CBT, Basic Tools - 1

• Discuss the premise of cognitive behavioural work and its aims

• Demonstrate the use of thought records

• Explore common unhelpful thinking styles

• Demonstrate the use of systematic problem solving

• Reflect on the (in)appropriate use of these tools and how they can be integrated with other models

• Practice tools and receive feedback 

CBT, Basic Tools - 2

• Discuss the challenges of working with low mood and lack of motivation

• Demonstrate multiple steps toward effective behavioural activation interventions

• Demonstrate the use of behavioural experiments

• Practice tools and receive feedback

Harm Reduction in Practice

• Process personal values around substances and explore what constitutes "harm."

• Review the Stages of Change model

• Examine our roles in supporting clients

• Discuss fears and barriers experienced in implementing programs and services that are harm reduction-based.

• Engage with concrete tools and examples of harm reduction interventions.

Motivational Interviewing, Introductory Concepts

• Discuss the context and appropriate use of motivational interviewing and cognitive behavioural therapy techniques.

• Review the basic theories of each modality.

• Practice concrete tools that can be used with clients who are considering behaviour change, working through ambivalence, interested in behavioural strategies to manage depression, and/or who need support restructuring unhelpful thinking styles.

Practicing & Reflecting on Counselling (or Peer Support) Skills

• Examine specific skills in depth: engagement, developing good exploratory questions, asking for clarification, paraphrasing, appropriate use of self-disclosure and silence, and effective reframing

• Analyze case scenarios; identify and evaluate exploratory questions

• Practice skills in pairs and groups with simulation exercises and follow-up opportunities for discussion

• Reflect on the impacts of tone, flow, affect, and the social location of the service user and provider

Exploratory Inquiry for Sexual Health Counsellors 

• Form exploratory questions that open up conversations with service users

• Find ways to encourage service users to "invite us in" to offer education

• Examine the meaning of sexual behaviours and individual choices

• Reflect on power dynamics in romantic and sexual relationships

• Consider provider bias and multiple ways to understand risk-taking behaviours

• Draw on motivational interviewing to confront ambivalence

• Practice culturally informed inquiry

Putting Anti-Oppression into Sex Therapy Practice

• Analyze case scenarios that explore nuances of racialized and queer identities.

• Apply "textbook treatment" approaches with additional considerations and questions.

• Identify what the therapist is unsure about (or having a strong reaction toward) and consider how this can be used for culturally competent inquiry.

• Discuss what power dynamics may look like in the therapy room

Managing Anxiety Around Sexual Health

• Discuss the challenge of supporting clients who experience high anxiety around sexual health, whatever their apparent level of risk.

• Explore the function of anxiety and the need for tools to contain it

• Examine the additional concepts of symbolic interactionism, internalized shame, and introjection

• Discuss how anxiety plays out during hookups while communicating about risk and when accessing testing services  

Supporting Queer Guys Around Body Image Concerns

• Reflect on cultural messages around 'good' bodies, food, fatphobia and thin privilege.

• Examine what body image challenges look like in queer men's communities

• Explore and discuss counselling/clinical questions and approaches to addressing body image issues with queer men, drawing on cognitive behavioural therapy, acceptance & commitment therapy, Gestalt techniques, and psychodynamic enquiry 

Understanding Strong Emotions

• Discuss concepts of emotional dysregulation, complex trauma, and expression of big feelings

• Explore anger as an element of common client presentations

• Examine anger, its underlying drivers and common activators, and then consider the connections between anger style and potential interpersonal goals for more effective communication

• Distinguish between self-harm and the spectrum of suicidality using case scenarios

• Unpack "cluster B" personality disorders contextualized as a function of trauma histories

• Optional: practice and reflect on common suicide risk assessment questions/practices, discuss safety planning tools, and critically reflect on their appropriate uses

Understanding and Supporting People with Psychosis

• Review overarching mental health categories and locate common experiences of psychosis within the diagnostic manual of disorders

• Define and discuss common symptoms: delusions, hallucinations and/or experiences of non-consensus realities

• Analyze case scenarios through a trauma-informed and culturally aware practice lens

• Optional: Engage with intervention approaches and tools for supporting clients and considering non-pathologizing approaches to psychosis. 

Mental Health Readiness Assessments for Transition-Related Surgeries

• Provide a context overview that discusses Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) coverage and funding criteria for transition-related surgeries

• Identify who is considered a "qualified provider" to assess patients for surgery

• Offer a balanced critique of our current system and the need to work within it to advocate for our clients and communities

• Review the WPATH Standards of Care and Ministry of Health & Long-Term Care requirements for transition-related procedures

• Explore what surgery planning visits can look like between clinical social workers and clients

• Review concrete examples of questions that providers can ask to support client readiness for surgery

• Review templates of support letters with opportunities for questions and consultation