Commonwealth Seminars & Home Study (800) 376-3345
We'll Bring Our Programs To You
|
|
|
| Our speakers include: (Click on their name to see the topics) |
| David Browning, LICSW Robin Chalfin, LICSW |
| Margaret Cramer, Ph.D. Bonnie Carson DiMatteo, LICSW |
| Lance Dodes, MD Marilyn Edelson, LICSW, MCC |
| Ross Ellenhorn, P.D. Paul Foxman, Ph.D. |
| Steven Friedman, Ph.D. Robert Gerzon, MA |
| Christine Gerzon, MA Frank Ghinassi, Ph.D |
| Paul Goldring, Ph.D. James Greenblatt, MD |
| Ruth Harriet Jacobs, Ph.D. John Jordan Ph.D. |
| Judith Jordan, Ph.D. Judy Osborne, MA, CAGS |
| Samuel Osherson, Ph.D. LauraWeiserg, Ph.D. |
Topics |
David Browning, LICSW and/or John Jordan, Ph.D. (MA) Complicated Mourning: Emerging Trends in Clinical Practice. Participants will learn recent trends in clinical theory and research regarding grief and complicated mourning. |
|
Margaret Cramer, Ph.D. (MA) Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Substance Abuse. Participants will understand the clinical interplay between substance abuse and PTSD. Specific topics include: powerful dynamics that sabotage treatment, staff burnout and countertransference, acting out on the part of the practitioner (labeling patients as too difficult) and/or acting out in the name of “setting limits,” etc. Treatment interventions. The Difficult Treatment Relationship: Substance Abuse and Personality Disorders. This program will cover theories and treatment strategies for substance abuse and personality disorders, clinical dilemmas as well as the importance of the role of the treatment alliance for successful outcomes. How Do We Hold On To Our Values (That Made Us Become Therapists in the First Place) in the Age of Managed Care. Samuel Osherson, Ph.D. & Margaret Cramer, Ph.D. (MA) Practitioners, in a managed care practice setting, will learn how to adapt to the necessities of managed care, while still being able to utilize a relational psychodynamic orientation. Top of Page |
 Bonni Carson DiMatteo, LICSW Organizational Development and Coaching: Ms. DiMatteo has over 25 years of experience, working in both the public and the private sector as a clinician and coach, manager and consultant, trainer and facilitator. She is a frequent author and keynote speaker. She is the co-director of Atlantic Counseling and Consultation in Weymouth and Wellesley and the president of Atlantic Consultants. Atlantic counseling and consultation is a multidisciplinary clinical practice that was founded in 1982. Atlantic Consultants (www.atlanticconsultants.com ) is a coaching and organizational development firm that works with both profits and non profits. Ms. DiMatteo has her MSW from Simmons College and has done post graduate certifications in coaching, organizational development and family business consultation as well as family therapy. A very experienced trainer, Ms. DiMatteo helps weave theory and experiential together into a holistic learning experience. Communication Skills for Leaders: Learn the three circles of effective communication necessary to lead effectively:Communicating to influence; Effective feedback; Effective listening. Managing Change: Learn the most effective ways to help your staff manage change and overcome resistance. Managing Conflict: Learn the most effective way to prevent and manage conflict. Customer Satisfaction - Internal: Learn how to attract and keep the best talent for your agency or organization. Planning to Succeed: Learn how to set goals, expectations, accountability, structures and systems to manage growth personally and professionally. What Kind of Leader Are You? Understand different leadership styles and their impact on managing people. Creating and Building Teams: Learn how to make your teams more effective by creating the vision, mission,authority and responsibility to succeed. Organizational Skills/ Time Management/ Stress Management: Learn effective ways to manage time and decrease stress. Delegating for Growth and Productivity: As leaders, you have to choose to own and what to delegate. Delegating has five key steps to ensure success. Learn them in this workshop. How to Run Effective Meetings: Agendas, action items, accountability, create more effective meetings. Coaching Skills for Leaders: Learn how you can be more inspiring and motivating and bring your key people to new levels of effectiveness and excellence. Coaching Skills for Clinicians: Learn how you can integrate coaching skills into your clinical repertoire and bring your clients to new levels of effectiveness. Performance Standards/Appraisal: Learn how to give more effective performance reviews to bring your reports to new levels. Problem-Solving and Decision-Making: Learning effective ways to address and resolve issues. Leadership Legacy: Identifying what you want your legacy to be and how you will achieve it. Thinking Strategically: Learning effective ways to keep focused on the vision. Employee Retention and Recruitment: Learn how to create commitment and become the employer of choice. Understanding ADD in Adults: What are the hallmarks of ADD, and how can you best help someone create strategies for success to manage it. Becoming a Supervisor: How do you transition from peer to supervisor? What are the key strategies for managing that transition and to help you become more effective? Leading Nonprofits: Managing nonprofits means being effective as a leader to many constituencies: the board; the staff; contributors. How can you best synthesize those different leadership challenges? Top of Page |
Lance Dodes, MD. (MA)  The Heart of Addiction. Dr. Dodes, a true pioneer in the treatment of addictions, explains for the first time why patients with addictive behaviors continue to repeat them in the face of their dire consequences and offers a new treatment approach that works. Introduction to Psychoanalysis. This presentation will discuss the elements of a psychoanalytic understanding of the mind. Topics considered will be the concept and nature of the unconscious, psychological drives and defenses, childhood development and its influence upon personality, adult symptom formation, and psychoanalytic treatment. The latter will include examination of the role of transference, countertransference, interpretation and non-interpretive aspects of treatment. Dreams: Their Interpretation and Role in Psychotherapy. This presentation will describe the way in which dreams are constructed by the sleeping mind and how they may therefore, be interpreted. The usefulness of dream interpretation in therapy will be explored. Among topics considered will be multiple dreams reported to have occurred in a single night, the significance of when dreams are recalled, a modern understanding of the physiology of sleep and dreaming and the significance of new findings for the theoretical understanding of the meaning of dreams. Top of Page |
Ma  rilyn Edelson, LICSW, MCC. (MA)The Current Evolution and Revolution of Coaching: An Alternative or Complement to your Practice or Professional Development. Coaching builds on healthcare providers’ existing skills in a strength-based paradigm. Participants will learn the seven core skills of coaching as well as how to build a coaching practice. Top of Page |
Ross Ellenhorn, Ph.D. (MA)  Patienthood: The Career Patient. People Who Repeatedly Seek Psychological Support. Participants will learn how to assist patients who repeatedly pursue psychological support as a resource for their identities and social roles. Attendees will also learn effective interventions and treatments for intervention-seeking behaviors as well as confronting the difficult yet vital challenges of: accountability, responsibility, independence and autonomy. Top of Page |
Paul Foxman, Ph.D. (VT)  The Worried Child. Recognizing Anxiety in Children and Helping Them Heal. Participants will learn about the stages of anxiety therapy and treatment progress with anxious children as well as new research on brain development and anxiety in children. Dancing with Fear: Controlling Stress and Creating a Life Beyond Panic and Anxiety. This program will address the following topics: Three ingredients in anxiety development, assessment and treatment tools, mind-body education, therapeutic techniques for facing fears. Top of Page |
Steven Friedman, Ph.D. (MA)  Resilience: Finding and Nurturing Hidden Strengths. Participants will learn about resilience, hope and change. Topics include the biology of hope and optimism as well as factors that support the development of resilience. Couples Therapy. A time-effective and strength-based model of couple’s therapy that is both goal-oriented and empowering. Creating a Balanced Life. This program will focus on how various cultural practices contribute to happier, healthier and longer lives. Brief Therapy/Time-Effective Therapy. In the age of managed behavioral health care, therapists need to know how to effectively and efficiently develop treatment plans that are goal-focused and build on the client’s strengths and resources. This training will focus on skill-building toward these principles. Family Therapy. When working with children in therapy, family involvement is imperative. Dr. Friedman focuses on current strength-based and time-effective approaches to help children and family reach their goals. Negotiating with Managed Care: Increasing the Likelihood of Treatment Authorization. The focus of this training will be on ways that therapists and case managers can increase the likelihood of successful negotiations with managed care organizations. Top of Page |
Robert Gerzon, MA. (MA) Mastering Anxiety. A Personal Growth Approach. Participants will learn an effective biopsychospiritual model for understanding and treating anxiety disorders based on the key principle of transforming anxiety and spiritual growth through an understanding of the three types of anxiety: Toxic, Natural and Sacred.  Healing the Soul: Integrating Spirituality into Psychotherapy. Robert Gerzon, MA. (MA) Participants will learn how to integrate a spiritual dimension into a therapeutic setting. The presenter will teach specific methods and techniques that result in therapeutic benefit. Robert Gerzon MA & Christine Gerzon, MA. (MA) The Couple’s Journey. Participants will learn a practical developmental model based on the nine stages of growth that successful couples need to pass through in order to create a mature loving relationship. Top of Page |
 Frank Ghinassi, Ph.D. (PA) Short Term Treatment for Long Term Low-Level Depression. Participants will be better able to utilize current techniques shown to produce favorable outcomes (for patients with long term low-level depression) within the confines of short term treatment. Stress Hardiness With Reference to Current Events: New Treatment Options for Anxiety Disorders. This program will cover the following: Survivors vs. thrivers, models of stress reduction, skill enhancement, coping strategies, recovery model, treatment options, stress hardiness, enhancement, as well as the overall functions of the “worried well” in times of environmental stress. Social Anxiety Disorder. This program will focus on the current literature regarding the etiology, developmental aspects and the biology of social anxiety disorders. Participants should become more skilled at orchestrating a comprehensive, multi-staged plan of care for those individuals who present with social anxiety. Addictions. Participants will learn to identify common warning signs of developing addictive behavior, understand the course, symptoms and outcomes of consumption-based addictions and utilize specific clinical interventions. Therapy for Successful Adjustment to Life Transitions. Participants will learn to create and implement treatment plans designed to maximize focused and effective care for patients going through transitional phases in their lives. Top of Page |
 Paul Goldring, Ph.D. (MA)Introduction to Neurofeedback. Neurofeedback is a form of operant conditioning of EEG waves to make them resemble normal brain waves and to correct problems in emotional arousal, concentration and impulse control. It is useful for ADD/ ADHD, psycho-physiological reactions, PTSD, and has been used successfully with the emotional components of RAD and Autistic Spectrum Disorders. This introduction will describe the fundamentals of the EEG, the methods of data collection and demonstrate how the tools are used in a clinical session. Dr. Goldring is a clinical psychologist with over 30 years experience in the field who has been using Neurofeedback in his practice since 1997. Top of Page |
 James Greenblatt, MD. (MA) Nutritional and Herbal Treatment for Anxiety and Depression: High Protein, Food Allergies, Carbohydrate Addiction and More. Participants will learn to understand the relationship between nutrition and brain function as well as integrating alternative therapies into the therapeutic setting. Integrating Natural Therapies in the Treatment of ADHD. This program will focus on the relationship between nutrition and brain function as related to ADHD, as well as nutritional and herbal interventions. Participants will learn about integrating alternative therapies into a psychotherapeutic setting. Integrating Herbal and Nutritional Therapies in the Treatment of Anxiety Disorders: High Protein, Food Allergies, Carbohydrate Addiction and More. This program will focus on nutritional influences on brain function concerning anxiety disorders as well as educate participants about evaluating the marketing and media hype of various substances. A focus will also be on integrating alternative therapies for anxiety into a therapeutic setting. Top of Page |
 Ruth Harriet Jacobs, Ph.D. (MA)Psychological Well-Being in Mid-Life and Beyond. Participants will be better able to understand and empathize with the emotional problems associated with mid-life and beyond as well as utilize strategic interventions. Top of page |
|
 Judy Osborne, MA, CAGS. (MA)Remarriage and Stepfamilies: Restructuring the Family. Living With Someone Else's Children. Participants will learn the restructuring process that is essential to successful stepfamily living as well as the three critical qualities that enable stepfamilies to work well. Top of page |
 Samuel Osherson, Ph.D. (MA) The Inner Lives of Men: Shame, Hope, Anger, Sorrow and Love. This program will cover the following topics: the male struggle with intimacy as a son, husband, father and friend, the role of anger and aggression in boys’ and men’s lives as well as shame and self-esteem in men. Dr. Osherson is one of the nation’s leading experts on men, fathers, parenthood and gender issues. Shame and Self-Esteem in the Lives of Parents. This program will explore the role of shame and self-esteem in the parenting relationship, with particular attention to the way in which shame is created, expressed and managed, both for the parent and the child. Included will be the nature of parental shame, the normative nature of shame, its adaptive and maladaptive functions. Also included: ways of managing shame in parenting so as to safeguard the self-esteem of both the parent and the child. What Every Therapist Needs To Know About Working With Men. Participants will learn the basic male struggle with love, anger, shame, sorrow and hope as well as how these feelings shape men’s experience as patients in the therapeutic setting. The Search for Meaning through the Life Cycle: Contemporary Perspectives on Jewish and Other Spiritual Identities. This program explores the relationship between identity and spirituality through the life cycle as well as how the relationship to faith of origin and to spiritual search in general, shifts and changes as we age. Dr. Osherson will discuss the therapist’s experience: how we can integrate our own spiritual practice when working with a wide range of people with differing beliefs and needs. How Do We Hold On To Our Values (That Made Us Become Therapists in the First Place) in the Age of Managed Care. Samuel Osherson, Ph.D. & Margaret Cramer, Ph.D. (MA) Practitioners, in a managed care practice setting, will learn how to adapt to the necessities of managed care, while still being able to utilize a relational psychodynamic orientation. Top of page |
 Laura Weisberg, Ph.D. (NC)The Psychology of Compulsive Eating. Participants will learn to identify the factors that contribute to compulsive eating and utilize up-to-date treatment techniques. Body Blues: Body Image and Eating Issues in Mid-Life and Beyond. Participants will learn positive models of being in the body throughout the life cycle. Top of page |
|
 |