All Webinars

This webinar will satisfy your ethics requirement.

Ever since 1976 with the landmark case of Tarasoff versus Regents of the University of California, there has been a dizzying array of cases dealing with various approaches to this topic. In some states, there is a Duty to Warn, in others a Duty to Protect Third Parties. In some states, the duty is mandatory and in others discretionary. Some states are also distinguished in terms of permissive or non-permissive duties. Small wonder that with all these variations, mental health professionals are often confused in terms of their obligations. Sometimes, the case law is inconsistent with the statutes within the same state. Research done regarding the knowledge of licensed men¬tal health professionals in 1988 showed that 93% of the sample surveyed did not fully understand the laws in their own states. Twenty years later, with continued exposure to the topic through continuing education, the number dropped to 76% who did not understand the laws in their own states. This webinar will attempt to reconcile these differences and provide the mental health professional with concrete steps to take in order to crystalize and under¬stand the laws and the ways to manage practices so as to minimize the risk of legal action.

"Excellent content - very knowledgeable and experienced presenter Greater understanding of instruments - research on just how limited our ability to predict violence is, and the ethical/scientific issues with sex violent predator laws/dynamics."-Kevin D., Psychologist, California

The ability to predict  future violent behavior has long been an issue for mental health professionals.  Initially it was merely assumed that we could make such predictions accurately based on our clinical skills alone.  Many decisions in the judicial system hinge on an accurate assessment of violence, such as  bond, probation, and parole decisions, committment to and release from psychiatric facilities, and even whether or not a defendant should be sentenced to death.

Recent research has demonstrated however that such predictions are not as accurate as once assumed and that the methodology used was sadly lacking in  validity.   A tremendous amount of research has gone into risk assessment for future  violence ; still,,  the accuracy remains in question even to this day; nevertheless, judicial decisions are continually made which ignore our limited ability to assess violent behavior.

This webinar will explore  the factors necessary to do competent work in this area and demonstrate the ways that risk assessment can become more precise.

“The instructor clearly has a high level of expertise, presented the material in a well organized, comprehensive, and detailed manner, and maintained my interest throughout.”-Jay F., Psychologist, New Jersey

One in seven people over the age of 70 experiences dementia and another 22% demonstrate symptoms of cognitive decline that falls short of dementia. Those who escape the symptoms of dementia may spend a substantial portion of retirement years caring for a friend or family member with cognitive impairment. The rise of the baby boomer generation is expected bring unprecedented rates of cognitive syndromes like Alzheimer’s disease, yet most mental health professionals have no formal training to work with this vulnerable population. This workshop provides a clinical approach to understanding and assessing these syndromes.

“The instructor clearly has a high level of expertise, presented the material in a well organized, comprehensive, and detailed manner, and maintained my interest throughout.”-Jay F., Psychologist, New Jersey

One in seven people over the age of 70 experiences dementia and another 22% demonstrate symptoms of cognitive decline that falls short of dementia. Those who escape the symptoms of dementia may spend a substantial portion of retirement years caring for a friend or family member with cognitive impairment. The rise of the baby boomer generation is expected bring unprecedented rates of cognitive syndromes like Alzheimer’s disease, yet most mental health professionals have no formal training to work with this vulnerable population. This workshop provides a clinical approach to understanding and assessing these syndromes.

This workshop will provide an overview of gun violence in the inner city. The presenter will discuss current statistics and look at how the topic disproportionately impacts certain groups of people. The training will then look at contributing factors to gun violence and how it impacts youth. The training will close with looking at strategies to support youth impacted by gun violence.

“Outstanding instruction presented in an interesting way, especially wtih the use of short video clips. It increased my awareness of how trauma is transmitted to children and made me want to research more about this.”-Audrey H., Counselor, Alabama

Working with youth can be challenging given the generational patterns of trauma, poverty, incarceration, etc. So, it’s essential for providers to understand generational trauma and how to work with youth from a generational perspective. Without this perspective, we can have unrealistic expectations for youth and their families and encounter barriers to engagement. Providers will learn strategies to support youth with generational patterns of trauma within their families.

Many youth, especially foster care and juvenile justice youth, come from generational cycles of trauma and oppression. So, it’s necessary for providers to understand these generational patterns to effectively partner with these youth and their families.

Given the amount of trauma individuals have experienced, it’s crucial for social service providers to understand common trauma responses and how they may manifest. Although
fight, flight, and freeze are more commonly known there is more acknowledgment of the fawn response. This training will provide an overview of these common trauma responses, how they manifest and how to clients. Not only is it important for us to understand these trauma responses it’s equally as important to help clients understand how they show up in their lives and may even be impeding their functioning at home, at school and other settings.

As more providers are learning about trauma and becoming trauma-informed, it’s crucial to not only focus on trauma but equally important to focus on resilience. Resilience impacts how one responds and recovers from trauma. This training will provide an overview of understanding trauma and formal assessment measures to assess trauma as well as therapeutic activities to assess trauma. Next, the training will provide an overview of resiliency and strategies to assess it with clients. Lastly, the training will provide strategies to foster resilience with clients.

"Excellent speaker. Very engaging and very conversational. I only signed up due to scheduling, but she got me very interested in this subject matter. My favorite CE program for this license renewal! Opened my eyes to the long term consequences of trauma and ways to work it though.”-Martin W.-Psychologist, California

Trauma can impact one’s understanding and experience of intimacy and given the high rates of sexual abuse amongst youth and young adults, it’s important that clinicians are equipped with the skills and knowledge to talk about intimacy after sexual abuse. In this workshop participants will have an opportunity to reflect of their understanding of intimacy and how it impacts their work with sexual abuse survivors. You will learn about common sexual symptoms of sexual abuse and ways to support clients in developing healthier sexual beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors.  Despite how common this can be amongst sexual abuse survivors, it is often not addressed in therapy. In this training, the trainer will discuss how trauma impacts one’s relationship with sex and how to support foster youth and transitional age youth in developing a healthier understanding and experience of sex.