mellody, consultant to the Legacy Workshop Program.
Ideally, participants will be involved in on-going therapy or a 12-step program, and will want to enhance that experience. All work is done in a safe and nurturing environment of 4–6 people, led by trained psychotherapists. Each workshop includes a creative combination of lecture, group interaction, personal work, and experiential exercises.
Legacy Workshops
- Legacy I (3 days). Identifying and resolving childhood trauma, through age 17.
- Legacy II (3 days). Identifying and resolving adult trauma.
- Couples Workshop (4 days). Resolving couples’ trauma; strengthening communication skills and emotional intimacy.
- Sexual Healing I (5 days). Early stage recovery: educating about sexual addiction – its roots, treatment, and relapse prevention.
- Sexual Healing II (5 days). “Second stage” recovery – building a healthy, sober lifestyle; dealing with selfcare, relationships, and complacency in recovery