Author: Beth Sharkey, MSW

Children and Grief – 2 part

Ruth Pearlman, LCSW, LICSW, MEd
Register Now for CE programs nowWednesdays, Nov 13 and 20, 2024
10 am – 12 pm
4 CECs – participants must attend both sessions to earn CECs

Registration Fee: $100
10% discount for UConn SSW Alumni and Current SSW Field Instructors

Webinar link will be emailed when your registration is complete.

In response to feedback from participants in her previous trainings, instructor Ruth Pearlman has expanded this webinar to 2 parts. Even before COVID children were grieving losses that were not largely recognized or understood. COVID has magnified the grief experience of children on multiple levels. A child’s response to loss is dependent on many factors including age, emotional development, relationship, and social supports. Ms. Pearlman will explore children’s concepts of death and non-death losses applying Piaget’s Cognitive Theory to understand how
children conceptualize loss at each stage of development.

Day 1 will focus on lecture with ample opportunity to ask questions and interact with the instructor and other participants.  Day 2 will focus on the application of the content provided on the first day.

In this webinar, we will:

  • identify a spectrum of non-death losses in childhood
  • review Piaget’s Cognitive Theory and apply it to children’s understanding of loss
  • examine the role of magical thinking in children’s developmental understanding of loss
  • identify modern grief terminology
  • specifically examine the loss and grief trajectory in the lives of children in foster/alternative care

Making Sense of the DSM 5 TR – In-person

Jennifer Berton, PhD, LICSW, CADC-IIRegister Now for CE programs now
Friday, Dec 6, 2024 – In-person
9:30 am – 4 pm
5 CECs

Registration Fee: $125
UConn SSW Alumni and Current Field Instructors receive a 10% discount

Classroom location, driving directions and parking details will be included in your email confirmation

The 5th edition of the DSM brings with it some of the most significant changes between editions. In addition to changes in the disorders themselves and how they are grouped, the diagnostic system has been revamped. Are you prepared to incorporate the changes into your practice and to diagnose your clients accurately? This workshop will identify the changes introduced in the new DSM, comparing editions IV and V, and identifying the changes most likely to affect your individual practice, using many case examples as practice. This training is appropriate for all diagnosing clinicians, and for those who want to better understand the diagnostic process.​

Participants are requested to bring a copy of the DSM 5 to practice diagnosis using clinical vignettes during the workshop.

Learning Objectives

  • understand the major philosophical changes to the diagnostic process in the DSM 5
  • learn the categorical and disorder changes and additions introduced in the DSM-5
  • compare diagnoses in the DSM-IV and DSM-5 using the same clinical vignettes
  • examine the assessment tools published with the DSM-5
  • practice diagnosis using the DSM-5 through numerous clinical vignettes

The Clinical Interview In-person

Jennifer Berton, PhD, LICSW, CADC-IIRegister Now for CE programs now
Friday, Dec 20, 2024 – In-person
9:30 am – 4 pm
5 CECs

Registration Fee: $125
UConn SSW Alumni and Current Field Instructors receive a 10% discount

Classroom location, directions and parking details will be included in your email confirmation

What questions do you ask your clients that get at the information you need? What language do you use? How do you take into account a client’s culture in the questions that you ask? How do you address silence, or an unwillingness to participate in the interview? How do you refocus a client or deescalate his or her aggression? What questions can you ask to get at specific symptoms and how do you adjust your query in session as needed? While many trainings examine symptoms, psychopathology, and existing diagnostic assessment tools, this seminar has the actual clinical interview at its focus. We will explore how to gather the information you need for diagnosis and treatment planning, and hone your clinical interviewing skills.

This seminar will teach participants how to utilize interviewing techniques that meet the needs of the clients they serve, which strengthens both the individual client’s treatment experience and the profession as a whole. The topic connects to diversity in allowing participants to attend to the diverse background of their clients in the specific questions that are utilized, as well as specific ideas in how to ask the questions, (e.g. language, non-verbal communication, vocal tone). It connects to ethics because attendees will learn how to ensure their clinical interviewing adheres to the strictest of ethical principles. It connects to advocacy because the better the clinical interview, the better treatment the clients will receive; treatment the clients deserve and need to build a healthy life.

This seminar will enable you to:

  • gather all the needed questions to conduct a solid clinical interview
  • learn the components of motivational interviewing
  • explore how to direct and redirect the path of the clinical interview
  • practice clinical interviewing skills; identify strengths and challenges

 

Supervising the Diagnosing Clinician

Jennifer Berton, PhD, LICSW, CADC-IIRegister Now
Thurs, Oct 31, 2024

Webinar
9 am – 12 pm
3 CEC

Registration Fee: $75
10% discount for UConn SSW Alumni and current SSW Field Instructors

Link will be emailed when your registration is complete.

This training marries the essential elements of a successful supervisory practice with the foundation of the diagnostic process. Participants will gain tools to ensure that each supervised clinician can learn how to diagnose disorders and conditions that will be a treatment focus. This training will give participants tools to both evaluate and improve diagnosing tools, and how to troubleshoot and intervene as may be needed.

Supervising the Ethical Clinician

Jennifer Berton, PhD, LICSW, CADC-IIRegister Now
Thurs, Nov 7, 2024
Webinar
9 am – 12 pm
3 CECs

Registration Fee: $75
10% discount for UConn SSW Alumni and current SSW Field Instructors

Link will be emailed when your registration is complete.

This training marries the essential elements of a successful supervisory practice with the core ethical standards of helping professions. Participants will gain tools to ensure that each clinician can grow an ethical practice that will help protect the profession, the clinician, and every client they serve. This training will give participants tools to both evaluate the ethical practice of each clinician and to strengthen any ethically weak areas, which will allow participants to anticipate and address problems before ethical violations occur.

Superior Supervision

Jennifer Berton, PhD, LICSW, CADC-IIRegister Now
Thurs, Oct 24, 2024
Webinar
9 am – 12 pm
3 CEC

Registration Fee: $75
10% discount for UConn SSW Alumni and current SSW Field Instructors

Link will be emailed when your registration is complete.

We know that good supervision can be hard to find, and one major reason is that supervisors are rarely adequately trained. If you are a supervisor, or interested in becoming one, this training will help you build an ethical, engaging, effectual supervision practice.

In this webinar, participants will:

  • explore the common mistakes supervisors make
  • examine effective theoretical orientations and models of supervision
  • explore the core components of the supervisory relationships and the needed tools

Beth Test Post

FOCUS Test Form

FOCUS Certificate Application Form

Please complete the form below. Applications are reviewed every week. You will be contacted once a decision on your application is made. Instructions regarding registration and payment will be provided upon acceptance. Please contact FOCUSinfo@uconn.edu if you have any questions.

  • Tell us about your Team. Let's start with the Supervisor:

  • Tell us about the Team members:

  • Once you have completed the form and click the Submit button below, you will receive an email confirming receipt of your application. We will contact you within a week regarding the status of your application. If you have any question, please email FOCUSinfo@uconn.edu.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR): A Hands On Introduction

Donald deGraffenried, LCSW
Friday, October 11, 2024Register Now for CE programs
In-person
9:00 am – 4:00 pm
6 CECs

Registration Fee: $150
10% discount for UConn SSW Alumni and Current SSW Field Instructors

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is an innovative and powerful therapy used for the desensitization of PTSD and other mental health concerns. It has been in existence for over fifty years, is research validated and many clinicians have questions about the therapy.

This one-day workshop will offer a primer on the theory, practice, and application of EMDR in agency and community mental health settings. The workshop will provide a definition of EMDR and will address a model for how it works and what contributes to its effectiveness. The eight (8) stages of the treatment process will be discussed in depth, with case examples. The use of affect management tools that support client use of EMDR will be reviewed and demonstrated.

A live demonstration of an EMDR session will be provided, addressing the presenting image, negative cognitions, feelings, and body sensations that are effectively treated with EMDR. Teaching modalities will include lecture, demonstrations, PowerPoint, group discussion and EMDR DVD’s.

The implementation and application of EMDR in agency settings will be explored with an emphasis on effective start up tools for practice, written informed consent and the use of scaling questions to enhance client feedback and treatment satisfaction. How to obtain the full six-day EMDR training and issues related to consultation and supervision will also be explored in depth.

This one-day workshop is designed as an introduction to EMDR for clinicians, administrators, agency directors and other individuals interested in EMDR. It is an introduction to the training and many individuals may go on to take the full EMDR training after taking this introduction. It does not qualify you to provide EMDR therapy.

Developing Comfort and Confidence with Tapping (EFT)

Catherine Ewing, LCSW, MDivRegister Now for CE programs

Fri, Sept 27, 2024
9:30 am – 1:30 pm
4 CECs

Fee: $100
10% discount for UConn SSW Alumni and Current SSW Field Instructors

**Optional 6 Week Follow Up Mastery Class Available To Attendees (See description below. Separate registration required.

Getting comfortable using EFT comes with practicing on yourself and with clients who are generally well-functioning, but may be struggling with anxiety, physical pain, intrusive thoughts, past trauma, self-limiting beliefs, or life changes.

The more you use EFT and see the consistent positive results, the less strange it will feel and the more opportunities you will find to use it for your own self-care, with family and friends, and for your clients.

The seminar will include a review of the Basic Recipe for tapping, including tapping points, set-up phrase and basic tapping protocol.

Additional topics to be introduced and further explored will be the Personal Peace Procedure, Tap & Breathe Procedure, Tapping to Install Positive Beliefs, Borrowing Benefits, and how EFT dovetails with the Law of Attraction.

This program is a great follow up for those who have taken Fundamentals of Emotional Freedom Technique: Care for Clients and Practitioners, for those who have taken any Entry Level EFT class, or have been practicing on their own. While the workshop will briefly review the basics of EFT, it is not intended for participants without any prior knowledge.

There will be ample time for group tapping, demonstration with participants, and Q&A.

Learning Objectives:

• Develop more comfort and confidence using EFT for self and with clients
• Understand the Personal Peace Procedure and its appropriate use
• Learn protocol for Tapping in Positive Beliefs
• Learn about the power of Borrowing Benefits in group settings
• Understand the energetic integration of EFT and the LOA
• Learn the Tap & Breathe Procedure

** Mastering EFT Online Follow-Up Series
6 – 90 minute classes: Wednesdays, 10/9, 10/16, 10/23,11/6, 11/13, 11/20 from 6:30 – 8pm.

Mastering EFT Online Follow-Up Series

Catherine Ewing, LCSW, MDivRegister Now for CE programs
6 – 90 minute classes
Wednesdays, 10/9, 10/16, 10/23,11/6, 11/13, 11/20
6:30 pm – 8 pm
9 CECs*

Fee: $225
10% discount for UConn SSW Alumni and Current SSW Field Instructors

This 6-week, virtual mastery class series will be made available to participants who have taken the Developing Comfort and Confidence Class or any Level 1 or Fundamental EFT Training, with Catherine Ewing or another EFT certified teacher.

Over the course of 6 weeks participants will have the opportunity to deepen their understanding, sharpen their skills, and develop their confidence in delivering EFT in their clients’ sessions.

Each 90 minute session will include:

  • a check in and time for Q&A regarding tapping sessions from the previous week
  • additional teaching on the aspects of tapping taught in Level 1 or Developing Comfort classes
  • time for practicing the different ways to deliver EFT
  • opportunities for “role play” tapping sessions

* Please be aware that the classes will be recorded for participants to be able to rewatch and review.  Due to the interactive/experiential nature of the teaching modality, and in order to fulfill the requirements, participants MUST attend all 6 classes live and have their video ON in order to receive CECs.