New and Noteworthy: My Blog

I attended a PESI seminar called, Autism & the Family: Proven Strategies to Treat Parents & Siblings

The speaker, Kathleen Nash, MFT, LMFT was engaging and thought-provoking. She shared many practical interactions. She is an "autism expert with over 10 years of clinical experience providing intensive in-home family therapy to parents and siblings of children with ASD."

My take away:

1. Children with ASD often have sensory issues and those behavioral issues can lead to relationship issues within the family. So one important intervention is family and sibling therapy.

2. All family members are affected when there is a child with ASD in the family. There is a grief that occurs. Counseling can be a means of processing that experience.

3. There are many strategies to help improve family dynamics when there is a child with ASD in the family.

4. These issues are the same whether the child has ASD or another disorder such as ADHD.

Whether your family is struggling because your child has just been diagnosed or was diagnosed previously with ASD or ADHD or another disorder, I am here to help you and your family.

Growth mind-set

I attended a Pesi Seminar called, High-Functioning Autism: Proven & Practical Interventions

The speaker R. Nicolle Carr, Ph.D., spoked about Challenging behaviors in Children, Adolescents & Young Adults. The Seminar reviewed the history of autism, current brain and genetics research, diagnostic criteria, and interventions.

My take away:

1. It is hard to have an exact number of children with autism in the US. The number that is currently accepted is 1 in 68 children live with autism.

2. Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder, which means it involves the brain. There is a genetic component. However, nature is affected by the environment (including psychological state, social interactions, therapeutic drugs, exercise, financial status, drugs of abuse, interaction with toxic chemicals, exposure to disease, diet, as well as other inputs).

3. Brains of people with autism look different in terms of increased white matter, and an abundance of neurons being over-connected, which results in messages in the brain taking longer to get to its destination there; fore there are processing delays.

4. Other brain differences result in affected executive function, working memory, coordination as well as other differences.

5. Areas of interventions: communication deficits, social skills deficits, behavioral and emotional regulation, aggression, self-injury, restricted interests.

I attended an all-day Pesi seminar called Cognitive Behavior Therapy in Practice

The speaker, Avidan Milevsky, Ph.D., LCPC, "has over 20 years of experience specializing in the broad application of cognitive-behavioral interventions for multiple client difficulties. The seminar covered generally the cognitive model, behavioral interventions, the role of mindfulness in CBT, the therapeutic alliance, and the integration of CBT with a variety of psychopathology, including depression and anxiety. My take away: 1. "Faulty thinking about self and others leads to mental/emotional turmoil, harmful coping strategies, and maladjusted behaviors.

2. We all have core-beliefs that integrate meaning into events. Nature and nurture affect the creation of our core beliefs. Core beliefs affect how we react emotionally and behaviorally to people, places, and things.

3 Cognitive intervention includes slowly challenging and modifying core beliefs over time. Behavioral intervention includes slowly activating observable and measurable change towards a goal.

4. Mindfulness has been proven to aid in the process of CBT.

Telehealth for Mental Health Professionals: 2 Days Distance Therapy Training

I completed this two-day distance therapy training from home in April of 2020 during the Corona Virus Pandemic. The speaker, Joni Gilbertson, MA, NCC, LCC, LCPC, BC-TMH was very knowledgeable about the benefits and challenges of telehealth. Telehealth can mean video, phone or texting or a combination of all these methods of distance therapy.

The training reviewed the nuts and bolts of telehealth for the therapist, and the benefits and possible challenges for clients. Most importantly, the benefits for clients of telehealth are many. The benefits can include: Money saved in regards to no travel costs, time saved due to no travel, research reports positive therapeutic outcomes, the flexibility of scheduling, a greater sense of privacy and less stigma than going into an office for some clients, and therapy is adaptable to many clients needs.

I attended a virtual Live Workshop, Introduction to Therapeutic Journal Writing on June 12, 2020.

Nancy Scherlong, LCSW, PTR, CJT, M-S shared an introduction to therapeutic journal writing. This short, 2 hour, workshop gave a me how journal writing can be used within a session to process feelings and thoughts. What makes therapeutic journal writing different than informal journal writing is that therapeutic journal writing is a more structured experience. In therapeutic journal writing there is the writing ... sometimes with time limits or prompts... and then there is the review of the material, not for grammar, but for thoughts and feelings. The goal of therapeutic writing is to add in regulated emotions and exploring experiences.

Part 1 -Beyond the Basics: Advanced Motivational Interviewing skills - October 26, 2020

Dr. Andrew Hamid was the presenter of this workshop. Motivational interviewing is an established, evidence-based treatment modality. Motivational interviewing focuses on helping clients explore and resolve ambivalence to help clients move from contemplating changes in their lives to making actual changes.

Part I of this workshop focused on the spirit of Motivational Interviewing. The nature of MI involves collaborating and accepting the client's strengths and goals. It is about working with your strengths and looking for the realistic, the doable and the attainable. As a social worker, I am always looking for my client's strengths. I took this workshop because change is difficult and I was looking to become more skilled at helping client's to reach their desired goals.

Part 2-Beyond the Basics: Advanced Motivational Interviewing skills -December 9, 2020

Part 2 of the workshop focused on the strategies for evoking change talk and change. As a certified professional coach, my approach often includes change talk. One interesting idea that I noted was that when I first learned about motivational interviewing in graduate school, the idea was to work with clients on their "resistance" to change. The concept of resistance has not been changed to "lifting talk and "sustaining talk." The idea is that instead of thinking about the difficulty of change as resistance, we should look to why we "sustain" our behaviors rather than changing them. When we figure out together why you continue with the same behaviors or thoughts we can better work on changing those behaviors and thoughts. We do the things we do because they have a purpose. We can't be expected to change our behaviors when they are playing a role in our lives. Let's work on changing the things in your life that you want to change.

I attended a virtual live workshop, The All - or None Phenomenon in Borderline Personality Disorder

Keith Hannan, Ph.D. taught this informative workshop about Borderline Personality Disorder and the all - or none phenomenon associated with the disorder. People who are diagnosed with BPD are often impulsive, have challenges in their interpersonal relationships and have difficulty regulated emotions. People with this diagnosis also often have thinking that is all- or - nothing. Examples that Dr. Hannan gave of this occurrence is people are either optimistic or hopeless or now or never. I took away from the workshop a better understanding of the disorder as well as so therapeutic interventions including the importance of the therapeutic relationship.

Maggie Levy, LCSW, CPC