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December 2012
The Institute Insider
Keeping you connected ~ Nurturing your professional growth
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 NEW 2013 Intensives
Moving in Self: Enhancing the Effectiveness of Therapeutic PresenceI n this 3-day intensive we will explore how to creatively and experientially use our body/movement presence as a change agent by exploring and integrating four powerful psychotherapeutic approaches: Dance/movement therapy, Internal Family Systems, Mindfulness-based Psychotherapy and Client-centered Therapy.Click to learn more about this training and register.Expressive Therapy Intensive: Using Psychodrama and Other Creative Modalities to Process Counter-Transference When Working with Traumatized ClientsThis intensive experiential workshop series will help clinicians who have trained and worked in the field of trauma tap into their own triggers and vulnerabilities while attuning to their physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual needs.Click to learn more about this training and to register. |
Need a gift for a friend or colleague this holiday season? Consider a Gift Certificate from The Institute. Purchase in any amount. Good towards any trainings or intensive.  Email Lisa at lisa107107@aol.com and purchase a Gift Certificate today!
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 Message from Lisa Ferentz LCSW-C, DAPA Founder and President Dear Friends,
As we bring our 2012 season to a close at the end of December, I want to thank you for the incredible support and loyalty you have given to The Institute. We grew faster this semester than at any other time, and it is a joy to see so many returning eager, enthusiastic faces at our trainings! We are always looking for new ways to help you grow as a professional; and, since so many of you come back to us again and again for your CEU's, we are delighted to give you some brand new offerings for our Spring 2013 series. Please continue to check the calendar as we post our new half and full day trainings for the coming season which will resume in March.
We are also responding to growing requests for more "in-depth" trainings that incorporate creative modalities while helping clinicians explore their own processes in the work. In addition to our ongoing Level I and Level II Certificate Programs in Advanced Trauma Treatment, and our Master Class Case Consultation series, we are thrilled to be offering two new Intensives: Using Psychodrama and Other Expressive Modalities to Process Counter-Transference in Our Work With Traumatized Clients, and Moving in Self: Enhancing the Effectiveness of Therapeutic Presence. We are including links to these Intensives, so you can get a full description of them. I know you will find them enlightening and invaluable in your work!
In the spirit of those new trainings, this newsletter will focus on issues of self-awareness and interacting with clients from a place of mindfulness and compassion. May the holiday season bring you good health, joyful and meaningful connections to loved ones, and much inner peace!
Lisa Ferentz |
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Being a More Mindful Clinician: Getting Back to Basics
by Lisa Ferentz, LCSW-C, DAPA  In case you haven't noticed, there are an awful lot of psychotherapy modalities out there! And many trainers are adamant that their treatment paradigms are the best, or the only ones that you need to use in your work with clients. As a result, many clinicians are understandably anxious about which ones to learn and incorporate into their practices. Even seasoned practitioners can feel pressured to learn "the latest" way of doing therapy. Although I am firm in my belief that we always need to continue growing professionally, and that our clients will benefit from our willingness to stay open to new and creative ways of helping them in their healing journeys, sometimes a willingness to return to the basics can be the most effective way to work.To read the rest of this article, click here.
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Tips for Clinicians: Helping your Eating Disordered Client Survive the Holidays
The holidays are not relaxing and fun for everyone, especially those with an eating disorder (E/D). They may dread the day when the table is completely filled and over-flowing with deliciously home cooked or catered food along with the sounds of relatives and loved ones laughing and enjoying themselves. They are already obsessing about numbers, calories, fat grams or how they will appear in an outfit. They are already trying to figure out how to cheat and sneak off to the bathroom without being noticed or convince a loved one that they have indeed finished all the food on their plate. To read the rest of this article, click here. |
Clinician ResourcesPublicationsVideo
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Self-Care and Counseling Tips
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 SELF-CARE: When dealing with clients who are in a lot of psychic pain, we can feel tremendous pressure to come up with the perfect advice and interventions: keys that will unlock the door and set them free. My friend and brilliant therapist Richard Schwartz has a wonderful way of working with this during a session. While clients are searching for their own inner wisdom, he says the word "WAIT" in his mind. This stands for, "Why Am I Talking?" I love this strategy because it encourages us to be in the present moment with our clients- even when it is a difficult or silent one- and also gives us permission to not have to work so hard. When we allow ourselves to "just be" with the client, actively listening and non-verbally connecting, it calms down our own physiology, making us more effective, compassionate and present in the experience.
COUNSELING: This can be a difficult time of year for clients. As many of them struggle with feelings of anxiety or depression, you will begin to notice that their thoughts and emotions are really rooted in either the past or the future. Anticipatory anxiety-driven "what if's" represent future fears, while the hopelessness of depression is often fueled by a stuckness from the past. In both cases, what is missing is an awareness of now- the present moment. In our effort to "be where the client is" while still providing hope and support, we may also keep the therapy session focused on the past or the future. When you catch the session moving to either of those places, try something different. Encourage your clients to really focus on "now," giving themselves permission to "just be," and to notice the physical sensations as well as the subtle shifts in emotion and thought as they stay with the present moment. This isn't about "fixing" or "changing" anything, it's about increasing a sense of competence and inner calm, by showing them that they have the ability to just be.
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Featured Spring 2013 Trainings
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- Click here to see our Calendar of Classes and to register online.
- The Level I and Level II Trauma Certificate Programs offers valuable continuing education, and CEU's, needed to expand your knowledge and practice. Learn more about these programs and register today! Level I Level II
- Don't miss our Master Class Consultations: Working With Trauma and Dissociative Identity Disorder. This special series is designed to help you safely process difficult cases involving child, adolescent or adult trauma survivors that evoke feelings of 'being stuck,' angry, frustrated, anxious, overwhelmed or afraid. You are welcome to register for one or more of the various classes. Learn more here.
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The Institute for Advanced Psychotherapy Training and Education, Inc. is an approved sponsor of the Maryland Board of Social Work Examiners for continuing education credits for licensed social workers in Maryland. CEU approval for all trainings is also granted to Psychologists, LCPC's and MFT's. In addition, reciprocity has been granted for clinicians in Washington, D.C., Virginia,
and West Virginia.
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