Full Course Description

Keynote: Mark Epstein, MD, author of the acclaimed Thoughts Without a Thinker, The Trauma of Everyday Life, Going on Being, and The Zen of Therapy

Acclaimed psychiatrist and mindfulness writer, Mark Epstein, MD, reflects on a deeply personal inquiry weaving together his Western psychology training with mindfulness. Using powerful client stories, he reveals how a therapist can cultivate wonder and trust in therapy, no matter how fraught our clients may seem. Participants who attend this presentation will be able to determine how the essentials of Buddhist psychology can practically apply to their clinical work and the relationship between mindfulness and mentalization – our ability to understand ourselves and how that underlies our behavior. Finally, participants will be able to distinguish between mindfulness and insight practices and how the concept of “emptiness” can help clinicians better understand themselves and how it applies in their work with clients.

Program Information

Objectives

Determine how the essentials of Buddhist philosophy and psychology apply to their clinical psychotherapeutic work.
Assess the role of mindfulness in clinical practice and its relationship to ‘mentalization.’
Differentiate between mindfulness and insight practices and utilize the central concept of ‘emptiness’ to better understand the self..

Outline

The Integration: Buddhist philosophy and Western Psychology

Essentials and Definitions
Clinical Relevance of the Integration
Clinical Applications of the Integration

Mindfulness and Mentalization

Essentials and Dimensions of Mentalization
Understanding How Mentalization Impacts Behavior
Clinical Applications of Mentalization and Mindfulness

Mindfulness and Emptiness

Differentiating between Mindfulness and Insight practices
How Emptiness Applies to Clinicians and Therapy
Using Emptiness to Better Understand Self
Clinical Applications of the Use of Emptiness and Mindfulness

Target Audience

Counselors
Educators
Marriage and Family Therapists
Nurses
Psychologists
Social Workers
Other Mental Health Professions

Copyright : 03/08/2023

Mindful Breathing for Anxiety and Pain Management

You want to reduce your clients’ suffering due to anxiety, depression, and even trauma. But where do you even start? Mindful breathing is the answer you’ve been looking for. In this session, award-winning pulmonologist and mindfulness teacher Dr. Ni-Cheng Liang will help you discover the synergy between science and experiential practical application and learn how to teach and empower your clients by adding mindful breathing practices to their self-management techniques.

Program Information

Objectives

Determine when mindful breathing is appropriate for a client and its clinical implications.
Apply simple yet effective mindful breathing practices in session to help clients acquire new self-management modalities and improve clients level of functioning.
Construct personalized mindful breathing prescriptions for clients to alleviate symptoms of ADHD.

Outline

First Do No Harm: Assessing for readiness – to focus on the breath or not?

Severity of anxiety, depression, pain, and shortness of breath to be taken into account
Consider trauma history and the possibility of breath as a trigger
Collaboration with physicians in evaluating for underlying metabolic or anatomic causes for symptoms is key for holistic healing.

Changing the Breath to Empower and Serve

Physiology of breath and changing inspiratory to expiratory ratios will be briefly reviewed to serve as a foundation for teaching clients
The 4-7-8, pursued lipped, diaphragmatic breathing, box breathing techniques will be introduced and experientially taught for participants to experience

Personalization: Constructing Mindful Breathing Prescriptions

A review of the different indications for the different types of breathing introduced will be shared
Sample prescriptions will be discussed for common clinical scenarios

Target Audience

Counselors
Educators
Marriage and Family Therapists
Nurses
Psychologists
Social Workers
Other Mental Health Professions

Copyright : 03/08/2023

Harnessing Mindfulness to Combat Cravings, Anxiety, and Addiction, and Habits in Mental Health Practice

What if the root of addiction isn’t in the substances itself, but somewhere deeper? While addiction can be difficult to overcome, mindfulness may offer a promising step forward in treating it. Through his clinical work and neuroscience research studies, as well as by developing digital therapeutics for habit change, Judson Brewer will discuss the elementary mental mechanism that promotes cravings and addictions which dates back to prehistoric days. He will explain how our brains employ reward-based learning and intermittent reinforcement to construct habits gradually; these habits are hard to break. In this session, Judson will describe why habits form and simple ways that we can break unhealthy ones ranging from smartphones to stress eating and even anxiety. He will also show how we can use these to build our natural capacities of awareness, kindness, and curiosity.

Program Information

Objectives

Participants will be able to analyze how habits are formed and perpetuated.
Participants will be able to determine how mindfulness affects default mode network brain processes.
Participants will be able to apply mindfulness approaches to change addictive habit patterns.

Outline

Why is it so hard to concentrate?

How habits are formed and what you can do to change them

Prefrontal cortex and cognitive control
Context dependent memory

Training resilience with mindfulness

Target Audience

Counselors
Educators
Marriage and Family Therapists
Nurses
Psychologists
Social Workers
Other Mental Health Professions

Copyright : 03/09/2023

The Missing Ingredient in Trauma Treatment

The deep shame and self-loathing that many of your traumatized clients experience can be difficult, if not impossible, to address. How can you get clients to shift their mind-set and begin healing when traditional therapies fall short? Susan Pollak, MTS, MEd, EdD, will give you practical skills for mindfulness meditation and self-compassion that will transform your clinical practice and help you guide clients through the healing process.

Program Information

Objectives

Assess the basic research on Self-Compassion and the Treatment of Trauma as it relates to clinical treatment.
Formulate meditation practices for individual patients depending on their needs to improve client level of functioning.
Evaluate various forms of Mindfulness meditation and know when to apply them in clinical settings.

Outline

What is Trauma? What is Self-Compassion?

Defining self-compassion and trauma
The misconceptions surrounding self-compassion and the research behind how it can be used to combat the effects of trauma
The effects of self-compassion on behavior, motivation, resilience, and emotional regulation

How to Connect the Dots? The Value of Sequencing

One size doesn’t fit all – assessing the needs of the client

The Three Mindfulness Meditation Skills

Focused Attention – the practice of Just Listening and befriending the body using the practice of touch points
Open Monitoring – bringing your clients into the present moment
Loving-Kindness and Compassion Practice -transform the way your client relates to themselves and others, use compassion as a lifeline to remain resilient, and open your client up to loving themselves for who they are
Utilizing Loving-Kindness and Compassion for the Clinician
Review clinical illustrations of these concepts in action

Target Audience

Counselors
Educators
Marriage and Family Therapists
Nurses
Psychologists
Social Workers
Other Mental Health Professions

Copyright : 03/08/2023

Compassionate Self-Study: A Mindfulness Based Approach to Addressing Ethnic and Race-Based Stress and Trauma

Ethnic and race-based traumatic stress is a worldwide phenomenon. Regardless of race and ethnicity, from those who are harmed to those who intentionally or unwittingly do harm, we are all impacted by its damaging effects. No one is immune. To remain relevant the therapeutic community needs to be prepared to address this form of stress and trauma. Therapists who lack critical awareness of race and racism, who have not lived the experience of being directly impacted, have not adequately dealt with their own racial hang-ups, and who are uncomfortable dealing with issues of race and ethnicity, become part of the problem. Unexamined racialized attitudes, and adherence to racial stereotypes within the clinical setting have the potential to negatively impact the quality of the experience of those seeking help. Compassionate self-study, a mindfulness based practice, is a necessary first step in preparing to deal effectively with clients experiencing ethnic and race-based stress and trauma. This session invites clinicians interested in doing this work to begin preparing themselves emotionally by exploring their relationship to their own racial and ethnic orientation.

Program Information

Objectives

Practice mindfulness while exploring and acknowledging your personal, professional, societal, and cultural beliefs regarding race and ethnicity.
Integrate ethnic and racial inquiry into the therapeutic encounter.
Develop clarity, empathy and compassion for racial stress and trauma.
Invite client engagement in your therapeutic approach to racial stress and trauma.

Outline

Mindfulness

Compassionate self-study – First, look within
Unconscious bias
Cultural blind spots
Othering
Attunement

Race-Based Traumatic Stress

Definition
High effort coping an adaptive response - video
Body awareness
External threats/Internal trigger

The mindful therapist

Therapeutic relationship
Mindfulness practices
Presence
Emotional safety
Inviting client engagement

Target Audience

Counselors
Educators
Marriage and Family Therapists
Nurses
Psychologists
Social Workers
Other Mental Health Professions

Copyright : 03/09/2023

Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy for Anxiety and Depression

A review of over 200 studies found Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) as effective as antidepressants for reducing stress, anxiety, and depression. MCBT uses mindfulness practices combined with exercises drawn from Cognitive Behavior Therapy to help clients be present to the experiences that overwhelm their window of tolerance. This experience of being here and now invites the opportunity for more skillful response and allows clients to find new ways to be with, and release difficulties, that seem to repeat over and over. This introductory session will give your clients (and yourself!) the indispensable tool for on-the-spot stabilization of mind and mood through the use of MBCT. Honing this ability to become a curious observer of all experience allows for the possibility of on-the-spot stabilization of mind and mood, an indispensable tool for our clients and within your own clinical work.

Program Information

Objectives

Describe MBCT program structure and its implementation in clinical practice.
Utilize mindfulness based cognitive interventions to address alarming thoughts in clients with depression and anxiety.
Describe the currently literature supporting MBCT for depression and anxiety.
Assess client populations that will benefit from MCBT interventions for symptom management.

Outline

Introduction to Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy

Identify mindfulness in the context of clinical work
Integrate theories from mindfulness and Cognitive Behavior Therapy as a foundation for MBCT principles

Incorporating Evidence-Based Practices

Evaluate the clinical implications of current MBCT research
Identify client populations that will benefit from MBCT techniques
Participate in an MBCT experiential learning exercise

MBCT Program Overview

Determine the major theories and change mechanisms involved in the MBCT program
Describe MBCT program structure and implementation
Utilize a trauma-informed approach to MBCT
Assess potential uses for mindfulness-based protocols in clinical practice

Target Audience

Counselors
Educators
Marriage and Family Therapists
Nurses
Social Workers
Other Mental Health Professions

Copyright : 03/08/2023

ADHD and the Mindful Path

What do you do when medication and traditional therapies stop working for your clients struggling with ADHD? Utilizing the practice of mindfulness and specific exercises based in neuroscience can help you break through your roadblocks and help clients regain their focus. This session will give you an in-depth look at the truths and misconceptions of using mindfulness to help treat ADHD, as well as the neuroscience that informs the practice and the evidence-based treatments that are available for your clients, from children to adults and even parents.

Program Information

Objectives

Differentiate between ADHD and other disorders in relation to assessment and treatment planning.
Analyze the common misconceptions regarding ADHD as related to clinical treatment.
Integrate the neuroscience of ADHD into mindfulness interventions.
Demonstrate knowledge of the various evidence and mindfulness-based treatments for ADHD to inform the clinician’s choice of treatment interventions.
Employ numerous mindfulness exercises and interventions targeting the emotional and executive functioning impacts of ADHD in clients to improve treatment outcomes.

Outline

The Mindful ADHD Clinician

Understanding symptoms of ADHD
How is it diagnosed?
What is executive functioning?

The Neuroscience of ADHD and Mindfulness Explained

Why the brain does what it does
What we need it to do
Why mindfulness works for ADHD

Differentiate fact from fiction

Common myths about ADHD
Assessing for co-occurring disorders and other causes
Client misconceptions regarding mindfulness for ADHD

Understand the impact of ADHD on children, adults and parents

Are you treating ADHD or its emotional impact?

The Mindful Treatment of ADHD

Medication Options
Evidence-based treatment for ADHD
Evidence-based efficacy of alternative approaches

Mindfulness Psychoeducation for ADHD

Making mindfulness accessible
Differentiating between mindfulness and meditation
Explaining the benefits of mindfulness for ADHD

Mindfulness-based Tools for the Clinician

Exercises to:
- Increase attention and impulse control
- Calm the mind, body and emotions
- Increase organization, memory and planning
- Manage Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria
- Increase self-compassion
- Reduce ADHD-related anxiety
- Increase emotional regulation ability

Mindful Parent-Behavior Therapy for ADHD

Why we treat the parent and not the child
Essential elements of Parent-behavior Therapy

Appropriate Referrals for the child or adult with ADHD

Target Audience

Counselors
Educators
Marriage and Family Therapists
Nurses
Psychologists
Social Workers
Other Mental Health Professions

Copyright : 03/09/2023

Mindful Writing: Integrating Grief & Loss into the Wholeness We Are

Mindful Writing is an expressive practice that focuses on the present moment and silence, introspection, discernment, and other contemplative means. Grief and loss are ubiquitous; sooner or later, we will experience them. We will apply MW as a therapeutic means to examine the gifts within grief and loss. MW uses all the senses without judgment to express true-to-life depictions of our inner and outer experiences. This therapeutic approach aids in the cultivation of more in-depth relationships with clients as they traverse grief. The process moves in three cycles, the intrapersonal, the interpersonal, and the spiritual, offering skillful means to hold the therapeutic space with compassion and kindness.

Mindful Writing provides pathways to wholeness. “Wholeness” includes all aspects of our lives, not just the desirable and the positive, but the neutral, negative, or dislikable. Looking at wholeness as just made of positive experiences is incomplete and creates aversion. This approach sees grief and loss as part of wholeness.

By the end of our time together, you will be able to apply the teaching of compassion and facilitate intrapersonal growth in your clients by using simple practices to get in touch with grief and loss. Additionally, you will employ this knowledge in day-to-day living as you investigate your responses to loss and grief. It is easier to teach what we experience first-hand. You will assess and apply Mindfulness, with its four foundations, to the practice of writing as a therapeutic means of navigating grief and loss. You will see how “Our tendency for self-protection leads us to store the conflicting emotions of grief in some dark, cramped corner of the mind or body. But avoidance or resistance to grief only intensifies the pain.” Fran Ostaseki

You will extrapolate the universal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the collective grief that is ensuing and how to improve clinical outcomes by facilitating MW as a preventative measure.

Program Information

Objectives

Explain how mindfulness can positively transform writing into a self-compassionate practice to navigate grief and loss.
Integrate the four foundations of Mindfulness to improve a client’s level of functioning using MW as a therapeutic intervention.
Use MW’s clinical implications through meditative practices and poems appropriate for generating self-compassion and reconciliation of the transient nature of it all.
Through writing, meditation, and clinical reflections, you will gain direction for facilitating psychological healing and personal transformation in those you served, hence alleviating the symptoms of depression and anxiety that are part and parcel of loss.
Identify losses, and grief types and their clinical implications.

Outline

This presentation includes meditative practices and somatic elicitations followed by writing prompts to metabolize reflect, introspect, and gain insight into grief as takeaways
The Mindfulness practices will bring you the necessary awareness to take action and change behaviors in your clients who want to live a meaningful life aligned with their core values
The practices in this program will lead to true transformation, which often happens at the individual level; expands to the collective and opens access to the spiritual realm hidden in the here and now in day-to-day living
You will integrate Frank Ostaseski’s five invitations to see grief as a necessary process and to alleviate symptoms of depression after enduring a loss

Target Audience

Counselors
Educators
Marriage and Family Therapists
Nurses
Psychologists
Social Workers
Other Mental Health Professions

Mindfulness for the Real World (aka Practices that Don’t Require You to Sit)

So many people have trouble with sitting meditation, and complaints range from not having time or finding it hard to sit still. Dr. Susan Pollak, Harvard Psychologist, has watched her students struggle with seated meditation for years but research shows that informal and brief meditation is very effective. In this session, she will share her most accessible and practical mindfulness exercises – all of which don’t require formal seated practices. Informal practices, like walking meditation, caregiving and parenting, and loving kindness in the midst of chaos will be explored.

Program Information

Objectives

Determine the rationale for informal and brief practices in clinical practice.
Distinguish among many types of informal practice, such as walking meditation, caregiving and parenting, mindful eating, etc.
Apply informal and brief practices to clinical practice.

Outline

Mindfulness Deconstructed

Challenging cultural assumptions and norms
Making space for flexible applications of mindfulness

Brief and Informal Practices

Current research
Types and examples

Clinical applications

Target Audience

Counselors
Educators
Marriage and Family Therapists
Nurses
Psychologists
Social Workers
Other Mental Health Professions

Mindfulness-Centered CBT: Daily Practices for Managing Stress and Anxiety

More and more people are seeking effective ways to reduce anxiety and manage overwhelming stress. The Think Act Be approach to mindfulness-centered cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) offers three research-proven ways to cope with these challenges:

Mindful presence (Be) grounds our awareness in the here-and-now and helps us open to realty just as it is, which provides a firm foundation for cognitive and behavioral practices.
Cognitive (Think) techniques allow us to identify and challenge unhelpful thought patterns.
Behavioral (Act) practices help us plan actions that move us toward our valued goals. These approaches are mutually reinforcing, with practice in one area supporting growth in the others.

This session will begin with a brief overview of the Think Act Be approach and the research to support its effectiveness. It will then describe a method of integrating mindfulness-centered CBT practices into one’s daily routine, from the first moments after awakening until going to bed at night. These straightforward and practical exercises can help to keep stress and anxiety within a manageable range while increasing self-efficacy to handle challenging emotional states.

Program Information

Objectives

Appraise the effectiveness of mindfulness-centered CBT for anxiety reduction and stress management.
Apply specific mindfulness-centered CBT interventions for management of stress and of reduction anxiety in clients.
Utilize mindfulness-centered CBT interventions as a means for helping clients increase their sense of self-efficacy.

Outline

The Think Act Be Approach to Managing Anxiety

An overview of the model
- Mindful presence (Be)
- Cognitive techniques (Think)
- Behavioral practices (Act)
Empirical support for the approach

Think Act Be in Action: Mindfulness-Centered CBT Interventions

Specific strategies to implement throughout one’s day
Increasing self-efficacy to handle challenging emotional states

Target Audience

Counselors
Social Workers
Marriage and Family Therapists
Psychologists
Psychotherapists
Therapists
Addiction Counselors
Case Managers
Nurses
Psychiatrists

Mindfulness-based Interventions for use in the Treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorder

Over the years, worldwide awareness and understanding of autism spectrum disorder has grown to the point where children are more likely to be identified and diagnosed at a much earlier age. What this means, additionally, is that an increasing number of adults are also being identified for the very first time in their lives.

As a spectrum diagnosis, the symptoms and presentation of autism can fly easily under the radar and you may find yourself with autistic clients just forming their initial understanding. With close to 50% of autistic individuals reporting co-occurring anxiety disorders, clients have likely struggled with self-esteem & belonging, rigid thinking and confusion about social interactions. Mindfulness exercises have been shown to help autistic clients reduce anxiety, increase social/emotional reciprocity, reduce rumination and increase emotional regulation.

This course will provide an in-depth look at social and emotional impacts for adults living with level one ASD and how mindfulness interventions can provide a useful shift. Specific mindfulness exercises will be provided for use in your clinical practice.

Program Information

Objectives

Differentiate between Autism and other disorders.
List the common misconceptions regarding ASD.
Describe why and how mindfulness can benefit those with ASD.
Demonstrate knowledge of the various evidence and mindfulness-based treatments for ASD.
Employ numerous mindfulness exercises and interventions targeting social/emotional reciprocal deficits and restrictive and repetitive behavioral impacts of ASD in clients.

Outline

The Mindful Clinician

Understanding symptoms of ASD
The Importance of Language: Neurodiversity Paradigm v. Deficit Model
How is ASD diagnosed?

Differentiate Fact from Fiction

Common myths about ASD (“low functioning”, person-first language, Rainman, Aspergers)
Presentation in men vs. women
Assessing for co-occurring disorders

Understand the Impact of ASD on Children, Adults and Parents

Are you treating ASD or its emotional impact?
“Masking” & its emotional toll

The Mindful Treatment of ASD

Applied Behavioral Analysis & its controversy
Social Skills Groups
Efficacy of alternative approaches

Mindfulness Psychoeducation for ASD

Why mindfulness for ASD?
Differentiating between mindfulness and meditation

Mindfulness-based Tools for the Clinician
Exercises to:

Increase social reciprocity
Calm the mind, body and emotions
Increase flexible thinking
Manage stimming & other repetitive behaviors
Increase self-compassion
Reduce ASD-related social anxiety
Increase emotional regulation ability

Target Audience

Licensed Clinical/Mental Health Counselors
Marriage & Family Therapists
Psychologists
Addiction Professionals
Social Workers