All Webinars

“Very good presenter.  Very well-organized.  Very personable in responding to questions from participants.  Adept at integrating Power Point slides with his verbal presentation. Clearly knowledgeable in this field - both theoretically and clinically.  Gracious with his time in being willing to stay online afterward to answer questions.”-Shirley R., Professional Counselor and Psychotherapist, Alabama

Non-prescribing therapists are crucial to the effective and safe use of psychiatric medications by their clients.  In contrast to clinicians who focus primarily on medications, therapists generally spend more time with their clients and are more familiar with their history and current situation. They also tend to develop a greater rapport. And  considering that most clients diagnosed with depression, anxiety, psychosis, posttraumatic stress disorder, and virtually every other psychiatric disorder receive pharmacological interventions, the non-prescribing therapist needs to understand how psychiatric medications work, their limitations and side effects, and how to help their clients maximize gains through increasing medication compliance.   This course is designed to present the non-prescribing mental health practitioner with a review of basic concepts in clinical psychopharmacology and the effective use of common psychiatric medications in the treatment of mental health conditions.  Effective medication strategies for treating depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, psychosis, sleep disorders, and other common psychiatric conditions are covered in detail. Basic general pharmacological concepts such as pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics are reviewed as are more specific concepts such as drug absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination.  You will also become aware of common medication treatment errors to avoid and learn tips for helping your clients become more educated about the medications they take as well as help them manage their side effects.

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.

The relationship between trauma and addiction is becoming increasingly well established in the literature. This is no surprise, as clinicians working “in the trenches” know all too well that people with unresolved trauma and emotional wounds often turn to substances as a way to “numb out,” forget, or otherwise self-medicate to regulate their emotions. Conversely, people with addictive behavior disorders may drive while impaired, gravitate towards toxic relationships, go to dangerous places to get their substance of choice, or engage in many other behaviours that increase their risk of being traumatized and their vulnerability factors for developing PTSD or other trauma and stress related disorders.  It is also known that when cooccurrence is involved, this presents clinicians with a more complicated course of treatment and less favorable treatment outcomes that when clients present with only one or the other.
 

The good news is, there is hope! While neuroscience has taught us much about this phenomenon in recent years, evidence-based Cognitively based treatments are still being shown to  be at least as effective as many “newer” approaches, and in some circles seem to have almost gotten lost in the shuffle. 

Recent protocols have attempted to incorporate PE (prolonged exposure) and other cognitive behavioral treatments with substance use disorder treatments. While further research is needed in this area, the mandate for integration of treatments when dealing with this population seems integral to obtain more favorable outcomes for individuals with these complex conceptualizations.
 

Leave this full-day online training let by international CBT expert Jeff Riggenbach, PhD, with an improved understanding of the neuroscience of trauma, a integrated approach to treating PTSD and addictions, and armed with a plethora of evidence-based, yet practical new tools to equip and empower this group to find levels of recovery that have previously been eluding them!

This webinar will satisfy your ethics requirement.

Mental health professionals are affected by the fact that we live in an age of litigation; if  clients are dissatisfied with the outcome of an evaluation or treatment , they may file an ethics complaint or a law suit with increased frequency compared to  the past. Malpractice insurance premiums have increased by more than a factor of 10 over the past few decades.  As a result, many practitioners are “running scared”, fearful of complaints.  In point of fact, very few of these legal actions are successful; while going through them is unpleasant, if a mental health practitioner adheres to a few basic principles of risk management, the likelihood of a successful suit is vastly diminished.  This webinar will present these basic principles within a framework of the fundamental legal concepts involved,and how these concepts may be easily incorporated into practice guidelines.  Special attention will be paid to confidentiality and privilege, the nature of malpractice claims,informed consent, documentation, consultation,the most frequent areas of litigation, and concrete steps to take to minimize the risk of litigation.