Donna Eden, who's been at the forefront of holistic healing for more than three decades, is the president of Innersource. She's the coauthor with David Feinstein of the bestselling books Energy Medicine, Energy Medicine for Women and The Promise of Energy Psychology.

David Feinstein, Ph.D., has been on the faculties of The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Antioch College.

Thursday, March 26, 2009
Institute
102
Laughing and Crying at the Movies
Desson Thomson
Though movies are considered part of the "entertainment industry," we generally don't go to films merely to be entertained, but to experience genuine emotion--laughter, tears, surprise, suspense, even fear. But after we walk away from a powerful movie, we rarely take the time to reflect on what caused those emotions, why that particular film "spoke" to us. What is it about Tootsie that makes us laugh or Casablanca, as we watch Bogie say goodbye to Bergman, that makes us tear up? What are the "triggers" to emotion in the movie-going experience, and why do certain movies evoke something in us akin to an actual mystical experience? In this workshop, we'll explore these and other questions, as we watch clips from a host of great movies, both funny and affecting.

Desson Thomson was a film critic for The Washington Post for 21 years. He's a film expert who addresses groups around the country on topics pertaining to films and how they're made.

Thursday, March 26, 2009
Institute
103
Seeking Wisdom in a Troubled World
Richard Moss
Many of us experience sensations of vague dissatisfaction, the loss of our authentic selves, the feeling that we're somehow invisible and unseen by others. Typically, our reaction is to control these feelings by giving them a conscious shape or name, such as inadequacy, failure, or pointlessness. But if we can learn not to flee from these feelings but rather face them wordlessly, with precise, expansive, and welcoming awareness, they can become sources of strength and wisdom--a way of coming into our true selves. In this experiential workshop, we'll use a process called The Mandala of Being to learn how to stop struggling with these feelings, fully inhabit them with body and mind relaxed, alert, and fully conscious, and experience through them the deep richness of reality in the present moment.

Richard Moss, M.D., has guided people in the use of focused awareness for more than 30 years. His books include The Mandala of Being: Discovering the Power of Awareness and The Black Butterfly: An Invitation to Radical Aliveness.

Thursday, March 26, 2009
Institute
104
Finding Your Voice
Dana LaCroix
Singing, one of the most primal forms of human communication, has been used since the dawn of history to mark life's milestones, overcome challenges, accompany rituals, and bridge the gap between the physical and spiritual worlds. Many of us yearn to express ourselves in song, yet, in our time, singing has come to be regarded as the sacrosanct territory of the professionally trained. In this workshop, you'll have the opportunity to find your own singing voice in a safe, supportive environment where uninhibited musical self-expression is the goal. Through the use of breathing exercises, traditional work songs, gospel music, musical theater games, and the exploration of rhythm, you'll have an opportunity to sing, shout, laugh, improvise, and experience the thrill of lifting your voice and blending with others in a communal celebration of song.

Dana LaCroix, is a professional singer, songwriter, and critically acclaimed recording and touring artist. She's written songs for feature films, been director of music at the New Drama School in Copenhagen, Denmark, and worked as a vocal coach at the Danish Academy of Music.

Thursday, March 26, 2009
Institute
105
Envisioning the Life You Want
Leslie Cotter
As psychotherapists, we spend so much time attending to and nurturing others that we often overlook ourselves. In this workshop, we'll spend the entire day focusing on our own lives. Using arts-based activities, including visual arts, storytelling, and theater improvisation, we'll begin by envisioning what we most want in every aspect of our lives. We'll then use approaches drawn from the life-coaching field to develop action plans to make our dreams a reality. Not only will you learn activities that focus on your strengths, gifts, and possibilities, but you'll find that you can take away skills that can make a subtle but profound shift in the way you practice your healing craft.

Leslie Cotter, M.D., a psychiatrist and psychotherapist, has extensive experience working creatively with groups. She's an executive coach for business and nonprofit leaders and leads travel/learning programs with her husband, poet David Whyte.

Thursday, March 26, 2009
Institute
106
Writing a Life
Molly Layton
Whether we're writing down well-known family stories or exploring troubling or elusive memories, the task of finding meaning--perhaps to learn lessons--is central to memoir. In this workshop, we'll be writing with this task in mind. We'll pay particular attention to several possible varieties of the first-person voice. We'll also experiment with fiction techniques in nonfiction--with some cautionary notes about their power and their peril. Come prepared with paper and pen and an inclination to read at least a little of what you write.

* Molly Layton, Ph.D., has written essays for the Psychotherapy Networker for 25 years. Her short story "What Love Is" was selected in 2007 for the Writing Aloud series at the InterAct Theater.

Thursday, March 26, 2009
Institute
107
Getting Off the Treadmill and Into Your Life
Bill O'Hanlon
The days, months, and years are slipping by, and still you feel you spend too much of your precious time at work doing too stuff you don't enjoy. But with your 401K not growing nearly fast enough, what else can you do? In this workshop, we'll explore how you can bring your life more in line with your yearnings, find greater meaning in your work, and learn how to generate income that gives you more time of your own. We'll discuss ways to use digital technology and the Internet to renovate your work life and explore out how you can spend less time working without going broke, giving you more freedom for what really matters in life--family, friends, and fun.

* Bill O'Hanlon, M.S., has given more than 2,000 workshops internationally since 1978 and coaches people to become compelling, successful presenters in his Presenter's Boot Camp. He's written or cowritten 29 books, the latest being Write Is a Verb and A Guide to Trance Land.

Thursday, March 26, 2009
Institute
108
A Day of Qigong
Patrick Dougherty
Qigong is the ancient Chinese practice, derived from Taoist traditions, of balancing one's energy to reduce stress, promote health, and slow aging. The regular practice of Qigong can help the body do what it's naturally inclined to do--heal itself and maintain good health. In this workshop, you'll learn the simple movements and breathing exercises of this tradition from a Western psychotherapist who teaches Qigong. When practiced regularly, these movements can be an antidote to emotional fatigue, burnout, anxiety, and depression, as well as a powerful aid in the healing of illness and injury. Come experience a day of energizing movement and deep relaxation.

Patrick Dougherty, M.A., is a licensed psychologist who's been in private practice for more than 30 years. He's been teaching Qigong for over 13 years, and is the author of Qigong in Psychotherapy: You Can Do So Much By Doing So Little.

Thursday, March 26, 2009
Institute
109
Therapy & the Art of Improv
Bob Taibbi
Like good improv theater, good therapy requires an ability to act and react in the moment, accept the relationship between you and the client as it is, build on the process as it unfolds, and be willing to take risks. In this workshop, we'll look at how the rules of improv can transform your practice and your life. Through guided imagery and group improv games designed to stimulate your courage and creativity, stretch your ability to trust, and encourage you to let go, you'll learn to expand your capacity to think on your feet and work positively and productively in whatever circumstances you encounter. You'll experience increased energy, discover new things about yourself, and have loads of fun. Dress comfortably and come prepared for adventure.

Robert Taibbi, M.S.W., who has 35 years of clinical experience, is the author of Doing Family Therapy and Doing Couple Therapy. He provides clinical trainings nationally and is a former member of the improv troupe The Improfessionals.

Thursday, March 26, 2009
Institute
110
The Joy of Dance
Richard Gonzalez
From the dawn of human history, the expansive experience of dance has accompanied rituals of birth, weddings, funerals, religious occasions, and significant communal events. It brings ecstatic joy in times of triumph, consoles and contributes to recovery during times of sadness and loss. In this workshop, we'll use dance to awaken our bodies and spirits, bring us into community with our fellow humans, and emotionally liberate us from inhibitions we may have carried with us from childhood. Dancing to Afro-Caribbean music, we'll explore free, unscripted movements that'll get your heart beating and attune you to the joyful dancer within. Whether you're a rank beginner convinced you have two left feet or a more experienced dancer, you'll leave feeling revitalized, exhilarated, and euphoric.

Richard Gonzalez, an interpreter, choreographer, musician, and performer, is nationally recognized as a master teacher of Afro-Caribbean folkloric and contemporary dance. He was a student of the renowned Alvin Ailey Dance Theater and Steps Dance Center.

Thursday, March 26, 2009
Institute
111
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction
Elena Rosenbaum
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBRS), the practice developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in 1986, is now taught all over the world at more than 250 medical centers. Clinical research has empirically demonstrated that MBSR techniques have significant benefits on the mind, emotional regulation, and physical health. In this day-long workshop, you'll experience the essence of this mindfulness approach. We'll explore MBSR's basic principles--authenticity, nonjudgmental attention, compassion, and loving kindness--and how you can apply them in your life. You'll learn three mindfulness techniques to practice yourself, as well as ways of incorporating them in your clinical practice to help clients reduce anxiety and depression and improve their quality of life.

Elena Rosenbaum, M.S., M.S.W., is adjunct faculty at the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Healthcare and Society and teaches at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. She's the author of Here for Now: Living Well with Cancer through Mindfulness.

Thursday, March 26, 2009
Institute
112
The Art of Watercolors
Walter Bartman
Watercolors isn't an arcane art form limited to professional artists, but a creative vehicle that can deepen the imaginative powers of anyone who dips a brush into paint and applies the colors of the imagination to paper. In this workshop, designed for novices and artists with some experience alike, you'll be introduced to the elements of this engaging medium. In the morning, we'll survey the history of watercolor and learn about a variety of artistic techniques, including composition, color use, and contrast. In the afternoon, we'll apply these techniques in painting a still life drawn from nature and experience what it means to see in a new way. Supplies are provided.

Walter Bartman is the founder and director of the Yellow Barn Studio in Glen Echo, Maryland, and the Summer Duck Studio in Tilghman Island, Maryland.

Thursday, March 26, 2009
Institute
113
Eating with Love and Soul
A (Delicious) Path to Higher Consciousness
Maureen Whitehouse
It's only too easy in America to stuff ourselves with fast pseudo-food without really tasting it, much less getting genuine physical and spiritual nourishment. In this workshop, you'll take a lip-smacking spiritual journey and discover how to turn mealtime into an occasion for deeply connecting with your body, soul, and the earth by eating with love what's grown, prepared, and served with love. Together we'll explore ancient diets that rejuvenate and heal, and address the practical issue of preparing wholesome food without spending hours doing it, focusing on simple, yet dynamic changes in the way we select, prepare, and eat meals that'll increase our vibrancy and personal energy. You'll learn how to deepen your spiritual connection to the world as you practice bringing your sixth sense--the soul--to the experience of eating.

Maureen Whitehouse, a former international fashion model, feature reporter, and talk show host, is the founder of Axiom Inc., which offers programs and resources for conscious living. She's the author of the bestselling, award-winning Soul-Full Eating.

Thursday, March 26, 2009
Institute
114
Beyond the Snapshot
Charlee Brodsky
Digital cameras have made it so easy to snap pictures that we often end up with hundreds of photos on our computers--many of which aren't inherently interesting. But beyond taking pictures of relatives, friends, cute kids, dogs, and pretty sunsets, how can we use photography to make new discoveries about the world and teach ourselves to "see" in more original, imaginative ways? In this workshop, we'll review the principles of creative photography, including how to make the best use of the many features of digital cameras. We'll then go on a field trip through Washington, taking photographs with an eye to creating arresting, unexpected, dramatic, or intriguing pictures. When we reconvene after lunch, we'll share our images, discuss our experiences, and learn some features of editing software that can heighten the impact of our photos.

Charlee Brodsky, M.F.A., is a professor of photography at Carnegie Mellon University. Her most recent book, I Thought I Could Fly: Portraits of Anguish, Compulsion, and Despair, is a collection of 36 narratives of individuals' experiences of mental illness.

Thursday, March 26, 2009
Institute
115
Solitude as a Call to Wholeness
Florence Falk
In this day and age, when people of all generations seem to be plugged in with each other or with an entertainment device practically 24/7, the thought of being by yourself, in solitude, feels more than a little unnerving. In this experiential workshop, we'll start off examining the damaging myths and prejudicial assumptions about being alone and the implicit shame of being considered "solitary." We'll then explore the possibilities for self-discovery that solitude offers. Using guided meditations, group discussion, reflection, and theater-based exercises, we'll explore aloneness as an opportunity: a state brimming with joyful potential. You'll come away with a new sense of solitude as a doorway back to the lost habit of personal freedom.

Florence Falk, Ph.D., L.C.S.W., a former assistant professor at Rutgers University, is the author of On My Own: The Art of Being a Woman Alone and numerous publications on the theater.

Thursday, March 26, 2009
Institute
116
Revitalize with LifeForce Yoga
Amy Weintraub
We all know we need to breathe deeply to relax and meditate regularly, but there are times when we feel too overwhelmed to do so. There are, however, fast and simple yoga strategies that can ease us into a more mindful state even during the worst moments. In this workshop, you'll learn to quickly achieve more somatic vitality and clarity of mind with the 10-second "smile breath" and 7-minute "LifeForce Energy Clearing Exercise." We'll practice sounds that increase energy and calm the mind, visualizations that strengthen personal resolve, breathing techniques that elevate mood, and simple postures that even rank yoga beginners can do. We'll also practice an exercise for two people that dissolves masks and reveals the richness of our true natures.

Amy Weintraub, M.F.A., ERYT500, is the author of Yoga for Depression and founder of the LifeForce Yoga Healing Institute. She's a leader in the field of yoga and mental health and offers certification trainings for mental health professionals.

Thursday, March 26, 2009
Institute
117
The Waking Dream
Rubin Naiman
Could it be that dreaming isn't merely the royal road to the unconscious, as Freud called it, but the actual territory? Maybe dreams aren't cloaked messages from our deeper self, but direct experiences of it. In fact, dreaming doesn't just happen during nightly REM periods--it takes place throughout the day. This waking dream is a universal human phenomenon, offering a wondrous and accessible form of perception that reveals the sacredness behind all things. In this workshop, multimedia presentations, physical movement, guided imagery, and even a bit of liberating madness will guide you through a personal experience of the waking dream and expand your awareness in a way that can be used to recontextualize ordinary events in your own and your clients' lives. These techniques aren't meant to radically change your life, but rather gently shift your attitude toward it.

* Rubin Naiman, Ph.D., is the sleep and dream specialist and clinical assistant professor of medicine at the University of Arizona's Center for Integrative Medicine. His publications include Healing Night, The Sleep Advisor and Healthy Sleep (with Andrew Weil).

Thursday, March 26, 2009
Institute
118
Breathe!
Jessica Dibb and Jim Morningstar
If we're alive, we're breathing, but not many of us know how to breathe in a way that improves our physical health, emotional well-being, and spiritual awareness, let alone how to share this knowledge with our clients. In this workshop, we'll practice breathing techniques that relieve stress, promote a healthier lifestyle, relieve chronic emotional pain, and encourage spiritual awakening. You'll learn how to do belly-oriented breathing, which tones the parasympathetic nervous system, and heart-centered breathing, which affects the sympathetic nervous system and can heal the body at a deep level. You'll experience how therapeutic breathwork can be used to treat panic attacks, anxiety, traumatic stress, and other disorders not reached by more cognitive therapies. You'll learn why breathwork can be an effective tool for addressing self-limiting beliefs and dysfunctional behaviors reinforced by negative conditioning.

Jessica Dibb is the founder and spiritual director of Inspiration Community, a nondenominational consciousness school that promotes personal, relational, and planetary wellness. She's a coordinator of the International Breathwork Training Alliance.

Jim Morningstar, Ph.D., is director of Transformations Incorporated and a coordinator of International Breathwork Training Alliance. He's the author of Breathing in Light and Love and Spiritual Psychology.

Thursday, March 26, 2009
Institute
119
When You're Falling, Dive
How to Make the Best of Difficult Situations
Mark Matousek
Many of us resist and fear life-challenging events--whether positive or negative. This is entire day will be devoted to learning skills for reversing this counterproductive habit, and to recognize adversity as an ally in self-realization. Using journal writing, storytelling, group exercises, key extracts from wisdom literature--including discussion of recent breakthroughs in neuroscience--we'll explore the perennial-yet-urgent question of how unexpected changes of fortune can be used as doorways to a more authentic existence. By learning to play with our own life myth, and to have fun doing it, you'll learn the art of survival through times of exceptional change. You'll realize that you're hard-wired for transformation, as this inspiring day will demonstrate.

Mark Matousek, M.A., author of The Boy He Left Behind: A Man's Search for His Lost Father and most recently When You're Falling, Dive: Lessons in the Art of Living, is cochair (with Eve Ensler) of V-Men, an organization that works with men to end violence against women.

Thursday, March 26, 2009
Institute
120
The Eye of the Soul
Experiencing Nature through Photography
Dick Anderson
Evocative photographs create a bridge between the outside world and our inner life journey. In this workshop, we'll explore our relationship to the world of nature through photography. We'll begin with a brief orientation, discussing sample photographs not just as records of specific surroundings but as statements about the photographer's essential character and world view. Then each of us will spend a solitary, meditative morning in Rock Creek Park just outside the conference hotel. Our goal will be to capture the essence of our inner experience of this natural setting in a single photograph. After lunch we'll gather to share our images with each other--not to critique them, but to appreciate the remarkable variety of human experience they represent. Bring your digital camera with your USB cable, a laptop computer if you wish to share your images electronically, and appropriate outdoor clothing rain or sunshine.

Dick Anderson, M.A., president of AdVentures and StockPhotoVentures.com, is a wilderness photographer who's canoed and trekked extensively in the wilds of northern Canada and Alaska. He's the creative consultant for the Psychotherapy Networker.

Thursday, March 26, 2009
Institute
121
Shhhh!
The Ethical Dilemmas No One Talks About
Mary Jo Barrett
The ethical rules for therapists used to be straightforward and unambiguous: no gifts, no self-disclosure, no dual relationships, no out-of-session contact, and, of course, no sex. But today the rules against boundary violations aren't so straightforward anymore, nor do the old prohibitions always seem clinically useful. Compassion fatigue also can impede our judgment, making us more susceptible to improper conduct. In this workshop, we'll explore both the ethical dilemmas we face and the compassion fatigue that makes us vulnerable to boundary confusion. We'll discuss the importance of self-reflection, peer supervision, sharing concerns with colleagues, and establishing and maintaining clear boundary guidelines. We'll focus particularly on self-care, with participants developing a professional wellness plan that keeps them grounded and mindful in their professional lives. Note: This workshop fulfills many state board requirements for training in ethics and risk management.

* Mary Jo Barrett, M.S.W., is director of the Center for Contextual Change and teaches at the University of Chicago. She's the author of Systemic Treatment of Incest and Treating Incest: A Multiple Systems Perspective.

Friday, March 27, 2009
201 Morning Workshop
301 Afternoon Workshop
The Language of Discovery, Part 1 and Part 2
David Whyte
The language of everyday life is so often debased by jargon, self-serving polemic, and manipulation that we become numbed to the genuine power and beauty of words. Language well used--whether in poetry, stories, or other forms of literature--can awaken us, open our senses to the all the richness and glory of the world, even comfort us when we're in pain. In this conversational workshop, you'll hear poetry and prose, learn about the kinds of imagery and rhythms that move and transport people into different ways of being, and come to understandings that will help you deepen and strengthen your own therapeutic voice, while learning to appreciate the deep qualities of silence. We'll talk about how to have and generate the "courageous conversations" too often buried in the preoccupations of our everyday lives. (This session will continue with Workshop 301.)

David Whyte, a poet, corporate consultant, and marine zoologist, has led natural history expeditions around the world. He's the author of The Three Marriages: Work, Self & Other (forthcoming) and Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work as a Pilgrimage of Identity.

Friday, March 27, 2009
202 Morning Workshop
302 Afternoon Workshop
Changing Brains, Changing Minds, Part 1 and Part 2
Neurobiology in the Consulting Room
Louis Cozolino
It seems obvious that psychotherapy must have an impact on brain processes, considering the extent of the brain's inherent plasticity. But how does psychotherapy change the brain and what do therapists do--or what should they do--to be more effective in bringing these changes about? In this workshop, we'll discuss the psychological conditions of therapy that promote neurobiological change: how a safe therapeutic relationship creates the neurobiological context necessary for change, how clinically controlled states of cognitive and emotional arousal lead to neural protein synthesis, and how therapeutic narratives seem to develop new neural circuits. You'll learn the ways in which the language and metaphors of different models of therapy tap into different brain processes, and what our current state of neurological knowledge suggests about having a direct impact on particular brain functions. (This session will continue with Workshop 302.)

* Louis Cozolino, Ph.D., is a professor of psychology at Pepperdine University. He's the author of The Neuroscience of Psychotherapy, The Neuroscience of Human Relationships, The Making of a Therapist, and The Healthy Aging Brain.

Friday, March 27, 2009
203 Morning Workshop
303 Afternoon Workshop
Dealing with Your Most Difficult Clients, Part 1 and Part 2
Bill O'Hanlon
Clients with borderline issues, trauma survivors, and those with other chronic problems frequently are paralyzed by ambivalence and impulses toward self-hatred and self-harm. Suggestions, interventions, and proposed solutions are often met with "Yes, but" or "You don't understand." In this workshop, you'll learn how to widen your clinical lens so that you'll neither be rigidly attached to any pet theory nor overinvested in having your clients change. You'll discover how to be with clients in their ambivalences and contradictions in a way that permits them to choose to step into the possibility that things can be different. We'll explore stories, task assignments, and techniques of inclusion and permission that can move therapy forward with your most difficult clients. (This session will continue with Workshop 303.)

* Bill O'Hanlon, M.S., has given more than 2,000 workshops internationally since 1978 and coaches people to become compelling, successful presenters in his Presenter's Boot Camp. He's written or cowritten 29 books, the latest being Write Is a Verb and A Guide to Trance Land.

Friday, March 27, 2009
204 Morning Workshop
304 Afternoon Workshop
Mindfulness and Depression, Part 1 and Part 2
Susan Woods
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is an innovative treatment that integrates the effectiveness of mindfulness practices in changing clients' relationship to their thoughts and moods with the precision and empirical rigor of cognitive therapy. In this workshop, we'll explore how helping clients see thoughts and emotions as transient events rather than intractable facts can strengthen their tolerance for difficult feelings and help them become more self-accepting. You'll get a pragmatic overview of MBCT, a treatment model that includes methods for developing a different relationship to emotions and depression-generating cognitions and behaviors, identifying relapse triggers, and living with minute-to-minute awareness of life. We'll discuss the benefits to the therapist of maintaining a personal mindfulness practice and how to find the time to integrate one in a busy schedule. (This session will continue with Workshop 304.)

Susan Woods, M.S.W., L.I.C.S.W., has practiced meditation and yoga since 1981. In her practice, she teaches Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) groups. She's a contributor to the Clinical Handbook of Mindfulness.

Friday, March 27, 2009
205 Morning Workshop
305 Afternoon Workshop
The Person Isn't the Problem, Part 1 and Part 2
The Clinical Legacy of Michael White
Stephen Madigan
Michael White achieved clinical renown during his too-short lifetime for his ability to inspire experiences of personal courage and emotional vitality in people who'd lived their entire lives trapped in an iron grid of misery and assigned pathology. In this workshop, you'll explore White's clinical innovations and learn how to integrate his insights into your work. We'll focus on the fundamental concepts and methods of the narrative therapy that White developed, such as the landscape of identity, externalization, and uncovering the subordinate story. Guided by live interviews and numerous video clips, you'll leave this session with a step-by-step practice map of narrative therapy and a deep appreciation of an unforgettable clinical innovator. (This session will continue with Workshop 305.)

* Stephen Madigan, Ph.D., opened the first narrative therapy training clinic in the northern hemisphere in Vancouver, Canada. In 2007, he received AFTA's Distinguished Award for Innovative Practice in Family Therapy Theory and Practice.

Friday, March 27, 2009
206 Morning Workshop
306 Afternoon Workshop
Treating the Traumatized Vet, Part 1 and Part 2
Laurie Leitch and Elaine Miller-Karas
Studies show that up to 20 percent of soldiers and marines who've been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan meet criteria for PTSD and 25 percent screen positive for depression, so many therapists can expect to treat these suffering men and women. In this workshop, we'll explore the Veterans Resiliency Model (VRM), a skills-based, biologically-oriented trauma therapy built on the assumption that human responses to threat are primarily instinctive and biological, and only secondarily cognitive and psychological. You'll learn how to help traumatized clients develop sensory resources--places in the body where they feel strong and alive--that promote a sense of safety and the return of self-regulation. You'll leave knowing how to use specific features of this biologically-based intervention in both an individual and group setting. (This session will continue with Workshop 306.)

Laurie Leitch, Ph.D., is cofounder and codirector of the Trauma Resource Institute, which offers training in the brief stabilization therapies Trauma Resiliency Model and the Veterans Resiliency Model. She's director of research for The Foundation for Human Enrichment.
Elaine Miller-Karas, L.C.S.W., is the cofounder and codirector of the Trauma Resource Institute and is adjunct faculty at the Family Medicine Residency Program at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center

Friday, March 27, 2009
207 Morning Workshop
307 Afternoon Workshop
Imago Relationship Therapy, Part 1 and Part 2
A Path to Conscious Couplehood
Jette Simon
Traditional training doesn't prepare most therapists for the common pitfalls of working with couples, like being hijacked into taking sides or becoming overwhelmed by the emotional intensity of relationship conflict. Imago Relationship Therapy offers a theoretical framework and set of clinical skills to guide couples through a process that avoids shame, blame, and criticism, and quickly gets to the heart of their power struggle--a failure to get the other to meet leftover needs from childhood. In this workshop, we'll discuss how to help couples engage in a profound dialogue that enables them to express full acceptance and compassion for each other and begin to create a conscious, committed relationship. You'll learn and practice the Imago Intentional Dialogue and find out how to create a safe space for couples that helps them tolerate and appreciate their differences. (This session will continue with Workshop 307.)

* Jette Simon, Lic., a clinical psychologist (Danish degree), conducts basic and advanced training programs in Imago Relationship Therapy in Washington, D.C., and in Europe and Africa. She's the author of Imago: The Therapy of Love.

Friday, March 27, 2009
208 Morning Workshop
308 Afternoon Workshop
The Therapist as Shape-Shifter, Part 1 and Part 2
Altering Consciousness through the Arts
Jeffrey Zeig
The unremitting depression, anxiety, and disappointment that often bring clients into therapy are deeply experiential states that include rigid sub-states, physical sensations, patterns of social relationship, and sequences of behavior. Traditionally, therapists have tried to help clients emerge from these states by exploring with them their pasts and life patterns, and encouraging them to change their thoughts and behaviors. But there's a vast array of powerful human change agents that have a proven record of altering people's inner emotional, physical, cognitive, and spiritual states: the arts--poetry, drama, music, theater, film, painting, sculpture, and comedy. In this workshop, we'll explore how to use structural methods from the arts to help clients experience different states of being, envision themselves and their lives in a new way, and begin inhabiting a more energetic, hopeful, creative, and expansive inner/relational self. (This session will continue with Workshop 308.)

Jeffrey Zeig, Ph.D., is the founder and director of Milton H. Erickson Foundation and the architect of The Evolution of Psychotherapy conferences. He's president of Zeig, Tucker & Theisen behavioral sciences publishers and a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and of the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis.

Friday, March 27, 2009
209 Morning Workshop
309 Afternoon Workshop
Too Safe for Their Own Good, Part 1 and Part 2
Challenging Risk-Averse Parents and Their Children
Michael Ungar
Many therapists today are treating growing numbers of delinquent, sexually promiscuous, and even street-involved youth who come from caring, stable, financially secure families. In many of these cases, these actions may result from overprotective parents who may actually be undermining their children's resilience by overstating the world's dangers and discouraging healthy risk-taking. This workshop will offer guidelines for learning to challenge such parents and help them support their children in developing more functional coping styles. You'll learn a 3-stage model of strength-based interventions focused on transforming dysfunctional family narratives, developing safe substitutes for problem behavior, and developing appropriate ceremonies to define and inaugurate new family patterns. (This session will continue with Workshop 309.)

Michael Ungar, Ph.D., is the leader of the International Resilience Project and a professor at the School of Social Work at Dalhousie University. He's the author of Playing at Being Bad: The Hidden Resilience of Troubled Teens.

Friday, March 27, 2009
210 Morning Workshop
310 Afternoon Workshop
Coming to Our Senses, Part 1 and Part 2
Tools for Heightening Your Therapeutic Impact
Danie Beaulieu
As you try to get through to a stuck client, do you ever have the feeling that words aren't enough? That's because the ears are only one route to information--and not always the most effective one. In this workshop, you'll experience for yourself the power of Impact Techniques, a toolbox of novel, multisensory exercises that can wake up clients, keep them on track, and help them to move through the change process more efficiently. Participants will sample visual imagery, metaphors, props and other multisensory approaches that engage their own imaginations and learn how to use these high-impact tools to shape powerful therapeutic interventions that work quickly and stay with clients. (This session will continue with Workshop 310.)

* Danie Beaulieu, Ph.D., is the founder of Academie Impact, a training institute, publisher, and producer of therapeutic aids. She's the author of Impact Techniques for Therapists and Eye Movement Integration: The Comprehensive Guide.

Friday, March 27, 2009
211 Morning Workshop
311 Afternoon Workshop
The Power of Attention in Psychotherapy, Part 1 and Part 2
Customizing Your Treatment Approach
Stephen Gilligan
Two complementary therapeutic approaches within the field define the fundamental principles of most clinical approaches. One is that shifting the client's attention away from a preoccupation with the problem and focusing on personal resources and nonproblematic areas of life is the best avenue to change. The other is that connecting "to and through" the problem is pivotal to change, and that the problem's resolution is crucial to the client's development. In this workshop, we'll consider the strengths and limitations of both therapeutic meta-strategies, and how to determine which broad approach best suits any particular client. We'll explore a range of therapeutic techniques, from solution-oriented methods to mindfulness practices and Ericksonian hypnosis, to show how to expand your clinical repertoire and better customize your treatment model. (This session will continue with Workshop 311.)

Stephen Gilligan, Ph.D., studied with Milton Erickson and Gregory Bateson. In 2004, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Erickson Foundation. His books include Therapeutic Trances; Walking in Two Worlds and The Legacy of Milton H. Erickson.

Friday, March 27, 2009
212 Morning Workshop
312 Afternoon Workshop
The One You've Been Waiting For Is You! Part 1 and Part 2
Richard Schwartz
The primary goal of couples therapy often is to help partners learn to take better care of each other. But if each partner feels wounded, insecure, and defensive--as is usually the case--neither will be ready to put his or her needs aside to focus on what the other needs. In this workshop, we'll explore the Internal Family Systems approach to couples work, which helps both partners heal themselves first--drop their masks, understand and care for their own hurt inner parts, and resolve their own issues--so that they can relate to each other in a more open, authentic, undemanding way. You'll learn how to help partners stop blaming each other for their own pain, look into themselves, and speak for the parts that trigger them, rather than from their emotional neediness. (This session will continue with Workshop 312.)

* Richard Schwartz, Ph.D., is director of the Center for Self Leadership and the originator of the Internal Family Systems Model. He's the author of five books, including Internal Family Systems Therapy and The Mosaic Mind: Empowering the Tormented Selves.

Friday, March 27, 2009
213 Morning Workshop
313 Afternoon Workshop
Mentoring for New Professionals, Part 1 and Part 2
Lynn Grodzki, Mila Tecala, and Susan Luff
New professionals in the field--whether just out of school or approaching psychotherapy as a second career--often have difficulty finding mentoring. In this interactive workshop, three senior practitioners will be your mentors, leading an exploration of the best ways to increase your clinical competence and confidence, plot your career, and build a private practice that's profitable. We'll discuss how to bring your personal style, family history, and intuitive responses appropriately and responsibly into the therapeutic encounter, and how to stay calm and grounded when sessions get tough. You'll learn strategies for starting and expanding your practice. Throughout the rest of the Symposium, we'll help you process what you're hearing and learning each day and assist you to make lasting networking connections with other colleagues. (This session will continue with Workshop 313.)

* Lynn Grodzki, L.C.S.W., is a psychotherapist, a leading business coach for therapists, and author of Building Your Ideal Private Practice

Mila Tecala, L.C.S.W., who was named NASW Social Worker of the Year in 2000, is the founder of the Center for Loss and Grief.

Susan Luff, A.P.R.N., is cofounder and faculty member for the Center for Family Process, a leadership program for professionals and clergy.

Friday, March 27, 2009
214 Morning Workshop
Beyond the Consulting Room
The Therapist as Global Citizen
William Doherty, Mary Pipher, and James Gordon
Many of us yearn to use our skills in the wider world, but don't know how to get involved or what we can do. In this workshop, three veteran therapists will describe ways to expand the scope of our therapeutic work, from addressing critical public issues in your own community to bringing your expertise to bear on social problems in the United States and helping people suffering the traumatic effects of natural and human-made disasters here and abroad. You'll learn to recognize how your clinical interests intersect with needs in your own community and hear about how individual therapists can connect with nonprofit organizations to expand their work into the public sphere.

* William Doherty, Ph.D. is director of the Citizen Professional Center at the University of Minnesota and author of Putting Family First and Take Back Your Marriage.

* Mary Pipher, Ph.D. is the author of the bestsellers Reviving Ophelia and The Shelter of Each Other. She's received two APA Presidential Citations, one of which she returned to protest APA's stand on torture.

James Gordon, M.D., is director of The Center for Mind Body Medicine. His latest book is Unstuck: Your Guide to the Seven Stage Journey Out of Depression.

Friday, March 27, 2009
215 Morning Workshop
Mastering the Art of Termination
Denise Davis
A clinician ending therapy is like a pilot landing an aircraft--achieving smooth landings require heightened attention and skill. Therapy endings that are unexpected, turbulent, or poorly executed are potentially dangerous to both client and therapist. This workshop will explore how clinicians can end therapy responsibly, even when conditions are challenging. We'll identify five types of terminations and the professional risk level associated with each. We'll also explore ways that both clients and therapists can contribute to termination difficulties and discuss how to handle these pitfalls. You'll leave knowing six essential steps for negotiating a clinically and ethically sound termination.

Denise Davis, Ph.D., is assistant director of training in clinical psychology at Vanderbilt University, author of Terminating Therapy: A Professional Guide to Ending on a Positive Note, and coauthor of Clinical Psychology: Integrating Science and Practice.

Friday, March 27, 2009
216 Morning Workshop
On Loss and Mourning
Therese Rando
Loss is a universal experience. No problem encountered in psychotherapy fails to contain significant elements of loss--whether physical or psychosocial. Therefore, knowing how to help clients grieve and mourn a loss is one of the most important areas of competence for the therapist to develop. This workshop will focus on what therapists can do to promote healthy mourning. We'll analyze the three basic types of loss, using the death of a loved one as an example. We'll then review the critically important distinctions between grief and mourning, examine acute grief as a form of traumatic stress reaction, and identify the six processes of mourning necessary to resolve a major loss.

Therese Rando, Ph.D., is the clinical director of the Institute for the Study and Treatment of Loss. She's the author of the forthcoming Coping with the Sudden Death of Your Loved One and Treatment of Complicated Mourning.

Friday, March 27, 2009
217 Morning Workshop
How to Be a "Supershrink"
Tips from the Field's Most Effective Practitioners
Scott Miller
Have you always assumed that truly superb therapists are born, not made, and that you could never hope to join the ranks of the stars? In fact, there's now solid empirical evidence on the specific qualities and practices that separate the great from the merely good. In this workshop, we'll discuss four practices that you can begin doing immediately to boost your clinical effectiveness. You'll learn a system of easy feedback procedures that'll tell you what moments of therapy the least and most effective, and why. You'll learn how to quickly identify clients at risk for leaving treatment or having poor outcomes, and specific steps to take to reverse a downward course. We'll also review a method that'll help you identify and improve areas of weakness in your clinical work.

* Scott Miller, Ph.D., a cofounder and codirector of the Institute for the Study of Therapeutic Change, is the coauthor of The Heart and Soul of Change: What Works in Therapy and The Heroic Client: Principles of Client-Directed, Outcome-Informed Clinical Work.

Friday, March 27, 2009
218 Morning Workshop
Choosing a Sexual Style
Barry McCarthy
The passionate sex phase of relationships typically lasts from 6 to 24 months, yet many couples believe they should be able to sustain a high-desire, high-performance sexual bond. If they can't transition to a more realistic sexual style after the infatuation phase, sexuality can play a powerfully negative role in their relationship. This workshop addresses how committed couples--straight or gay, married or unmarried--can identify their most comfortable, functional sexual bond. We'll discuss the major sexual styles: complementary (roles are equal and flexible), traditional (one person initiates sex, the other intimacy), emotionally expressive (adventurous and erotic), and best friends (focusing on intimacy and spiritual partnership). You'll leave knowing how to help couples set positive, realistic sexual expectations and value the full possibilities of their sexual bond.

* Barry McCarthy, Ph.D., has a diplomate in clinical psychology and practices at the Washington Psychological Center. He's a professor of psychology at American University and author of Men's Sexual Health and Discovering Your Couple Sexual Style.

Friday, March 27, 2009
219 Morning Workshop
Empowering Young Children in Therapy
Marcia Sheinberg and Fiona True
Engaging children in therapy who are living with a bitter divorce, domestic violence, sexual abuse, or parental alcoholism can be a daunting clinical challenge. Loyalty bonds, unacknowledged secrets, the need to protect one parent, lack of trust for the therapist, and anger all may silence kids in therapy and lead to a therapeutic stalemate. In this workshop, we'll discuss a systematic structure that combines individual and family sessions to soothe children's anxieties, make them feel their concerns are respected, and encourage them to share their thoughts and feelings. You'll come away with tools that promote connection with your youngest clients and join individuals and family members. You'll know how to not only empower children and validate their experience, but strengthen relational bonds within the family.

Marcia Sheinberg, M.S.W., is director of training and clinical services at the Ackerman Institute for the Family and director of the Ackerman Incest Program. She's coauthor of The Relational Trauma of Incest: A Family-Based Approach to Treatment.

Fiona True, L.C.S.W., is director of community and international training at the Ackerman Institute for the Family and a faculty member and codirector of the institute's Center for Children and Relational Trauma.

Friday, March 27, 2009
220 Morning Workshop
Infidelity and Forgiveness
Janis Abrahms Spring
How do you forgive a partner who's been unfaithful? This practical workshop offers concrete exercises for helping couples reconnect and achieve forgiveness after the trauma of infidelity. You'll learn what unfaithful partners can do to restore trust and intimacy, including bearing witness to the pain, apologizing nondefensively, and taking responsibility for why the affair happened. You'll learn strategies for helping hurt partners overcome their bitter preoccupation with the injury, take a fair share of responsibility for what went wrong, and create opportunities for the betraying partner to make amends. Unlike models that treat forgiveness as a process accomplished in the mind and heart of the hurt party, this workshop presents a dynamic, interpersonal model that requires the offender to reach out with bold, humble, heartfelt acts of repair.

* Janis Abrahms Spring, Ph.D., is the author of How Can I Forgive You?; After the Affair: Healing the Pain and Rebuilding Trust When a Partner Has Been Unfaithful; and the forthcoming Life with Pop: Lessons on Caring for an Aging Parent.

Friday, March 27, 2009
221 Morning Workshop
The Immigrant's Odyssey
Priska Imberti and Raymond Rodriguez
When clinicians work with immigrant clients, it's important to be aware of the deep feelings of otherness and loss they experience--loss of family networks, usable skills, language, and sense of belonging. In this workshop, we'll deepen the understanding of the multigenerational trauma inherent in the immigration journey. We'll focus on concrete assessment procedures for immigrant clients that highlight their migration experience, losses, and pain, as well as gains and tradeoffs. We'll explore ways to venture out of our comfort zones to connect with people who may feel deeply unfamiliar to us, and use movie clips of the immigrant experience and exercises to help us understand our own sense of "otherness." You'll come away with methods for helping clients reclaim their voices and create space for the experience of both loss and gain within themselves and their families.

Priska Imberti, L.C.S.W., a bilingual/bicultural family therapist, is the cofounder of Integral Enrichment Services, a group practice that provides comprehensive psychotherapy and psychoeducational services to the community and focuses on immigrant issues.

Raymond Rodriguez, L.M.S.W., a bilingual/bicultural family therapist, is the cofounder of Integral Enrichment Services and a counselor and lecturer at the Hostos Community College of the City University of New York.

Friday, March 27, 2009
222 Morning Workshop
One Foot Out the Door
Working with Couples on the Brink
Michele Weiner-Davis
Few couples seem as unlikely to profit from therapy as those in which one partner has already decided to leave. Yet, even at this point, a therapist has an opportunity to turn the situation around. In this workshop, you'll learn how to step in even at the 11th hour and help couples with seemingly intractable problems, such as hopelessness, ongoing affairs, and one spouse's unwillingness to seek therapy, resolve their difficulties, recommit to their marriages, and reclaim their lives. We'll explore ways to do couples therapy effectively when you're seeing only one spouse, strategies to use when a husband or wife refuses to end an affair, and a surprisingly potent technique of last resort.

* Michele Weiner-Davis, M.S.W., is the director of The Divorce Busting Center and author of the The Sex-Starved Wife, The Sex-Starved Marriage, The Divorce Remedy, Getting Through to the Man You Love, and the bestseller Divorce Busting.

Friday, March 27, 2009
223 Morning Workshop
Rethinking PTSD
A Therapeutic Blueprint for Complex Trauma
Mary Jo Barrett
Our deepening understanding of attachment theory has helped trauma experts more clearly distinguish between PTSD as a reaction to a single event and more complex trauma rooted in developmental history, social/political, familial, and biological contexts. In this workshop, we'll discuss a practical, 3-stage model for treating complex trauma that provides clear principles for gathering information, structuring treatment, and introducing interventions at the most appropriate moments. In Stage 1, you'll learn to create the context for treatment by assessing strengths and vulnerabilities and establishing safety for the client. In Stage 2, you'll learn which techniques to focus on in what order. In Stage 3, you'll learn effective ways to help clients consolidate their gains, prevent relapse, and maintain healthy and safe relationships. We'll explore the crucial importance of the therapist-client relationship in treatment and the therapist's use of self.

* Mary Jo Barrett, M.S.W., is director of the Center for Contextual Change and teaches at the University of Chicago. She's the author of Systemic Treatment of Incest and Treating Incest: A Multiple Systems Perspective.

Friday, March 27, 2009
224 Morning Workshop
Everything You Need to Know about AD/HD
Bob Taibbi
AD/HD affects an estimated 4 to 12 percent of the American school-age population, and has increased by 312 percent among teens over the past 15 years. Overall AD/HD prescriptions have increased by 500 percent since 1991. It's one of the most common problems therapists encounter. In this workshop, we'll review some of the controversies about AD/HD--whether it's overdiagnosed , whether its pervasiveness is genetically driven or linked to social factors, including multitasking, the inflexibility of schools, and the ubiquity of cybernetic technology. We'll discuss assessment and differential diagnosis in children and teens, behavioral interventions, parent education and coaching, working with teachers, and individual and family therapy. You'll learn the diagnostic criteria of AD/HD, 10 effective behavioral interventions, and the clinical benefits of parent coaching.

Robert Taibbi, M.S.W., has 35 years of clinical experience, primarily in community mental health. He's the author of Clinical Supervision: A Four-Stage Model of Growth and Discovery and Doing Family Therapy: Craft and Creativity in Clinical Practice.

Friday, March 27, 2009
225 Morning Workshop
Helping Clients Manage Money Anxieties
Olivia Mellan
If many of our clients suffer from money anxiety during good times, in today's financial climate, they may be in a state of panic--reduced to primitive, irrational survivalist thinking when making financial decisions. In this workshop, you'll learn how to help individuals and couples calm down, examine their fears and anxieties, and move from dysfunctional coping strategies to a more mature, rational decision-making mode. By exploring common money myths that undermine the ability to make intelligent choices, gender differences about money, polarization patterns in couples that lead to conflict, and money personality styles, you'll learn how to help clients achieve "money harmony," a peaceful coexistence with financial realities. We'll also discuss money dysfunctions--compulsive overspending, hoarding, and money avoidance--and how to overcome them.

Olivia Mellan, M.S., is a money coach, psychotherapist, and the author of five books, including Money Shy to Money Sure; Money Harmony; and Advisor's Guide to Money Psychology. Her column "The Psychology of Advice" appears monthly in Investment Advisor Magazine.

Friday, March 27, 2009
226 Morning Workshop
Fostering Resilience in Multi-Problem Clients
Lascelles Black
When clients struggle with numerous life problems simultaneously--poverty, substance abuse, racism, HIV/AIDS, homelessness--it can be daunting to prioritize them or figure out how to start making a change. This workshop will present an easily mastered approach that helps multi-problem individuals and families work toward resource-based solutions. Participants will learn how to help clients address four key questions: Who are you? Where do you come from? Where are you now? Where do you want to be? We'll explore how to use these deceptively simple questions throughout the therapy process to help overwhelmed clients clarify goals, rediscover agency and resilience, and begin to take concrete steps toward resolving pressing problems.

Lascelles Black, M.A., is a family therapy consultant to Pathways to Housing in New York City and Westchester County. He's teaches in the marriage and family therapy program at Mercy College, New York.

Friday, March 27, 2009
227 Morning Workshop
Energy Psychology in Disaster Relief
David Feinstein
When disaster strikes, whether bombings, construction collapses, tsunamis, or earthquakes, therapists are increasingly expected to provide help in a hurry, sometimes administering to thousands of people. In this workshop, you'll learn an effective, efficient, and safe intervention that utilizes energy psychology techniques derived from acupuncture and yoga to provide appropriate levels of care to clients, geared to the time that's elapsed since the disaster and to individual need. While still controversial, this four-tiered system, which begins with immediate relief and stabilization and progressively treats more complex stress reactions and chronic disorders as they appear, has already been successfully applied in the wake of many natural and social disasters all over the world. Note: This workshop doesn't qualify for continuing education for psychologists.

David Feinstein, Ph.D., has been on the faculties of The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Antioch College. He's coauthor of the bestsellers Energy Medicine; Personal Mythology; and The Promise of Energy Psychology.

Friday, March 27, 2009
228 Morning Workshop
Revealing the Unspoken
An Overview of Somatic Psychotherapies
Barbara Goodrich-Duun
Most therapists already know that a client's "unspoken" communication--tone, pace, expression, gesture, and posture--can convey as much important information as words. But therapists increasingly realize that to be effective they must also treat the somatic aspects of clients--address the way their emotions and feelings manifest in their bodies--to do good therapy. But with the variety of somatic modalities and theories available, the question becomes, what kind of body-based psychotherapy should they use for what sort of problem? In this workshop, we'll review the common foundation for all body psychotherapies and then discuss the somatic techniques that work better with specific issues, including trauma, developmental deficits, defensive structures, and relational issues. We'll also try out exercises that give a taste of how somatic therapies influence different problems.

Barbara Goodrich-Dunn, is codirector of the Washington Institute for Body Psychotherapy, cofounder of the United States Association for Body Psychotherapy and the D.C. Area Guild of Body Psychotherapists. She's the coauthor of The Psychology of the Body.

Friday, March 27, 2009
229 Morning Workshop
Taking Care of Caregivers
Easing the Strain of Caring for Loved Ones
Barry Jacobs
Every year, 50 million Americans provide extensive homecare for ill or disabled relatives, often experiencing great stress and guilt-inducing ambivalence in the process. Even the hardiest family caregivers suffer high rates of depression, anxiety, and physical health problems. In this workshop, we'll review key tasks for caregivers that'll help them find a sane balance between caring for others and sustaining, even nurturing, themselves. We'll highlight hallmarks of effective therapy with clients caring for others--including alliance-building, permission-giving, and meaning-making--which can assuage guilt, rework family legacies, and foster mutually enriching connections. We'll explore the use of spiritual beliefs in bolstering positive meanings and the motivation for self-care. Video clips and transcripts will illustrate specific case situations.

Barry Jacobs, Psy.D., is the director of behavioral sciences for the Crozer-Keystone Family Medicine Residency Program, author of The Emotional Survival Guide for Caregivers, and editor of the "In Sickness and Health" column for APA's Families, Systems & Health.

Friday, March 27, 2009
230 Morning Workshop
Launching Reluctant Young Adults
Brad Sachs
Family therapists increasingly find themselves working with young adults who seem to be developmentally marooned, still dependent (unhappily) on their parents, and unable to take the necessary steps toward adult self-reliance. In this workshop, we'll explore a clinical framework for unearthing the buried fears and giving voice to the unacknowledged feelings of grief that typically stand in the way of both reluctant young adults (RYAs) and their families' ability to move forward. You'll learn how to address the multigenerational family dynamics contributing to the underlying developmental stalemate, as well as how to help families create a new narrative to carry them into the future. The workshop includes case presentations and group discussion, along with poetry, film, and music relevant to the predicament of stalled maturity.

Brad Sachs, Ph.D., is the author of The Good Enough Child: How to Have an Imperfect Family and Be Perfectly Satisfied, The Good Enough Teen: Raising Adolescents with Love and Acceptance, and poetry volumes such as In the Desperate Kingdom of Love.

Friday, March 27, 2009
314 Afternoon Workshop
The State of Affairs
Rethinking Our Clinical Attitudes Toward Infidelity
Esther Perel, Helen Fisher, and David Treadway
Sexual infidelity in a couple is generally regarded as a symptom of a deeply troubled relationship, and its revelation often threatens the entire foundation of trust and connection between partners. In this workshop, two therapists and an anthropologist will explore a nonjudgmental perspective on the meaning of affairs in different cultures and relationships. We'll examine the benefits and costs of truth-telling, how couples can rebuild trust and intimacy, and why affairs can stabilize a marriage. We'll consider how our own assumptions, moral values, and personal experiences influence our therapeutic work. You'll leave with a more nuanced therapeutic approach for working with extramarital relations, past and present, fantasized or real, disclosed or secret.

* Esther Perel, M.A., L.M.F.T., is on the faculty of the International Trauma Studies Program, Columbia University. She's the author of the international bestseller Mating in Captivity: Unlocking Erotic Intelligence.

Helen Fisher, Ph.D., a professor at Rutgers University, is the author of the acclaimed Anatomy of Love. and Why We Love: The Nature and Chemistry of Romantic Love.

* David Treadway, Ph.D., is director of the Treadway Training Institute. He's the author of Home Before Dark: First Year with Cancer (forthcoming) and Intimacy, Change, and Other Therapeutic Mysteries.

Friday, March 27, 2009
315 Afternoon Workshop
On Becoming a Better Therapist, One Client at a Time
Barry Duncan
When clients seem immune to therapy, it's easy to wish we had more training or knew that one, perfect approach, so we'd always succeed. But becoming a better therapist isn't a matter of finding a miracle cure. You can become a more effective therapist doing exactly what you're doing, only doing it better and collaborating more with your clients. In this workshop, we'll discuss the latest evidence about the clinical factors that actually produce change, regardless of method or approach. You'll learn pragmatic steps, based on what the most effective therapists do, for increasing your clinical abilities and enhancing your treatment model, whatever it is. Among the tools you'll acquire is an easily replicable system of feedback procedures that'll give you early warning about potential problems and help you identify what you need to do to enhance your therapeutic impact.

* Barry Duncan, Psy.D., is codirector of the Institute for the Study of Therapeutic Change and author or coauthor of 14 books, including The Heroic Client; What's Right with You; Brief Intervention for School Problems; and the forthcoming The Heart and Soul of Change,2nd edition.

Friday, March 27, 2009
316 Afternoon Workshop
PTSD in Context
Understanding Complex Traumatic Stress Disorder
Christine Courtois
Therapists have long recognized the limitations of the traditional DSM diagnoses in meeting the challenges of highly distressed clients, who are often emotionally disregulated, dissociative, chronically self-destructive, addicted, and difficult to treat. Recently, the proposed new diagnosis of complex trauma recognizes the role of repeated developmental trauma--ongoing and severe sexual, physical, and emotional abuse by a parent or guardian--in the origin of a variety of physiological, emotional, and relational problems. In this workshop, we'll explore a multifaceted, integrated, step-by-step sequence for treating such clients: stabilizing them and providing a sense of safety; addressing and processing the traumatic material; dealing with other life issues, such as substance addiction; consolidating treatment gains; and helping the client define and establish "normal" life patterns. We'll incorporate discussions of attachment issues, emotional regulation, cognitive-behavioral skill-building, and psych-education, and discuss the critical importance of the therapist-client relationship to clinical progress.

* Christine Courtois, Ph.D., is cofounder and past clinical and training consultant to The Center: Post Traumatic Disorders Program at the Psychiatric Institute of Washington, D.C. She's the author of Complex Traumatic Stress Disorders: An Evidence-Based Clinician's Guide.

Friday, March 27, 2009
317 Afternoon Workshop
How to Improve a Marriage Without Talking
A Male-Friendly Approach to Couples Therapy
Steven Stosny and Michele Weiner-Davis
The standard remedy for couples in trouble is "better communication." But couples often get into a vicious cycle in which she communicates her fear of abandonment and anxiety, stimulating his feelings of inadequacy and shame, which he tries to numb with passive or active aggression. If the couple doesn't understand this unconscious, interactive dynamic, their attempts at communication will simply provoke and reinforce the same negative pattern. In this workshop, you'll learn how to break these destructive cycles, particularly the stalemate between angry, female criticism and silent, defensive male withdrawal, using methods based on the latest research into gender differences. You'll leave knowing how to shift the focus from fruitless attempts at verbal communication to emotional connection.

* Steven Stosny, Ph.D. is the director of Compassion Power and author of You Don't Have to Take It Anymore: How to Turn a Resentful, Angry or Emotionally Abusive Relationship into a Compassionate, Loving One and Love Without Hurt.

* Michele Weiner-Davis, M.S.W., is the director of The Divorce Busting Center and author of the bestselling books The Sex-Starved Wife, The Sex-Starved Marriage, Getting Through to the Man You Love, and Divorce Busting.

Friday, March 27, 2009
318 Afternoon Workshop
Becoming a School-Savvy Therapist
School as the 21st-Century Village
Ron Taffel
Schools today are in a state of rapid transformation that therapists often don't understand. This workshop will expand your grasp of this important shift and show you how to be a genuine facilitator within a "community of learners," collaborating with school personnel and parents to enhance your clinical effectiveness. You'll learn how to make sure that diagnostic testing does more label and actually yields practical approaches to behavioral and learning difficulties. We'll explore new ways to help schools lessen peer cruelty and increase parent-teacher dialogue, use proven methods to instill genuine a passion for learning, and implement revolutionary interventions that emphasize kids' imagination, impulse control, and classroom respect. You'll leave with some new approaches to ease life in today's pressure-cooker schools.

* Ron Taffel, Ph.D., is the author of Childhood Unbound: Saving Our Kids' Best Selves (forthcoming), Breaking Through to Teens and Getting Through to Difficult Kids and Parents, for professionals, and The Second Family, a guide to raising adolescents.

Friday, March 27, 2009
319 Afternoon Workshop
Tough Kids
Redeeming Violent, Gang Involved Urban Teens
Bill Lott
You can't help inner-city teens become less violent, aggressive, and antisocial if you don't understand that, to them, these behaviors are reasonable and acceptable routes to adulthood. But how can therapists both understand the "normality" of their environment and still help them overcome the challenges of street life, develop a sense of personhood beyond gang identity, and discover their full potential? In this workshop, you'll learn how to work in homes, schools, community centers, and even parks to uncover the hidden rules that govern kids' lives. We'll explore the idiosyncratic language and stories of gang life that reveal what matters to them. You'll leave with a better idea of how to help these teens negotiate a new relationship within their communities that'll protect them from getting caught again up in violent, destructive behaviors.

Bill Lott, L.C.S.W.-R., is a clinical social worker and director of the Violence Intervention and Prevention Program, a community-based effort to address the problem of youth and gang violence in Syracuse, New York.

Friday, March 27, 2009
320 Afternoon Workshop
Sexual Disorientation
Finding a True Sexual Identity
Joe Kort
When clients express confusion about their own sexuality or sexual identity, it's tempting for therapists to move quickly to help them determine whether they fit into the categories of "gay," "straight," or "bisexual." Too often, however, this exploration isn't grounded in an understanding of the significant differences between sexual orientation, sexual fantasy, and sexual behavior. In this workshop, we'll examine specific questions and interventions that can gently lead confused clients to a clearer recognition of their authentic sexual identity--where thoughts, fantasies, and behaviors work in concert. You'll discover how to address the fears, homophobia, and anxieties these clients have about their sexual behavior, and how to help them understand their own sexuality and recognize the right lifestyle for themselves. We'll also discuss therapists' countertransference on these issues.

Joe Kort, L.M.S.W., is a certified Imago Relationship Therapist who specializes in individual, couples, and group psychotherapy for gay and straight clients. He's the author of Gay Affirmative Therapy for the Straight Clinician.

Friday, March 27, 2009
321 Afternoon Workshop
Getting Unstuck
Moving Beyond Depression, Anxiety, and Chronic Illness
James Gordon
Most people seek therapy when they feel stuck--repeating the same self-defeating stories to themselves and engaging in the same repetitive and unhelpful behaviors. In this workshop, you'll learn and practice a range of mind-body techniques designed to wake people up to their problem-perpetuating patterns and move them forward in their lives. We'll cover meditation practices, guided imagery, movement and dance, and nutrition, and work with drawing and dialogue. You'll find that these practices will enhance your work with clients suffering from anxiety, depression, and PTSD, as well as chronic medical conditions like pain, hypertension, and diabetes. You'll also learn how to make use of these techniques in your own life, for your own increased sense of health and wholeness.

James Gordon, M.D., is the founder and director of The Center for Mind Body Medicine, clinical professor in the departments of psychiatry and family medicine at the Georgetown University School of Medicine, and author of Unstuck: Your Guide to the Seven Stage Journey Out of Depression.

Friday, March 27, 2009
322 Afternoon Workshop
Practice Makes Perfect
The Therapeutic Value of Homework
Carolyn Daitch
We've probably all had clients who work hard learning skills in therapy and then just "can't get around to practicing" when out of the office--sometimes in the erroneous expectation that therapy alone will magically make everything better. How can we bring this wishful thinking to the surface, gently challenge it, and replace it with a conviction that practicing their new skills is the only way to bring about enduring change? In this workshop, we'll discuss a framework that includes homework contracts, hypnotic visualization, and disciplines of daily practice that'll motivate even stubbornly noncompliant clients and keep them committed. We'll explore various "stress-busters" that clients can use when emotional triggers or anxiety sidetracks them and discuss how to help them find specific times and settings in which to incorporate practice sessions in their daily routines.

Carolyn Daitch, Ph.D., is director of the Center for the Treatment of Anxiety Disorders, a consultant with the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis, and author of The Affect Regulation Toolbox: Practical and Effective Hypnotic Interventions for the Over-reactive Client.

Friday, March 27, 2009
323 Afternoon Workshop
Accessing the Optimal Future Self
Nancy Napier
One of the most powerful therapeutic resources available to us is the fact that the brain processes imagined experience in much the same ways it does actual lived events. In this workshop, you'll learn how to use this powerful resource to help clients integrate transformative corrective responses into their nervous systems and psyches. We'll focus on how clients can reach into an imagined future to tap into their unrealized potential as a dress rehearsal for what they want to do in their present lives. You'll see how quickly and efficiently this "optimal future" work helps clients access possibilities within themselves and uncover what stands in the way of those possibilities.
Nancy Napier, L.M.F.T., teaches Somatic Experiencing for the Foundation for Human Enrichment. She's the author of Recreating Yourself, Getting Through the Day and Sacred Practices for Conscious Living and coauthor of Meditations and Rituals for Conscious Living.

Friday, March 27, 2009
324 Afternoon Workshop
The Eight Dimensions of Love
A Model of Connection
Ruthellen Josselson
As therapists, we hear a great deal about love and its disappointments from our clients, but we tend to focus primarily on issues of attachment and sexual desire, neglecting the wide variety of ways love manifests itself in different relationships. In this workshop, we'll discuss a model called "the space between us," which considers eight different dimensions of love and how they're expressed in families, friendship networks, and communities. You'll learn why we experience different aspects of love--including support, validation, idealization, caretaking, and desire--according to our temperament and circumstances. We'll explore a relational space-mapping technique with which you can assess the specific loving qualities of your clients' important relationships. You'll leave knowing how to help your clients discover what dimensions of love are most important to them and their loved ones.

Ruthellen Josselson, Ph.D., is a professor of clinical psychology at the Fielding Graduate University. She's the author of Playing Pygmalion: How People Create One Another and The Space Between Us: Exploring the Dimensions of Human Relationships.

Friday, March 27, 2009
325 Afternoon Workshop
Treating Social Anxiety
Margaret Wehrenberg
Social anxiety may be the most difficult anxiety disorder to treat because these clients feel higher degrees of anxiety, but are frequently unmotivated to change. Achievements or social interactions just aren't compelling to many with social anxiety. By exploring how to enhance motivation and couple encouragement with fear reduction, you'll learn to help clients reduce their social anxiety and feel more confident. We'll review the latest research showing that motivation varies from individual to individual and discuss how to apply effective strategies to enhance people's desire to change. We'll explore a systematic treatment plan that weaves motivational work with titrated amounts of exposure, which is effective in the socially anxious from childhood to adulthood. You'll leave with a clear sense of how to promote treatment compliance and help your clients recover more fully from social anxiety.

* Margaret Wehrenberg, Psy.D., specializes in anxiety treatment, using a holistic approach for symptom management. She's the author of The 10 Best-Ever Anxiety Management Techniques and coauthor of The Anxious Brain.

Friday, March 27, 2009
326 Afternoon Workshop
The Accordion Family
A Systems Perspective on Child Welfare
Jorge Colapinto
While child welfare agencies must sometimes intervene in families to protect endangered children, they have a tendency to perpetuate their role and take over functions that can and should be performed by the family itself. In this workshop, we'll discuss how structural family therapy helps families and workers entangled in child protection. We'll focus on the use of boundary-making, conflict resolution, and enactments to change interactional patterns and retrieve the family's capacity to solve its problems autonomously. We'll consider how to help families and welfare workers establish beneficial relationships and describe both the possibilities and limitations of a systemic intervention in the child welfare system.

Jorge Colapinto, L.Psych., is a consultant to child welfare agencies and a faculty member of the Minuchin Center for the Family. He's the coauthor of Working with Families of the Poor.

Friday, March 27, 2009
327 Afternoon Workshop
Helping "Blended" Families Thrive
Patricia Papernow
Couples with children from previous relationships often come together hoping for "blended bliss." However, daily living finds them immersed in chronic, low-level tension and even intrafamily warfare sparked by conflicting parenting styles, "resistant" or unhappy children, uncooperative ex-spouses, and differing values on everything from what constitutes cereal to the definition of a "loud" noise. In this workshop, we'll explore therapeutic approaches that help these couples build and maintain a vital connection in the face of the divisive forces of "stepfamily architecture." We'll look at how adults can help children handle the losses and emotional binds that stepfamily living creates, discuss how successful step-parenting differs from primary parenting, and review strategies for coexisting amicably with an ex-spouse. You'll leave with a workable model for how to help stepfamilies overcome their challenges and forge vital, nourishing connections.

Patricia Papernow, Ed.D., is a recognized expert on "blended" families. She's a member of the senior training faculty and advisory board for the National Stepfamily Resource Center and the author of the award-winning book Becoming a Stepfamily.

Friday, March 27, 2009
328 Afternoon Workshop
Thriving as a Therapist in a Medical Settings
Barry Jacobs and Susan McDaniel
At a time when an aging America is dealing with a rise in the prevalence of behaviorally driven chronic medical conditions, increasing numbers of psychotherapists are bringing their knowledge of human behavior and skills as empathic listeners and systems thinkers to the wards and offices of American medicine, including hospitals, family medicine practices, cancer centers, and neonatal units. In this workshop, we'll describe the cultural and attitudinal differences between the therapy and medical worlds and discuss concrete means of bridging the cultural divide. We'll offer specific ideas for taking the typical therapist's tool-bag and retrofitting it for the needs and roles of the healthcare team, including fostering wellness and facilitating lifestyle modifications. Video clips will demonstrate the dos and don'ts of collaboration between mental and physical health providers.

* Barry Jacobs, Psy.D., is the director of behavioral sciences for the Crozer-Keystone Family Medicine Residency Program, author of The Emotional Survival Guide for Caregivers, and editor of the "In Sickness and Health" column for APA's Families, Systems & Health.

Susan McDaniel, Ph.D., is professor of psychiatry and family medicine at the University of Rochester School of Medicine. She's coauthor of Primary Care Psychology and Medical Family Therapy.

Friday, March 27, 2009
329 Afternoon Workshop
The Changing World of Community Mental Health
David Dan
What does it take to survive--and even flourish--in public sector mental health today? In a lively, participatory workshop, we'll explore the dominant trends shaping community mental health today and how therapists can use them to develop new opportunities in the public sector. We'll look at how the recovery movement is transforming practice and opening up new identities for practitioners, and how the concept of "resilience thinking" is creating fresh resources for clients and the programs that serve them. Together, we'll discuss the uses for and challenges posed by evidence-based practice, opportunities for creativity in organizational and clinical contexts, and concrete strategies for forging meaningful career paths within the public sector.

David Dan, M.S.W., is a clinical social worker who consults to various mental health agencies, to Philadelphia's Department of Human Services, and to Drexel University's Institute for Non-Violence and Social Justice.

Friday, March 27, 2009
330 Afternoon Workshop
New Approaches for Eating Disorders
Lisa Ferentz
Therapists often avoid treating clients with eating disorders because standard treatments like eating management and food diaries have a high failure rate. Such approaches usually don't take into account the traumatic history in these clients' lives. This workshop introduces an innovative approach that regards eating disorders as clients' unconscious attempts to enact, re-story, and resolve traumatic experiences that they can't verbally articulate. Through case studies, clients' journals, and artwork, we'll explore how bingeing, anorexia, and bulimia are actually dialogues born of unspeakable experiences. You'll learn about the metaphoric implications of each symptom: bingers build a shield for their bodies, anorectics communicate feelings of invisibility. You'll leave with specific treatment strategies to help clients find their voices and develop safe ways to resolve trauma and rebuild their lives.
Lisa Ferentz, L.C.S.W.-C., a clinical instructor at the University of Maryland Department of Family Medicine, trains residents in the biopsychosocial model of healthcare. She's the founder of the Institute for Advanced Psychotherapy Training and Education.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
401 Morning Workshop
501 Afternoon Workshop
Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy, Part 1 and Part 2
A Moment-to-Moment Approach
Susan Johnson
Unhappy couples are usually too defensive and caught up in their own drama to really listen to each other, much less engage in problem solving or learning communication skills. Using attachment theory as its base, Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy (EFT), an empirically validated approach, provides a frame for understanding the underlying emotional dynamics of the couple and a step-by-step procedure for helping them reconnect and create a satisfying mutual bond. In this workshop, you'll learn through a live demonstration of EFT and discussion of the key interventions for calming couples down, interrupting their destructive interactional cycles, helping them reengage, and showing them how to integrate their therapeutic breakthroughs into their daily lives. You'll witness first hand how to stay with the couple's moment-to-moment emotional experience and facilitate the bonding events that can transform their relationship. (This session will continue with Workshop 501.)

* Susan Johnson, ED.D., is a professor of psychology at the University of Ottawa, director of the Ottawa Couple and Family Therapy Clinic at the Ottawa Hospital, and a research professor at Alliant University. Her latest book is Hold Me Tight: Seven Conversations for a Lifetime of Love.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
402 Morning Workshop
502 Afternoon Workshop
Structural Family Therapy Today, Part 1 and Part 2
When Revolution Becomes Evolution
Salvador Minuchin, Jay Lappin, Patricia Dowds, Martha Sullivan, Jorge Colapinto
In the 1960s, structural family therapy, pioneered by Salvador Minuchin, became known for its tough and ruthless assault on old-style therapy. Today, its innovative therapeutic principles, such as doing enactments and looking beyond the individual to the system, remain components of the approach and have been integrated with contemporary clinical methods. In this workshop, four current practitioners taught or influenced by Minuchin will show videos of their cases to explore how they've refined structural methods. Salvador Minuchin will comment on his students' work and discuss the genesis of structural family therapy and the pros and cons of how it's practiced today. (This session will continue with Workshop 502.)

* Salvador Minuchin, Ph.D., made the Philadelphia Child Guidance Center the world's leading family therapy training center and founded the Minuchin Center for the Family.

Jay Lappin, M.S.W., L.C.S.W., is the family therapy director for the group practice Centra.

Patricia Dowds, Ph.D., is executive director of the Minuchin Center for the Family.

Martha Sullivan, Ph.D., is executive director of the Fordham-Tremont Community Mental Health Center.

Jorge Colapinto, L.Psych., is a faculty member of the Ackerman Institute and the Minuchin Center for the Family.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
403 Morning Workshop
503 Afternoon Workshop
Tony and Dr. Melfi, Part 1 and Part 2
Boundaries and Ethics in the Therapeutic Relationship
William Doherty
Complicated ethical issues lay at the core of the unraveling clinical relationship between HBO's Mafia don Tony Soprano and his psychiatrist, Jennifer Melfi. Not only did the show and Dr. Melfi win awards from the American Psychoanalytic Association, but Melfi's ethics became the subject of debate in online therapy chat-rooms all around the country. In this workshop, we'll explore the clinical and ethical complexities of treatment presented in The Sopranos,and discuss what it can teach us about the risks of blurred boundaries. We'll consider the limits of traditional "values neutral" psychotherapy in a world of convoluted loyalties, hyperindividualism, and moral danger, and explore ways to talk nonjudgmentally with clients about behavior that's hurting both them and others. Video clips of the show will spur the debate. Note: this workshop fulfills many state board requirements for training in ethics and risk management. (This session will continue with Workshop 503.)

* William Doherty, Ph.D. is a professor and director of the Citizen Professional Center at the University of Minnesota and author of 12 books on families and family therapy, including Putting Family First, Take Back Your Marriage, and Take Back Your Kids.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
404 Morning Workshop
504 Afternoon Workshop
Advances in Trauma Treatment, Part 1 and Part 2
Lisa Ferentz
Trauma therapists often focus on the emotional and somatic aspects of healing, but neglect the impact of trauma on brain processes. However, understanding trauma's effects on the brain can dramatically improve our ability to do safe, effective clinical work. In this workshop, we'll explore how recent discoveries about neuroplasticity can directly inform treatment methods. We'll translate this new knowledge about the brain into concrete strategies designed to activate left- and right-brain functioning and increase safety, containment, and grounding. We'll look at ways to improve experiences of attachment, affect regulation, and enhanced self-esteem, and discuss specific techniques for undoing destructive behaviors, managing arousal, and preventing flooding and flashbacks. (The session will continue with Workshop 504.)
Lisa Ferentz, L.C.S.W.-C., a clinical instructor at the University of Maryland Department of Family Medicine, trains residents in the biopsychosocial model of trauma treatment. She's the founder of the Institute for Advanced Psychotherapy Training and Education.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
405 Morning Workshop
505 Afternoon Workshop
Childhood Unbound, Part 1 and Part 2
New Rules for Therapy with Post-Boomer Families
Ron Taffel
A generational shift has occurred. The adult children of boomers, now parents themselves, face profoundly different challenges in raising their kids--with significant implications for therapists. This workshop explores a central paradox of 21st-century family life: kids seek connection with each other and parents like never before, yet the digital age has wired both generations to act, not engage. To help post-boomer parents and children achieve the authentic engagement they need, you'll learn interventions that include: the proven, new basics of child-rearing today, a contemporary approach to encouraging parental authority, techniques that increase familial empathy and kid-kindness, effective communication based on hardwired "conversational style," the use of transitions and rituals to heal, and problem-solving that dares to incorporate adult emotion, wisdom, and direct advice. (This session will continue with Workshop 505.)

* Ron Taffel, Ph.D., is the author of Childhood Unbound: Saving Our Kids' Best Selves (forthcoming), Breaking Through to Teens and Getting Through to Difficult Kids and Parents, for professionals, and The Second Family, a guide to raising adolescents.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
406 Morning Workshop
506 Afternoon Workshop
Enhancing "Lived Experience" in Therapy, Part 1 and Part 2
Nancy Napier
The most powerful therapy involves much more than an experience of cognitive awareness or insight. But how can clinicians make the most of moments of potential emotional shift in clients and nurture them into healing "lived experiences" more consistently? In this workshop you'll learn a body-based approach to sharpening your ability to engage the fuller sensory life of clients and tap into their natural capacity for healing. We'll focus on deepening clients' sense of being totally in the moment and slowing down their body processes for maximum therapeutic impact. We'll also pay special attention to the critical roles therapist awareness, authenticity, and self-regulation play in creating the foundation for profound moments of connection and healing. (This session will continue with Workshop 506.)
Nancy Napier, L.M.F.T., teaches Somatic Experiencing for the Foundation for Human Enrichment. She's the author of Recreating Yourself, Getting Through the Day, and Sacred Practices for Conscious Living and coauthor of Meditations and Rituals for Conscious Living.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
407 Morning Workshop
507 Afternoon Workshop
Becoming a Brain-Wise Therapist, Part 1 and Part 2
A Practical Guide to Neurobiology
Bonnie Badenoch
While brain research has vastly added to our understanding of people's emotional lives, many therapists still don't know how to apply that knowledge in clinical practice. In this workshop, we'll explore key brain processes that relate specifically to therapy--implicit memory, neural integration, neuroception, and mirror neurons--and how you can internalize the insights of brain science through experiential exercises. You'll learn how to use these and other natural neurobiological processes in your work with clients to decrease shame and increase self-compassion, replace self-blame with curiosity, and even add more humor to therapy. You'll also find out how to enhance your own empathic awareness, effectively regulate your emotional reactions to clinical material, and deepen your connection with your patients. (This session will continue with Workshop 507.)

Bonnie Badenoch, Ph.D., is founder of the Center for Brain-Wise Living, vice-president of the Global Association for Interpersonal Neurobiology Studies (GAINS), and author of Being a Brain-Wise Therapist.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
408 Morning Workshop
508 Afternoon Workshop
Dreaming the Future, Part 1 and Part 2
Creating New Possibilities with EMDR
Deany Laliotis
EMDR is often used to help clients access and rewire neural pathways to integrate traumatic memories and relieve dissociation, hyperarousal, and numbing. But it can also help clients move toward a better future by mentally rehearsing aspects of more positive, fulfilling lives. In this workshop, we'll describe how to use EMDR to develop alternative neural pathways freeing clients from the fears and self-doubts that keep them from developing to their fullest potential. We'll review the brain circuitry involved in moving from an internal state of disconnection and helplessness to one of integration and empowerment. Then through lecture, discussion, and videotaped examples, you'll learn guidelines for using EMDR to help clients develop new internal maps, future scenarios, and a clear sense of how to get from their present state to their future self. (This session will continue with Workshop 508.)

Deany Laliotis, M.S.W., L.C.S.W.-C., is a trainer, clinical consultant, and practitioner of EMDR. She's been on the faculty of EMDR Institute, Inc., since 1993, and is currently the codirector of EMDR of Greater Washington.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
409 Morning Workshop
509 Afternoon Workshop
The Role of Sleep in Depression, Part 1 and Part 2
A Mind-Body Approach
Rubin Naiman
Insomnia has long been considered a classic symptom of depression. But could it also be a causal factor? Growing data suggests that insomnia frequently precedes the onset of depression and can significantly increase the likelihood that the condition will worsen, recur, and even lead to suicide. This workshop presents a new mind-body model for early identification and treatment of the "insomnia-depression complex," grounded in the integration of neuroscience and archetypal psychology. We'll discuss the profoundly healing role of adequate rest and how to evaluate clients for insomnia-induced depression. Participants will come away with a comprehensive treatment plan that includes cognitive-behavioral approaches, light therapy, circadian rhythm remedies, shadow work, and the use of natural substances that promote healthful, restorative rest. (This session will continue with Workshop 509.)

* Rubin Naiman, Ph.D., is the sleep and dream specialist and clinical assistant professor of medicine at the University of Arizona's Center for Integrative Medicine. His publications include Healing Night, The Sleep Advisor, and Healthy Sleep (with Andrew Weil).

Saturday, March 28, 2009
410 Morning Workshop
510 Afternoon Workshop
Extending Your Comfort Zone, Part 1 and Part 2
The Use of Self with Difficult Families
John Brendler and Michael Silver
We've all felt a sense of incompetence, at times even panic, when highly challenging families--those with destructive relationships, suicide, psychosis, substance and physical abuse, and sexual abuse--seem impervious to all our efforts to help. What if the key to success at these times is who the therapist is, rather than his/her interventions? In this workshop, we'll focus on how therapists can use themselves creatively to engage such families, disrupt symptomatic cycles, and elicit their hidden competencies. We'll explore ways of embracing the anxiety and aggression triggered within us in the therapeutic process and helping family members channel their intensity more effectively. We'll discuss how to be honest and direct with such families, and stay "in the moment," while maintaining your own integrity. (This session will continue with Workshop 510.)

John Brendler, M.S.W., is the former associate clinical director of the Child and Family Inpatient Service of the Phildelphia Child Guidance Center and coauthor of Madness, Chaos, and Violence: Therapy with Families at the Brink.

Michael Silver, M.D., is clinical associate professor at the medical school of the University of Pennsylvania and coauthor of Madness, Chaos, and Violence.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
411 Morning Workshop
511 Afternoon Workshop
Evolving as a Clinical Supervisor, Part 1 and Part 2
A 4-Stage Model
Robert Taibbi
As a clinical supervisor, you're part mentor, part administrator, part parent, part advocate, part sheriff, and part den mother. You want to be nice and supportive, but you also have to be tough about upholding clinical standards. You need to advocate for your staff, but you're also part of middle management. Like a good parent, you have to continually adapt your approach to your clinicians' unique and changing needs. In this workshop, we'll explore the four stages of a supervisor's professional development--teacher, guide, gatekeeper, and consultant--and map their inherent characteristics, problems, and ethical dangers. We'll talk about the value of making mistakes, the power of parallel process, the challenges facing new supervisors, and the pros and cons of group supervision. By the end of the day, you'll feel you can supervise anybody anywhere.(This session will continue with Workshop 511.)

Robert Taibbi, M.S.W., has 35 years of clinical experience, primarily in community mental health. He's the author of Clinical Supervision: A Four-Stage Model of Growth and Discovery and Doing Family Therapy: Craft and Creativity in Clinical Practice.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
412 Morning Workshop
512 Afternoon Workshop
The Shared Now, Part 1 and Part 2
The I-Thou Experience in Couples Therapy
Hedy Schleifer and Yumi Schleifer
Neuroscience tells us that our brains are wired for connection through a "brain-bridge," which allows us to experience each other physiologically and psychologically. Yet, couples therapy tends to neglect the body's vast potential for emotional and spiritual expression. In this workshop, we'll explore ways to help couples experience what Martin Buber, in his book I and Thou, called the "sacred" space between them. Drawing on a model that integrates interpersonal neurobiology with Imago Relationship Therapy and appreciate inquiry, we'll demonstrate, explain, and practice techniques that activate our brains' natural capacities for deep, wordless emotional and spiritual connection. You'll leave knowing how to achieve a more responsive therapeutic stance with couples and enhanced skills in "holding the space" for them as they resolve conflicts themselves (This session will continue with Workshop 512.)

* Hedy Schleifer, M.A., L.M.H.C., is the director of Schleifer and Associates, an international center for training couples, therapists, relationship coaches, and organizations in the art of constructive connection.

Yumi Schleifer is the codirector of Schleifer and Associates.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
413 Morning Workshop
Thinking Thin
A Cognitive Therapy Approach to Dieting
Judith Beck
Despite a multibillion dollar diet industry, most people find it difficult to lose weight and even harder to keep the weight off. One little-considered yet all-important element of diet failure is the role of dysfunctional thoughts and beliefs about eating. In this workshop, we'll focus on how beliefs sabotage weight loss and introduce a step-by-step method for helping clients cognitively restructure their approach to dieting. Participants will learn to help clients identify their self-sabotaging thoughts ("dieting is unfair"; "I'm scared to be hungry"; "I can't be deprived"), reframe the disadvantages of dieting, increase their tolerance of cravings, and be assertive with well-meaning "food-pushers." You'll leave knowing how to help clients change unrealistic expectations about ideal weight loss and commit to reaching a healthy, realistic set-point that they can sustain for a lifetime.

Judith Beck, Ph.D., is director of the Beck Institute for Cognitive Therapy and Research and associate professor of psychology in psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania. Her books include The Beck Diet Solution.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
414 Morning Workshop
Working with Children and Families of Color
Kenneth V. Hardy
Children and families of color often must contend with racial oppression and poverty, which profoundly complicate ordinary developmental tasks and create unique problems. In this workshop, we'll review the dynamics of racial oppression, their impact on children and families, and the specific ways they challenge minority groups. You'll learn how to distinguish developmentally appropriate behaviors from those that are of concern and show the effects of racism. We'll explore common pitfalls that undermine effective therapy with these children and their families, as well as how to assess and engage such clients, recognize and understand the invisible wounds of oppression, and treat them successfully. In addition, we'll identify relevant self-of-the-therapist issues that may facilitate or impede the clinician's ability to work effectively with children and families of color.

* Kenneth V. Hardy, Ph.D., is professor of family therapy at Drexel University, director of the Eikenberg Institute for Relationships, and coeditor of Revisioning Family Therapy: Race, Class, and Gender and Teens Who Hurt: Clinical Interventions to Break the Cycle of Adolescent Violence.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
415 Morning Workshop
Escaping the Porn Trap
Helping Couples Heal
Wendy Maltz
The Internet has made pornography instantly available and more seductive than ever. Some 40 million Americans now cruise porn sites, and about 40 percent of troubled marriages are floundering because of a partner's use of porn. In this workshop, we'll examine the powerful aspects of Internet pornography that draw people so deeply into it and make it so difficult to quit. We'll discuss some of the most serious consequences of porn use, including major mood disturbances, disruption of family and work life, full-blown sexual compulsions, and the harmful impact on intimate partners. Participants will learn six effective action steps for helping clients quit porn and effective strategies to help clients overcome shame and isolation, handle and prevent relapses, and restore trust and healthy sexuality to their intimate relationships.

Wendy Maltz, M.S.W., D.S.T., an expert on healthy sexuality and sexual recovery, is the coauthor of The Porn Trap: The Essential Guide to Overcoming Problems Caused by Pornography and author of The Sexual Healing Journey: A Guide for Survivors of Sexual Abuse.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
416 Morning Workshop
What Movies Teach Us about Love & Marriage
Frank Pittman
Our parents are supposed to teach us about love, sex, and marriage, but they often hide unpleasant or interesting truths from us. Television and the Internet typically coarsen and dumb things down too much, and, of course, nobody reads books anymore. That leaves the movies. In this workshop, we'll go to the movies to get bigger-than life images of the horrors, miseries, joys, and everyday tedium of love. We'll look at clips from movies ranging from Wuthering Heights and Raisin in the Sun to Juno and Brokeback Mountain, among others, to gain insights about adult love. You'll get an overview of the central issues in real-life romance and marriage, and leave with a sense of how to choose and study movies to identify messages that may be useful to your clients (or yourself).

* Frank Pittman, M.D., writes Screening Room for the Psychotherapy Networker. He's the author of Private Lies: Infidelity and the Betrayal of Intimacy and Grow Up! How Taking Responsibility Can Make You a Happy Adult.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
417 Morning Workshop
An Affect Regulation Toolbox
Calming the Highly Reactive Patient
Carolyn Daitch
Therapy is almost never easy, but it's particularly hard for highly reactive patients whose knee-jerk responses of anxiety, rage, or psychosomatic symptoms are chronically triggered by frustration, perceived threats, or ordinary stress. Furthermore, even if these patients can be calmed down during therapy, they may not be able to keep the lid on their volatile reactions and moods outside of therapy. In this workshop, we'll explore an "affect regulation toolbox," to help patients mitigate stress and anxiety and better navigate conflicted relationships with spouses, children, and coworkers. These tools teach mindfulness, sensory awareness, and impulse control. We'll conclude with a discussion of how to help clients transfer their new self-regulatory skills from the therapy session to their daily lives.

Carolyn Daitch, Ph.D., is director of the Center for the Treatment of Anxiety Disorders, a consultant with the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis, and author of The Affect Regulation Toolbox: Practical and Effective Hypnotic Interventions for the Over-reactive Client.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
418 Morning Workshop
Treating Autism Spectrum Disorder
Alexandra Solomon
The number of kids diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has skyrocketed over the past 20 years--from 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 150. Unfortunately, many therapists still don't fully understand the diagnosis and aren't prepared to help families deal with the often overwhelming challenges and choices they must face in caring for their children. In this workshop, we'll define ASD and review current research and controversies about the diagnosis. We'll consider the dizzying array of treatment options available for ASD and discuss how therapists might best help families negotiate these complex choices while giving them the emotional support they need. We'll conclude with an in-depth look at the Relationship Development Intervention, a promising new approach that empowers parents to help their children remediate the five core deficits unique to ASD.
Alexandra Solomon, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist at the Family Institute at Northwestern University and clinical lecturer in the Master of Science in Family Therapy Program at Northwestern. Her son has been diagnosed with ASD.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
419 Morning Workshop
Beyond Anger Management
Choosing Value over Power
Steven Stosny
Anger in relationships often occurs when one partner feels devalued by something the other says or does, or doesn't say or do. It gives the aggrieved partner a sense of power, but ultimately results in an even greater loss of self-worth, since it puts the partner in the position of demeaning or devaluing someone he or she loves. Even when they're throwing their weight around, most people don't want resentful obedience from loved ones--they want openhearted cooperation and the feeling that they're valued. In this workshop, we'll discuss the function of anger, active or passive aggression, and control. We'll explore an approach that helps clients use their deepest values as a vehicle for change, and hold onto their sense of value even in the midst of arguments, so they can negotiate differences without putting each other down.

* Steven Stosny, Ph.D. is the director of Compassion Power and author of You Don't Have to Take It Anymore: How to Turn a Resentful, Angry or Emotionally Abusive Relationship into a Compassionate, Loving One and Love Without Hurt.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
420 Morning Workshop
Couples Therapy in the Age of Overwhelm
Peter Fraenkel
Between long, unpredictable work hours, constant and intrusive electronic stimulation, endless extracurricular activities for their kids, meals grabbed on the fly, and little "downtime" together, no wonder couples complain about poor or nonexistent communication and intimacy. In this workshop, we'll discuss how to address the time-pressured "arrhythmia" that undermines couples' relationships and help them create meaningful "rhythms of relationship" that stimulate and protect a critical amount of quality time together. You'll learn powerful techniques for helping couples identify and change the "time side" of their problems and regularly use small check-in moments to dramatically increase their pleasure, connection, and intimacy. We'll also discuss mindfulness-based practices couples can do together for mutual soothing, decompression from work, and reconnection.

Peter Fraenkel, Ph.D., is associate professor of psychology at the City University of New York and director of the Ackerman Institute's Center for Work and the Family. He's written extensively on work/family balance and is the coauthor of The Relational Trauma of Incest.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
421 Morning Workshop
Therapy with Sexually Abused Males
Joe Kort
About one in six boys is sexually abused before age 16. Often, as adults, males who've been sexually traumatized or abused act out with affairs, experience sexual-identity confusion, display hypersexuality or sexual anorexia, and can't emotionally commit to partners. In this workshop, you'll learn how to differentiate between types of abuse and the problems of sexuality and intimacy they cause, as well as how to assess these issues in the therapy session. We'll explore different categories and scenarios of sexual abuse, the issues related to whether the perpetrator was male or female, the distinctions between covert and overt sexual abuse, and the implications for therapy of all these situations. You'll leave knowing specific ways to empower clients and help them avoid the self-sabotage that can result from sexual trauma.

Joe Kort, L.M.S.W., is a certified Imago Relationship Therapist who specializes in individual, couples, and group psychotherapy for gay and straight clients. He's the author of Gay Affirmative Therapy for the Straight Clinician.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
422 Morning Workshop
CBT for Anxious Kids
Aureen Pinto Wagner
Research has shown that cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) helps as much as 80 percent of children and adolescents with anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)--the most common mental health problems diagnosed in youngsters. Yet, clinicians often don't have the expertise to use it with children, and kids frequently lack the maturity, motivation, and willing compliance required for the method to work. In this workshop, we'll explore an empirically sound, child-friendly, effective application of CBT techniques for youngsters with separation anxiety, generalized anxiety, phobias, social anxiety, and OCD. With the aid of clinical vignettes, video clips, experiential exercises, and visual tools, you'll learn creative, child-tailored strategies for developing gradual-exposure hierarchies and how to work with parents to help youngsters conquer their fears.

Aureen Pinto Wagner, Ph.D., is clinical associate professor of neurology at the University of Rochester. Her books include Treatment of OCD in Children and Adolescents: A Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Manual and Worried No More: Help and Hope for Anxious Children.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
423 Morning Workshop
Families and Life-Threatening Illness
Evan Imber-Black
In some families, the serious or life-threatening illness of one member can cause a family-wide emotional freezing. Unspoken feelings of fear, uncertainty, ambivalence, guilt, shame, or resentment allow tensions to increase. An ill spouse feels stuck in the present, denied a vision of the future; a well spouse imagines a future alone, but can't speak about it. In this workshop, we'll demonstrate a method for helping family members in situations like these to begin talking with one another more openly, examine their own values and beliefs related to serious illness, and deal with the emotional and medical consequences. Together we'll explore how the power of meaningful rituals, including the dynamic interaction of rituals and secrecy, can heal and transform relationships.

* Evan Imber-Black, Ph.D., is director of the Center for Families and Health at the Ackerman Institute for the Family. She's authored numerous books, including Rituals in Families and Family Therapy and The Secret Life of Families.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
424 Morning Workshop
The Me Nobody Knows
Intersubjectivity and the Therapeutic Experience
Marion Solomon
What role does deep, emotional connection--or the lack thereof--between therapist and clients play in the success or failure of therapy? How do we become aware of our own emotional blind spots that can sabotage treatment? In this workshop, we'll explore these questions and talk about how the deep self of the therapist interacts with the deep self of the client--often at an unconscious level. We'll consider how therapists can become more aware of their fleeting feelings and sensations and use them to draw meaning from the cascade of subtle, unspoken information flowing from clients. We'll practice exercises designed to help you gain awareness of how your own personal history, values, and beliefs inform treatment. You'll learn how to examine your reactions openly and honestly, and decide whether and when to share them with patients.

Marion Solomon, Ph.D., is director of clinical training at the Lifespan Learning Institute and senior extension faculty at UCLA. She's the author of Narcissism and Intimacy and Lean on Me: The Power of Positive Dependence in Intimate Relationships.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
425 Morning Workshop
"Will I Ever Be Good Enough?"
Treating Daughters of Narcissistic Mothers
Karyl McBride
Women often come into therapy with symptoms like depression, low self-esteem, a perpetual sense of inadequacy, unhealthy relationship patterns, addictions, and self-sabotage. The root of their problems may be the same debilitating background story: they had narcissistic mothers, whose own needs always came first and who were unable to give their daughters the love and validation they needed, or even really know them. In this workshop, we'll explore the disempowering impact such mothers have on their daughters. You'll learn a structured approach that helps these daughters work through their feelings of grief, disappointment, emptiness, and self-doubt and construct a step-by-step plan for reclaiming their lives, enhancing their sense of self, and learning to deal differently with their mothers.

Karyl McBride, Ph.D., specializes in treating clients with dysfunctional family-of-origin issues. She's the author of Will I Ever Be Good Enough: Healing the Daughters of Narcissistic Mothers.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
426 Morning Workshop
The Uses and Misuses of Self-Disclosure
Janine Roberts
Not so long ago, therapists' self-disclosure was a clinical taboo. But in this more egalitarian age of therapy, many clinicians share their own experiences with clients in the hopes of demystifying therapy and reducing the power differential with their clients. Yet disclosures have the potential to both heal and harm. In this experiential workshop, participants will learn under what circumstances therapist transparency is legitimate and useful and when it carries real risks, including interrupting the flow and tone of therapy, crossing established boundaries, and triggering a client's fear that the therapist isn't "there" for her. Participants will come away with 10 guidelines for making self-disclosure a safe, clinically helpful part of the therapeutic process. Note: this workshop fulfills many state board requirements for training in ethics and risk management.

Janine Roberts, Ed.D., professor emerita, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, is associate editor for international scholarship for Family Process. She's the coauthor of Rituals for Our Times and author of Tales and Transformations and the poetry chapbook The Body Alters.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
427 Morning Workshop
Living with Mental Illnesses
A Close-up View
Carol Anderson and Charlee Brodsky
Mentally ill people and their families often experience frustration as they negotiate relationships with well-intentioned but sometimes clueless professionals, who simply don't appreciate the difficulty of their daily lives. In this workshop, we'll use photographs and first-person family stories to offer a close-up look at families as they try to get through days and years of unpredictable moods and behaviors, periodic crises, and chronic worry with as much grace, courage, and good spirits as they can. You'll learn how to genuinely hear what these families are telling you, base your interventions on a deeper understanding of their predicament, and use practical strategies that make engagement with them more effective.

Carol Anderson, Ph.D., a professor of psychiatry and social work at the University of Pittsburgh, is completing an NIMH-funded research project on the barriers to mental health care for low income and minority individuals. She's the author of Schizophrenia and the Family.

Charlee Brodsky, M.F.A., is a professor of photography at Carnegie Mellon University. Her most recent book, I Thought I Could Fly: Portraits of Anguish, Compulsion, and Despair, is a collection of 36 narratives of individuals' experiences of mental illness.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
428 Morning Workshop
Strategies for Positive Aging
Robert Hill
As the science of longevity succeeds in helping us live longer, our older clients (65+) require therapeutic knowledge and techniques not offered in most training centers. In this workshop, we'll explore a therapeutic approach called Positive Aging, which helps older clients anywhere along the health continuum access and draw on their inherent capacity for happiness. You'll learn an assessment approach for identifying clients' skills for coping with different aspects of the aging process and we'll discuss concrete Positive Aging interventions that you can teach your clients to help them find fulfillment in later years. You'll practice using strategies for specific age-related concerns, such as mild cognitive impairment. By the time you leave, you'll have the tools to help clients transform later-life problems into opportunities for personal growth.

Robert Hill, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Utah. He's the author of two recent books on aging, The Seven Strategies for Positive Aging and Positive Aging: A Guide for Mental Health Professionals and Consumers.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
429 Morning Workshop
The Language of the Heart
Patrick Dougherty
Whether the problem is anxiety, depression, a relationship difficulty, or any of the other complaints clients typically bring to us, the core issue is usually a "heart problem"--an inability to be fully connected with others. In this workshop, we'll explore how to work with clients to open their hearts early in the course of therapy and ways to use this opening to accelerate and deepen the therapeutic process. Participants will learn how to identify the symptoms and consequences of a closed heart, simple breathing and imagery techniques to teach clients, and a step-by-step process for helping them become more heart centered--less focused on self and more connected with others. You'll leave with tools to help clients not merely reduce their symptoms, but experience a more intimate, immediate engagement with life itself.

Patrick Dougherty, M.A., is a licensed psychologist who's been in private practice for more than 30 years. He's been teaching Qigong for over 13 years, and is the author of Qigong in Psychotherapy: You Can Do So Much By Doing So Little.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
513 Afternoon Workshop
Managing Hot Moments
Strategies for Crossing Cultural Boundaries
Kenneth V. Hardy
Helping people cross unfamiliar cultural boundaries can be a minefield. We've all been in situations in which we've been afraid to speak from fear either of being "politically incorrect" or of seeming "hypersensitive" to issues of racism, sexism, classism, or homophobia. In this workshop, we'll discuss how to begin and carry through meaningful crosscultural dialogues while preventing recrimination and hurt feelings. You'll learn how to address and defuse offensive, insensitive comments while remaining in conversation with those making them, as well as how to participate in intense, diversity-related discussions without losing your cool, attacking people, or cutting anybody off. You'll leave with a working knowledge of the "personal" hot buttons and invisible wounds that impede people's ability to remain calm and receptive during "loaded" exchanges.

* Kenneth V. Hardy, Ph.D., is professor of family therapy at Drexel University, director of the Eikenberg Institute for Relationships, and coeditor of Revisioning Family Therapy: Race, Class, and Gender and Teens Who Hurt: Clinical Interventions to Break the Cycle of Adolescent Violence.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
514 Afternoon Workshop
Home Before Dark
A Family's First Year with Cancer
David Treadway
When we experience devastating and unpredictable life crises, it's often harder to apply to ourselves the lessons that we preach to our clients. In this workshop, a therapist and his family (wife, Kate, and sons, Michael and Sam) will discuss how they all dealt with his advanced cancer. We'll talk about the unexpected difficulties associated with recovery: the ways our lives have changed or haven't, the lessons we've learned and those we've already forgotten. Besides hearing about our story, participants will have an opportunity to share their own or their clients' life-changing struggles. Together, we'll question our assumptions about how "healthy" families should respond, how we handle our clinical responsibilities when our own lives are in turmoil, and how we can use our personal life experiences to help the families we treat.

* David Treadway, Ph.D., is director of the Treadway Training Institute. He's the author of Home Before Dark: A Family's First Year with Cancer (forthcoming); Intimacy, Change, and Other Therapeutic Mysteries; and Dead Reckoning: A Therapist Confronts His Own Grief.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
515 Afternoon Workshop
Sexual Healing for Sexual Abuse Survivors
Wendy Maltz
Survivors of incest, rape, and molestation suffer disproportionately from many sexual problems. In this workshop, we'll explore how sexual abuse affects sexual attitudes, behavior, experiences, self-esteem, and intimate relationships. You'll learn a comprehensive treatment approach for both men and women survivors that highlights the interrelationship between sexual-abuse recovery and sex therapy. Through lecture and group discussion, video presentations, and experiential exercises, you'll discover how to treat withdrawal and compulsive sexual behaviors, help clients overcome negative reactions to touch and unwanted sexual fantasies, address sexual-functioning problems, and respond to challenging clinical situations.

Wendy Maltz, L.C.S.W., D.S.T., an expert on healthy sexuality and sexual recovery, is the author of The Sexual Healing Journey: A Guide for Survivors of Sexual Abuse and coauthor of The Porn Trap: The Essential Guide to Overcoming Problems Caused by Pornography.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
516 Afternoon Workshop
When Trauma and Loss Collide
Intervening after Traumatic Bereavement
Therese Rando
It's well known that deaths from accident, disaster, suicide, homicide (including terrorism and war), and acute natural causes (e.g. heart attack) can severely disable coping, impair functioning, and compromise adaptation. The sudden, traumatic death of a loved one presents the mourner with challenging, often inimical, demands stemming from a volatile mixture of grief and traumatic stress. In this workshop, we'll explore the complex and frequently misunderstood experience of traumatic bereavement and offer strategies and guidelines for effective clinical intervention. You'll leave knowing how to integrate attention to the symptoms of trauma with skills for facilitating grief and mourning.

Therese Rando, Ph.D., is the clinical director of the Institute for the Study and Treatment of Loss. She's the author of the forthcoming Coping with the Sudden Death of Your Loved One and Treatment of Complicated Mourning.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
517 Afternoon Workshop
Therapeutic Letter-Writing
Stephen Madigan
One of the most distinctive features of narrative therapy is the use of therapeutic letter-writing to enhance the impact of the in-session process, help clients embrace an alternative to their problem story, and offer them tangible evidence of a counter-identity. In this workshop, you'll learn how to use therapeutic letter-writing to help clients shift their point of view and reinforce important therapeutic messages. We'll also explore how you can use letter-writing to help clients develop "communities of concern" and stay connected with them, counteracting the isolation that's so often a factor in bringing clients into treatment.
* Stephen Madigan, M.S.W, Ph.D., opened the first narrative therapy training clinic in the Northern Hemisphere in Vancouver, Canada. In 2007, he received AFTA's Distinguished Award for Innovative Practice in Family Therapy Theory and Practice.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
518 Afternoon Workshop
Being Creative When Children Clam Up
David Crenshaw
There are lots of reasons why children "hit a wall" when asked to talk about their feelings and concerns in therapy. Sometimes they shut down because of anxiety, anger, fear, or resentment. Others may have developmental limitations that keep them from talking. Still others can't speak because they're silenced by trauma that in some cases they suffered during the preverbal period. In this workshop, we'll review a number of non-talking strategies for helping the child communicate--play, drawing, storytelling, or therapeutic work with symbols. By the end of the workshop, you'll be able to put into practice ways of getting non-talking children to express themselves that are more productive than trying to wheedle a few words out of their unwilling mouths.

David A. Crenshaw, Ph.D., is founder of the Rhinebeck Child and Family Center and author of Therapeutic Engagement of Children and Adolescents and Evocative Strategies in Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
519 Afternoon Workshop
Good Enough Sex
Barry McCarthy
Research indicates that when couples stop being sexual, the decision is almost always made by the man and conveyed nonverbally. As men age and begin to lose confidence in their ability to have erections on demand, many withdraw into shame and avoidance. Their female partners, in turn, often feel deeply rejected, frustrated, and angry. This workshop will present the Good Enough Sex model, which challenges the traditional pass-fail model of intercourse performance. Participants will learn a psychobiosocial approach to couples sexuality that helps them explore the comforts of touch that's both genital and nongenital and doesn't necessarily lead to intercourse, take turns being stimulated, "piggyback" on each other's excitement, and lower performance anxiety so they can enjoy and pleasure each other even when the man's erection isn't constant.

* Barry McCarthy, Ph.D., has a diplomate in clinical psychology and practices at the Washington Psychological Center. He's a professor of psychology at American University and author of Men's Sexual Health and Discovering Your Couple Sexual Style.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
520 Afternoon Workshop
A Provocative Approach to OCD
Reid Wilson
Clients with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) get caught up in a mental game they're guaranteed to lose. Constantly seeking absolute certainty, predictability, and the avoidance of all anxiety, they become ever more intent upon perfecting the compulsive behavior they think will protect them, which only increases their anxiety and compulsive behavior. In this workshop, we'll discuss how to quickly persuade clients to voluntarily seek out and embrace uncertainty and anxiety, thereby discovering that what they most fear is, in reality, a paper tiger. You'll learn techniques that create rapport and trust with OCD clients, highlight for them what they've lost because of their condition, and generate positive motivation to develop mastery over their symptoms.

* Reid Wilson, Ph.D., is associate clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of North Carolina-School of Medicine and author of Don't Panic: Taking Control of Anxiety Attacks. He's coauthor of Stop Obsessing: Overcoming Your Obsessions and Compulsions.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
521 Afternoon Workshop
Peoplemaking
The Magic of Virginia Satir
Susan Bregman
Over the course of 50 years, the brilliant family therapy pioneer Virginia Satir developed powerful therapeutic techniques to help people externalize unconscious inner processes and experience emotional and spiritual healing. In this workshop, you'll watch live demonstrations and engage in experiential exercises drawn from the clinical tools Satir created. Using models like the "Self-Esteem Maintenance Kit," "Rules for Life, "Stages of Change and Family Sculpting," "Psychological Closet," and "Satir Meditations," we'll create visual metaphors that graphically reveal the hidden dynamics of family and community life. You'll learn new ways to join quickly with clients, help them tap into their core issues, and resolve problems that have lingered for years.

Susan Bregman, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist in private practice in Maryland, is a past president of AAMFT Mid-Atlantic Division and an adjunct professor at Anne Arundel Community College.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
522 Afternoon Workshop
Using Music in Psychotherapy
Diane Austin
Music can powerfully and immediately evoke emotion as almost nothing else can, and yet it's almost never used in psychotherapy. In this workshop, we'll discuss how to practice "musical psychotherapy"--bringing recorded music into sessions, encouraging clients to sing known songs and improvise new ones--to help clients bypass intellectual defenses and resistance, access and work through early childhood memories, and experience emotion in a rich, more full-bodied way. You'll learn practices like "vocal holding," "free-associative singing," and other techniques for working with dissociation and trauma, helping clients integrate split-off parts of their personalities, and bringing a sense of joy and playfulness into therapy.

Diane Austin, M.A., L.C.A.T., is director of the Music Psychotherapy Center. She's associate professor at New York University and music therapist for the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra's pilot project at Maimonides Hospital.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
523 Afternoon Workshop
Mobilizing the Eating Disordered Client
Thom Rutledge
The key to effective work with our eating disordered clients is avoiding the power struggles that distract from their discovering their own motivation for change. In this workshop, you'll learn how to help these clients as they first step into the change process. We'll focus on how to challenge their underlying beliefs that they don't deserve to be well and will never be able to heal. Through role plays and demonstrations, we'll explore how to help clients distinguish between their authentic voice and the voice of their eating disorder, as well as how to make sure the ultimate responsibility for addressing the problem remains with the client.

Thom Rutledge, L.C.S.W., is the author of Embracing Fear and coauthor of Life Without Ed: How One Woman Declared Independence from Her Eating Disorder and How You Can Too.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
524 Afternoon Workshop
Helping Clients Learn To Be Alone
Florence Falk
Whether they're 25 without a boyfriend or 65 and recently widowed, many of our single female clients believe there's something unnatural about not being "connected" to someone. While helping such clients deal with clinical issues like depression, anxiety, or substance abuse, we can help them use their "active solitude" to discover a deeper sense of themselves and their potential. In this workshop, we'll revisit our own stories of being alone, and, using visualizations and meditations, learn how to turn them into new life opportunities brimming with possibility. We'll explore how we can help clients who are going through stress, turmoil, or grief realize that by learning to live fully in their aloneness, rather than fighting it with distractions, they can rediscover in themselves a sense of true independence, personal strength, and courage.

Florence Falk, Ph.D., L.C.S.W., a former assistant professor at Rutgers University, is the author of On My Own: The Art of Being a Woman Alone and numerous publications on the theater.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
525 Afternoon Workshop
Involving the Half-There Dad
Neil Bernstein
By now it's a therapeutic truism that boys need and yearn for their father's attention and guidance. Yet, many of today's overworked, exhausted, time-pressed fathers, who often are insecure about their fathering abilities, can barely manage to show up for their sons, much less fully engage with them. In this workshop, we'll focus on how to engage fathers and help them become more emotionally connected to their sons. You'll learn to help fathers be more disclosing, bring the unspoken rules and norms into the consulting room, and teach fathers how to read between the lines to better decode the mysteries of their sons' behavior. We'll also discuss ways in which mothers can more effectively promote the father-son connection.
Neil Bernstein, Ph.D., has spent more than 25 years guiding teenagers and their families through difficult times. He's the author of There When He Needs You: How to Be an Available, Involved, and Emotionally Connected Father to Your Son.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
526 Afternoon Workshop
Using Yoga to Manage Moods
Amy Weintraub
Teaching your clients some simple yoga techniques (no mat required!) can help them focus, relax, calm their anxiety, and improve their ability for self-care outside of sessions. In this workshop, you'll learn how to identify a client's mood through an analysis of his or her breathing patterns, what yoga principles are particularly relevant for mood regulation, and how to integrate sound, breath, and visual imagery into clinical work. Among the techniques we'll discuss and practice are a variety of breathing techniques that elevate the mood, calm anxiety, interrupt panic attacks, and help focus the mind for ready access to feeling states. These tools also foster the therapeutic alliance, help clients accept themselves, and enhance the progress of therapy.

Amy Weintraub, M.F.A., ERYT500, the author of Yoga for Depression and founder of the LifeForce Yoga Healing Institute, is a leader in the field of yoga and mental health. Her therapeutic yoga protocol is featured on the DVD series LifeForce Yoga to Beat the Blues.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
527 Afternoon Workshop
Treating Substance Abuse
What Therapists Should Know
Mark Schenker
Many therapy clients abuse alcohol and drugs, yet most clinicians lack the training and confidence to address these problems in their practices. This workshop provides a toolbox of skills to empower practitioners to identify substance abusers and intervene fearlessly and effectively with these clients. You'll learn how to assess addiction, judge clients' readiness for change, and engage substance-abusing clients in ways that actually motivate them to seek help. We'll also address today's treatment options and goals, including the controversial concept of moderating one's drug use rather than relying on complete abstinence.

Mark Schenker, Ph.D., is supervising psychologist at the Caron Treatment Center and founder of Recovery Options Associates, a private practice. He's the author of A Clinician's Guide to Twelve-Step Recovery (forthcoming).

Saturday, March 28, 2009
528 Afternoon Workshop
Guiding Clients in the Era of Genetics Testing
Susan McDaniel
We now know that many diseases and chronic illnesses have a genetic component, and we can find out our risk via genetic screening and testing. As clients increasingly use these 21st-century tools to identify their chances of developing an inherited disease, psychotherapists can step into new roles as guides on this often perilous journey. The workshop will explore how to help clients make wise decisions and cope with the emotional upheaval that can accompany the discovery of genetic risk. Participants will take part in experiential exercises to help explore their own genetic heritages and responses to genetic issues.

Susan McDaniel, Ph.D., is professor of psychiatry and family medicine at the University of Rochester School of Medicine. She's coauthor of Individuals, Families & the New Genetics.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
529 Afternoon Workshop
The Challenge of the Mandated Client
A Strength-Based, Client-Centered Approach
Bill Lott
Many therapists dread seeing clients required to get treatment by the criminal justice system, child protective services, schools, or their own parents because they're notoriously resistant. Yet, these challenging clients can be the most rewarding because, once on track, they often make dramatic, life-changing improvements. In this workshop, we'll investigate an approach that quickly engages such clients by making them equal partners in therapy and having their own strengths, talents, and abilities drive the therapeutic work. We'll talk about how to help them identify their goals and outcomes for therapy, focus on what they're doing well, and translate these abilities to areas in which they're struggling. We'll also discuss how to use the "miracle question" to motivate them to expand their repertoire of coping strategies and foster hope and optimism for a better future.

Bill Lott, L.C.S.W.-R., is a clinical social worker and director of the Violence Intervention and Prevention Program, a community-based effort to address the problem of youth and gang violence in Syracuse, New York.

Sunday, March 29, 2009
601 Workshop
Treating the Untreatable
The Paradox of Dialectical Behavior Therapy
Marsha Linehan
The diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) has generally been a kind of diagnostic shorthand for "impossible clients who never seem to improve." But Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), a systematic, multi-modal approach, has demonstrated remarkable, empirically supported success with such clients. In this workshop, you'll get an overview of DBT, which integrates principles of cognitive-behavioral therapy, coaching, stress management and emotional self-regulation, interpersonal skills training, problem-solving, Zen practice, and mindfulness techniques. We'll explore biological, developmental, environmental, and traumatic factors in the development of BPD. You'll learn the "key paradox" at the heart of DBT--balancing deep acceptance of these clients as they are with active strategies for helping them change. We'll also discuss the research outcomes on DBT and how the model is being adapted for other conditions.

Marsha Linehan, who originated Dialectical Behavior Therapy, is professor of psychology at the University of Washington and director of the Behavioral Research and Therapy Clinics. She's the author of Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment for Borderline Personality Disorder and Skills Training Manual for Treating Borderline Personality Disorder.

Sunday, March 29, 2009
602 Workshop
The Art and Science of Self-Compassion
Christopher Germer
While the mindfulness practice of moment-to-moment awareness can help clients acquire some freedom from the mad rush of their thoughts and emotions, this may not be a calming enough practice for those who suffer from the intense feelings of shame, rage, worthlessness, and despair arising from trauma and other disorders. In this workshop, we'll consider metta or loving-kindness, a Buddhist meditative practice of compassion that can be a powerful source of self-soothing. You'll learn how to practice metta yourself and how to teach your clients to use it in and out of session to nurture themselves emotionally, physically, and spiritually. We'll discuss how to integrate our psychological insights with the practice of metta in ways that are helpful across a range of diagnoses and complement other treatment approaches.

* Christopher Germer, Ph.D., a clinical instructor in psychology at Harvard Medical School and faculty member of the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy, is the coeditor of Mindfulness and Psychotherapy and author of the forthcoming Mindful Path to Self-Compassion.

Sunday, March 29, 2009
603 Workshop
Unlocking the Emotional Brain
How to Reliably Create Deep Breakthroughs
Bruce Ecker and Sara Bridges
We clinicians savor those moments in therapy when a client experiences a deeply felt shift that dispels longstanding negative emotional patterns and symptoms. However, the alchemy that produces such life-changing shifts has been something of a mystery, making them happen unpredictably--until now. In this workshop, we'll describe the specific steps of a clinical process that can regularly bring about these profound change events in sessions, radically enhancing the power of therapy and greatly shortening its duration. We'll explain the recently discovered neurobiology that determines how emotional memory gets unlocked and explains why this process can be so effective in freeing clients from entrenched negative reactions, old attachment patterns, unconscious core schemas, and emotional wounds. The workshop will include videotaped demonstrations, a live session, and the chance to practice experiential techniques.

* Bruce Ecker, M.A., L.M.F.T., is codirector of the Coherence Psychology Institute and coauthor of Depth Oriented Brief Therapy: How To Be Brief When You Were Trained To Be Deep, and Vice Versa.

Sara Bridges, Ph.D., is codirector of the Coherence Psychology Institute, associate professor at the University of Memphis, coeditor of the four-volume series Studies in Meaning, and president-elect of the APA's Society for Humanistic Psychology.

Sunday, March 29, 2009
604 Workshop
Treating Personality Disorders
Noel Larson
Many therapists now understand that personality disorders--narcissistic, borderline, dependent, antisocial--usually result from severe attachment disruptions in childhood. What most therapists don't realize, however, is that the erratic and dangerous nurturing these clients experienced has resulted in the development of trauma templates in their brains that underlie their profound relationship difficulties. In this workshop, we'll discuss an approach that helps clients with disrupted attachment patterns and difficult boundary issues develop healthier brain templates, reduce their symptoms, and ultimately strengthen their ability to form more satisfying relationships. You'll learn how to safely manage and decrease frightening symptoms, including violence and emotional meltdowns, access their traumatic histories without reactivating the trauma, sidestep the many potential clinical traps arising in this work, and help them develop a more differentiated sense of themselves.

Noel Larson, Ph.D., a psychologist, marriage and family therapist, and clinical social worker at Meta Resources, is the coauthor of Incestuous Families: An Ecological Approach to Understanding and Treatment.

Sunday, March 29, 2009
605 Workshop
Clients Who Press All Your Buttons
Handling Difficult Moments in Therapy
Wendy Behary
We've all had those awkward moments when our clients subtly or not so subtly let us know how useless they think we are, put us on the defensive, and even undermine our sense of clinical competence. In this workshop, we'll discuss how to deliver appropriate, on-the-spot responses that quickly restore our receptivity, flexibility, compassion, and self-confidence. You'll learn to identify these triggering moments and convert them into genuine opportunities for growth for your clients. We'll discuss the types of difficult interactions most likely to occur with narcissistic, avoidant, borderline, and aggressive clients, explore reactions embedded in our own life stories that can be activated in therapy, and practice how to use our whole bodies--from eye contact to tone of voice and posture--to respond effectively during these "hot" moments.

Wendy Behary, L.C.S.W., is the founder and director of The Cognitive Therapy Center of New Jersey and The New Jersey Institute for Schema Therapy. She's the author of Disarming the Narcissist: Surviving and Thriving with the Self-Absorbed.

Sunday, March 29, 2009
606 Workshop
Reviving Sexual Passion
Working with Long-term Partnerships
Tammy Nelson
The more years partners in companionable relationships spend together, the more likely they are to regard each other as a pair of old shoes--comfortable, but not very exciting. Unfortunately, such couples are at risk for directing their unexpressed sexual energy to pornography, affairs, and isolated fantasy. In this workshop, we'll explore ways of teaching couples to engage in nonthreatening, mutually reaffirming dialogues about their sexual fantasies and desires that reignite erotic passion. You'll learn how to help partners share their fantasies without undue stress, increase their erotic curiosity about each other, communicate better about what they really want, and express their needs in loving and passionate ways.

Tammy Nelson, M.S., is the founder and executive director of the Center for Healing. She's the author of Getting the Sex You Want and What's Eating You? and has worked with Eve Ensler of the Vagina Monologues on her Broadway production of The Good Body.

Sunday, March 29, 2009
607 Workshop
Integrating Spirituality & Therapy
Richard Schwartz
Many therapists want to bring spiritual disciplines into their work, but sometimes mindfulness practices can inadvertently convey the message that clients should maintain an inauthentic positive focus, distance themselves from troublesome ("bad") feelings, or "forgive" past abusers without adequately dealing with their hurt and anger. In this workshop, we'll explore a safe, sensitive way using the Internal Family Systems approach to gently and compassionately seek out the different wounded and frightened internal aspects of the self in order to reveal the core Self--the deep, spiritual force within each of us. Through experiential individual and group exercises and inner dialogues, you'll learn how to help clients communicate with disowned and disliked parts of themselves and connect with the deep, calm, compassionate Self that's the source of healing, joy, inner leadership, and transcendence.

* Richard Schwartz, Ph.D., is director of the Center for Self Leadership and the originator of the Internal Family Systems Model. He's the author of five books, including Internal Family Systems Therapy and The Mosaic Mind: Empowering the Tormented Selves.

Sunday, March 29, 2009
608 Workshop
Motivating the Reluctant Client
Allan Zuckoff
Every therapist knows the frustration of trying to help clients who are stuck between wanting change and not wanting it. In this workshop, you'll discover how Motivational Interviewing, which has been taken up by therapists treating depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and psychosis because it's so effective in activating change, can tip the balance. Through live demonstrations, you'll learn how to apply the four essential features of Motivational Interviewing--expressing empathy to create safety and communicate understanding; articulating the discrepancy between clients' current behaviors and larger values and goals; avoiding unproductive exchanges by rolling with resistance; and supporting clients' confidence in their efficacy. You'll find out how to free clients' from unproductive rumination by helping them view difficult choices from a fresh perspective and resolve ambivalence in the direction of change.

Allan Zuckoff, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, editor of the International Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers' online MINT Bulletin, and coauthor of Improving Treatment Compliance.

Sunday, March 29, 2009
609 Workshop
Conscious Parenting
David Flohr
Most of us are not only clinicians helping others grow, but parents trying to guide our own children through the challenges of growing up in today's world. In this experiential workshop, you'll have an opportunity to explore the essential components of effective parenting, including acquiring key information about child development, knowing how to control reactivity, understanding one's own core wounds, and mastering self-care skills. We'll focus on consistent limit-setting, dealing with intense emotion, and handling fears of loss of connection with our kids. You'll leave with a much clearer picture of your own parenting style and skills, as well as a keener idea of your growth edge as a parent and the tools and resources you can use to achieve your parenting goals.

David Flohr, Ph.D., and is a clinical psychologist and an advanced clinician in Imago Relationship Therapy. He's specialized in parenting issues for more than 20 years.

Sunday, March 29, 2009
610 Workshop
The Tenses of Our Lives
Getting in Synch with Our Partners
Wendy Patterson and Robert Patterson
We all have a tendency to focus too much on one time frame: reliving and regretting the past, obsessively worrying about the future, or rigidly concentrating on the present. Our focal point always makes sense to us, but our partner's time frame is often out of synch--one fixated on past injuries or glories, the other actively focused on the future--which can disrupt our feeling of connection. In this workshop, we'll draw on Jungian psychology, Imago Relationship Therapy, mind-body science, and experiential exercises to explore the unconscious and implicit contracts we make with ourselves and our partners that keep us stuck in power struggles fueled by the tense in which we live. You'll learn how to break the "tense" spell, bridge your differences, and increase the connection with your partner.

Wendy Patterson, M.S.W., is a certified Imago Relationship therapist, workshop presenter, and clinical instructor. She's led workshops internationally on the impact of communications styles, power differences, money, sexuality, and social roles on couples' lives.

Robert Patterson, M.Ed., is a certified Imago Relationship therapist and member of the Executive Board of Trustees for Imago Relationships International. He consults with and trains Fortune 500 corporations, government agencies, universities, and churches.

Sunday, March 29, 2009
611 Workshop
The Grandmother Journey
Barbara Graham
Being a grandmother can stir a host of unexpected issues and feelings--poignant awareness of our own aging, potential conflicts over childrearing with sons and daughters and their spouses, ambivalence about how involved we can or want to be with grandkids, insecurity or resentment about our place in the lives of our children's families, and, of course, deep joy. In this workshop, we'll share our own stories about being "Grandma" or "Nana" or "Gram"--the surprising discoveries we've made about the role, the unspoken difficulties, the serene pleasures. Through guided writing exercises and discussion, we'll identify the stories beneath the stories: the age-old myths and archetypes, as well as the 21st-century challenges and complications, shaping our own experience of grandmotherhood. Please come prepared with a fresh notebook and pens.

Barbara Graham, an author, playwright, and memoirist, has written for publications such as National Geographic Traveler; O: The Oprah Magazine; Time; and Tricycle. Her latest book is Eye of My Heart: The Hidden Pleasures and Perils of Being a Grandmother.

Sunday, March 29, 2009
612 Workshop
The Lessons of Experience
A Day for Seasoned Therapists
David Treadway and Janine Roberts
After a few decades of practice, clinicians like to think that they've gone beyond simply plying their trade and have arrived at something that might be called "clinical wisdom." At the same time, many of us face the challenges of dealing with boredom, burnout, and our own aging process. This session is designed for experienced therapists at midlife and beyond interested in investigating the personal and professional questions they're facing at this point in their careers. Together we'll explore the stages of development that clinicians often pass through as we accumulate experience and search for the deeper meaning of our work.

* David Treadway, Ph.D., is director of the Treadway Training Institute. He's the author of Home Before Dark: A Family's First Year with Cancer (forthcoming); Intimacy, Change, and Other Therapeutic Mysteries; and Dead Reckoning: A Therapist Confronts His Own Grief.

Janine Roberts, Ed.D., professor emerita, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, is associate editor for international scholarship for Family Process. She's the coauthor of Rituals for Our Times and author of Tales and Transformations and the poetry chapbookThe Body Alters.

Sunday, March 29, 2009
613 Workshop
Forging Your Therapeutic Vision
A Day for New Therapists
Jay Efran and Robert Fauber
Therapy that touches clients deeply and powerfully requires a clear operating framework. Yet, new therapists often have difficulty sorting through the many existing approaches and establishing a coherent basis for their work. In this workshop, we'll identify and illustrate principles and practices that have utility across models and, therefore, provide a solid grounding for work with clients. We'll cover a range of critical practice issues, including how to make effective use of metaphor, increase client flexibility, negotiate therapeutic contracts, maintain authenticity, and clarify the therapist's role. Through the viewing and discussion of videotaped sessions, we'll develop a richer template for the therapeutic process.

* Jay Efran, Ph.D., is professor emeritus of psychology at Temple University. He's coauthor of Language, Structure and Change: Frameworks of Meaning in Psychotherapy and The Tao of Sobriety: Helping You Recover from Alcohol and Drug Addiction.

Robert Fauber, Ph.D., is associate professor of psychology and associate director of clinical training at Temple University.

Sunday, March 29, 2009
614 Workshop
Harvesting Your Symposium Experience
The Strategies of Champions
David Ryback
You attend the Symposium, get pumped up by some terrific workshops, feel yourself on the verge of great things, and then . . . . Then, you go home, back to your daily life, and lose that opportunity. In this workshop, we'll look at how you can use the strategies sports legends employ to help you actually make the changes in your life that the Symposium has inspired. You'll learn to identify the Big Goal--a quest for transformation in some personal endeavor--build confidence in your ability to get things done, acquire greater powers of concentration, and deal with performance anxiety. Drawing from the examples of Michael Jordan, Jack Nicklaus, Venus Williams, and others, we'll help you get into the kind of focused mindset that will infuse your own and your clients' lives with energy, creativity, and new possibilities.

David Ryback, Ph.D., is the founder of EQ Associates International, a consulting coalition for leadership training and conflict resolution. He's the coauthor of Psychology of Champions: How to Win at Sports and Life with the Focus Edge of Super-Athletes.

Sunday, March 29, 2009
615 Workshop
More Than Insight
Enhancing the Experiential Dimension of Your Practice
Thom Rutledge
While we all recognize that just talking about a client's problems often doesn't yield much, many therapists feel they just don't have the background to use more experiential methods effectively. In this workshop, we'll explore how to more fully engage clients in experimenting with new behavior and raise their emotional involvement in therapy. You'll learn how to increase the intensity of sessions by creating symbolic experiences to help reveal and resolve hidden issues. We'll practice role-play exercises, visualizations, gestalt empty-chair work, re-decision, and journaling and discuss how to integrate them with standard therapy methods. You'll leave knowing how to put these techniques to use immediately and how to bring more of your own creative self into your work.

Thom Rutledge, L.C.S.W., is the author of Embracing Fear and coauthor of Life Without Ed: How One Woman Declared Independence from Her Eating Disorder and How You Can Too.

Sunday, March 29, 2009
616 Workshop
Websites and Private Practice
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know
Joe Bavonese
In today's economic climate, having a good website is essential for maintaining steady referrals to your practice. But what constitutes a good website and how on earth can your average, non-computer-geek therapist create one? This workshop, which is appropriate for people with all levels of computer know-how, will give you a comprehensive, step-by-step overview of the most important components of a successful website. We'll discuss content, design, and online positioning. We'll go over the features and pages you need most, outline how to increase traffic, and explain in detail how to play the search-engine game. You'll receive access to a webpage, created exclusively for this workshop, with links and resources to help you later. Note: This workshop doesn't qualify for continuing education for psychologists.

Joe Bavonese, Ph.D., director of the outpatient group psychotherapy practice at the Relationship Institute, is the cofounder and codirector of Uncommon Practices, a business and marketing-training organization for therapists. He leads the "Ask the Geek" monthly conference call.

Sunday, March 29, 2009
617 Workshop
Transform Your Organization or Practice
Working From The Core
Meghan O'Connell
We all know when our practice or organization isn't working well. In this workshop, you’ll learn how to cut to the core for understanding and solutions. You’ll discover the power of strategic intent and brand essence—rock-solid tools that let you make strategic decisions quickly and effectively—even in challenging economic times. Through a series of experiential exercises, you’ll distill your vision and mission into an action-oriented approach that keeps you centered in the truth of your calling while adding authenticity and power to your communication. You’ll experience how the power of collective wisdom taps into a team’s “deep knowing” of what's best. You'll leave with an understanding of cutting-edge "best-practice" that can help your practice flourish. Can this really work? Psychotherapy Networker’s brand new website and image advertising is a product of this approach. Come experience for yourself how powerful strategic thinking fueled by right-brain insight and collective wisdom can be.

Meghan O'Connell is principal and founder of Thought & Possibility, a strategic marketing organization that helps mission-driven organizations flourish. Current clients include Psychotherapy Networker, EMDR of Greater Washington, Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, a number of national associations and visionary entrepreneurs.

Sunday, March 29, 2009
618 Workshop
Tell It Like You Are
Improve Your Marketing Creativity
Dick Anderson
Most psychotherapists have had little or no training in marketing, yet it's a necessary aspect of maintaining a thriving clinical practice. This workshop will help you get more comfortable with marketing your practice by helping you understand how you can use marketing tools and principles to express your personal values. You'll learn to write effective copy, understand the essentials of successful advertising and other promotional tools, and decide what features of web marketing are appropriate to use. Feel free to bring your past efforts to this workshop for a friendly review and critique. You'll leave with a practical knowledge of the basics of marketing that'll nourish your practice for years to come. You may even discover that promoting your practice can be an exciting creative experience that helps you focus on your skills and clarify your career path.

Dick Anderson, M.A., president of AdVentures and StockPhotoVentures.com, has been the creative consultant for the Psychotherapy Networker for more than 25 years. A graphic and website consultant, he helps businesses and organizations establish and successfully grow their promotional programs.

Sunday, March 29, 2009
619 Workshop
Recession-Proofing Your Practice
Lynn Grodzki
As you know too well, times are hard out there on Wall Street and Main Street. How do you protect your private practice from declining or going under in a tough economic market? How do you remain alert to opportunities and keep your practice profitable in a recession? In this workshop, we'll talk about workable, hands-on tips and strategies for maintaining and even improving your bottom line. You'll learn why it makes sense financially to focus on niche practices and which niches therapists rely on to attract clients in today's competitive market. We'll explore different ways to network, including in your own community, now that people are less inclined to travel longer distances, and discuss innovative approaches to Internet advertising. Finally, we'll share tips for staying calm and keeping our heads when everyone else seems to be losing theirs.

* Lynn Grodzki, L.C.S.W., is a Master Certified Coach and the author of four books on practice building, including Building Your Ideal Private Practice. She helps clients create thriving professional and personal lives by honing their vision and entrepreneurial spirit.