Full Course Description

Multicultural Awareness & Diversity: Powerful Strategies to Advance Client Rapport & Cultural Competence

Too often, therapists feel paralyzed by the fear that they don’t know enough about other cultures to try to counsel clients different than themselves.

Watch this training and reduce those fears by increasing your understanding of cultural experiences with which you are not personally or professionally familiar.

Without learning multiple languages or becoming an expert on every possible culture, you can become more culturally competent and feel more confident in your ability to counsel any client from any culture. Beyond ethnicity, you will also explore issues of age, gender, sexuality, religion, acculturation, and social justice, as well as opportunities to strengthen the therapist’s own cultural self-awareness.

Watch Lambers Fisher, MS, LMFT, MDIV, for this adventure into the world of cultural competency. Take away immediately applicable and practical strategies to:

Improve assessment
Avoid ethical dilemmas
Overcome fears
Reduce unintentional cultural offense
Build significant therapeutic rapport
Help clients of any cultural background make meaningful change in their lives

You may just watch this training to receive 3 hours of cultural competency and 3 hours of ethics. You will leave with so much more! This highly engaging and encouraging training will challenge you to learn more about other cultures, accept what you do not yet know in the process, and utilize therapeutic strategies that can help you be effective along the journey toward becoming an increasingly culturally competent therapist.

Gain a reputation for being the premier therapist in your community for working with diverse clients!

Program Information

Objectives

Implement the DSM-5® criteria and cultural formulation interview to accurately assess for cultural influences as it relates to diagnosis.
Analyse biases to improve clinical strategies, rapport, and engagement with a variety of clients.
Develop a deep understanding of the impact of varying cultural group experiences to enhance empathy in session.
Devise ethical standards for a culturally competent practice related therapeutic authority and self disclosure.
Utilise clinical strategies to address unintentional cultural offenses towards clients to increase treatment effectiveness.
Apply skills to overcome cultural barriers such as language, religion and different belief systems to improve session outcomes.

Outline

Cultural Competencies in Mental Health

Client-centered approach to cultural competence
Trends in cultural identity development
Acknowledge cultural differences: terms of reference, racism and stereotypes
Improve client rapport
- Make cultural connections
- Acquire knowledge & skills
- View behaviour within a cultural context
Exercise: Cultural Self-Assessment

Ethics & the DSM-5®: Guidelines for the Integration of Cultural Competencies

Cross-cultural variations in presentations
Cultural genograms
Assessments and diagnostic protocols
DSM-5® Cultural Formulation
Ethical standards for culturally competent practice
- Cultural perspectives on therapeutic authority
- Referring without abandoning
- Effective self-disclosure
- Advocacy and social justice
Exercise: Cultural Formulation Interview

Overcome Dilemmas in Practice

Working with limited English proficiency and bi/multilingual clients
When to use an interpreter
Strategies for working with cultural transference and counter transference
Avoiding and addressing unintentional cultural offenses toward clients
Empathising with victims as well as accused perpetrators of social injustice

Interventions & Strategies for Specific Populations

Understand client experiences of sexual identity and gender fluidity
Strategies for supporting clients when therapist’s and client’s religious beliefs conflict
Methods for building rapport with clients with various disabilities
Adapting therapeutic style to client’s cultural presentation
Case Examples: Cultural experiences therapists often misunderstand

Overcome Limitations of the Research & Potential Risks

Limited empirical models
Lack of professional awareness & confidence
Changing cultural values, needs & expressions
Incomplete scope: clients, counselors, supervisors, colleagues & community

Copyright : 15/12/2023

Privilege, Oppression and Power Dynamics: Clinical Changes for a More Inclusive Practice

Power and privilege are inherent in every relationship, including the therapeutic relationship. Experiencing racism, ableism, ageism, homophobia/heterosexism, and social exclusion and other forms of oppression has a detrimental impact on the mental health of individuals and communities. These parameters of social exclusion are always present in the therapy room in implicit and explicit ways. The therapeutic alliance between therapist and client has been demonstrated to be a key element for therapeutic effectiveness (Wampold, 2015). Differences in culture, social identity, and power affect how a client and clinician experience the therapeutic relationship, as well as clinical outcomes. In this session, you will discover strategies, practices, and clinical interventions that minimize power imbalances and promote equity and empowerment for all clients.

Program Information

Objectives

Analyse how privilege, systemic oppression, and practices of exclusion are reproduced within the counseling relationship.
Evaluate factors that influence power dynamics within the counselling relationship.
Utilise tools to self-examine and reflect on identity, hidden biases, and privilege so as not to enact harm to clients.
Employ strategies, practices, and clinical interventions that minimise power imbalances and promote equity and empowerment for all clients.

Outline

An understanding of how privilege, systemic oppression, and practices of exclusion are reproduced within the counselling relationship
Factors that influence power dynamics within the counseling relationship
Tools to self-examine and reflect on therapist identity, hidden biases, and privilege so as not to enact harm to clients
Strategies, practices, and clinical interventions that minimise power imbalances and promote equity and empowerment for all clients
Risks and limitations associated with developing an inclusive practice

Copyright : 23/02/2023

Implicit Bias for Clinicians: Transformative Strategies to Enhance Cultural Humility and Improve Client Outcomes

We all have unconscious biases.

The problem isn’t that we have them…

..It’s that, unexamined, they can negatively impact our work.

Whether bias impacts an individual client as it erodes trust and rapport, or whether it perpetuates larger mental health disparities, the fallout hurts everyone. Including you.

That’s why we created this training with ethics and legal expert Dr. Kathryn Krase, JD, MSW, who has decades of experience working with thousands of clinicians to identify and respond to bias in their roles with clients and communities.

In this training you’ll also learn:

How Implicit bias can affect the authenticity and trustworthiness of clinicians
The latest ethical guidelines related to implicit bias
Hands-on techniques to challenge and overcome biases in your practice
Micro and macro level impacts of bias on the development of mental health care
And more!

By understanding and addressing implicit biases, mental health clinicians can enhance the quality of care they provide, reduce disparities in treatment outcomes, and contribute to a more equitable mental health system!

Purchase today!

Program Information

Objectives

Identify central terms related to implicit and explicit bias.
Evaluate the impact of implicit and explicit bias on the development of systems that provide physical and mental health care.
Utilise a framework to assess the impact of implicit bias in professional practice.
Determine how to address implicit bias in the workplace.

Outline

Bias in Therapy

The complicated role of resistance
Differentiate implicit bias from explicit bias
Common biases and how they impact therapy
Impact of social identities on bias
Social Identity Wheel exercise

Understand Bias

The role that bias plays
Unpacking Privilege
Define privilege, explore its impact, and contrast privilege against cultural assumptions
Explore the concepts of prejudice, stereotyping, microaggression and internalised oppression
Individual communication styles defined in the Courageous Conversations Compass
Responses to Bias:
- Colour-blindness in American society
- Code-Switching

Impact of Implicit and Explicit Bias on the Development of Systems of Care

Micro and macro level impacts of bias on mental health care
Case Examples:
- Provider bias against people with physical disabilities
- Role of race in diagnosis
Research Limitations and Risks

Assess and Address the Impact of Implicit Bias on Professional Practice

The Implicit Association Tests as a tool to evaluate individual implicit bias
Cultural competency and cultural humility as tools to address bias in practice
Critical examination in the workplace
Additional strategies used to address bias in professional practice
- Intentional intergroup contact
- Intragroup support through affinity groups
- Deliberative preparation and processing

Copyright : 22/11/2024

Decolonizing Practices for Mental Health: Moving BIPOC Clients Toward Liberation and Healing

Although many mental health professionals have received training on Western forms of well-being that center individual perspectives, these modalities may not reflect effective strategies when working with Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) clients. As mental health diagnoses disproportionately impact BIPOC communities, it is of paramount importance for clinicians to consider how cultural dynamics and systemic forms of racism and oppression may impact BIPOC mental health. This engaging session outlines the importance of decolonizing mental health perspectives, provides specific strategies for culturally responsive treatment, and empowers attendees to use culturally embedded strategies for self-nourishment and wellbeing.

Program Information

Objectives

Investigate the importance of decolonising mental health perspectives in creating mental health practices that work for everyone.
Analyse critical concepts grounded in decolonised mental health practices that help clinicians unlearn negative “cultural scripts.”
Use culturally responsive self-nourishment and wellbeing strategies with BIPOC clients.

Outline

Rates of Mental Health Distress Among BIPOC Communities
Moving Beyond the Standard Mental Health Perspective
Decolonising Mental Health
Constructs to Consider (i.e., collectivism, colonial mentality, colonization histories, systemic oppression, intergenerational trauma, etc.)
Strategies for Understanding and Unlearning Cultural Scripts
Culturally Responsive Strategies for Self-Nourishment and Wellbeing
Risks and Limitations Associated with Decolonised Practices

Copyright : 24/02/2023

Grief & Trauma in the Bones: Mindfulness & Indigenous ways of healing

Experience Dr. Marianela Medrano, Ph.D., LPC, CPT, a writer and mindfulness teacher, as she walks you through innovative interventions that you can use to help your clients move from mourning into the spiritual experience of grieving and healing from Historical Trauma and Grief. Drawing on her expertise as a scholar, researcher, and psychotherapist, Dr. Medrano blends case studies with creative strategies for long-lasting transformation in your client's lives. Explore the interfacing relationship between historical/contemporary events, the ensuing trauma, and the impact that the erasure of indigenous ways of grieving via rituals has had on many peoples, and how to creatively and culturally appropriately facilitate the mourning process aborted for some. Unresolved Historical Grief is pernicious and travels intergenerationally; learn the power of ancient wisdom to heal personally and collectively. In other words, the long-range impact of unresolved grief among the BIPOC populations is a must-focus for consciously aware clinicians.

Program Information

Objectives

Investigate traditional healing practices suitable for individuals, groups, and families coping with grief and loss.
Develop strategies to counter narratives of extinction, erasure, and cultural/religious/racial superiority that contribute to historical grief and trauma.
Implement interventions aligned with the collective mindset of individuals and groups affected by historical grief and trauma, fostering a sense of empowerment and cultural affirmation.

Outline

I. Understanding the Spiritual Nature of Grief and Mourning

A. Definition of grief as a spiritual outcome of mourning

B. Importance of mourning in ritualising feelings

C. Risks and Limitations

II. The Consequences of Restricted Mourning

A. Explanation of how restricted mourning stifles grief

B. Discussion on how unresolved grief can manifest as illness

III. Integrating Compassion-Based Rituals into Grief Work

A. Introduction to the concept of Karuna (compassion/mercy)

B. Exploration of different compassion-based rituals

C. How Karuna guides individuals through the process of loss and grief

IV. Conclusion

A. Recap of the significance of mourning in spiritual grief work

B. Emphasis on the importance of compassion-based rituals in facilitating the grieving process

C. Encouragement to embrace the wisdom of grief as guided compassion practices

Reclaiming 2SQT+ (Two-spirit, Queer and Trans) Thriving and Liberation

Prior to European colonization, 2-SQT communities were celebrated and venerated in Indigenous and many communities worldwide. Despite this critical historical context, 2-SQT communities in the US and worldwide continue to be targeted politically and discriminated against daily. This undue stress has been linked to higher, and now rising rates of suicide among 2-SQT communities. For example, The Trevor Project (2022) reported that 45% of 2-SQT youth seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year and nearly 1 in 5 transgender and nonbinary youth attempted suicide. Furthermore, rates of suicide attempts were generally higher among 2-SQT youth of color, and particularly among Native/Indigenous 2-SQT youth (The Trevor Project, 2022). Mental health providers have a unique responsibility in mitigating suicidal risk among 2-SQT communities, however, are often operating in a system of gatekeeping that can further hinder the health and well-being of 2-SQT communities. This training will review clinical applications for providing affirming support and language, discuss why intersectionality and anti-racism matters as we employ 2-SQT affirming models of care, and learn how these culturally responsive clinical applications are critical to cultivating communities where 2SQT people can thrive.

Program Information

Objectives

Use 2-SQT affirming language to promote clinical outcomes and therapeutic relationships.
Apply a 2-SQT affirming model to create inclusive spaces.
Integrate intersectionality and anti-racist frameworks in supporting 2SQT communities.

Outline

Introduction

Explanation of 2-SQT affirming language and its importance

Using 2-SQT Affirming Language

Using preferred pronouns and names
Avoiding assumptions about gender and sexuality

Intersectionality and 2-SQT Communities

Definition of intersectionality
Importance of recognizing intersecting identities
Example of intersectionality in 2SQT communities

Anti-Racism and 2-SQT Communities

Definition of anti-racism
Importance of anti-racism in supporting 2SQT communities
Examples of anti-racist policies and practices

Integrating Intersectionality and Anti-Racism in Support for 2-SQT Communities

Importance of integrating intersectionality and anti-racism
Creating a more inclusive and equitable society
Promoting diverse identities and experiences of all individuals

Conclusion

Recap of importance of using 2-SQT affirming language and integrating intersectionality and anti-racism in support for 2SQT communities.