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Training workshops for counselors, social workers and therapists.

Signing up for workshops is quick and easy. Just choose which one you would like to attend, hit the "Buy Now" button, and pay by credit card or PayPal. Then just show up the day of the workshop! We look forward to seeing you there!

Scroll down for the list of available workshops

If you have any questions, please contact John Sanders -- JohnS [at] firstinc [dot] org -- or call/text (828) 989-8823

* Workshop descriptions may contain Amazon Affiliate links.

​Thank you. Hope to see you soon!
​

List of workshops in chronological order...


Understanding Attachment and Using Trauma Informed Interventions to Treat Mental Health and Substance Use

$70.00
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Wednesday December 11, 2019

9:00am - 4:30pm

6 credit hours total:

  • 6 NBCC approved credit hours

This training will draw from the bestseller book by Christina Reese, PhD, LCPC, Attachment: 60 Trauma-Informed Assessment and Treatment Interventions Across the Lifespan. If you want to quickly learn, understand, and treat attachment disorders, of clients at any age, this is the book to learn from! We'll begin with defining attachment and how brain science helps us understand the importance of attachment, attachment styles, the role trauma plays in attachment, and how to begin healing it. 

Dr. Reese begins with "Attachment in Utero" and moves to "Attachment in Infancy" and on to childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, middle life, later life, and death and dying. We will look at attachment and diagnosis, including discussion of adoption and foster care. Lastly, we'll explore attachment and the therapeutic relationship, "role model and cheerleader". Dr Reese's book is filled with case studies to bring attachment and it's healing treatment to therapeutic life. 

PURCHASE this book ahead of time for use in the workshop and bring it to the training as we will not have a powerpoint handout!

Attachment: 60 Trauma-Informed Assessment and Treatment Interventions Across the Lifespan

Peter Levine states, "Trauma is not who you are, it is what happened to you without an empathic witness." Having a secure attachment with a safe person is that empathic witness. You as a counselor may become that empathic witness as well as others in the client's life.

Objectives:

1. Develop and understanding of attachment across the lifespan through social and neuroscience and how it may be treated if healthy attachment was absent or lacking.

2. Identify symptoms of poor or no healthy attachment and how to treat it both as a counselor, in the client's family, and community. 

​​Lunch, snacks, coffee, water, and tea are all included!​

​​​We look forward to seeing you there!

Presented by Linda Harrison, LPCS, CCS, MAC​


2020


Advanced Trauma Informed Care Skills

$70.00
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Tuesday, January 14, 2020

9:00 am - 4:30 pm

6 contact hours total:

  • ​6 NBCC credit hours
  • NCSAPPB approved substance use specific (SS) and evidence-based treatment (EBT)

Description:

Advanced Trauma Informed Care Skills will begin with learning and understanding the neuroscience of trauma and how it affects the brain and the body using the 3 part brain psycho-ed skills and explanation of the stored trauma responses of fight, flight, and freeze. We will move to learning and practicing 8-10 emotional regulation skills to teach and utilize with clients. Emotional regulation is essential in supporting both the client struggling with trauma in mental illness and substance use. 

Objectives: 

  • Develop and working knowledge of the neuroscience behind trauma and how to impart the 3 part brain model and the immediate and ongoing responses to trauma of fight, flight, and freeze.
  • Learn and integrate 8-10 emotional regulation skills

Lunch, snacks, coffee, water, and tea are all included!​

​​​We look forward to seeing you there!

Presented by Linda Harrison, LPCS, CCS, MAC​

Recommended reading: The Body Keeps the Score


HIV and Hepatitis C Prevention, Screening, and Treatment Counseling

$40.00
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Tuesday February 11, 2020

9:00am - 12:15pm

3 credit hours total:

  • 3 NBCC approved credit hours
  • NCSAPPB approved substance use specific (SS), bloodborne pathogens (HIV), and evidence-based treatment (EBT)

Description:

The HIV and Hep C training will explore current trends, testing, and treatment for HIV and Hepatitis C. We’ll explore and practice counseling skills in client education, screening, pre- and post-test counseling, prevention, and referral. We’ll also identify resources in western NC for clients.

Objectives: 

  1. Develop an understanding of current trends in HIV and Hepatitis C and how they affect counseling in your area of practice.
  2. Develop a comfort level with practice skills in client education, screening, pre- and post-test counseling, prevention, and referral. 

Snacks, coffee, water, and tea are all included!​

​​​We look forward to seeing you there!

Presented by Linda Harrison, LPCS, CCS, MAC​

Recommended reading: The Book of Hepatitis C: 7 Simple Strategies to Shift From Surviving to Thriving


Ethics in Mental Health and Substance Use Treatment

$40.00
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Tuesday, February 11, 2020

1:00pm - 5:30pm

4 credit hours total:

  • 4 NBCC approved credit hours
  • NCSAPPB approved credit hours of substance use specific (SS) & ethics (ETHICS)

Description:

If you’ve had “Ethics” workshops before, you know how boring they can be…. Well, this one is definitely far from boring! Ethics will be specific to both mental health and substance use. Participants will explore the gray areas of ethics and submit their own past and present ethical dilemmas for the group to examine and share their feedback. Case studies will support developing a clear and concise strategy for holding professional ethics and confidentiality as well as making decisions about how to address infractions. We will draw from NCSAPPB, NASW, and ACA ethical standards and how licenses in more than one discipline will impact your practice. We’ll look at current trends in ethics violations and where ethics meet NC Mental Health Law.

Objectives:

  1. Identify most commonly breached ethics.
  2. Share and resolve real-time ethical concerns as brought forth by workshop participants.
  3. Learn and develop a plan for addressing ethical concerns you may encounter as well as how to support fellow co-workers and supervisees in addressing them. 

Snacks, coffee, tea, and water served!​​

We look forward to seeing you there!

Presented by Linda Harrison LPCS, CCS, MAC​

Recommended Reading: Counseling Ethics for the 21st Century


The Gifts of Giving: Forms of Compassion Fatigue and Alternative Outcomes for Helpers

$70.00
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Friday February 28, 2020

9:00am - 4:30pm

  • 6 NBCC approved credit hours
  • 6 hours NCSAPPB approved substance use specific (SS) and psychopathology (PSY)

We all know burnout…probably a bit too well. What we may not know are its many faces, or the numerous factors contributing to its onset. Caregiving professionals are vulnerable to a spectrum of burnout syndromes including vicarious traumatization, compassion fatigue, and secondary traumatic stress. Outcomes can be pretty dire: substance use, PTSD, impairment, stigma, loss of career, isolation, unethical decision-making, and hopelessness. 

Mental health professionals could be regarded as an underserved population, if we weren’t so busy caring for highly vulnerable people! Considering the lack of research and prevention resources available, and the low priority employers sometimes place on staff wellness, the potential for suffering is great among human service professionals. 

When serving individuals who have addictions, watching one more relapse can be disheartening. It can make us feel like our work is going nowhere. It’s hard to show up for clients and families in their most vulnerable state, when we often do not get to see how the story ends. 

Yet we are resilient and powerful! Our experience of the helping professions doesn’t have to be this way. This talk will outline symptoms of four burnout syndromes, provide reflection time with prompts for self-exploration, and a collaborative brainstorm session to apply as individuals and organizations. Finally, a discussion of compassion satisfaction and post-traumatic growth will foster hope, positivity, and a sense of community. Come take some space for yourself and the workplaces that make your amazing work possible. 

The objectives of this workshop:

  • Practitioners will gain knowledge of four types of caregiver burnout. 
  • Practitioners will increase awareness of burnout syndromes in themselves, their coworkers, and the organizations in which they work.
  • Practitioners will collaborate with colleagues to innovate ideas for individual and organizational caretaking. 
  • Practitioners will reconnect to their professional motivations and empowerment to enact positive initiatives in the workplace.

Snacks, coffee, tea, and water served!​​

We look forward to seeing you there!

Presented by Ginelle Krummey, MA, LPCA, NCC

Recommended reading: Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others


Motivational Interviewing and Enhancement Counseling with Advanced Trauma Informed Skills

$75.00
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Tuesday, March 10, 2020

9:00am - 4:30pm

6 credit hours total:

  • 6 NBCC approved credit hours
  • NCSAPPB approved substance use specific (SS) and evidence-based practice (EBT)

Description:

Motivational Interviewing and Enhancement Counseling with the Stages of Change will utilize not only MI and Stage of Change skills but also incorporating Advanced Trauma Informed Skills as part of the assessment and counseling process. We’ll begin with 2-3 emotional regulation skills then advance to OARS, supporting self-efficacy, express empathy, develop discrepancy, and roll with the resistance, and scaling. 

Objectives:

  1. Participants will understand the role of emotional regulation and trauma informed care in the process of motivational interviewing and enhancement counseling. 
  2. Participants will learn and practice OARS along with the 4 principles of MI and scaling questions.

Snacks, coffee, water, and tea are all included!​

​​​We look forward to seeing you there!

Presented by Linda Harrison, LPCS, CCS, MAC​

Recommended reading: Motivational Interviewing: Helping People Change, 3rd Edition


Clinical Supervision I

$100.00
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Tuesday April 14, 2020

7.5 contact hours total:

8:30am - 5:00pm

  • ​7.5 NBCC credit hours
  • NCSAPPB approved substance use specific (SS) and clinical supervision specific (CSS)

Description:

This year, we will begin Clinical Supervision I with the text, Clinical Supervision Activities for Increasing Competence and Self-Awareness by Bean, Davis, and Davey. This curriculum captures a new movement of mindfulness and contemplative clinical supervision that focuses not only on clinical skills but also on developing self-awareness in the professional relationship between counselor and client. 

Just a few of the topics include:

  • Facilitating Clinician Development Using Themes of Personal Issues
  • Exploring the Person-of-the-Therapist for Better Joining, Assessment, and Intervention
  • Seeing Through the Eyes of the Other Using Process Recordings
  • Discovering Acceptance and Non Judgement Through Mindfulness
  • Giving a Voice to Clinicians-in-Training About Their Concerns
  • Developing Supervision Skills for Resiliency and Decreased Vicarious Trauma
  • You are welcome to purchase the book ahead of time or just attend and find out if this type of clinical supervision fits your supervision style. 

Objectives:

1. Develop a core clinical competence and self-awareness through a self-awareness and mindfulness lens

2. Develop skills of joining, assessment, and intervention

3. Develop skills to address dual diagnosis and special populations such as LGBTQIA, the immigrant experience, victims of domestic violence 

Lunch, snacks, coffee, water, and tea are all included!​

​​​We look forward to seeing you there!

Presented by Linda Harrison, LPCS, CCS, MAC​

Recommended reading: Clinical Supervision Activities for Increasing Competence and Self-Awareness


Tools for Healing Sexual Trauma

$70.00
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Friday May 1, 2020

9:00am - 4:15pm

6 contact hours total:

  • ​6 NBCC credit hours
  • NCSAPPB approved substance use specific (SS) and psychopathology training (PSY)

The objective of this workshop is for clinicians to develop skills and tools in working with sexual trauma. We will discuss facts and statistics concerning sexual abuse and trauma. Further, we will briefly look at sexual trauma - did you know that sexual trauma survivors are 13 times more likely to abuse alcohol, and 26 times more likely to abuse drugs? We will briefly look at sexual trauma through the lens of neurophysiology, and how it affects the nervous system long-term - including predisposing survivors towards addiction and other psychological disorders. Next we will introduce and practice interventions shown to be useful for three main areas of sexual trauma: emotional dysregulation, boundaries, and shame.

Group work with sexual trauma is both treacherous and deeply restorative. Few competent resources for this work exist, and most important is a strong and secure group culture necessary to foster growth and healing for clients who have been so specifically wounded. This workshop will cover group planning and facilitation from beginning to end, including interviews for potential members, group rules and expectations, and curriculum (for example, a group topic on how and why survivors typically struggle with addiction). It will include both lecture and active practice.

Objectives:

  1. Develop skills and tools in working with sexual trauma
  2. Discuss facts and statistics concerning sexual abuse and trauma
  3. Develop skills and learn practice interventions
  4. Learn and be able to apply several group models for sexual trauma survivors
  5. Be able to plan, advertise and facilitate a sexual trauma group 
  6. Develop group therapy skills and practice several group activities for sexual trauma

Snacks, coffee, water, and tea are all included!​

​​​We look forward to seeing you there!

Presented by:

Papillon DeBoer is an LPC in private practice in Asheville, and provides counseling for survivors of sexual trauma.


Clinical Supervision II

$100.00
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Tuesday May 12, 2020

8:30am - 5:00pm

7.5 contact hours total:

  • NBCC approved credit hours
  • NCSAPPB approved 7.5 hours, clinical supervision specific (CSS), including 3 hours of (ETHICS).

Description:

This year, we will begin Clinical Supervision II with the text, Clinical Supervision Activities for Increasing Competence and Self-Awareness by Bean, Davis, and Davey. This curriculum captures a new movement of mindfulness and contemplative clinical supervision that focuses not only on clinical skills but also on developing self-awareness in the professional relationship between counselor and client. 

Just a few of the topics include:

  • Addressing Resistance to Behavior Change
  • Teaching Self-Compassion to Decrease Performance Anxiety in Clinicians
  • Exploring Personal Roles and Themes in Clinical Training
  • Diversity-Focused Competence and Self-Awareness

Objectives:

  1. Increase Awareness of multicultural issues in therapy and supervision
  2. Explore and develop skills in addressing gender and ethnicity
  3. Develop a better understanding of privilege and disadvantage
  4. Working with co-occurring disorders of SA and mental illness

Lunch, snacks, coffee, water, and tea are all included!​

​​​We look forward to seeing you there!

Presented by Linda Harrison, LPCS, CCS, MAC​

Recommended reading: Clinical Supervision Activities for Increasing Competence and Self-Awareness


Seeking Safety: A Treatment for PTSD and Substance Use

$70.00
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Tuesday, June 9, 2020

9:00am - 4:30pm

6 contact hours total:

  • 6 NBCC approved credit hours
  • NCSAPPB approved substance use specific (SS) and evidence based practice (EBP)

Description:

Seeking Safety is an evidenced based treatment curriculum that addresses both PTSD (trauma) and substance use disorder. It may be utilized in both individual and group therapy. Seeking Safety is a very user-friendly curriculum that supports the development of skills for emotional regulation, life skills, and recovery from trauma and substance use disorder. Come join us as we learn the foundational theory, curriculum structure, and how to facilitate a Seeking Safety group. We encourage purchasing the Seeking Safety book ahead of time to bring with you if you plan on facilitating the group in your agency. It has a limited copyright, allowing the facilitator to make copies of class materials for clients.

Objective:

  • Develop an understanding of how PTSD contributes to substance abuse and how basic CBT can support emotional regulation, better decision-making, and more positive outcomes in the clients you treat with Seeking Safety. 
  •  Participate in the facilitation of a mock Seeking Safety group to learn and develop a comfort with the group structure and process.

Lunch, snacks, coffee, water, and tea are all included!​

​​​We look forward to seeing you there!

Presented by Linda Harrison LPCS, CCS, MAC​

Recommended reading: Seeking Safety: A Treatment Manual for PTSD and Substance Abuse

Free Gift!

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"Linda Harrison is a phenomenal trainer. She is real and engaging. I can't wait to learn more from her. John Sanders and the FIRST team provided an excellent environment for workshops. What a great opportunity to learn and to network with other WNC providers." - Attendee 10/13/15

Refund Policy:
100% refunds are available up to 48 hours before a workshop. 50% refund in the two days prior to the workshop. No refund for cancellations on the day of the workshop or for no-shows.

Stay tuned! More workshops will be added soon!

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FIRST at Blue Ridge has been approved by the NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 6700. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. FIRST at Blue Ridge is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs. 


Copyright 2018 FIRST at Blue Ridge, Inc.
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