Virtual Continuing Education Conference

Glendale Area Mental Health Professionals Association (GAMHPA) Presents

Virtual Continuing Education Conference

Friday, May 17, 2024, 9:30 a.m.-3:00 p.m.

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OFFERING CEs FOR BBS RELICENSURE

AND FOR PSYCHOLOGISTS

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Conference Program

Both Heart and Eyes Open: The Realistic Promise and Potential of Ketamine

Clinical Update on Infidelity

Moving from Friendly to Affirmative: Working with LGBTQIA+ Clients

Brainspotting and How it can Enhance your Practice

Schedule

9:30-10 a.m.    Check-In

10-11               Ketamine

11-12 noon       Infidelity

12-12:30          Lunch Break

12:30-1:30       Affirmative Therapy

1:30-2:30         Brainspotting

2:30-3 p.m.      Closing

Cost

GAMHPA Member attendance is FREE. Non-member attendance is $30 (includes free introductory membership through the end of 2024.) Registrants who do not attend or fail to request a refund one week prior to the event will forfeit fees paid.

Location

Zoom video conferencing login will be provided two days prior to the event and only upon registration and receipt of payment.

Registration

Registration closes by the end of Monday, May 13. Registration is required online at https://www.gamhpa.org/event-5525519.  

Continuing Education Credit

CEs for this event are provided by The Affirmative Couch. The Affirmative Couch, LLC, is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The Affirmative Couch, LLC, maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

This course is intended for beginning to advanced mental health professionals. You may attend any or all of the four presentations; CEs will be credited based on attendance. Course meets the qualifications for 4.0 hours of continuing education credit for Psychologists, LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs, and/or LEPs required by the California Board of Psychology or the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. CE completion certificates will be awarded when participants complete the course evaluation after speaker presentation.

Thank you to Cadyn Cathers, PsyD, and The Affirmative Couch, LLC, for sponsoring our continuing education credits. Please contact our sponsor at melissa@affirmativecouch.com with any questions or accommodation requests.

Further Program Information and Questions

Contact GAMHPA Board Member Mary Ann Aronsohn, LMFT, Continuing Education Chair at (626) 441-5131, m.aronsohn@protonmail.com.

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Our Presentations

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Presentation 1: Both Heart and Eyes Open: The Realistic Promise and Potential of Ketamine

Megan Kain, PsyD

10-11 a.m.

Description

This presentation will give an overview about what research and clinical experience indicates regarding therapeutic use of ketamine. Balancing out the rosy, unblemished “panacea” hope for the medicine, we can identify who might be (or might not be) good candidates for the treatment modality, other interventions to weave in conjunction with the medicine work, and how best to prepare for – and integrate – such experiences into a course of talk therapy.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this presentation, participants will be able to:

1. Identify what populations are FDA-indicated to work with ketamine, and also identify medical / diagnostic “yellow flags” with which to proceed with caution

2. Be familiar with best practices for navigating making a ketamine referral for your client, how to integrate care with a ketamine-assisted psychotherapist, and how to help them with ongoing integration work.

3. Verbalize an understanding of realistic therapeutic outcomes that ketamine can provide for appropriate clients, and distinguish between client factors/behaviors that will enhance (versus inhibit) the effectiveness of ketamine work.

Presentation 2: Clinical Update on Infidelity

Kimberly Resnick Anderson, LCSW

11-12 noon

Description

After treating more than 5,000 couples who were recovering from intimate betrayal, Ms Resnick Anderson has gleaned unique insights into the complexities of healing from infidelity. This presentation will focus on statistics, trends, risk factors, and motivations for affairs. It will also address pathways and barriers to healing after an affair. It will contain clinical examples as well as current research on infidelity.

Learning Objectives

1. By the end of this presentation, participants will be able to list risk factors for affairs

2. By the end of this presentation, participants will be able to describe motivations for affairs

3. By the end of this presentation, participants will be able to identify pathways and barriers to healing

Presentation 3: Moving from Friendly to Affirmative: Working with LGBTQIA+ Clients

Cadyn Cathers, PsyD

12:30-1:30 p.m.

Description

While many clinicians consider themselves LGBTQIA+-friendly, well-intentioned clinicians can create inadvertent harm without proper training in LGBTQIA+ affirmative psychotherapy. We will cover key differences between LGBTQIA+-friendly and LGBTQIA+-affirmative psychotherapy and provide suggestions on how psychotherapists can move from being open and welcoming to having the education to provide a healing space for LGBTQIA+ clients.

Learning Objectives:

1. Discuss at least 3 differences between LGBTQIA+ friendly and LGBTQIA+ affirmative psychotherapy

2. Identify at least 1 personal practice a psychotherapist can take toward providing LGBTQIA+ affirmative psychotherapy

Presentation 4: Brainspotting and How it can Enhance your Practice

Daria Stepanian-Duhancioglu, LMFT, Lauren Worley, LCSW, and Mariam Vanounts, LMFT, PsyD

1:30-2:30 p.m.

Description

Mariam, Daria , and Lauren will be discussing what Brainspotting is, how it was developed, and how it can enhance your practice by providing an effective method for addressing trauma and supporting your clients as they reduce their trauma triggers. They will be exploring how Brainspotting can change your approach to trauma treatment, help the client feel more in charge of their healing process, and feel more emotionally regulated by the end of their treatment.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this presentation, participants will be able to:

1. List the 3 main tenets of Brainspotting - Describe the basic frames that guide the other "set-ups"

2. Describe an "eye position"

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Our Speakers

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Kimberly Resnick Anderson, LCSW

Kimberly Resnick Anderson, LCSW, is an AASECT Certified Sex Therapist, Assistant professor of Psychiatry at UCLA School of Medicine, speaker, and writer, with more than 30 years of experience treating individuals, couples, and groups. She specializes in helping her clients achieve optimal sexual health and satisfaction. She has treated over 7,000 individuals with sexual dysfunction, out-of-control sexual behaviors, and alternative sexual lifestyles (including LGBTQ, Polyamory, Ethical Non-monogamy and BDSM). Kimberly is regularly quoted in Playboy.com, CNN.com, Cosmo.com, Huffington Post, Yourtango.com and dozens of other national and international publications in more than 25 countries. She has published articles in medical journals including The Female Patient and The Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy. She was also an on-air expert and consultant for the TLC’s “Strange Sex” series for three seasons. She is a speaker at sexual health conferences around the globe. Kimberly also hosts and produces a podcast called Sex Savvy, which tackles all things sexual. https://www.kimberlyresnickanderson.com/

Cadyn Cathers, PsyD

Cadyn Cathers, PsyD (he/him/his) has been teaching courses on human sexuality, psychotherapy with LGBTQIA+ communities, and psychodynamic theory for over 10 years. He is the founder and CEO of The Affirmative Couch, which provides online continuing education on clinical work with LGBTQIA+, CNM, and kink communities. He is a licensed psychologist in private practice, where he focuses on psychoanalytic psychotherapy with transgender and nonbinary patients. https://affirmativecouch.com/

Megan Kain, PsyD

Megan Kain is a licensed clinical psychologist working, thriving, and exploring in Los Angeles, California. Psychology represents her second life chapter; she nurtured the seeds of this career while living out her first one as a professional dancer working on both coasts. She deeply values the unique opportunities she has had working with high-need populations, including individuals incarcerated at state and county levels, youth included in enhanced specialized foster care, survivors of intimate partner violence, clients struggling with addiction and serious mental illness, and those who are healing the wounds of complicated grief and relational trauma. She has earned her certification as a psychedelic-assisted psychotherapist through Integrative Psychiatry Institute in Colorado to legally work with ketamine, and eventually other psychedelics as they eventually become federally approved. She remains passionate about addressing individual symptoms through a systemic lens and believes that many things can constitute “medicine.” https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/megan-m-kain-pasadena-ca/474254

Daria Stepanian-Duhancioglu, LMFT

Daria Stepanian-Duhancioglu, LMFT, is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in California. She has a telehealth private practice and is passionate about helping individuals struggling with difficult- toxic relational dynamics, breakup recovery, codependency, self-esteem struggles, trauma, and grief and loss. Daria takes an eclectic, holistic, strengths-based approach including elements of cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness, brainspotting and attachment theory to help support clients unlock their full potential and lead a more authentic, meaningful life. Daria believes in fostering a comfortable, genuine therapeutic environment, offering help, support, and encouragement every step of a client's journey toward healing, balance, and fulfillment. You can connect with Daria via (818) 430-3476 or www.therapywithdaria.com.

Mariam Vanounts, PsyD, LMFT

Mariam Vanounts, PsyD, LMFT, is a Somatic Psychotherapist with decades of specialized experience in treating trauma within a diverse client base, encompassing various ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Dr. Vanounts has been trained in several trauma-treatment methodologies, including Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Trauma-Informed Stabilization Treatment (certified), Somatic Coaching (certified), the Trauma Resiliency Model (TRM), and Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT). Mariam is a certified Brainspotting therapist and consultant. Operating a fully virtual practice, she is dedicated to leveraging the inherent wisdom and healing capacities of the mind and body, employing a client-centered approach to guide individuals on their journeys toward recovery. Dr. Vanounts can be contacted at (818) 406-7979 or via her website, www.healing-gaze.com, for consultations and therapy sessions.

Lauren Worley, LCSW

Lauren Worley, LCSW, is a certified Brainspotting therapist with a hybrid group practice in La Crescenta, CA. Lauren works with teens and young adults who are going through transition: including gender transition, life transitions, or personal identity shifts. She has a passion for using Brainspotting to help clients who are stuck and feel lost in the talk therapy world. She has been supervising for 8 years and currently has two associates in her practice. Lauren is also a board member with GAMHPA, helping to plan the game nights. Lauren can be reached at (626) 507-4466 or through her website at www.foothillspsychotherapy.com.