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Detecting Deception as a Healing Tool: A U-Model™ Approach for Foster Youth: Part 1
5:45 PMWednesday, October 21 2026
4:45 PMWednesday, October 21 2026
3:45 PMWednesday, October 21 2026
2:45 PMWednesday, October 21 2026
1:45 PMWednesday, October 21 2026
11:45 AM
Dr. Rivka Edery is a skilled, committed and empathetic therapist focusing on trauma and complex PTSD. She holds a doctorate in clinical and applied psychology and is licensed as a clinical social worker. Her dedication lies in aiding individuals in overcoming abandonment issues, complex trauma and attachment challenges. Employing proven methods such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) she supports clients in their quest, for strength, health and secure connections.
Detecting Deception as a Healing Tool: A U-Model™ Approach for Foster Youth (4-Part Series), Session 1: The Neurobiology of the Protective Shield
This foundational session reframes deception in foster youth — lying, concealment, minimization — as adaptive protection rather than defiance or pathology. Grounded in Edery's (2019) review of Paul Ekman's deception research and developed through The U-Model™ (an integration of Internal Family Systems and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy), it locates protective behavior in the rapid, body-level activation of protector parts before conscious reflection. Clinicians serving current and former foster youth learn to see the protective “shield” as guarding three recurring threats especially salient in foster care — physical danger, emotional exposure, and loss of caregiver or placement — and to shift from pursuing honesty toward increasing the felt safety from which honesty can emerge. Deception is presented as one visible window into a larger protective system that also includes over-compliance, withdrawal, and hypervigilance common among youth in care.
This course is eligible for 2 continuing education credits.
This course is suitable for Psychologists, LMHCs, MFTs, Social Workers, LPCs, and Counselors.
Advanced
5:45pm Opening & Orientation; Welcome; orient to the session’s core reframe and learning objectives
6:00pm Part One: Core Concepts, Didactic presentation with clinical examples
6:55pm Break
7:05pm Part Two:Teaching Vignettes, Case vignettes with foster youth; guided discussion
7:30pm Part Three & Close, Skills practice, Monday-morning application, recap, between-session assignment, Q&A, and post-test
By the end of this training, participants will be able to:
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Reframe the leaked emotional signal (Ekman micro-expressions) as a protector part becoming visible in a young person's internal system.
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Identify 2-3 three recurring threats the protective “shield” guards in foster youth — physical danger, emotional exposure, and attachment/placement loss.