Workshop Descriptions
This presentation focuses on the effects on children and adolescents who have been exposed to both direct and indirect family violence / domestic abuse. The presentation highlights the dynamics specific to family violence / domestic abuse, identifies the role of society in historically and currently fostering the continuation of violence within family units, discusses theoretical models and general characteristics relating to this population’s developmental issues, identifies current community resources to assist perpetrators and victims of family violence, and proposes areas for future services to assist young individuals impacted by the continuing crisis of family violence. Upon completion of this seminar, participants should be able to explain of the lack of literature in this area of research, provide current and relevant family abuse statistics, determine the physical, mental, and emotional impact direct and indirect abuse has on children throughout their lifespan, listen to a case-study and process through an interactive discussion and identify ways to intervene in order to prevent abuse.
The Addicted Brain: Contemporary issues in treatment of drug and alcohol addiction
Drugs and alcohol abuse are major problems facing our society. Proper early recognition and treatment planning is critical to successful treatment. Many studies have shown that an addict's brain functions differently from a non addict's brain once the addictive behavior has set in. Participants will learn about screening techniques for early recognition of substance abuse, the dopamine theory of addiction and role of reward pathways in development of addiction and various psychosocial, medical and adjunctive treatments of various chemical abuse and dependence disorders.
Adolescent Sexuality: Those First Decisions
This workshop will focus on the dynamics of assisting the adolescent client in
sexual decision-making. Various models and approaches to sex counseling
will be discussed, as well as those sexual variables that are specific to
teenagers.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
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Recognize and utilize the PLISSIT model in working with adolescents
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Create a more comfortable personal response in sexual counseling sessions with adolescents
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Understand the importance of such issues as masturbation, sexual fantasy, boundary setting, homosexuality, etc. in working with adolescents
Depression Conundrum: Lifelong management of clients with mood disorders
Depressive mood disorders are common in clinical practice of counseling. Therapists need to understand that once a client goes through a depressive episode, chances are high that other episodes will follow. Untreated or partially treated mood disorders cause high level of morbidity and mortality in depressed clients. Clients and therapists often fail to recognize that the goal of treatment should be remission and prevention of future episodes or early recognition so that effective treatment strategies can be quickly implemented. In this workshop participants will learn about the cyclic recurrent nature of depressive disorders across the life cycle, common psychological, biological and social factors leading to relapse of Depression and the importance of relapse prevention and effective management of clients. Psychosocial and medication-related issues will be discussed and participants will learn about psychotherapeutic management of depression, with special emphasis on different populations and age groups.
Dreams in Therapeutic Practice
What are dreams, and why do we have them? Are they really therapeutic? Should counselors ignore them, interpret them or just hope they go away? In this class we will discuss these issues and many others that will serve as an introduction for mental health workers to understand dreams. Attendees will be introduced to dream material as a therapeutic resource and learn some rudimentary do's and don'ts in integrating dream material into a counseling session.
Helpful hints on how to be a better and ethical witness.
A review of the myriad of legal and ethical disclosure requirements mental health professionals must comply with in providing mental health services to clients.
An intensive look at how some mental health professionals get into trouble and helpful information to avoid becoming one of them.
This seminar is an opportunity for participants to gain experiential skills and factual knowledge regarding the impact of addictive disorders on the family unit. Although all addictive behavior will be addressed, this course will focus on substance abuse. The participant will be introduced to various means of reaching and understanding clients on a deeper level. The workshop is designed for licensed mental health or addition professionals or those seeking licensure, not for those who are in treatment for their own life problems related to addictive behavior. (School counselors may also benefit, but several of the techniques taught may not be appropriate for the academic setting.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
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Understand the effects of addictive behavior on the family and how these effects can negatively impact the family
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Understand how the developmental needs of children in the addictive family can be impacted
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Learn usable skills to facilitate change in those affected by addiction
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Be able to promote communication and positive change among family members
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Increase self-awareness to minimize burn-out and negative impact from working directly with addicts and the addictive family
Girls’ Relational Aggression: Sugar and Spice, but Not So Nice
Kicking, punching, and dousing with all manner of foul substances-- and the perpetrators are girls! If a male stereotype of male aggression exists, then so does a female stereotype of kindness and caring. Females can be just as ruthless, if more subtle and out of view of adults when they deal misery through body language, gossip, and ostracism. Learn how to identify and employ effective strategies.
Healing the Hurting Child: The Essential Dimensions of Child-Centered Play Therapy
This presentation will focus on the rationale for play therapy, structuring the relationship in the playroom, the concept of “Being With” a child, the four healing messages that are needed by a child who is hurting, returning responsibility to the child, and the play therapist’s language of facilitating change in the child. Video excerpts will be used to highlight the development of the play therapy process. There will be a time for “Questions about play therapy you have always wanted to ask.” Following the presentation, participants should be able to 1) identify four healing messages needed by children; 2) make two responses that return responsibility to children; 3) identify three characteristics of reflective responding in play therapy.
The Healing Power of Art Therapy in the Treatment of Trauma
Words alone are often inadequate to describe the experience of a traumatic event or an overwhelming disaster. When such events lead to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), art therapy can be a powerful tool to provide to clients of all ages. Art therapy interventions alleviate the symptoms of PTSD such as intrusive recollections, disturbing thoughts, nightmares or sleep problems, difficulty with concentration, and problems with dissociation. Participants will also learn about ethical and legal considerations specific to the use of art therapy. This seminar will include lecture, case presentations, video, art-making and group discussion.
Although the HIPAA Privacy Rule has been in effect for several years, many practitioners are not fully compliant with, and knowledgeable of, its requirements. This workshop will discuss what every practitioner should know about the Privacy Rule including major provisions, requisite forms, and how the Rule is enforced.
The lesser known of the two HIPAA body of rules, the Security Rule imposes very specific requirements applicable to all healthcare professionals who electronically transmit, receive or store patient healthcare information. This workshop will discuss what every practitioner should know about the Security Rule including major provisions, requisite forms, and how the Rule is enforced.
Juvenile Onset Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar diagnosis seems to be the newest "designer" trend in mental health. This session offers an overview of Juvenile Onset Bipolar Disorder, symptoms, treatment strategies, and realistic goals for families and/or school personnel. Management suggestions and resources will be shared.
Learning the Art &
Science of Negotiation: What counselors need to know about interest-based
problem-solving
Counselors work with human problems and know very little about
interest-based negotiation. This course will examine the essentials of
interest-based negotiation and how it can be used effectively in resolving
conflict and problems. It will provide mental health professionals with
additional tools for working with and advising clients and in resolving
conflicts in their personal lives and practices.
Marketing and Management Skills for Mental Health Practice
This course will be presented over two days (four hours each day) with Day One focused on management issues. Management issues will include practice options, office administration, forms, risk management, insurance and billing options, contracting, communicating with third party payors, cash handling, accounting safeguards, ethical considerations, file management and documentation, private-related information, and general business skills for the beginning practitioner. Day Two will focus on marketing skills and strategies including discussion of marketing approaches, developing a personal plan for target audiences, payment options, treatment specialties, and geographic necessities. The class will cover the HMO vs. self-pay options, developing a marketing plan, options for marketing, personal contacts, networking, and tools and techniques for marketing. The course is specifically designed to accommodate the needs of practitioners at the masters or doctorate of psychology/counseling levels as well as graduate students to assist with the transition to private practice.
Media’s Influence on Sexual Respect and Abuse
How much of an effect do media have on how we treat each other? Does it impact the sexual respect that we show? Does it contribute to sexual abuse? This presentation will discuss this trend, its effects, and appropriate intervention methods that are also preventative techniques in order to address head-on media’s influence on sexual respect and abuse. Upon completion of this seminar, participants should be able to recognize sexual disrespect in the media, define sexual respect, consent, coercion, and assault, provide current and relevant sexual abuse statistics, determine the physical, mental, and emotional impact sexual abuse has on individuals throughout their lifespan, listen to a case-study and process through an interactive discussion and identify ways to intervene in order to prevent sexual disrespect, abuse, or violence.
Parent/Caregiver-consultations: How to Communicate Effectively with Caregivers of Minor Clients
For a lot of therapists working with minors, having effective parent/caregiver consultations can prove to be very challenging. Some of the challenges include the following: how to provide useful feedback to caregivers without breeching the minor client’s confidentiality; what feedback is useful to caregivers; how to sort out age-appropriate developmental behaviors from behaviors that possibly indicate concern; (for child clients) how to accurately extrapolate what the child does in the play session to what is occurring in real-life; (for adolescent clients) to what level of information is confidentiality maintained; and how to make concrete suggestions to caregivers regarding clinical observations of their child in therapy. Effective parent/caregiver-consultations not only help the caregiver feel connected and invested in the therapeutic process but help the therapist in the conceptualization of the therapeutic process with minor clients. Following the workshop, participants should be able to employ ten strategies in building a strong relationship with parents/caregivers, establish goals for caregiver consultations, discussing the developmental issues that impact minor clients in therapy and how this could affect the caregiver consultation, give useful feedback to caregivers without violating the confidentiality of a minor and identify ten mistakes to avoid in conducting caregiver consultations.
Play Therapy: A Way to Counsel Children Using their Language
With the National statistics reflecting an increase of children in need of counseling, mental health practitioners find themselves needing to embrace another way of intervening with their potential child clients than traditional talk therapy. Research supports the use of play therapy with children as an effective and developmentally appropriate therapeutic approach. Play therapy is utilized to provide the child with a concrete means of expressing and communicating thoughts, feelings, and concerns through an innate language (i.e., play). Upon viewing video clips of examples, participants will observe the power and effectiveness of using play therapy with their child clients. Participants will learn the importance of play for young children, an overview of the supportive research demonstrating the effectiveness of play therapy, an overview of the supportive research demonstrating the effectiveness of play therapy, a basic understanding of the attitude, skills, and play items needed to facilitate the play therapy process across settings, the general process of child-centered play therapy (i.e., relationship establishment, working stage, and termination stage, an overview of symptomotology/diagnosing and how that relates to the play therapy process and how to involve caretakers in the play therapy process.
Pre-adolescent Counseling: Creatively Working with those Difficult Ages!
Preadolescence refers to children between the ages of 9-12—and is a stage in human growth that involves significant change along every developmental continuum. The turmoil brought about by these changes for preadolescents is indicative of recent statistics that rate suicide as the third most common cause of death for preadolescents. Mental health professionals can experience an interesting quandary in trying to employ skills to effectively counsel this age-range. This workshop will provide creative, helpful ideas and techniques to facilitate relationship-building, verbal expression, and symptom reduction in counseling with preadolescents. Participants will learn a developmental perspective to explain the challenges of preadolescence, the challenges that caregivers often experience in parenting a preadolescent child and creative therapeutic techniques to utilize in counseling preadolescent children effectively.
Psychological Perspectives in the Role of Forgiveness Counseling
This workshop purports to explore recent research and clinical expertise to understand the efficacy of forgiveness and when to adapt it in a therapeutic setting.
The Role of the MHP in Collaborative Law Cases
Collaborative Law is a voluntary dispute resolution process originally developed by a family law attorney who had become disenchanted with the traditional style of litigation. Often court battles became so bitter and destructive that wounds between the parties never healed. In an effort to alleviate the emotional scars and financial hardships of divorcing couples, the collaborative process was born. Mental health professionals (MHP’s) are often brought into these cases to work with parties and their attorneys on communication, parenting plans and other issues. The MHP’s training and experience has proven tremendously beneficial in this process. Attendees will become familiar with the basic tenets of the collaborative law process, the role of the mental health professional in this process, fees typically charged by participating MHP’s and information on how to become trained in the collaborative process. In this competitive professional environment, MHP’s need to be open to broadening their income earning opportunities.
This workshop is designed to give
practicing counselors some basic approaches to addressing sexual problems and
sexual disorders that often arise in working with clients. The focus will
be on sexual experiences as a part of life experiences, and the development of
the skills and tools necessary to strengthen positive relational functioning in
a therapeutic setting where sexuality is an issue.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
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Articulate a conceptual framework regarding sexuality counseling and therapy
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Better understand the nature of personal sexual background in relation to therapeutic style, approach, and theory
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Apply various models of theoretical intervention to problematic therapy situations
Solution-Focused Brief Therapy and Adult Abuse
This presentation will give you an interactive insight into the forms of adult abuse and domestic violence, the intervention strategies used for both perpetrators and victims, and what is being done to help beat the battering cycle. Upon completion of this seminar, the participant should be able to identify and understand the batterer’s value system of power and control, REAL causes of domestic violence, multiple forms of abuse, intervention strategies, counseling format and curriculum, Domestic Violence programs and participants and interactive activities to understand core belief change process.
Strengthening Families by Stopping the Cycle of Abuse
We talk about the awfulness of child abuse. We know about the prevalence of domestic violence. But how much do we discuss the tremendous impact that indirect abuse of parents' domestic violence has on their children? Over one-third and possibly up to half of our nation's children have witnessed at least one, if not repeated, episodes of violence between their parents. This presentation will discuss this trend, its effects, and appropriate intervention methods that are also preventative techniques in order to stop the cycle of abuse for those children's futures. Upon completion of this seminar, participants should be able to explain of the lack of literature in this area of research, provide current and relevant family abuse statistics, determine the physical, mental, and emotional impact direct and indirect abuse has on children throughout their lifespan, listen to a case-study and process through an interactive discussion and identify ways to intervene in order to prevent abuse.
An overview of the law confronting clients in family law cases and the ethical issues that mental health practitioners often face in working with these clients.
Treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
This workshop will provide an overview of evidence-based treatment techniques for OCD. OCD is a heterogeneous disorder and symptoms can be difficult to distinguish from other disorders. This poses a challenge for clinicians in successfully assessing and treating OCD. Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) strategies will be reviewed. Common challenges to treatment will be addressed along with interventions to overcome them. Participants will learn specific methods for assessing OCD and gain knowledge of empirically supported intervention strategies. Participants will also learn strategies for managing the unique challenges associated with treating OCD.
Learn the effectiveness of hypnosis to help clients overcome emotional blocks, undesirable behaviors/habits, negative self-talk, etc. Participants will experience the use of self-hypnosis to heighten their own responses to stress in a very demanding profession.
Working with Adolescents in Counseling: Tools and Tricks of the Trade
Adolescence is a marked time of challenge, change and need adjustment. In Counseling with adolescents, mental health practitioners often experience these challenging dynamics. With a solid developmental understanding of adolescents, clear boundary setting, and forethought into potential difficult moments, working with adolescents in counseling can be less challenging and even rewarding! Participants will learn The various developmental issues unique to the adolescent spectrum (i.e., identity, sexuality, cognitive development, peer needs, etc.), difficult and intense behaviors that may be occurring during adolescence (e.g., self-injurious behavior(s), suicidal ideation, eating-disorders, gender identity disorders, etc.), potentially awkward moments in working with adolescents—and how to handle those moments ethically and legally (e.g., confidentiality issues, resistance in adolescence, etc.), an overview of symptomotology/diagnosing and how that relates to the play therapy process and how to involve caretakers in the process or working with adolescents.
Working with Clients and the Culture of Poverty
Most counselors and educators come from a middle class background and are baffled when strategies and techniques fail to get desired results with impoverished students. Based on Dr. Ruby Payne's research, learn about the hidden rules that differ between classes, the poverty-related behaviors and mindsets that affect learning, differences between situational and generational poverty, and intervention tools to increase student success. By understanding how belief systems of different classes impact communication and goals, students can be empowered with knowledge and skills that open doors.