9:00–10:00 am |
Thursday, Nov 7th |
KEYNOTE PRESENTATION |
Ancient Wisdom Meets Modern Science Joan Borysenko, PhD
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The new brain science is an exciting window into the nature of consciousness, emotional balance, physical health, and the interconnection of subtle energies—systems of information—we call the mind. The new field of interpersonal neurobiology describes how the mind is both embodied in our brain and nervous system as well as embedded in our relationships. The quality of those relationships—whether they evoke love, compassion, and mindfulness or fear, anger, and constriction affect us profoundly.
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10:00–10:30 am |
Thursday, Nov 7th |
Refreshment Break |
10:30–11:30 pm |
Thursday, Nov 7th |
KEYNOTE PRESENTATION |
The Solution-Oriented Approach to Change: Finding the Answer Within Bill O’Hanlon, MS
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Recent years have seen a shift in focus from what is wrong with people (diagnosis of deficits and damage) to what is right with people (strengths, competence and abilities). This approach has been validated by recent research findings about the plasticity of the brain and on what makes us happy and gives our lives meaning. Translating this research into practical interventions isn’t always obvious. This session will help professionals to more rapidly join with clients and help them change. It can make your work easier, more cooperative and more joyful.
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11:30 am–12:30 pm |
Thursday, Nov 7th |
KEYNOTE PRESENTATION |
Understanding and Treating Trauma Patrick DeChello, PhD
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Very few things can affect an individual as much as being a victim of trauma. The results can be changes in neurochemistry, behaviors that are designed to numb or avoid re-experiencing of the trauma such as substance abuse, Obsessive Compulsive behaviors and/or psychological such as PTSD, anxiety or a host of other psychological problems. Current research indicates that clients may have experienced a trauma which later becomes manifest in a myriad of pathologies such as addictions to drugs and alcohol, food, sex, self-injury and many more. This session will explore this and offer practical input on effective treatment strategies.
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12:30–1:45 pm |
Thursday, Nov 7th |
Lunch On Your Own |
2:00–3:30 pm |
Thursday, Nov 7th |
CONCURRENT WORKSHOPS |
The Cutting Edge of Mind-Body Medicine: From Immunology to Neuroscience Joan Borysenko, PhD
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The most important determinant of physical health is mental health. In this workshop, participants will learn how adverse childhood experiences set the stage for chronic illness and substance abuse later in life through epigenetic changes, neurochemistry, immune function, and brain wiring. We will examine how evidence-based psychological interventions can rewire neuro-hormonal circuitry and help to restore both physical and mental homeostasis. Some of the interventions covered include the modification of explanatory style, stress hardiness and resilience training, narrative medicine, meditation and mindfulness techniques, imagery, and cognitive approaches. There will be a focus on how to optimize the therapeutic bond.
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You Can’t Just Talk It Out of Them —The Neurobiology of the Addicted Mind Ashish Bhatt, MD
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This workshop presents a multi-modal approach to the physical and neurobiological aspects in addiction as well as the emotional and psychological. The underlying neurobiological etiology and mechanics of addiction will be addressed. We will learn to more fully question the diagnoses previously given to “co-occurring” clients.
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Out of the Blue: Six Non-Medication Ways to Relieve Depression Bill O’Hanlon, MS
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Recent research and insights have given a new understanding of depression, not as a deficit in chemicals, but as a problem with neurogenesis (new brain growth and connection). Antidepressants may work by promoting brain cell and neuronal growth and connection, but there are other ways, within the grasp of therapists, counselors and addiction specialists, which can make an immediate and lasting difference in helping relieve depression. This session will give three simple methods for relieving depression.
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Assessment of Risk, Self Destructive Behaviors and Suicidality Pat DeChello, PhD
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This workshop will provide clinicians with an overview of the necessary tools to perform accurate and effective mental status examinations and suicide assessments. A review of four major mental status assessment methods—observations, conversation, exploration and testing—will be covered.
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3:30–4:00 pm |
Thursday, Nov 7th |
Refreshment Break |
4:00–5:30 pm |
Thursday, Nov 7th |
CONCURRENT WORKSHOPS |
The Resilient Woman: Helping Women in Treatment Fight their Girly Thoughts Using the 7 Steps to Personal Power Patricia O’Gorman, PhD
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We are most successful in life when we can achieve a balance between our two vital sources of strength-self and other, but achieving this can be quite a challenge, made more difficult by our girly thoughts, those negative societal messages we internalize and then need to medicate. Learn how to foster resiliency for women in treatment-helping them develop conscious resiliency using The 7 Steps to Personal Power.
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Creatures of Addict: Six Critical Needs for Successful Recovery and Beyond Dug McGuirk
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This workshop is an interactive lecture on unpacking addiction as it relates to coping skills to deal with underlying issues and behavior patterns using powerful insights on the variety of ways people meet their needs. Participants will learn that drugs and alcohol were not the original problem, they were the solution. If the underlying issue is not addressed, relapse is certain.
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Healing the Heart with Meditation Holly Cook, LPC Dave Smith
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It is a fact of life that many people struggle with difficult emotional states in early recovery or therapy, but do little in terms of developing skills to deal with them. Yet even when our emotions are creating problems for us, it is within most people’s capacity to arouse positive feelings to manage them. Mindfulness meditation has found its way into many treatment centers and in therapy offices. This workshop introduces the meditation practice of Loving-kindness, a meditation practice which brings about positive attitudinal changes as it systematically develops the quality of ‘loving-acceptance’. It acts, as it were, as a form of self-psychotherapy, a way of healing the troubled mind to free itself.
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The New DSM 5: What Every Clinician Needs to Know Pat DeChello, PhD
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The DSM 5 promises to be the greatest change in diagnosis since the DSM III. Moving from diagnostic classifications based on differential diagnoses to the use of dimensional descriptors, the end of the multiaxial system, a redefinition of mental illness, the inclusion of behavior addictions, a reformulation of the trauma and the personality disorders, and the consolidation of the autism based disorders could well change psychiatry as we have known it. The manual has been released and it is raising many eyebrows.
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5:30–6:45 pm |
Thursday, Nov 7th |
Dinner on your own |
7:00–9:00 pm |
Thursday, Nov 7th |
EVENING PROGRAM(optional) |
Breathing “Soul” Back Into Psychotherapy Bill O’Hanlon, MS
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Soul and spirituality have often been left out of therapeutic work primarily because therapists haven’t been shown a respectful, non-intrusive way to bring it in to change work. But leaving out this important resource in people’s lives is impositional in another way. This session will provide a clear overview, definition of spirituality and provide easy to understand and use tools for spiritual assessment and intervention.
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8:30–9:00 am |
Friday, Nov 8th |
CONFERENCE REGISTRATION For Daily Attendees |
9:00–10:00 am |
Friday, Nov 8th |
KEYNOTE PRESENTATION |
Cognitive Behavior Therapy with Individuals with Impulse Control Problems: Core Tasks of Psychotherapy Donald Meichenbaum, PhD
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This presentation will demonstrate applications of Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) with applications to impulse control and related therapeutic issues. The nature of decision-making and implications for understanding impulse control problems will be addressed along with specific ways to bolster self-regulatory behaviors.
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10:00–10:30 am |
Friday, Nov 8th |
Refreshment Break |
10:30 am –11:30 am |
Friday, Nov 8th |
KEYNOTE PRESENTATION |
The Brain Fix: Using Neuroscience as a Metaphor for Recovery Ralph E. Carson, PhD
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With a “fixed” brain, you can improve your quality of life by thinking more clearly, enjoying a sharper memory, feeling happier and less stressed and being in control of your habits. This presentation takes on the challenge of explaining how your diet provides the much needed ingredients for maintenance and repair, and will reveal the latest breakthroughs that nutritional science has to offer recovery.
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11:30 am–12:30 pm |
Friday, Nov 8th |
KEYNOTE PRESENTATION |
Narcissistic Wounds: The Challenge of Recovery and Strategies for Healing Rokelle Lerner
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Many addicts suffer from false pride, entitlement and grandiosity that unfortunately do not disappear with sobriety. This narcissism interferes with personal and professional relationships that are so filled with conflict and pain that relapse often occurs. This lecture will examine the relational consequences of narcissism and offer tools to clinicians who recognize this destructive dynamic in treatment and recovery.
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12:30–1:45 pm |
Friday, Nov 8th |
Lunch On Your Own |
2:00–3:30 pm |
Friday, Nov 8th |
CONCURRENT WORKSHOPS |
Healing the Loss of Dreams: Strategies for Resolving Loss Rokelle Lerner
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The loss of a dream is difficult to articulate and clinicians often miss their impact. When dreams are shattered it causes inexplicable grief that others may have difficulty comprehending. For every tangible loss there is always a dream attached and until those dreams have been identified and processed, losses will never be resolved and optimism is thwarted.This lecture focuses on specific tools that allow clients to move beyond loss.
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Bullying Linked To Sibling Abuse: The New Epidemic Nancy Fox-Kilgore, MS
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Several research studies have linked sibling abuse to the upsurge of bullying. Bullying actually starts in the American home. Sibling abuse has affected countless individuals adults. It is largely unrecognized and remains behind the closed doors of “family privacy.” It is the most under reported and least understood of all forms of family violence.
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Core Tasks of Psychotherapy: Achieving Expertise in Practice Don Meichenbaum, PhD
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Following a brief discussion of the nature of expertise, this presentation will consider the implications for psychotherapy. We will demonstrate the Core Tasks of Psychotherapy and how they can be implemented with challenging clients and will offer a Case Conceptualization Model that informs both assessment and treatment decision-making.
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The Role of Impulsivity in Treatment of Dual-Diagnosis Patients Jodi Star, MD
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Recent studies suggest that impairment in impulsivity can play a critical role in initiation and continuation of substance use. Eating disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and mania all impact a patient’s impulsivity. Review medical definitions of impulsivity, identify these in dual diagnoses patients, learn multi-model interventions using interactive techniques and examine clinical cases.
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3:30–4:00 pm |
Friday, Nov 8th |
Refreshment Break |
4:00–5:30 pm |
Friday, Nov 8th |
CONCURRENT WORKSHOPS |
Treatment of Individuals with PTSD, Complex PTSD and Co-Occurring Psychiatric Disorders Don Meichenbaum, PhD
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A Case Conceptualization Model will be offered that informs assessment and treatment decision-making. The core psychotherapeutic tasks for implementing integrative treatment with clients with PTSD, Complex PTSD and comorbid psychiatric disorders will be presented. A Constructive Narrative Perspective will be used to frame a strengths-based intervention approach.
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Healing Trauma through Spiritual Growth Therapy (SGT) Phil Diaz, MSW Paul Alleva, MSW
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SGT utilizes ancient philosophy, new age spirituality, traditional psychotherapy, logo therapy, hypnotherapy, neuroscience and quantum mechanics to create a new model for healing from mental illness and addiction. This innovative and therapeutic approach treats the whole person; the physical, mental, spiritual and emotional self; and is constructed and grounded in pre-Socratic philosophical principles, and current scientific data regarding mind-body theory. This workshop will teach participants new tools for healing their clients.
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Drug Use Today: “Legal Highs”, Designer Drugs and Emerging Natural Substances Pat Pizzo, BS, BCFE
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This session will introduce attendees to federally non-regulated drugs available on the internet to include the many synthetic marijuana metabolites, bath salts, methamphetamine-like drugs and others. Updates on where they can be tested and cost of analysis will also be discussed.
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Food and Mood: When Food and Eating is a Problem in Life Ralph E. Carson, PhD
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Many emotions and behaviors are tied into the eating disorder patient’s relationship with food. This presentation deals with neurophysiological basis of how trigger foods control a person’s life to the point it takes on characteristics of an obsession or even an addiction. A recommended intervention plan will be covered as well..
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5:30–6:45 pm |
Friday, Nov 8st |
DINNER on your own |
7:00–9:00 pm |
Friday, Nov 8st |
EVENING PROGRAM/FILM FESTIVAL |
Bob and the Monster Mary Woods, RNC LADC
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Six years in the making, this documentary film follows outspoken indie-rock hero Bob Forrest, through his life-threatening struggle with addiction, to his transformation into an influential and controversial addiction counselor. Bob and the Monster crafts contemporary footage, animation and compelling interviews with archival performances and personal videos from Bob’s past to reveal the complex layers of this troubled but hopeful soul. (Please note: No CE credit offered for this Friday evening session) (Please note: No CE credit offered for this Friday evening session.)
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8:30–9:00 am |
Saturday, Nov 9th |
CONFERENCE REGISTRATION For Daily Attendees |
9:00–10:00 am |
Saturday, Nov 9th |
KEYNOTE PRESENTATION |
Winning the Anxiety Game: Brief Strategic Treatment for the Anxiety Disorders Reid Wilson, PhD
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The anxiety disorders manipulate people by injecting rules into consciousness, then using that set of laws to take over mental territory. Phobias, panic, social anxiety, generalized anxiety and OCD will be discussed and treatment strategies explored.
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10:00–10:30 am |
Saturday, Nov 9th |
Refreshment Break |
10:30–11:30 am |
Saturday, Nov 9th |
KEYNOTE PRESENTATION |
Thou Shalt Not: Unraveling Moral Injury, The Soul Wound Judy Crane, LMHC
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It is the essence of humanity to seek a path to live and make sense of our existence. Over the time and space of our species we have created codes to honor, commandments, tenets, principles to live by, paths to follow and a Purpose for our lives. This presentation will explore the value and imperative of such a “path” of Thou Shall and Thou Shalt Not, and the pain and consequences for the perception of the transgression from that path. We will focus not only on this Moral Injury as our military experience it but also on this Moral Injury as an integral part of the trauma spectrum and the urgency to integrate evidenced based modalities into treatment.
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11:30 am–12:30 pm |
Saturday, Nov 9th |
KEYNOTE PRESENTATION |
Silent Sons & Perfect Daughters: Appreciating Gender Differences in Treatment Robert Ackerman, PhD
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This presentation will focus on developing an appreciation for gender differences in treatment/counseling. Additionally it will focus on how dysfunctional families affect gender development and, in turn, to assess how this development affects personal change for women and men. An appreciation for gender implications in alcohol and drug usage patterns, etiological differences, relapse and recovery issues, and associated problems will be addressed. This session will not treat women and men from dysfunctional families or addicted individuals as victims, but rather as survivors with strengths.
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12:30–1:45 pm |
Saturday, Nov 9sup>th |
Lunch On Your Own |
2:00–3:30 pm |
Saturday, Nov 9th |
CONCURRENT WORKSHOPS |
Creative Healing and Recovery: The Use of Creative Healing to Foster Emotional Well Being Sarah Gentry, MS
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In this experiential workshop clinicians will learn techniques to help their clients express feelings often difficult to put into words. Creative healing is a powerful tool for recovering people to have in their arsenal. Creative healing techniques allow people to express emotions directly and effectively and expand their ability to access emotions.
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Treatment of Generalized Anxiety Disorder Reid Wilson, PhD
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This session will explore the fundamental structure of worry—how it ignores data that isn’t negative, how it squeezes out room for corrective information, and how it gives rise to erroneous beliefs. Stemming from this knowledge, participants will learn a set of therapeutic strategies based on the latest research.
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Evidence-Based Holistic Approach to Addiction and Mental Health Treatment John Giordano, CAP
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This workshop demonstrates the integration of the most current evidence-based holistic modalities with the best of the traditional treatment model. The session will also cover the utilization of group/individual/family therapy with nutrition, massage, acupuncture, natural/ibogaine detoxification, yoga, and hyperbaric oxygenation.
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The Emotional and Behavioral Impact on Children/Adolescents Living in Dysfunctional Families Robert Ackerman, PhD
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This workshop will focus on the emotional and behavioral issues and problems for children who are living in a dysfunctional family. It will emphasize a developmental approach to children and will address why children in dysfunctional families are not all affected in the same way. Intervention and the development of achievement and resiliency skills in children will be included as well as gender implications for intervention.
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3:30–4:00 pm |
Saturday, Nov 9th |
Refreshment Break |
4:00–5:30 pm |
Saturday, Nov 9TH |
CONCURRENT WORKSHOPS |
Change your Thinking; Change your Life: Break Negative Patterns, Conditioned Behaviors and Experience Permanent Change Barbara Schmidt
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Too often today we are at the mercy of the external world and the thoughts in our minds. In this workshop you will learn how to incorporate The Practice into daily life. This set of spiritual tools, starting with a five minute morning meditation aligns our mind, body and heart, as we begin our day. We want to find peace in our lives but we don’t always choose things that will bring us peace, even when we know bett
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