In recognition of WEAAD (World Elder Abuse Awareness Day), please join ElderSAFE Center, Charles E. Smith Life Communities for this virtual continuing education program. This program is designed to help mental health clinicians and laypeople deepen their understanding of the emotional dynamics within individuals who engage in abusive behaviors and those who experience abuse.

Rather than viewing the abused/abuser dynamic solely as a set of reactions and behaviors, this program will explore the experience of abuse from the perspectives of emotional need, sense-making, and the internal representation of reality. The focus will be on viewing the individual's emotional needs as the foundation of what we call the cycle of abuse. Participants will explore the archetypal response to abuse and the process of adaptation based on the individual's core emotional needs.