All Webinars

The science and practice of brain health is developing at a rapid pace; there are now many ways to promote cognitive health and functioning in your middle-aged and older clients. This 2-hour workshop features clinical strategies that are (a) responsive to normative age-related changes in cognitive functioning and that also (b) support daily living that is consistent with personal values and life goals. Whether in psychotherapy, integrated primary care, or case management, behavioral health providers can help middle aged and older adults understand cognitive aging, engage in brain-healthy habits, and support decision making related to completing a cognitive evaluation. The experience of cognitive aging is embedded within social contexts and environments. Thus, this workshop guides clinicians through recommended strategies that are responsive to the needs of culturally diverse aging clients, including within the context of telehealth.

The way people think and perceive the world is at the heart of the human experience. Psychological problems often include cognitive distortions, irrational beliefs, and cognitive fusion. Cognitive interventions have gained robust research support and should be included in the toolbox of any mental health professional. When we help our clients embrace more functional ways of thinking, this is also likely to impact emotions, behavior, and other dimensions of adaptive functioning. 

This seminar will teach both cognitive conceptualization and intervention methods.  Distinct methods of cognitive formulation will be introduced that allow us to understand different parts of the cognitive experience. Dysfunctional self-talk will be highlighted as the most accessible way to approach cognitive conceptualization.  Diversity is addressed in this webinar by describing the way cultural contexts shape clients’ cognitions.
 

Video demonstrations of foundational cognitive skills drawn from Beck’s Cognitive Therapy will be used to help participants prepare for practice. These skills will address three general processes: (1) Exploration and functional analysis of current patterns, (2) Guided discovery to uncover more adaptive functioning, and (3) Enacting adaptation outside of psychotherapy. More advanced cognitive interventions will be previewed as possibilities for future professional development.
 

Although cognitive change is often an essential part of treatment, there are times when thoughts and beliefs cannot be easily modified. In this case, more recently-developed strategies related to mindfulness and acceptance may be more helpful. This seminar will prepare psychotherapists to discuss with clients when to emphasize acceptance and when to promote change.
 

This seminar is part of Level One of Training in Unified Psychotherapy (TUP), focusing on working interactively with cognition, emotion, and behavior. Instead of exclusively focusing on cognition as a point of clinical leverage, TUP encourages psychotherapists to develop a wide repertoire of skills that can be adapted to the individual needs of each client.

While you can certainly take this seminar alone, this webinar is part of a six series on Unified Psychotherapy.  Strategic Psychotherapeutics is offering a certificate in Unified Psychotherapy for those that attend each of the six webinars.  Optional discussion groups are offered after each webinar to encourage application.  Go to the Strategic Psychotherapeutics website to see the schedule for the discussion groups and more details about how to earn your certificate in Unified Psychotherapy. 

This webinar is conducted by Jeff Harris, Ph.D. and Amy Dreier, Ph.D.

Premature termination is a significant problem in psychotherapy, with deleterious impacts on both clients and therapists. For example, research shows that clients who prematurely terminate show poorer treatment outcomes, are less likely to make lasting changes in their symptoms, and are more likely to over-utilize the health care system. Research also shows that when clients end treatment prematurely, their therapists often experience a sense of failure with the loss. Additionally, repeated dropout by clients can lead to experiences of demoralization and burnout in their providers. Current estimates indicate that approximately 1 in 5 clients will drop out of psychotherapy and/or counseling prematurely. Although these numbers may differ depending on the setting and client type, almost all therapists will experience premature termination at some point in their practice. 

The purpose of this workshop is provide strategies and approaches that therapists can use to reduce premature termination in their practice. This workshop will begin with a discussion of what premature termination is and why some clients choose to end treatment prematurely. It will then cover the latest research on the frequency of premature termination and client, therapist, treatment, and setting risk factors associated with its occurrence. In the second half of this workshop, eight evidence-based strategies for reducing premature termination will be presented. These strategies include: providing role induction, incorporating preferences into the treatment decision-making process, planning for appropriate termination, providing education about patterns of change in psychotherapy, strengthening hope, enhancing motivation for treatment, fostering the therapeutic alliance, and assessing and discussing treatment progress.

According to the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, approxi­mately 10% of US adults fill one or more antidepressant prescriptions each year, with many of these prescriptions coming from non-psychiatrists. They are some of the most widely prescribed medications of our generation. As more and more patients are prescribed antidepressants and other psychotropic medications, an increased need and responsibility is raised for non-prescribing therapists to be knowledgeable enough to work more effectively with patients and their prescribers in this arena. The follow­ing webinar is intended to be an introductory course that offers general, yet comprehensive information about psy­chopharmacology, including understanding neurobiological underpinnings of how medications work, commonly pre­scribed drug categories, how to work more effectively with patients, and how to work more effectively with prescrib­ers. Unique to this webinar will be the inclusion of how to maximize treatment outcomes and effectively use collab­orative care strategies.

According to the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, approxi­mately 10% of US adults fill one or more antidepressant prescriptions each year, with many of these prescriptions coming from non-psychiatrists. They are some of the most widely prescribed medications of our generation. As more and more patients are prescribed antidepressants and other psychotropic medications, an increased need and responsibility is raised for non-prescribing therapists to be knowledgeable enough to work more effectively with patients and their prescribers in this arena. The follow­ing webinar is intended to be an introductory course that offers general, yet comprehensive information about psy­chopharmacology, including understanding neurobiological underpinnings of how medications work, commonly pre­scribed drug categories, how to work more effectively with patients, and how to work more effectively with prescrib­ers. Unique to this webinar will be the inclusion of how to maximize treatment outcomes and effectively use collab­orative care strategies.

“Excellent presentation. Presenter was very knowledgeable and thorough. No improvements needed.”-Bruce G., Counselor, Illinois

The biology of reward has been well-studied and is linked to numerous mental health diagnoses. Researchers identified an anomaly in this reward cascade called Reward Deficiency Syndrome or RDS. This anomaly and its impact on psychotherapy are less evident in psychological literature, yet it provides useful knowledge in one of the most prevalent and challenging of all mental health disorders…addiction. This seminar will help you understand the cascade theory of reward and provide you with working knowledge of RDS. You will be able to talk about how RDS affects the brain, what research has found regarding the impact of RDS, as well as discuss a model of therapy that considers highly this biological aspect of mental illness. The focus of this seminar is biopsychological and psychopharmaocological in nature.

When we joined the ranks of helping professionals, one of the last things that probably crossed our minds was what, if any, risk we would face in our careers. Would our forensic patient who had killed their parents ever corner us in a room and try to assault us? Would our inpatient teenager ever cyber-stalk us online? Would our outpatient client ever try to kill us in our office? Daunting questions to think about; however, these are the very questions that we should be addressing while also helping our client population in need. This course looks back over the past decades to review where mental health treatment has come and what about those shifts may contribute to our vulnerability in our professions; it helps identify the vulnerabilities we should be addressing; and it offers suggestions of actions we can take to protect our work, our clients, our livelihood, and our lives. In addition to receiving the training and education we need to make us the best helping professionals we can be, we also need training such as this to help protect ourselves from any harm that could come in the course of our work.

Mental health and healthcare professionals face many challenges in their everyday work, some of which are clinically more significant than others. These professionals undergo extensive training and education to learn to act in the moment, make sound decisions, and create the best plan of care for their patients and clients. Sometimes, crisis situations arise, however, and even the best-prepared professionals can feel confused or in over their head. The likelihood of a mental health or healthcare professional interacting with a potentially suicidal client in the course of their career is significant, even if that professional does not typical work with a specific suicidal population. The prevalence and significance of suicidality in all age groups additionally increases this potential. For this reason, it is imperative that all professionals understand the warning signs, myths and facts, and urgent first steps when faced with someone who is feeling suicidal.

This presentation reviews overall suicide statistics, various demographic differences, and lifelong risk factors associated with suicidal thoughts. We will examine, in-depth, key terms, do’s and don’ts on talking about suicide, and how to approach and complete a suicide risk assessment. Attendees will gain important factual information as well as new ways to approach clinical work with clients at risk for suicide.

Premature termination is a significant problem in psychotherapy, with deleterious impacts on both clients and therapists. For example, research shows that clients who prematurely terminate show poorer treatment outcomes, are less likely to make lasting changes in their symptoms, and are more likely to over-utilize the health care system. Research also shows that when clients end treatment prematurely, their therapists often experience a sense of failure with the loss. Additionally, repeated dropout by clients can lead to experiences of demoralization and burnout in their providers. Current estimates indicate that approximately 1 in 5 clients will drop out of psychotherapy and/or counseling prematurely. Although these numbers may differ depending on the setting and client type, almost all therapists will experience premature termination at some point in their practice. 

The purpose of this workshop is provide strategies and approaches that therapists can use to reduce premature termination in their practice. This workshop will begin with a discussion of what premature termination is and why some clients choose to end treatment prematurely. It will then cover the latest research on the frequency of premature termination and client, therapist, treatment, and setting risk factors associated with its occurrence. In the second half of this workshop, eight evidence-based strategies for reducing premature termination will be presented. These strategies include: providing role induction, incorporating preferences into the treatment decision-making process, planning for appropriate termination, providing education about patterns of change in psychotherapy, strengthening hope, enhancing motivation for treatment, fostering the therapeutic alliance, and assessing and discussing treatment progress.