Full Course Description

Tara Brach: Radical Compassion in a Culture of Contempt (keynote address)

For more than 30 years, Tara Brach, internationally renowned mindfulness teacher and psychologist, has offered distinctive trainings for therapists that blend the traditions of Eastern meditation and Western clinical practice, integrating both emotional healing and spiritual awakening. Through her bestselling books, including Radical Acceptance and True Refuge, as well as her podcast, which receives over a million and a half downloads each month, her unique voice as a spiritual teacher has enhanced the capacity of people all over the world to bring fuller and more caring attention to issues of violence and hatred, racial injustice, equity and inclusivity, and environmental sustainability. In a culture of contempt that continuously reinforces our evolutionary tendency to create bad others, she’s dedicated her life to showing how deliberate training and practice can provide a pathway toward greater compassion and awareness.

In this address, she’ll explore how the weave of mindfulness and compassion can undo our primitive, fear-based reactivity, reveal our mutual belonging, and awaken our hearts.

Program Information

Objectives

Explore the three key dimensions of mature compassion, and ways that they are cultivated.

Copyright : 03/19/2020

Bessel van der Kolk & Dan Siegel: Has Neuroscience Lived up to its Promise? (workshop session)

Copyright : 03/19/2020

Peter Levine: The Body as Ally (keynote address)

Today somatic approaches to psychotherapy have achieved a once-unimaginable place of acceptance in the wider field of psychotherapy. And perhaps no one has been more responsible for the growing movement toward body-based therapy than Peter Levine, the developer of Somatic Experiencing, bestselling author of Walking the Tiger: Healing Trauma and many other titles, and trainer of tens of thousands of therapists around the world. His work on helping therapists master the ability to read bodies—both their clients and their own—has transformed our notions of what the power, depth, and effectiveness of trauma treatment can be.

In this address, Levine will explore the development of Somatic Experiencing and how helping clients experience a living, “knowing” body as an ally, not as a persecutor, can create a more vital and healing therapeutic experience.

Program Information

Objectives

Explore what it means to guide clients toward the experiencing of a living, “knowing” body as an ally, not as a persecutor.

Copyright : 03/19/2020

Peter Levine: The Body as Healer: Working from the Bottom Up (workshop session)

One of the keys to helping clients move beyond trauma into empowerment and mastery is to help them learn how to access safety and positive embodied resource states. This contrasts with reliving traumas and repeatedly experiencing threats that no longer exist. Learn specific tools from Somatic Experiencing for reading clients’ physical and emotional cues, while using their natural instincts to heal and rebalance their physiology and inner feelings. You’ll discover how to:

Integrate clients’ awareness of their internal experience and your observations of their nonverbal behaviors, including involuntary gestures, posture changes, and external indications of shifts in the autonomic nervous system
Develop your capacity to read your own somatic cues as a means of resonating and connecting with the client’s experience
Assess the often-fleeting physical cues of clients’ internal states that indicate crucial resources they can access as they move toward healing

Program Information

Objectives

Integrate the clients’ awareness of their internal experience and your observations of their nonverbal behaviors, including involuntary gestures, posture changes, and external indications of shifts in their autonomic nervous system.
Develop your capacity to read your own somatic cues as a means of resonating and connecting with the client’s experience.
Assess the often-fleeting physical cues of their internal states that indicate crucial resources clients can access as they move toward healing.

Copyright : 03/19/2020

Esther Perel: The Therapist as Social Catalyst (keynote address)

Copyright : 03/20/2020

Janina Fisher: Hope for Treatment-Resistant Depression: A Sensorimotor Approach to Change (workshop session)

The very nature of depression often thwarts efforts to treat it. After all, it’s difficult to change when you have no energy, no hope, and no capacity to concentrate. How can we challenge these chronic states? Using interventions from Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, this workshop will introduce ways to help clients relate to their depressive symptoms mindfully, rather than identifying with them, and to manage physical symptoms through changes in posture, breath, and energy. You’ll discover how to:

Help clients separate depressive thoughts from physical symptoms so that each can be treated separately
Counter cognitive beliefs that reinforce depressive states by experimenting with new words, new actions, and new habits
Use body-centered interventions, such as movement, to increase energy and focus in depressed clients
Facilitate development of an “antidepressant lifestyle” rather than habitual engagement in the opposite

Program Information

Objectives

Choose how educate clients about depression as a somatic state, not just a psychological state.
Employ cognitive schemas that reinforce depressive states to improve client outcomes.
Use a Sensorimotor Psychotherapy approach to understanding depression in sessions.
Use three body-centered interventions that increase energy and focus in depressed clients.
Evaluate Sensorimotor interventions that transform depressive beliefs.
Determine the use of the social engagement system and its role in evoking an internal sense of safety as it relates to treatment.

Copyright : 03/20/2020

Sue Johnson: Emotionally Focused Therapy for Individuals: Expanding the Self (workshop session)

Emotionally Focused Therapy is a well-known approach to couples treatment. But how can it translate to work with individuals? This workshop introduces EFIT (Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy), which focuses on helping individual clients shape a robust and resilient sense of self, ready to move into what Carl Rogers called “existential living.” EFIT privileges emotion and shapes corrective emotional experiences in each session to restructure negative ways of defining the self, organizing inner experience, and engaging with others. As in EFT for couples, attachment science offers a map that simplifies how we frame clients’ problems and shape their journey toward wholeness. You’ll discover:

The key elements of the attachment perspective on personality and its significance for clinical intervention
The process of change and the elements of the EFT Tango
Micro-interventions to gradually move clients into transformative moments where vulnerabilities are encountered with balance and competence
The applicability of EFIT with clients suffering from a range of symptoms and issues

Program Information

Objectives

Determine the key elements of the attachment perspective on personality and its significance for clinical intervention.
Apply the process of change and the elements of the EFT Tango in sessions.
Apply the micro-interventions used by the EFT therapist to gradually move clients into transformative moments.
Assess the applicability of EFIT for different clients with different symptomatology.

Copyright : 03/20/2020

Lori Gottlieb: When the Therapist Switches Seats (keynote address)

Copyright : 03/20/2020

Tova Rubin: Ethics in a Different Key

Ethics training can be dull. But this workshop, using The Musical of Snow White as a framework, embodies the idea that when you’re having fun, the learning is deeper.

Through hilarious songs that bring to life the “lost” narrative of Snow White’s real clinical issues, attendees will discuss tough ethical dilemmas that inevitably emerge in modern therapy settings.

Small- and large-group discussions allow for sharing best practices and as many perspectives as are in the room.

This process models how to approach ethical issues in the office: consult, consult, consult.

Program Information

Outline

The Musical of Snow White

Introduction: Snow White Backstory

Act I

Song: Crazy
Snow White Journal Entry
Song: Borderline

Vignette 1: When to Refer; Disliking a Client

Small & Large Group Discussion
Snow White Journal Entry
Song: Imago Lovin’
Snow White Journal Entry
Song: Mac the Knife

Vignette 2: To Advise or Not to Advise Bad Judgement; Cultural Differences

Small & Large Group Discussion
Snow White Journal Entry
Song: Rehab Hotel
Snow White Journal Entry
Song: Happy Dwarf

Act II

Vignette 3: Bartering

Small & Large Group Discussion
Song: Time is Up

Vignette 4: Dress Codes

Small & Large Group Discussion
Song: The Blues
Snow White Journal Entry
Song: Wake Up

Vignette 5: Falling Asleep on a Client

Small & Large Group Discussion
Song: Call You on Your Cell Phone

Vignette 6: Texting & Phone Calls During Session

Small & Large Group Discussion
Song: Sneezy

Vignette 7: Confronting Client Body Odor

Small & Large Group Discussion
Song: My Eyes Adore You

Vignette 8: Client’s Romantic or Sexual Interest in Therapist

Small & Large Group Discussion
Snow White Journal Entry
Song: Supervising Fabulously
Snow White Journal Entry
Song: Client/Therapist Relationship

Vignette 9: Concerned About Supervisees Excessive Weight Loss; Supervisor Turned Therapist?

Small & Large Group Discussion
Snow White Journal Entry
Song: Loss of Son

Vignette 10: Hugging a Client

Small & Large Group Discussion

Vignette 10, Pt. 2: Client Substance Use; Grief

Small & Large Group Discussion
Snow White Journal Entry
Song: Overdosed
Prince Journal Entry
Show White Journal Entry

Vignette 12: Continuing Treatment in the Face of Lack of Improvement

Small & Large Group Discussion

Finale

Group Song: Therapy Set You Free

Objectives

Develop competencies in processing relevant and cutting-edge ethical dilemmas and diversity issues in the consulting room.
Discuss specific best practices for how to address boundary-setting issues.
Describe professional ethics and diversity standards for mental health professionals today.
Use steps in the thinking process, the consultation process, and the documentation process that lead to ethical decision-making.
Utilize the collective experiences of course attendees via group discussion to identify ethical behaviors in response to various vignette situations for the purpose of highlighting potential ethical breaches and acceptable ethical behaviors in challenging situations with clients.
Recognize the importance of using consultation, supervision, and documentation when facing challenging situations with clients that have ethical ramifications and potential consequences.

Target Audience

Psychologists
Physicians
Addiction Counselors
Counselors
Social Workers
Marriage & Family Therapists
Nurses
Other Behavioral Health Professionals

Copyright : 03/21/2019

Dick Schwartz: IFS in Action: Leading Clients to Self-Leadership

Healing is a word derived from the German hailjan, meaning “to make whole.” To truly heal isn’t easy, since it involves reconnecting with polarized and often volatile subpersonalities, or parts within ourselves, including protectors, managers, and exiles. The Internal Family Systems (IFS) model, helps clients access an undamaged inner essence called the Self, and from this Self they learn to lovingly relate to and transform their most troubling parts. In this workshop recording, you’ll discover how to help clients transform their fragmented experience of Self.

Program Information

Objectives

Apply strategies used in IFS to contact the core Self.
Specify how to shift the role of therapist from the primary attachment figure to a container who opens the way for the client’s Self to emerge.
Use methods for transparently handling situations in which you get emotionally triggered by your client.
Analyze how to get clients’ polarized, deeply conflicted parts to negotiate with each other.

Target Audience

Psychologists
Physicians
Addiction Counselors
Counselors
Social Workers
Marriage & Family Therapists
Nurses
Other Behavioral Health Professionals

Outline

Internal Family Systems (IFS): Origins and Contacting the Core Self

Identify Diagnoses & Symptoms: Open the Way for the Client’s Self to Emerge

Access Internal Strengths & Resources for Healing

Handling Situations in Which You Get Emotionally Triggered

IFS Techniques to Get Client’s Deeply Conflicted Parts to Negotiate

Copyright : 03/22/2019

Catherine Pittman: Calming the Anxious Brain

The past decade has brought new understanding about the neuroscience behind anxiety and fear. But how many of us can communicate this knowledge to clients in a clear, engaging way that actually enhances effective treatment?

You don’t need to be a brain scientist to tap into the power of neuroplasticity and revolutionize your approach to treating anxiety. This workshop recording will explore brain-based techniques to stop the symptoms of anxiety, including panic attacks, rumination, and nausea.

Program Information

Objectives

Use examples to illustrate how the anxious brain functions and how to use that information in session to improve treatment outcomes.
Describe the role of the amygdala and cortex in maintaining anxiety disorders s for purposes of client psychoeducation.
Explain how learning about the neuroscience of anxiety can improve client engagement.
Use neurologically informed CBT techniques to help clients reduce anxious responding by making changes in both the cortex and the amygdala.

Outline

Introduction

Disclosures
Limitations
Scope of Practice
Learning Objectives

Using Neuroscience in the Treatment of Anxiety

Neuroscience & Anxiety
Neuroscience & Therapists
Using Neuroscience to Enhance Client Engagement
Treatment Goal Selection
Neuropsychologically Informed CBT
Neuroplasticity
Reconsolidation
Two Pathways to Anxiety

Understanding Anxiety in the Brain: The Amygdala Pathway

Fight, Flight, Freeze
Language of the Amygdala
Triggers Created in the Amygdala
Neuroplasticity in the Amygdala
Amygdala-Focused Interventions

Understanding Anxiety in the Brain: The Cortex Pathway

Relationship between the Cortex & Amygdala
Neuroplasticity in the Cortex
Cortex-Based Interventions

Target Audience

Psychologists
Physicians
Addiction Counselors
Counselors
Social Workers
Marriage & Family Therapists
Nurses
Other Behavioral Health Professionals

Copyright : 03/22/2019

Dan Siegel’s Wheel of Awareness Practice: Reduce Stress, Improve Functioning, Slow the Aging Process, and More

In this workshop recording, interpersonal neurobiology expert Daniel Siegel will explore how advances across a range of disciplines—including brain science, psychiatry, attachment theory, quantum physics, and spirituality, to name just a few—have expanded our conception of consciousness, and what this means for the practice of psychotherapy.

Then he’ll guide you through his revolutionary Wheel of Awareness exercise. The Wheel can be used to reduce stress, improve cardiovascular and immune system functioning, and slow the aging process. It incorporates the three pillars of mental training: focused attention, open awareness, and kind intention. This session will demonstrate how to incorporate it into therapy to cultivate more meaning and connection in clients’ lives.

Program Information

Objectives

Explore how advances across a range of disciplines---including brain science, psychiatry, attachment theory, quantum physics, and spirituality, to name just a few---have expanded our conception of consciousness, and what this means for the practice of psychotherapy.
Discover the role of “conscious awareness” in the process of psychotherapy and how therapists can guide that experience to help clients feel connected to others.
Explain the results of a systematic study of the Wheel of Awareness involving thousands of individuals and how what it can tell us about how to help clients bring more awareness into the process of change.
Describe the four parts of the Wheel and how to use them in therapy to improve clinical outcomes.
Recognize the systemic principles of chaos and rigidity and how they can help us better grasp our clients’ issues and guide them toward learning to savor the experience of life in a more balanced and fulfilling way.
Apply the Wheel in sessions to reduce clients’ stress and improve cardiovascular and immune system functioning.
Understand the role attachment play in affect regulation and how therapy can correct dysregulation.

Outline

Consciousness and Connection in Psychotherapy

The present state of humans on earth

Less than collaborative

Transformation of the path of humanity

The role of mental health in important world issues.

One framework in science

Consilience
Ways to get involved in world change

Social fields

Changing social systems.

Mindfulness

Health benefits

The triangle of human experience

What is energy?

How change occurs
Understanding the interconnection of all people

The Wheel of Awareness

Mind as an emergent aspect of embodied and relational energy flow
Integration as the optimization of the self-organizing aspect of the mind
Integrating Consciousness with the Wheel of Awareness

Discussion and Reflection

Reflecting on the Wheel as a first-person immersion, and the Ten-Thousand Person Study
Linking Subjectivity, Science, and Spirituality
Learning, Living, and Loving from the Plane of Possibility
Synthesis, Discussion, and Integration

Target Audience

Psychologists
Physicians
Addiction Counselors
Counselors
Social Workers
Marriage & Family Therapists
Nurses
Other Behavioral Health Professionals.

Copyright : 03/23/2019

Deb Dana: Polyvagal Theory in Action

At its most basic level, human communication is one nervous system responding to another, searching for signals that it’s safe to connect and flooding us with distress responses when it’s not. Polyvagal Theory has revolutionized our understanding of the complex, unconscious forces at play in our therapeutic interactions, offering a road map to help us navigate and engage this deeply embodied system. In this recording, you’ll learn how to use the five pathways of the Social Engagement System to regulate your own states and enter into fuller autonomic attunement with your clients.

Program Information

Objectives

Employ exercises designed to engage the neural circuits of your client’s Social Engagement System to improve clinical outcomes.
Catalogue moments of autonomic disconnection and find the right repair in sessions.
Create an environment of autonomic safety using the “inside, outside, and between” guide.
Use your own Social Engagement System to effectively coregulate with clients.
Assess the impact of trauma on the autonomic nervous system.

Outline

The Autonomic Nervous System

The Autonomic Impact of Trauma
Flexible vs. Rigid Autonomic Nervous System

Polyvagal Theory
3 Organizing Principles

Neuroception
Hierarchy
Co-regulation

The Social Engagement System

The Power of Eyes
Prosody
Vocal Bursts
Reciprocity-Rupture-Repair
Breath
Movement

Guiding Questions & Conclusion

Target Audience

Psychologists
Physicians
Addiction Counselors
Counselors
Social Workers
Marriage & Family Therapists
Nurses
Other Behavioral Health Professionals

Elliot Connie: Becoming Solution Focused in Therapy

Mastering Solution-Focused Brief Therapy requires practitioners to learn the deceptively simple process of asking targeted questions in session that thwart the all too common temptation for both therapist and client to focus on the problem, rather than exploring solutions. In addition to making therapy briefer and more efficient, this approach will increase your effectiveness with any client, with any issue, including depression and anxiety.

Program Information

Objectives

Identify the differences between solution-focused and problem-focused approaches.
Explain effective ways to use the Solution-Focused Approach to improve clinical outcomes with clients.
Assess the research on the Solution-Focused Approach as it relates to case conceptualization.

Outline

Attendees to this recording will leave inspired and filled with a new perspective on using the Solution Focused Approach.

Share stories of my success from my practice.
Live demonstrations of SFBT skills in action.

Attendees will come away from this recording believing that they can use this approach with any client with any problem.

Review current research to demonstrate the efficacy of SFBT
Show video examples of therapy sessions with a variety of issues highlighted.

Attendees will be reminded of the truest and most positive aspects on the human experience and how this can be leveraged in a therapy session.

Interactive exercises.
Stories of hope and resilience will be shared.

Target Audience

Psychologists
Physicians
Addiction Counselors
Counselors
Social Workers
Marriage & Family Therapists
Nurses
Other Behavioral Health Professionals

BONUS: Telehealth for Mental Health Professionals: 2-Day Distance Therapy Training

The use of technology is a common expectation of clients in today’s world (and a requirement for some clients). Providing distance therapy services makes sense for your practice, but understanding all the legal, ethical, business and in-session challenges can seem daunting.

What are all the legal and ethical risks? Is distance therapy effective? How do I even get started? – Watch this recording and get the answers to your questions!

Providing distance therapy services will allow you to gain access to more clients and provide quality care for your clients wherever they are.

By completing this Distance Therapy Training Course, you’ll obtain a complete walkthrough of the whole process. You’ll learn:

The key terminology, evidence, benefits and risks.
The unique legal and ethical concerns associated, such as privacy, security and crossing state lines.
The policies, procedures and best practices you need to know to get started and while protecting your professional liability.
How to navigate challenging telehealth business questions involving marketing, payments, billing and insurance.
Demonstrations of the technology options and strategies for how to use them effectively.

This recording will leave you feeling confident in your ability to have a successful telehealth practice!

Program Information

Objectives

Appraise the legal and ethical challenges posed by telehealth for mental health professionals in a clinical setting.
Analyze the evidence supporting the effectiveness of telemental health as it relates to clinical treatment.
Inspect the unique policies and procedures considerations for telehealth and the clinical implications.
Evaluate adaptions with telemental health for various populations to improve clinical outcomes.
Investigate the privacy, security and confidentiality concerns related to technology use in clinical practice.
Differentiate how client expectations differ for telehealth as compared to in-person therapy and what that means for clinical treatment.
Distinguish unique boundary issues that arise in a telemental health setting.
Utilize specific adaptations that are recommended for various disorders and modalities to improve clinical outcomes.
Appraise text messaging and email complications as it relates to privacy in a clinical setting.
Apply best ethical practices regarding referrals and advertising concerns as it relates to clinical practice.
Articulate the legalities of practicing across state lines via telemental health sessions.
Specify the HIPAA compliance challenges associated with telemental health and its clinical implications.

Outline

Telehealth for Mental Health Professionals: What You Need to Know Before You Get Started

The Types of Telehealth
- Synchronous Format – Live Interaction via Video
- Asynchronous Format – Transfers of Information Electronically
Evidence Supporting the Effectiveness of Telehealth for Clients and Various Populations
The Benefits and Risk for Telehealth
Recent Trends in Telehealth

Legal & Ethical Issues

Following a Code of Ethics
Legal Implications of Practicing Across State Lines
Privacy & Security
- HIPAA Compliance Concerns
- Documentation & Paperwork Issues
- Ensure Data Protection & Avoid Unintended Access/Disclosure
- The Client’s Perception of Privacy via Videoconferencing
Boundary Issues More Likely to Arise in Telehealth
Multicultural Issues in Telehealth
Technology Competence of the Clinician and Client

How to Start Your Mental Health Telepractice

Offering Your Telehealth Services – Where to Begin?
How to Introduce the Concept to Clients
Who is a Good Fit for Telehealth? Who is Not?
Administrative Responsibilities
Policies & Procedures Consideration – Protect Yourself and Your License
- Informed Consent – Unique Concerns & Best Practices
- Intake Process – Tips You Need to Know
- Emergency Plan for Telehealth
Client Interviewing & Assessment Techniques
Videoconferencing vs. Telephone
Best Practices for Professionalism
- Camera Placement, Background, Proximity & Dress Attire
- Handling Technical Issues

Important Business Aspects to Consider

Marketing Concerns with Telehealth Practice
Billing & Reimbursement Strategies – Is This Covered Under My Client’s Insurance Policy?
Payment Fee Structure Considerations
Communication of Payment Structure to Client
Professional Liability Insurance – Telehealth Covered?
Client Expectations & How They Differ Versus In-Person Therapy
Financial, Accounting & Tax Concerns
Giving and Getting Referrals – Issues for Telepractice

Choosing a Platform – What Technology is Right for You and Your Clients?

An Overview of the Various Platforms Available
Demonstrations of Key Features
How to Assess What Features are Important for You
Cost Comparisons
What Legal Assurances Do I Need from A Platform Provider?
Client Considerations When Choosing a Platform
- What Technology is My Client Using & Where From?

Demonstrations of Telehealth in Practice

A Guided Tour of How to Begin a Telehealth Videoconferencing Session
What Videoconferencing Looks Like in Practice
Key Techniques to Enhance the Telehealth In-Session Experience
Presentation Skills & Tips

Additional Technology Considerations

Text Message & Email Telehealth – Security, Privacy & Expectations
Cloud Storage – What are the legal issues?
Virtual Reality – What You Need to Know

Treatment Adaptations to Consider for Telehealth

Disorders
- Discuss Key Adjustments Recommended for Practicing Telehealth for Different Disorders
Populations
- Evidence & Best Practices for Tailoring Telehealth to a Variety of Clients
- Important Adaptations for Groups or Couples
Modalities
- Which Modalities Most Easily Apply to Telehealth & Which Could Use Adaptions

Case Studies of Telehealth Successes & Failures

Examples of the Do’s and Don’ts That Can Make or Break Your Telepractice

The Future of Telehealth for Mental Health Professionals

Possible Future New Rules & Regulations
Up & Coming Technology Trends to Be Aware Of
What Distance Therapy Might Look Like in 10 years

Target Audience

Counselors
Social Workers
Psychologists
Psychiatrists
Case Managers
Addiction Counselors
Therapists
Marriage & Family Therapists
Nurses
Other Mental Health Professionals