9 am – 12 pm
Instructor: Jennifer Berton, PhD, LICSW, CADC-II

This workshop seeks to help social work supervisors to support staff working with children and families in crisis using various supervision models. Supervisors will learn to guide their staff in assessing the diverse needs, strengths, and limitations of their clients. The workshop will also explore techniques to support staff in ethical practice and effective communication with children, family members and family groups.

Learning Objectives (Supervisory Best Practices):

1. Support supervisees in understanding and recognizing signs and symptoms of mental illness in children and adolescents
2. Teach supervisees to comprehensively assess the needs of children and their families in crisis
3. Engage supervisees in collaborating with inter-professional teams to engage appropriate systems in response to clients’ needs
4. Guide supervisees in developing effective communication with children and their families
5. Support supervisees to use culturally informed, ethical, and equitable approaches to working with children and their families
6. Assist supervisees in navigating complex issues of confidentiality and mandated reporting in service to children and families

All therapists want to be exceptional, and this workshop can show you how

Across all helping professions, research shows that techniques don’t lead to better outcomes. Have you ever wondered why the DSM doesn’t guide treatment more effectively? And, what explains why some therapists are better than others if it isn’t the theory they’re using?

Control-mastery Theory, emerging from decades of elegant research, can help answer these questions and provides ways to understand how therapy works across techniques, practitioners and clients. This perspective may be the best way to learn to be a better therapist.

In this introductory workshop you will learn the basics of this approach which you can begin to apply to your work right away. There is actually no evidence supporting the idea that one technique is superior over another. But there is strong research evidence for the therapist’s increased effectiveness when responding to an individual client’s particular problems and goals. This means to be effective and truly helpful therapists need to understand what the individual client wants and how they will use therapy to achieve those goals.

Control-mastery is more a stance than a list of techniques based on an empirically derived method of case formulation, called the Plan Formulation. This approach provides a learnable framework for understanding a client’s conscious and unconscious goals, the beliefs and obstacles that prevent the client from pursuing their reasonable goals toward a more satisfying and functional life, traumatic experiences that contributed to the development of those obstacles, and what the most helpful stance is that the therapist can take. This theory helps you understand not only what to do, but how to be a particular client’s therapist.

This workshop will provide participants with the Control-mastery case formulation method and how to use it, an understanding of how trauma shapes beliefs, both conscious and unconscious, how the therapist attitude can help to change those beliefs, and be more flexible, creative and case specific with clients.

Using lecture, discussion, and in-depth case examples demonstrating the application of this stance, participants will:

• Learn the fundamentals of Control-mastery Theory
• Understand how this theory advocates for an individual “client-driven” approach
• Develop an appreciation for how necessary countertransference is and how to utilize it to deepen their understanding of what the client is trying to resolve
• Understand the Control-mastery perspective on trauma
• Practice application of the principles of the theory on clinical cases

Jennifer Berton, PhD, LICSW, CADC-II
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

Jennifer Berton, PhD, LICSW, CADC-II
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

Donald deGraffenried, LCSW
Friday, October 11, 2024
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.

Catherine Ewing, LCSW, MDiv

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.

Catherine Ewing, LCSW, MDiv
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.