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The Gold Standard: A One Day Refresher on EMDR Therapy

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Donald F. deGraffenried, LCSW, EMDRIA Senior TrainerRegister Now for CE programs
Friday, August 8, 2025
In-person at the UConn Hartford Campus
8:30 am to 4:30 pm
7 CECs
*Also approved for 7 EMDRIA Credits. Please see the note at the bottom of the page

Registration Fee: $175
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

This one-day hands on training will provide a comprehensive refresher on Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy in both theory and practice. Areas covered include predictors for success, demonstration of the mechanics, forms of bi-lateral stimulation, review of the eight phases, cognitions, and supporting optional processing.

Multiple case examples will be presented including working with victims of violence, especially crime victims and survivors of homicide. In addition, participants will watch two client videos and there will be a live demonstration of the EMD Protocol which is helpful in crisis and emergency situations.

Trainer deGraffenried is looking for one volunteer to work with him using the EMD Protocol during the training. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact him before the training at donald@traumatreat.com.

At the conclusion of this one-day refresher, participants will be able to:

  • complete a simple self-evaluation of their skill base
  • briefly summarize the Eight Phases of EMDR
  • effectively describe how to perform the demonstration of the mechanics
  • state the advantage of using eye movements as the form of bi-lateral stimulation
  • state two advantages of using EMD as a protocol
  • define an overactivated and underactive client
  • describe three major components of the Recent Event Protocol
  • plan for and incorporate the use of the Visual Assessment Tool in support of gathering information needed for the Recent Event Protocol with crime victims
  • state two or more of the advanced go to the body techniques
  • list two or more spiritual cognitive interweaves
  • exhibit the ability to analyze which of the EMDR models will best serve the needs of clients who are survivors of gun violence

* EMDRIA Credits have been approved for this training.  Participants who have completed Basic Training in EMDR will receive 7.00 EMDRIA Credits at the end of the training. You must be present for the entire training to receive the credits.

 

Surviving and Thriving in your Private Practice

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Jennifer Berton, PhD, LICSW, CADC-IIRegister Now for CE programs
Tues, July 15, 2025
Virtual
9:00 am – 12 pm (ET)
3 CECs

Registration Fee: $75
UConn SSW Alumni and Current Field Instructors receive a 10% discount

Link to webinar will be included in your email confirmation

Ready to take your private practice to the next level? This interactive workshop is designed exclusively for clinicians who have completed “Building Your Private Practice” and are eager to confidently apply what they’ve learned. Join Dr. Jenn and fellow professionals to tackle real-world challenges, troubleshoot obstacles, and refine your systems—so your practice not only survives, but truly thrives. Bring your questions, roadblocks, and ideas for a supportive, hands-on experience that turns insight into action.

Learning Objectives:

  • Identify and analyze common challenges faced in private practice, including workflow, client management, and business growth
  • Develop personalized strategies for overcoming obstacles and optimizing key practice systems
  • Apply workshop insights to troubleshoot specific issues in your own practice, with feedback from peers and Dr. Jenn
  • 4. Strengthen confidence in maintaining, developing, and evolving a sustainable, client-centered private practice.

Ethical Technology

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Jennifer Berton, PhD, LICSW, CADC-IIRegister Now for CE programs
Tues, July 8, 2025
Virtual
9:00 am – 12 pm
3 CECs

Registration Fee: $75
UConn SSW Alumni and Current Field Instructors receive a 10% discount

Link to webinar will be included in your email confirmation

In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, mental health clinicians face new ethical challenges around confidentiality, data security, and informed consent. This engaging training is designed to equip clinicians with practical knowledge and real-world strategies for using technology ethically and responsibly in their practice. We will explore best practices for telehealth, digital record-keeping, and client communication, while strengthening our understanding of privacy laws and ethical codes. Join us to gain confidence in making informed decisions that protect your clients—and your professional integrity—in the digital age.

Learning Objectives:

  • Identify the options for the use of technology in practice
  • Learn the ethical pitfalls for using technology
  • Explore how to use technology safely and effectively
  • Anticipate potential future risk with technology

 

New Perspectives on Sustaining Helping Professionals

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Patricia Wilcox, LCSWRegister Now for CE programs
Live Webinar
Wed, June 18, 2025
10 am – 12 pm
2 CECs

Recently social service agencies have been acknowledging the effects of working with, feeling empathy for, and having responsibility for trauma survivors. Whether this effect is referred to as vicarious trauma (VT) or secondary traumatic stress, there is no doubt that the work can influence the treater’s world view, their sense of safety, their own relationships, their sense of hope and their energy and enthusiasm for their work. However, agencies often take the approach that this is mainly an individual problem, to be solved by the treater on their own time and at their own expense with self-care and good boundaries.

This presentation will challenge some of the myths of vicarious trauma, such as that work is entirely depleting and that home life is entirely fulfilling; and that there is such a thing as work-life balance. The book Reducing Secondary Traumatic Stress: Skills for Sustaining a Career in the Helping Professions by Brian C. Miller (2022 Routledge) will provide the scaffolding for specific techniques that can help our workers retain and grow their hope and energy in the work, and thus reduce turnover. We will cover areas such as: debunking the myths of VT; developing skills to enhance our work lives; understanding that appreciating intensity rather than avoiding it helps us thrive; bringing joy into our work lives; developing radical compassion; and recovering from crisis. . We will also explore the assumption that trauma encounters are inherently fatiguing. We will investigate the premise that the cure for exhaustion is not rest- it is wholeheartedness. Participants will leave the workshop with action steps to bring to their agencies.

Participants will be able to:

  • Identify three myths about vicarious trauma and their alternative truths
  • List eight skills to sustain treaters in their jobs, and create agency plans to teach and support these skills
  • Develop three strategies to increase the joy in their workplaces
  • Identify three actions to create agency structures to support treaters in recovering from crisis.

Sacred Space: When Gender-Affirming Care Changes Us, Too

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Sarah Gilbert, LCSWRegister Now for CE programs
Friday, May 16, 2025
9 am – 12 pm
3 CECs*

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

This experiential workshop explores the profound reciprocal transformation that occurs in the practice of gender-affirming therapy. Mental health providers working with transgender and gender diverse (TGD) clients are not merely witnesses to their clients’ journeys and supporting them through transition, but are themselves changed through the process of creating and holding therapeutic space. Participants will examine both the challenges of vicarious trauma and the growth opportunities of vicarious resilience, developing concrete strategies for sustainable practice while honoring the sacred nature of this work.

Through multimedia presentations, reflective exercises, case discussions, and collaborative learning, participants will gain deeper understanding of their own experiences while building practical skills for integration and resilience. This workshop uniquely balances honoring the transformative impact of gender-affirming care with developing sustainable clinical practices in the current challenging sociopolitical environment.

Learning Objectives:

  • Participants will identify at least three ways in which their work with transgender and gender diverse clients has impacted their professional identity and clinical practice.
  • Participants will demonstrate two concrete strategies for managing vicarious trauma while maintaining therapeutic presence in gender-affirming care.
  • Participants will develop a personalized sustainability plan that includes specific boundary-setting practices, self-care rituals, and/or professional support mechanisms.

Nobody Listens to Anybody: Developing Group Work Skills

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Developing Group Work Skills for Fostering Connection and Understanding in Groups During Divisive Times

Joan Letendre, LCSW, PhDRegister Now for CE programs
In-person
Friday, April 4, 2025
9:30 am – 4 pm
5.5 CECs

Registration Fee: $125
10% discount for UConn SSW Alumni and current SSW Field Instructors

One of the benefits of membership in a group is that we are exposed to a variety of opinions and multiple ways of viewing the world and solving problems. In today’s increasingly polarized world, however, we often struggle to listen to points of view different from our own. This dynamic poses challenges in groups composed of diverse membership. Group leaders may also be impacted by these divisions as they struggle to keep a safe space for members to be heard and understood. Leaders must be sensitive to how the many kinds of diversity may impact interactions among members, prepare for how to skillfully manage participation so that everyone is heard, be comfortable discussing broader social issues that may impact members, and intervene in conflict when challenging issues arise. Understanding how to be aware of one’s own processes while skillfully and compassionately managing conflict in a group can greatly facilitate this process.

In this seminar, we will focus on the importance of the group leader’s awareness of their own feelings, opinions and responses to conflict, particularly around divisive societal issues. Development of specific skills that will facilitate difficult conversations will be emphasized. We will address the current larger social context (i.e. unequal treatment of persons of color by law enforcement, anti-immigrant rhetoric and actions, religious intolerance, anti-gay/trans policy) and how that may impact the lives of the members and the dynamics of the group. All discussion will be will be framed within a strength-based perspective.

Several teaching methods informed by participant feedback in a previous seminar, including lecture, small and large group discussions, individual and partner reflections, group activities and exercises and case examples will be used throughout the day. Development of a safe space and allowance of time will offer participants the opportunity to share their own group successes and challenges for problem solving and feedback.

In this seminar, you will:

  • develop an awareness of your feelings and become more comfortable in discussion of issues that may generate conflict
  • become aware of specific strategies for discussion of issues of difference that gives affirmation to many points of view
  • learn to include the broader social context when assessing the interactions of group members
  • become more comfortable using exercises and activities that may generate discussion of uncomfortable topic

Control-mastery Theory: All Therapists Want to be Exceptional

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Jo Nol, PhD, MS, LCSWRegister Now for CE programs
Friday, February 28, 2025
9:30 am – 4 pm
5.5 CECs

Registration Fee: $125
10% discount for UConn SSW Alumni and current SSW Field Instructors

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. The Plan Formulation 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

Magical Thinking and Trauma Throughout the Lifespan

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Ruth Pearlman, LCSW, LICSW, M.EDRegister Now for CE programs
Wed, July 23, 2025
10 am – 12 pm
2 CECs

Registration Fee: $50
10% discount for UConn SSW Alumni and current SSW Field Instructors

Webinar link will be emailed when your registration is complete.

Magical Thinking, the cognitive process of assigning direct cause and effect to life events, was once thought to only occur in young childhood. Recent research supports that Magical Thinking is present throughout the lifespan, especially when we are confronted with traumatic and/or grief events. This workshop will explore how the Magical Thinking of traumatic events in childhood forges a narrative of self-blame that the child brings into adulthood. We will explore how to clinically expose the destructive self-blame stories that clients have carried within themselves. We will explore ways to assist clients in reconstructing their narratives. This workshop will also examine elements of Magical Thinking that child perpetrators use to manipulate their victims into silence. Lastly, we will discuss the tendency for traumatically grieved clients to re-employ Magical Thinking in their guilt and shock over the deaths of loved ones.

Please note: This workshop will contain content regarding childhood sexual abuse and suicide.

Learning objectives:

1. Participants will be able to identify Magical Thinking throughout the lifespan
2. Participants will learn how to assist clients in reframing narratives that have been distorted by Magical Thinking Cause and Effect beliefs.
3. Participants will understand the role of Magical Thinking in the cognitive processing of grief.

William T. Grant Foundation Funds Study on Child Welfare and Cash Assistance

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Two UConn School of Social Work faculty, Meg Feely, Ph.D., and Ann Marie Garran, Ph.D., MSW, LCSW, have joined a national mission to investigate whether increasing economic support to low-income families can improve child maltreatment outcomes.

The project, Empower Parenting with Resources (EmPwR), received $350,000 in funding from the William T. Grant Foundation, and is the first large scale study in the U.S. to evaluate how families identified by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services as at risk of child maltreatment respond to strengthened financial security. Researchers hope to ultimately determine if monthly cash gifts over the course of a year prevent future involvement with the Illinois child welfare system by randomly assigning 800 families who are receiving services through the Intact Family Services program to receive a monthly stipend. This is one of the first studies to test this type of intervention across varying geographies (urban to rural), tailor it for child welfare involved families, and explicitly address the role of systemic racism.

Feely and Garran, associate professors at the UConn School of Social Work, began working with EmPwR’s co-principal investigator, Will Schneider, MSW, Ph.D., several years ago.

“We’re looking to understand if and how families’ ability to provide safe and consistent care for their children changes when they have more resources. Additionally, we want to explore the mechanisms, or what types of changes influence improved care when families have more money,” Feely noted.

Child maltreatment, defined as abuse or neglect of a child under the age of 18, remains a substantial problem in the U.S. particularly among families who struggle with meeting their basic economic needs.  Feely also says that this program may have important implications for racial and ethnic equity. Compared to their respective presence in the general population, nationally and in Illinois there are a disproportionate number of BIPOC children and families relative to white children and families in the child welfare system.

“Part of our contention is that while individual biases, implicit and explicit, are relevant factors in disproportionality, economic oppression and in particular the impact of structural and systemic racism are the strongest drivers of the racial and ethnic disproportionality in child welfare. For case workers, really understanding the powerful role of systems and structures in shaping and constraining the choices of individuals is an important perspective in comprehending families’ behaviors and choices,” she said, explaining this is why she is thrilled with the anti-racist and anti-oppressive process lens Garran brings to this project.

“Ann Marie is someone I not only enjoy working with, but one of the best people in the country to do this work,” Feely noted.

Garran, who has been at UConn for 15 years, has lectured nationally and internationally on anti-racism, anti-oppression, and inequality. She is a published author on those topics and regularly leads trainings across the U.S. including one with this project, which will help case workers understand their socialization, how that creates implicit biases, and the ways that structural inequality and economic oppression unknowingly influence those biases, assumptions, and stereotypes.

“I was brought in on this project because of my expertise in anti-racism, but also to help understand the case worker’s mindset in terms of their work with the families,” she said.

Garran will work with both the families and case workers to understand their own values, belief systems, and biases that come into play, such as, “What will it mean to them to be a part of this study in terms of cash transfers for families? Are these families deserving of this money, why or why not?” She will also encourage them to move away from a stance of blaming individuals for their circumstances, instead considering the ways that structural oppression influences the options available to families and their decision-making processes.

Feely, Garran, and their research team will compare the outcomes of families who receive the subsidies with the families in a control group who do not. The goal: gain a better understanding of whether financial subsidies work for some families more than others in reducing neglect, particularly when it is led by a lack of resources; understand the amount of cash needed and timeframe and determine if the outcomes vary by race or ethnicity, family structure, or type of community (e.g. rural vs suburban). The researchers will also interview families to track if cash transfers improved risk factors for maltreatment such as parents’ mental health, child health, and parental cognitive load.

Read more about the EmPwR program.