All Webinars

Personality disordered individuals are often considered to be some of the most difficult consumers of mental health services for psychologists and others mental health clinicians to treat effectively. Clearing the fog surrounding the different conditions and getting to the core of each individual client makeup is vital to successful treatment outcome. Drawing from the most recent literature, outcome trials, case studies and 20 years of clinical experience, Jeff Riggenbach, PhD will describe the latest evidence based treatment options and show you how to avoid common pitfalls and therapeutic traps of these individuals who often leave clinicians feeling frustrated, stuck, and disheartened. In this full day virtual training, Jeff will describe each of the DSM-5 personality disorders and give you simple but effective engagement, management, and treatment techniques for each. Empirically supported strategies from DBT, CBT, and Schema Therapy will be incorporated into an integrated treatment approach that will transform the way your work with this challenging population. You will leave this conference feeling revitalized - equipped with a new, comprehensive, empowering approach to assess, conceptualize, and treat this difficult population in a way that offers hope for patients and reinvigoration for providers.

This workshop offers a comprehensive and evidence-based examination of racial microaggressions, situating them within broader systems of contemporary racism. Drawing on seminal new research and clinical insights, participants will explore how racism has evolved from overt acts to subtle, often unconscious expressions that permeate everyday in teractions. The session will define microaggressions and unpack their links to pathological stereotypes, environmental exclusion, and systemic inequities. Through real-world examples, attendees will learn to identify common forms of microaggressions across contexts, including interpersonal relationships, institutional settings, and global environments. Grounded in empirical findings, the workshop will also review the science behind microaggressions and their cumulative psychological toll, including their role in stress, depression, and racial trauma. 

Building on this foundation, the workshop will focus on practical applications for clinicians and helping professionals. Participants will examine how microaggressions manifest in clinical care, romantic relationships, and even therapeutic dynamics with clients, while critically addressing pervasive myths that invalidate and gaslight people of color. Emphasis will be placed on developing culturally responsive skills to support clients in navigating and coping with everyday racism, as well as strategies for recognizing and disarming microaggressions in real time. The session will conclude with tools, resources, and actionable approaches to foster more equitable, affirming, and culturally-informed spaces across professional and personal domains.

Grief becomes disenfranchised when individuals are denied the opportunity to grieve openly, lack the social support necessary to process their loss, or do not receive the validation needed to heal. In these circumstances, the grieving person may withdraw from others, question whether their grief is legitimate, struggle to accept the loss and its consequences, or have difficulty adapting in healthy ways. When grief is pushed into silence, the emotional burden becomes more intense and isolating. This increases the risk of developing prolonged grief disorder, depression, anxiety, or other mental health challenges.

Disenfranchised grief can arise from a variety of sources—cultural norms, societal expectations, the attitudes of others, and even from the griever’s own internal beliefs. At times, professionals in “expert” roles may also contribute to this sense of invalidation, often unintentionally.

Because all mental health professionals work with grieving individuals, it is critical to recognize the signs of disenfranchisement, understand its impact on the mourning process, and learn how to avoid reinforcing it. Clinicians must be equipped to offer validation, support, and effective interventions to help clients navigate the social dynamics that can complicate their grief—especially when those dynamics are shaped by misunderstanding or judgment.

This workshop will include both didactic instruction and case studies to give attendees practical tools for addressing disenfranchised grief in clinical practice.

For those who are grieving to loss of a loved one, the holidays can be an especially difficult and overwhelming time. Holidays are often associated with memories, traditions, and a sense of connection to others, all of which are impacted by the painful awareness that their loved one is absent. Surrounded by messages that we should give thanks, participate in joyful celebrations, spend time with others, and share memories, the bereaved are faced with painfully complicated, sometimes conflicting, emotions that have to be navigated during this time. During this presentation, we will explore how clients can manage the painful and mixed feelings that accompany grief, maintain physical health, and explore how new and old traditions and rituals can support clients during this tough time. Just as there is no right or wrong way to grieve, how one chooses to manage difficult emotions, social events, and relationships during the holiday season will be as unique as one’s own experience of loss. This presentations aims to help clients reduce their suffering, remember loved ones, and even reconnect with the real reason for the season.

Guilt, regret, and shame are common emotions experienced after a personal or collective loss or traumatic event. These unique and complicated components are often a challenge to work with as they are regularly integrated with the already complex grieving process. At times, guilt, regret, and shame are ways in which a client maintains a sense of connection to the lost loved one, hence making the relinquishment of those feelings even more difficult to navigate in treatment. This training will assist your work to aid clients managing the “should’s” and “if only’s” of regret, end self-blame and shame, and overcome the profound sense of survivor’s guilt they may feel because loved ones succumbed to collective losses.

Mental health and healthcare professionals are faced with the often misunderstood and misdiagnosed symptoms of normative and prolonged grief. Formal education rarely, if ever, provides extensive enough training to accurately identify and treat those who are grieving. Unfortunately, grieving clients are diagnosed incorrectly because symptoms can mimic normative or prolonged grief. The grieving process is often pathologized, or misdiagnosed, resulting in potential exacerbation of the presenting issues because inappropriate interventions are utilized. As a result, those who are grieving are often inadvertently disenfranchised by providers, which can make the professional support they sought to reconstruct their previously shattered identities and worldviews ineffective, and even, at time, exacerbate other mental health difficulties. It is essential to be versed in identifying grief related constructs that may underlie, or even cause, mental health and behavior associated problems.
 

This presentation aims to provide current, research based information on the grieving process, clarify misconceptions of outdated theories, and differentiate between normative and prolonged grief. It also examines the changes in conceptualization, differential diagnosing, and effective, clinically proven interventions that may be utilized with grieving individuals and families. Attendees will leave with an improved clinical skill set they can immediately apply to identify and treat their clients.

Something unprecedented is happening fast in mental health care — and most therapists are not prepared for it. Chatbots are no longer a fringe phenomenon. They are already serving as therapists, companions, and crisis responders for millions of people. Clients are reporting meaningful therapeutic alliances with AI. Research shows that a significant portion of mental health consumers rate chatbots as beneficial – and some prefer them to traditional psychotherapy. Furthermore, the richest, most powerful companies in human his tory are investing heavily in making these tools more emotionally convincing by the day. 

This is not a technology seminar. This is a conversation about the future of our profession — and what we can do right now to stay relevant, competitive, and clinically excellent in a rapidly shifting landscape. 

In this two-hour webinar, clinicians are offered a clear-eyed, re search-grounded look at AI’s influence on therapy room. You will leave with a realistic picture of where AI outperforms human thera pists, where it falls dangerously short, and — most importantly — where your irreplaceable clinical value lies. This webinar offers the knowledge, perspective, and practical strategies to meet this mo ment with confidence rather than anxiety.

Something unprecedented is happening fast in mental health care — and most therapists are not prepared for it. Chatbots are no longer a fringe phenomenon. They are already serving as therapists, companions, and crisis responders for millions of people. Clients are reporting meaningful therapeutic alliances with AI. Research shows that a significant portion of mental health consumers rate chatbots as beneficial – and some prefer them to traditional psychotherapy. Furthermore, the richest, most powerful companies in human his tory are investing heavily in making these tools more emotionally convincing by the day. 

This is not a technology seminar. This is a conversation about the future of our profession — and what we can do right now to stay relevant, competitive, and clinically excellent in a rapidly shifting landscape. 

In this two-hour webinar, clinicians are offered a clear-eyed, re search-grounded look at AI’s influence on therapy room. You will leave with a realistic picture of where AI outperforms human thera pists, where it falls dangerously short, and — most importantly — where your irreplaceable clinical value lies. This webinar offers the knowledge, perspective, and practical strategies to meet this mo ment with confidence rather than anxiety.

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.

This seminar addresses the critical issue of responding to subpoenas, emphasizing the importance of understanding legal obligations, potential pitfalls, and proper procedures to avoid professional and legal repercussions. This seminar aims to equip clinicians with the knowledge and skills necessary to confidently and ethically navigate the complexities of subpoenas and court testimony while ensuring the protection of both them and their patients/clients.

This seminar addresses the critical issue of responding to subpoenas, emphasizing the importance of understanding legal obligations, potential pitfalls, and proper procedures to avoid professional and legal repercussions. This seminar aims to equip clinicians with the knowledge and skills necessary to confidently and ethically navigate the complexities of subpoenas and court testimony while ensuring the protection of both them and their patients/clients.