All Webinars

Psychological functioning is always embedded within the context of interpersonal relationships.  Maladaptive patterns that bring clients to psychotherapy are often learned in early attachment relationships.  The interpersonal context of psychotherapy can help clients explore and understand relational patterns.  Clients can practice new ways of relating in therapy and, hopefully, these more effective ways of being can be generalized to new contexts.

This seminar will teach both interpersonal conceptualization and intervention methods.  Interpersonal conceptualization will be described as way to understand interpersonal patterns in the present.  In order to promote a unified approach to treatment, the seminar will highlight how relational patterns shape cognition, emotion, and behavior.  Diversity is addressed in this seminar by describing the way cultural contexts shape relationships. 

Foundational interpersonal skills will be described and demonstrated with role-play videos.  These skills will address three general processes: (1) Exploration and functional analysis of current patterns, (2) Guided discovery to uncover more adaptive functioning, and (3) Enacting adaptation outside of psychotherapy. 

At a more advanced level, this seminar will explore the source of interpersonal patterns.  This section will use attachment theory to understand the roots of internalized relational models.  A video demonstration of exploring deeper patterns will be used to illustrate how this idea can be enacted with clients.  Both transference and countertransference will be explored as they are practiced within a contemporary interpersonal approach. 

This seminar is part of Level Two of Training in Unified Psychotherapy (TUP), focusing on working contextually with external contexts and internal influences.  An essential part of a unified approach to treatment is understanding the impact of interpersonal patterns on dysfunctional thoughts, feelings, and actions and fostering more adaptive responses.

Most psychotherapists would like to draw from different theoretical sources in order to serve the individual needs of each client. However, this is a difficult goal to accomplish without training and structure. Unified Psychotherapy (UP) is a comprehensive approach to integration that enhances a therapist’s capacity to draw from diverse approaches by providing a holistic framework. This structure can be used to guide both conceptualization and intervention. 

This seminar will introduce a three-tiered model of psychological functioning that distinguishes between immediate psychological functioning, external influences, and internal influences. (A) Psychological functioning focuses on the dynamic interaction between (1) cognition, (2) emotion, and (3) behavior. (B) External influences include (4) development across life experiences, (5) interpersonal patterns, (6) families and other microsystems, as well as (7) sociocultural macrosystems. (C) Internal influences include (8) intrapsychic processes and (9) biological health. 

This seminar will include a video demonstration of a multidimensional survey of cognition, emotion, and behavior. This survey is the foundation for the process of unified treatment planning which will be elaborated upon in a later seminar (TUP 1-6). This seminar will encourage active learning by including activities and worksheets related to reflection and application. This is the first webinar in Level One of Training in Unified Psychotherapy (TUP), focusing on working interactively with cognition, emotion, and behavior.

While you can certainly take this seminar alone, this webinar is part of a six-webinar series on Unified Psychotherapy.  Strategic Psychotherapeutics is offering a certificate in Unified Psychotherapy for those that attend each of the six webinars.  Go to the Strategic Psychotherapeutics website for more details about how to earn your certificate in Unified Psychotherapy. 

Individuals with borderline personality disorder have long been considered the most challenging clients presenting in the clinical setting. Many professionals continue to view them as untreatable. Emerging research suggests this is simply not the case. DBT has paved the way in pioneering new attitudes and outcomes when working with this population. Most practitioners are trained in dialectical behavior therapy. However, DBT is only one of several empirically supported treatments for BPD. Thus psychologists are now able to bring a
more complex, integrative approach to bear on this once heavily stigmatized diagnosis. This 6 hour training will give you an in-depth understanding of BPD, help you make and have a conversation about the diagnosis in a way that minimizes client resistance and enhances motivation, and offer practical, evidence-based treatment strategies that actually work. Leave this advanced training with a comprehensive knowledge of a condition that was once considered untreatable and a broad repertoire of tools to add to your toolbox to assess, diagnosis, and compassionately treat this population and help them discover their own life worth living.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Who we are as sexual beings carries profound personal and interpersonal meaning for each of us. Research consistently demonstrates that for most people, sexual satisfaction is a critical component of relationship and life satisfaction. Yet as important as sex can be, sexual concerns are strikingly common, even among non-clinical populations. Most therapists feel they’ve been inadequately trained to address sexual issues with their clients. This talk offers actionable advice for general therapists treating sexual dysfunction in men and women, with a focus on heterosexual relationship dynamics.

We are a part of a massive social experiment. Sex, gender, and relationship dynamics are changing faster than at any time in recorded history, all within a backdrop of exploding artificial intelligence (AI). Younger generations are increasingly comfortable with technology interfacing all aspects of their lives. The potential risks inherent in human:human sex have been highlighted by COVID-19.  Enter virtual reality porn and yes, sex robots. Experts predict that within 20-50 years, robots that move and interact in humanoid ways will be affordable for many. It is highly conceivable that an infant born today can have their first sexual experience with a robot. Mental health professionals will better serve their clients if they understand the increasingly powerful impact new developments in sex tech and AI have on sex and intimacy. The time is now for us to being this critical discussion.

Threats and violence in the workplace are an unfortunate reality that can occur at any moment- no workplace is immune. Be it the domestic violence offender that find his or her spouse at work, the disgruntled employee that is offended by being disciplined for violating a work policy, the supervisor that stalks his or her subordinate and lashes out when rebuffed, or the customer that believes he or she has been treated unfairly- these acts do take place. Those in leadership positions also have an obligation to provide safe work environments. In this course we will review some of the development of threat and workplace violence understanding and assessment, visit actual case examples, identify guidance to support the development of workplace violence prevention programs, learn what to assess in working to prevent workplace violence, and explore how to build your own workplace violence prevention program.

There are over four hundred approaches to psychotherapy, most of which branch from the primary streams of learning including clinical experience, empirical evidence, theoretical systems, and evidence from related disciplines such as developmental, relational, and cognitive psychology, as well as neuroscience. The basic building blocks of psychotherapeutics that are fundamental to most approaches are well-documented. Strategic Psychotherapeutics uses these building blocks to inform evidence-based practices, combining the best empirical evidence and clinical expertise with patient preferences and values. In this webinar, participants will be introduced to the StratPsych ®system, which delineates the domains of knowledge that constitute the basic building blocks of psychotherapy. The therapeutic scope and impact of clinicians can be enhanced when therapists are grounded in the fundamental knowledge domains, the basic building blocks of strategic psychotherapeutics. As clinicians gain an understanding of how these basics relate to approaches and technical interventions, more complex therapeutic activities such as assessment, treatment planning, clinical decision making, and alliance maintenance can be appreciated. In this symposium, participants will learn the 11 basic building blocks of psychotherapeutics that can be used to select the approaches and technical interventions best suited to each patient. The goal of this webinar is to enhance clinical expertise by providing the basic, intermediate, and advanced knowledge domains universal to all psychotherapeutics.

We are a part of a massive social experiment. Sex, gender, and relationship dynamics are changing faster than at any time in recorded history, all within a backdrop of exploding artificial intelligence (AI). Younger generations are increasingly comfortable with technology interfacing all aspects of their lives. The potential risks inherent in human:human sex have been highlighted by COVID-19.  Enter virtual reality porn and yes, sex robots. Experts predict that within 20-50 years, robots that move and interact in humanoid ways will be affordable for many. It is highly conceivable that an infant born today can have their first sexual experience with a robot. Mental health professionals will better serve their clients if they understand the increasingly powerful impact new developments in sex tech and AI have on sex and intimacy. The time is now for us to being this critical discussion.