Treating Anxiety & Depression: Creative Strategies to Help Your Most Challenging Clients
February 6 @ 9:00 am - February 10 @ 12:30 pm
Treating Anxiety & Depression: Creative Strategies to Help Your Most Challenging Clients
February 6 – 10, 2023 | 9:00 am – 12:30 pm daily | USD$949 / CAD$1,234
About this workshop
Increase your toolbox of creative intervention strategies for treating clients with anxiety and depression.
Many clinicians encounter clients who have had long-term struggles with Generalized Anxiety, Social Anxiety, and/or Major Depression.
In this 5-day training, we will examine these diagnoses through the lens of hyper-arousal and hypo-arousal. This examination will provide both clinicians and clients a framework with which to understand the cognitive, emotional, somatic, and behavioral symptomatology that accompanies anxious or depressed experiences. We will also put clients in a psychosocial lens, processing the triggers that can occur intra-psychically, inter-personally, and environmentally. We will look at typical “resistances” that emerge when clients are asked to consider pharmacological intervention. And we will review “medication myths” that mental health and medical professionals can address to help overcome unnecessary or inaccurate fears. We will also discuss the impact that “medical Marijuana” has when used for treating anxiety and depression.
Participants will have many opportunities to explore non-pharmacological creative approaches to decreasing negative thoughts, feelings, and uncomfortable somatic experiences that can overwhelm depressed or anxious clients.
This training will also provide participants an opportunity to dramatically increase their toolbox of interventions by learning how to incorporate into their practice:
• breath work, Brain Gym, and other forms of exercise
• cognitive re-framing with writing prompts
• two-handed writing
• the therapeutic use of art prompts
• EFT
• Aromatherapy
• solution-focused strategies
• Parts work from the IFS model
• positive self-talk, visualization, and guided imagery exercises
• soothing with the use of somatic resourcing
All these strategies can be used in conjunction with pharmacological treatment or as stand-alone interventions.
The creative techniques presented in this training will leave clinicians and clients alike feeling much more empowered and much less hopeless about treating anxiety, depression, and Affective Disorders.
Learning Objectives
CE Credits
This workshop is approved for 16.25 CE hours by Praxis Continuing Education and Training.
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Additional Workshop Details
Target Audience:
Marriage and Family Therapists, Clinical and Counseling Psychologists, Psychiatric Social Workers, Pastoral Counselors, Psychotherapists, Psychiatrists, Physicians, Nurse Practitioners, Occupational Therapists, Counselors, Graduate Students in Accredited Programs in these fields
What level of knowledge should the attendee have in this topic?
Intermediate/Advanced
Daily Workshop Agenda
| Time Frame | Content (Topics) |
|---|---|
| DAY 1 | |
| 9:00 am – 10:30 am | Understanding the window of tolerance Putting clients in a psychosocial context and processing the triggers of anxiety and depression The art of administering questionnaires for assessment: PhQ-9 and Zung Working collaboratively with physicians |
| 10:30 am – 10:45 am | Morning break |
| 10:45 am – 12:30 pm | Identifying and addressing medication concerns and myths Understanding the impact of medical marijuana Response vs, Remission in the treatment of depression |
| DAY 2 | |
| 9:00 am – 10:30 am | Exploring Non-pharmacological treatment approaches Understanding the Impact of Sleep Hygiene on Depression and Anxiety Experiential – Addressing Hyper-Arousal with soothing Breath work Experiential – Using the meditative aspects of Brain Gym to address anxiety Experiential – The Crossroad of a thought: What if vs. What is |
| 10:30 am – 10:45 am | Morning break |
| 10:45 am – 12:30 pm | Incorporating aromatherapy Experiential – Working with EFT to dial down anxiety Experiential – The Scribble: Using art therapeutically to discharge anxiety |
| DAY 3 | |
| 9:00 am – 10:30 am | Experiential – Using visualization and guided imagery to “float” with anxiety Experiential – Two-handed writing: Bringing compassion and comfort to an anxious part |
| 10:30 am – 10:45 am | Morning break |
| 10:45 am – 12:30 pm | Experiential – Using Somatic resourcing strategies to soothe hyper-arousal |
| DAY 4 | |
| 9:00 am – 10:30 am | Experiential – Addressing hypo-arousal with Breathwork Using “Power Poses” to increase confidence Experiential – A 4-step approach to installing positive affirmations Experiential – Writing prompt to promote joy Experiential – Four Quadrant Art Prompt to access self-esteem |
| 10:30 am – 10:45 am | Morning break |
| 10:45 am – 12:30 pm | The Impact of exercise on depressed mood Experiential – Brain Gym Experiential – Visualization and Writing Prompt: Meeting challenges head-on |
| DAY 5 | |
| 9:00 am – 10:30 am | Experiential – Gratitude Walk and journaling Solution-focused strategies for depression Using IFS “Parts Work” to soothe depressed parts |
| 10:30 am – 10:45 am | Morning break |
| 10:45 am – 12:30 pm | Experiential – Art Prompt: Crystal Ball for future self-orientation Processing and challenging the Inner Monologue of Depression Additional strategies for self-soothing, control, empowerment, and support |
*Breaks not applicable for CEs.
