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• Healing Racial Trauma

  • When
    Saturday, October 07, 2023
  •  
    9:30 AM - 1:30 PM
  • Location
    Online ZOOM

  Register

  Part 1 of an ongoing anti-oppressive lecture series exclusive for GWSCSW

  Healing Racial Trauma:  
  Supporting our clients, liberating ourselves and understanding how and why racial trauma lives inside all of us

  Who is really affected by racial trauma?

  According to Resmaa Menakem, author of My Grandmother’s Hands, racial trauma is not just a selective mental health issue: it is an embodied trauma, one that lives on in bodies of all colors and needs to be understood from this perspective in order to be healed.

  Our speaker for this workshop, Candace Oglesby, LCPC, agrees and knows firsthand how racial trauma shows up in all of us, regardless of skin color. She has spent her career providing direct mental health services to marginalized communities and then helping organizations address racism and oppression within their leadership capacities, to transform themselves and become more equitable and diverse. This workshop has been designed exclusively by our speaker for GWSCSW, to provide to our wider therapeutic community.

  In this workshop, you will learn:

  • The imperative of healing ourselves of racial trauma first, before we try to heal others
  • Symptoms of racial trauma on both a macro and micro level
  • The barriers and limitations that prevent therapists from talking about racial trauma
  • Assessing this trauma and the first steps to treatment  
  • Culturally inclusive models proven to be efficacious in treatment

  When: Saturday, October 7, 2023 from 9:30 AM EST - 1:30 PM EST

  Where: Zoom platform online, sponsored by GWSCSW

  CEUs: 4 (four) Category 1 CEUs.  This workshop will be recorded and made available in the members only area of the website who pre-register.

  About the Speaker: 

  Candace Oglesby is a licensed professional counselor (LCPC) and board approved supervisor in the state of Maryland. She holds a master’s degree in Clinical Psychology. She is the program director of a ketamine assisted psychotherapy (KAP) certificate program for an online training company. She is a psychedelic assisted therapist in which she has been a part of research clinical trials but also now serves as a trainer and DEI consultant in the mental health psychedelic space. Candace specializes in working with adult populations, specifically women of color, who are trauma survivors. Candace is an approved Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) approved consultant and trained in level two Internal Family Systems (IFS). Candace provides preparation and integration therapy sessions for those who are engaging in ketamine and psychedelic experiences in the community. She relies heavily on the IFS lens as it pertains to preparing her clients for the intense work involving psychedelics but also helps individuals to integrate their experiences utilizing the IFS & EMDR models. Candace also specializes in providing culturally aware treatment for black and brown clients who have experiences surrounding racial trauma. The purpose of her work is to help bring awareness to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the mental health/psychedelic space. 

  Candace is also the founder and owner of Jurnee Mental Health Consulting, LLC, a menta health consulting company that provides support to individuals and businesses looking to deepen their understanding of mental health while providing support and resources to marginalized communities. Within her consulting business, she has hosted healing circles for black women, which is a safe space for like-minded black women to come together to discuss issues around racial trauma, imposter syndrome, intimacy, and isolation. Candace is a mentor and mental health consultant business coach who incorporates anti-oppressive practices and IFS within her coaching. The IFS model helps consultees to identify parts that may be preventing them from moving forward within their business and turning legacy burdens into entrepreneurial gifts. Candace has also been afforded the opportunity to work with mental health organizations and top industry leaders to support with their DEI initiatives. This has included designing and facilitating DEI trainings, creating content creation which address DEI, and creating culturally inclusive and anti-oppressive protocols and curriculum.

  In addition, Candace is a community ambassador for Black Therapist Rock (BTR) which is a non-profit organization that increases awareness of social and psychological issues impacting vulnerable communities and reducing stigma related to mental health.  She is also a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated.  When Candace is not acting as psychotherapist, consultant, CEO, and volunteer she is spending time with her husband, dog, family, and friends. 

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• A Buddhist Approach to Psychotherapy

  • When
    Sunday, October 08, 2023
  •  
    10:00 AM - 1:30 PM
  • Location
    Online ZOOM
  • Spaces left
    17

  Register

  Presenter Ed Geraty LCSW-C (MD) , LICSW (WV), LCSW (VA) , LICSW (DC) 
  

  CEUs: Category 1 | 3.0 

  Buddhist Psychotherapy differs in some ways from Western psychologies in that it initially focuses on human potential rather than human pathology. When you experience problems with living, it doesn’t find you in need of fixing. Instead, Buddhist Psychotherapy views all suffering as an opportunity for growth and change. Mindfulness Practice is an aspect of a Buddhist approach to psychotherapy. Several definitions of mindfulness have been used in modern psychology. According to various prominent psychological definitions, Mindfulness refers to a psychological quality that involves bringing one’s complete attention to the present experience on a moment-to-moment basis and involves paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally. This workshop will explore the integration of Buddhist principles with the various types of Western psychotherapy.

  Workshop Objectives:

  At the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

  1. Understand the teachings of the Buddha as a form of psychotherapy practice.
  2. Understand the Four Noble Truths
  3. Understand how the Eightfold Path can be integrated into the various schools of psychotherapy
  4. Integrate Mindfulness concepts into psychotherapy practice

  Agenda:

  10 to 10;15 am 15 min. Intro and general overview
  
  10:15 to 11 am 45 mins A definition of Buddhist psychotherapy
  
  11 am to 11:45 am 45 mins. How Buddhism relates to the basic psychotherapy approaches
  
  11:45 to 12 pm 15 mins. break
  
  12 to 1 pm 60 mins Mindfulness and Buddhist psychotherapy
  
  1 to 1:15 Discussion and integration
  
  1:15 to 1:30 Closure
  

  Recommended Reading:

  • The Wise Heart: A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology by Jack Kornfield
  • Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love & Wisdom Audible Logo Audible
  • Rick Hanson (Author), Richard Mendius MD (Author)
  • Buddhist Psychology: The Foundation of Buddhist Thought, Volume 3 (3) 
  • Paperback – Illustrated, October 20, 200 by Geshe Tashi Tsering, Author
  • Thoughts Without a Thinker: Psychotherapy from a Buddhist Perspective Audible Logo Audible – Unabridge Mark Epstein M.D. Author
  • Buddhist Psychology & Gestalt Therapy Integrated: Psychotherapy for the 21st Century Paperback – July 15, 2018 by Eva K. Gold PsyD (Author), Steve G. Zahm PhD (Author)
  • Buddhist Psychology and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy: A Clinician's Guide Reprint Edition by Dennis Tirch (Author), Laura R. Silberstein-Tirch (Author)

  
  

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• The Ethics of Intimacy: The Cost of Care Without Caring

  • When
    Friday, November 03, 2023
  •  
    10:00 AM - 1:00 PM
  • Location
    Online ZOOM

  Register

  Presenter: Dr. Avrum Weiss

  CEUs: Category 1 | 3.0 (Ethics Credit)

  Description:

  Psychotherapists are trained to maintain therapeutic relationships that are objective. Professional codes of ethics sanction therapists for engaging in professional relationships that are too personal. In contrast, research suggests that most therapeutic failures are attributable to relationships that are not personal enough rather than relationships that are too personal.

  This workshop will present a more personal, mutually subjective model for the therapeutic relationship that harkens back to the earliest roots of psychotherapy, a model that reminds us that the primary purpose of interpersonal boundaries is to facilitate connection rather than maintain distance. Ethical implications of this model will be discussed.

  Learning Objectives:

  By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:

  1. Compare and contrast an intrapsychic vs. relational understanding of the psychotherapeutic relationship based on an understanding of the relevant research.
  2. Define interpersonal intimacy in the context of a boundaried professional relationship.
  3. Implement new clinical strategies utilizing the concept of the therapist’s use of self.

  Recommended Readings: 

  • Baur, S. (1997) The Intimate Hour: Love and Sex in Psychotherapy.
  • Houghton Mifflin Company
  • Dalenberg, C. (2000) Counter-transference and the Treatment of Trauma.
  • The American Psychological Association.
  • Heyward, C. (1993) When Boundaries Betray Us: Beyond the Illusions of what is
  • Ethical in Therapy and Life. Harper San Francisco
  • Psychotherapy: Theory/Research/Practice/Training (2001) Special issue: Empirically
  • Supported Therapy Relationships: Summary Report of Division 29 Task Force. 38, (4).
  • Weiss, A.G. (2011). Change Happens: When to Try Harder and When to Stop Trying
  • So Hard. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

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• Experiential Sex Therapy Workshop Part 2

  • When
    Saturday, November 04, 2023
  •  
    9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
  • Location
    Online ZOOM
  • Spaces left
    15

  Register

  Presenters:  Rachel Keller, LCSW-C, CST and Erick Sowell, LMSW   
  

  CEUs: Category 1 | 3.0 
  

  This workshop builds on the concepts taught in the Experiential Intimacy Workshop on Foundational Sex Therapy Concepts offered in May and September 2023. However, that is not a pre-requisite. Participants will have the opportunity to experience what clients encounter in the Intimacy Workshop 201 facilitated by the same presenters, which will assist in providing clients with information and resources.

  Participants will learn about the differences between eroticism and sexuality, and how the concept of eroticism can deepen intimacy. Attendees will delve into the importance of context in awakening sexual desire and will complete an individual exercise to learn more about one’s own context cues. Participants will learn about five different sexual initiation styles and how these styles can help to improve sexual communication for clients. Finally, attendees will learn about a wide range of erogenous zones and pleasure responses and feel equipped to introduce this information to clients.

  Workshop Objectives:

  At the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

  1. Name four differences between eroticism and sexuality.
  2. State how a client can use context to their advantage to increase sexual satisfaction.
  3. Name three sexual initiation styles and how those can assist in sexual communication for clients.
  4. Understand the range of erogenous zones and feel equipped to introduce this information to clients.

  Agenda:

  9:00 - 9:30 am - Check in, Introductions, Ground Rules, and Ice Breaker.

  9:30 - 9:45 - Provide definitions of eroticism versus sexuality.

  Facilitate a discussion about eroticism.

  Identify applications of eroticism in daily life for clients.

  9:45 - 10:20 - Present the importance of context in awakening sexual desire.

  Assign an individual exercise to complete the Sexy Contexts worksheet.

  Facilitate a discussion about the worksheet and how it can be applied to clients.

  10:20 - 10:30 - Break

  10:30 - 11:05 - Teach about five different sexual initiation styles.

  Facilitate discussion among participants about how these styles can be presented to clients to improve sexual communication.

  11:05 - 11:40 - Provide instruction on erogenous zones and pleasure responses.

  Facilitate a discussion on experiences of pleasure.

  11:40 - 12:00 - Reflection and Wrap-up

  Recommended Reading:

  • Women’s Anatomy of Arousal: Secret Maps to Buried Pleasure by Sheri Winston
  • Come As You Are by Emily Nagoski
  • She Comes First: The Thinking Man’s Guide to Pleasuring a Woman by Ian Kerner
  • Mating in Captivity by Esther Perel

  
  

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• Transpersonal States of Consciousness

  • When
    Sunday, November 19, 2023
  •  
    10:00 AM - 1:30 PM
  • Location
    Online ZOOM
  • Spaces left
    19

  Register

  Ed Geraty LCSW-C (MD) , LICSW (WV), LCSW (VA) , LICSW (DC) 
  

  CEUs: Category 1 | 3.0 

  The term transpersonal is generally used to refer to experiences, oftentimes called spiritual, usually occurring during altered states of consciousness, that shift the focus of attention "beyond the boundaries of ordinary ego-consciousness" The scientific field that studies these experiences is called transpersonal psychology. Stanislav Grof MD is the founder of the field of transpersonal psychology and a pioneering researcher into the use of altered states of consciousness for purposes of healing, growth, and insight. A spiritual emergency can arise when the self becomes disorganized and overwhelmed by an infusion of spiritual energies or new realms of experience which it is not yet able to integrate. This workshop will explore the typical types of transpersonal state experiences and how to respond to spiritual emergencies.

  Workshop Objectives:

  At the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

  1. Define transpersonal psychology
  2. Understand the various types of transpersonal states of consciousness
  3. Identify types of spiritual emergencies
     
  4. Determine ways to assist clients experiencing spiritual emergencies.

  Agenda:

  30 min Intro and general overview 9 to 9:30
  
  45 min Understand the various types of transpersonal states of consciousness 9:30 to 10:15
  
  30 min Discussion of participants and /or client transpersonal experiences 10:15 to 10:45
  
  15 min break 10:45 to 11
  
  30 mins Understanding and identifying spiritual emergencies 11 to 11:30
  
  45 mins Assisting clients with spiritual emergencies 11:30 to 12:15
  
  15 mins Wrap up/closure 12:15 to 12:30
  
  

  Recommended Reading:

  • Man and His Symbols by C.G. Jung
  • The Spectrum of Consciousness by Ken Wilber
  • Spiritual Emergency: When Personal Transformation Becomes Crisis by Stanislav Grof
  • The Inward Arc: Healing in Psychotherapy and Spirituality by Frances E. Vaughan
  • Psychotherapy and Spirit: Theory and Practice in Transpersonal Psychotherapy (Suny Series, Philosophy of Psychology) by Brant Cortright 

  
  

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• Social Work Licensing: DC, MD, VA (2023)

  • When
    Wednesday, December 13, 2023
  •  
    10:00 AM - 2:00 PM
  • Location
    ONLINE ZOOM
  • Spaces left
    106

  Register

  Co-Sponsored with Catholic University

  FREE Presentation for Students (if you are not a student member of GWSCSW, please JOIN TODAY - Student Membership is free)

  Description: 

  This informative session will focus on what's and how's of social work professional licensing.  The focus will mainly be for the three local jurisdictions but there will be general information for obtaining your license in other states/jurisdictions.

  A Board representative from DC, MD, and VA will be present to answer your questions about general licenses, clinical licenses, as well as macro options.

  Registration Questions:  Contact Donna Dietz | GWSCSW Administrator at admin@gwscsw.org  

  Program questions? Contact Melissa Grady | grady@cua.edu

  CEU Credits: 2 Category ll
  

  OBJECTIVES:
  

  1. Participants will understand the rationale for licensing.
  2. Participants will understand and be able to access licensing information and know who to contact with questions.
  3. Participants will understand and be able to implement the process for obtaining licensure.
  4. Participants will understand and be able to implement the process for licensure renewal.
  5. Participants will understand and be able to implement the process for changing jurisdictions by endorsement or changing license levels.

  SPECIFIC AGENDA:

  Welcome, Introduction, Workshop Overview
  Panel Presentation
  Question/answer/discussion
  Wrap-Up

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• A Time for Moral Courage: Ethical obligations and resilience strategies for therapists in the face of overwork, burnout, moral distress, or disheartenment.

  • When
    Friday, January 26, 2024
  •  
    9:30 AM - 4:00 PM
  • Location
    Online ZOOM

  Presenter: Frederic G. Reamer, Ph.D.

  Category 1 CEUs: 6.0 (ETHICS CREDIT)

  Many say that our profession is not for the weak of heart. During these challenging times, many practitioners complain of their own “heart break”—the emotional distress and psychic injury from the difficult, complex cases we witness and work with every week. Despite our attempt at basic self care, we are experiencing an increase of trauma diagnoses in our clients. We may be contending with a wave of symptoms and emotions in ourselves including secondary stress disorder; sleep dysfunction; physical illness; a sense of demoralization in the form of disheartenment, dejection, or hopelessness; loss of our social work values, burnout, and even despondency. These adverse effects are so common yet debilitating for those in the healing professions right now, that some practitioners will even leave the profession they love. Our presenter Frederic G. Reamer, the social work profession's foremost ethics expert, provides guidance to social workers and related professionals who grapple with these unwanted and unnerving situations and their aftermath. He inspires social workers to advocate for much-needed personal, social and organizational or policy changes to prevent harm. Drawing on decades of firsthand experience, Dr. Reamer helps us to understand the causes of moral distress and how to deal with the symptoms that can manifest; strategies for prevention, self-care, and resilience; and our legal and ethical obligations, including what it means to be a whistleblower. Above all, he shows us how to develop the moral courage that our role requires. Through extensive and relatable case studies, Dr. Reamer illustrates the myriad ethical dilemmas that most social workers will face in their careers and provides practical exercises and actionable solutions. This informative, enlightening, and inspiring workshop is based on his recent book: MORAL DISTRESS AND INJURY IN HUMAN SERVICES: CASES, CAUSES, AND STRATEGIES FOR PREVENTION (2020) and offers us the guidance and fortitude to make the right decisions in hard cases, and the resilience to strengthen ourselves and our profession.

  Workshop Objectives:

  At the conclusion of this webinar participants will be able to:

  1. Identify challenging ethical issues and dilemmas in clinical social work
  2. Apply practical ethical decision-making frameworks and protocols
  3. Identify ethical issues that pose malpractice and liability risks
  4. Design strategies to protect clients and prevent litigation and licensing board complaints

  ---

  About the Presenter:

  Dr. Frederic Reamer has dedicated his career to reforming the ethics, practice, and education of the social work field through his work as a researcher, an author, and a professor. His extensive experience in ethics research has helped NASW and the social work profession as a whole over the years. Reamer is a professor in the graduate program at the Rhode Island College School of Social Work, where he has taught since 1983. Over the years, his research has focused on a variety of human service issues, ranging from mental health and criminal justice to public welfare and professional ethics. Reamer has been a featured essayist on NPR’s Morning Edition, a commentator on NPR’s All Things Considered, and a guest on a variety of radio broadcasts on stations across the country. Starting in 2007, Reamer began as the host and producer of This I Believe – Rhode Island on NPR and Rhode Island Public Radio. He was featured as a commentator in the documentaries “America’s Serial Killers: Portraits of Evil” and “Rampage: Killing without Reason”. Reamer has appeared as an expert on the PBS series This Emotional Life. He has distinguished himself as an expert in the ethical use of technology within social work, and gave the keynote presentation “Managing Social Media and Electronic Communication in Social Work Practice: Ethical and Risk-management Issues” at the 2012 Association of Social Work Boards’ Education Conference, which introduced social work regulators to the ethical, practice and regulatory challenges posed by the quick rise of technology.  

  Career Highlights:
  

  Dr. Reamer has previously worked as the Director of the National Juvenile Justice Assessment Center at the US Department of Justice in the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention from 1979 to 1981, as a Senior Policy Advisor to the Governor of Rhode Island from 1987 to 1990, and as a Commissioner of the Rhode Island Housing and Mortgage Finance Corporation from 1987 to 1995. He served on the Rhode Island Parole Board from 1992 to 2016. Reamer was the Editor in Chief of the Journal of Social Work Education from 1990 to 1994, Associate Editor of the NASW Encyclopedia of Social Work (20th Edition) and is currently an Associate Editor of the Encyclopedia of Social Work Online. He has lectured around the world on professional ethics, professional malpractice, and liability, including presenting at the 2014 NASW National Conference. Reamer has participated in research projects sponsored by many groups including The Hastings Center, the Carnegie Corporation, the Haas Foundation, and the Scattergood Program for the Applied Ethics of Behavioral Healthcare at the Center for Bioethics, University of Pennsylvania. 

  Biographic Data: 

  Dr. Reamer received his BA in Criminology from the University of Maryland in 1974, his Masters in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago in 1975, and his PhD in Social Work from the University of Chicago in 1978.

  Significant Achievements & Awards Received:
  

  Dr. Reamer received the "Distinguished Contributions to Social Work Education" award from the Council on Social Work Education (1995); Presidential Award from the National Association of Social Workers (1997); Richard Lodge Prize from Adelphi University for “outstanding contributions to the development of social work theory” (2005); Edith Abbott Award from the University of Chicago for “distinguished service to society and outstanding contributions at the local, national or international levels” (2005); Neil J. Houston, Jr. Memorial Award for “dedicated service and citizen contribution toward the criminal justice profession and the public interest” (2009); International Rhoda G. Sarnat Award from the National Association of Social Workers for significantly advancing "the public image of social work" (2012), and the Excellence in Ethics Award from the National Association of Social Workers (2015).  
  

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