Events Calendar

This two (2) day training workshop provides a safe and challenging environment for participants to develop advanced skills in providing clinical supervision to those who are themselves clinical supervisors.

This two day workshop is designed for mental health practitioners who are currently providing clinical supervision (or soon to be) within a mental health service setting. The training is practical and promotes a collaborative process-based generic clinical supervision model.

The Mental Health Educator Development 3 day forum provides participants with the knowledge and skills to further their development and professional competency as a trainer, facilitator or educator.

The program explores the development of education sessions for delivery to Queensland Health Mental Health staff. This includes determining learning needs and desired learning outcomes, as well as the principles of adult learning and how these can be addressed by a range of learning activities.

The overall educational goal of this One Day Mental Health Module is to consolidate or extend the participants’ ability to provide key aspects of the Focused Psychological Strategies for the treatment of common, disabling and treatable mental health disorders in clinical practice. This module addresses phobias as a template. This training is practical and cost effective and conducted for health professionals, by health professionals.

* FPS Relevant Activity *

The Artistry of Facilitation is an engaging and dynamic one day course that will assist workers to explore the theory and practical aspects of facilitating training groups. The course will ensure workers have the knowledge, practical skills and confidence in preparing, delivering and reviewing training sessions. The training will also focus on becoming an artist of facilitation – in particular, the subtle techniques and aspects of facilitation. The course is applicable to trainers in all areas – it is designed to suit both beginning facilitators as well as those that are more experienced.

* AASW Member Discount *

This one day workshop will assist the manager/ worker/ staff member to understand and demonstrate the skills, techniques and model in having difficult but necessary conversations.

A difficult but necessary conversation is anything you find hard to talk about but know that you need to. The issue is often how to start sensitive conversations that will invite open and constructive dialogue. When interactions become difficult, emotions often escalate and communication can break down. We often fear having the difficult conversation as we are concerned that we may make the situation worse - so we may try to avoid it or if we know we have to have it, we may try and blunder through it.

This course will provide the necessary understanding, skills and confidence to manage the discussion effectively. The difficult conversation in the workplace will be necessary for the manager with employees, between colleagues and with clients or students. It is also applicable for challenging interpersonal conversations. This course will explore the difficult conversation utilising the Harvard Negotiation Project model.

* AASW Member Discount *

This one day workshop will assist the manager/ worker/ staff member to understand and demonstrate the skills, techniques and model in having difficult but necessary conversations.

A difficult but necessary conversation is anything you find hard to talk about but know that you need to. The issue is often how to start sensitive conversations that will invite open and constructive dialogue. When interactions become difficult, emotions often escalate and communication can break down. We often fear having the difficult conversation as we are concerned that we may make the situation worse - so we may try to avoid it or if we know we have to have it, we may try and blunder through it.

This course will provide the necessary understanding, skills and confidence to manage the discussion effectively. The difficult conversation in the workplace will be necessary for the manager with employees, between colleagues and with clients or students. It is also applicable for challenging interpersonal conversations. This course will explore the difficult conversation utilising the Harvard Negotiation Project model.

* AASW Member Discount *

This workshop is designed for those wanting to gain a basic understanding of what psychoactive drugs are and the various licit and illicit substances used in Australia to-day

This one-day foundational interactive professional development training alerts attendees to the possibility that clients, staff members and/or practitioners may have experiences of trauma/s, from childhood, or more recently, which are affecting their health, wellbeing, and daily interactions and functioning.

PNI examines links between psychological processes, behaviour and immunity.This leading edge seminar outlines PNI research and evidence of mind-body connections. PNI offers evidence that mind and body are best treated together. Dr Judy Lovas highlights effects of anxiety, depression, pain & trauma on health and immunity.

This dynamic, scientific and holistic seminar reviews evidence based relaxation therapies, for both psychological and physical health. Relaxation therapies are innovative, preventative and focused health strategies. Seminar participants actively practice and teach simple, efficacious relaxation techniques to enhance clients' health and well being.

* FPS Relevant Activity *

This workshop is for health workers wanting to develop core skills in managing clients who are ambivalent about making changes to their drug use.

**Free for QLD Health Staff**

Mindful Self-Compassion is an outstanding workshop. The program consist of didactic and experiential training exercises in mindfulness and self-compassion, to improve professional skills and personal lives.

Rapidly expanding research shows that mindfulness and self-compassion are strongly associated with emotional well-being, lower levels of anxiety, pain and depression, better healthy habits such as diet and exercise, more satisfying personal relationships and enhanced self-care.

* FPS Relevant Activity *

Mindfulness and Self-Compassion is an outstanding workshop. The program consist of didactic and experiential training exercises in mindfulness and self-compassion, to improve professional skills and personal lives. Rapidly expanding research shows that mindfulness and self-compassion are strongly associated with emotional well-being, lower levels of anxiety, pain and depression, better healthy habits such as diet and exercise, more satisfying personal relationships and enhanced self-care.

* FPS Relevant Activity *

Using artistic tools and integrating them into the practice of social work is an essential ability to perform efficiently & effectively in certain key interventions.

Each Group is a different World. In this weekend, you will learn:

• The secret of leadership from within
• Become at ease in a safe place in which you can develop skills as a group facilitator
• Be able to practice various skills, creative methods in working with groups and become confident in being present as a leader
• Refine yours and participants' abilities to work with group dynamics as they emerge in the training group
• Discover the key principles of group process work: Group energy, clients’ patterns and leadership models
• Practice working on simulated issues that deal with group problems and members will learn how to lead and solve group problems
• Learn how to resolve group conflicts, emotional blocks, 'shadow work' and more creative methods in group work.

This 2 day Intensive “Dialectical Behaviour Therapy Training” is designed to assist practitioners gain knowledge of how to work with DBT as individual therapists/health care workers and also as skills group trainers/facilitators. Training can be tailored to specific region’s needs and information on how to set up a DBT program including Therapists Consult groups is also detailed. DBT for Adolescents and Children is also detailed in the training.

This well received 2-day informative, interactive and experimental workshop will offer therapists and understanding of working with couples from a Gestalt and Emotion Focused (EFT) perspective.

It will support participants in understanding how effective couples therapy can assimilate somatic, systemic and behavioural interventions in enriching a diverse approach. The workshop will include live demonstrations of couples therapy.

This course will teach you the fundamentals of CBT, guided imagery, counselling, stress management and relaxation. The emphasis is on using a positive approach with your patients.

* FPS Relevant Activity *

Deepen your understanding of Gottman Method Couples Therapy and expand your strategies and interventions in your work with couples. Practice using Gottman Method interventions in group role-plays while receiving personal, supportive coaching from trainers. This workshop provides a wealth of information about relationship theory, observation, couple dynamics, relationship assessment, treatment planning, when and how to use interventions, and working with co-morbidities. All materials may be used in clinical settings.

CPT is a cognitive-behavioural treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It was developed in the late 1980s and has been shown to be effective in reducing PTSD symptoms related to a variety of traumatic events including child abuse, combat, rape and natural disasters. CPT is endorsed by the U.S. Departments of Veterans Affairs and Defence, as well as the International Society of Traumatic Stress Studies, as a best practice for the treatment of PTSD.

* FPS Relevant Activity *

The EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) Certification is a 3 day engaging and deeply interactive course. Over the 3 days you will learn how to use EFT for yourself, with individual clients and in groups.

The wide range of benefits of EFT as a therapeutic tool is being increasingly recognised, largely due to numerous research studies conducted to assess the benefits of the modality.

You will learn to use EFT to reduce stress, anxiety, trauma, PTSD, cravings, pain, phobias and more…

The EFT Certification is suitable for participants from all levels of the Social work profession – from student to advanced practitioner.

Any professional in the helping services who wants to work with children, must take into account the child as a total system: the family, social, cultural, and developmental factors influencing the child. Explore how to use sand play, drama, music etc in a therapeutic context.

The emphasis of this two-day training program is upon imparting practical, accessible skills to use immediately with survivors of complex trauma (especially child abuse and neglect).

* FPS Relevant Activity *

Deepen your understanding of Gottman Method Couples Therapy and expand your strategies and interventions in your work with couples. Practice using Gottman Method interventions in group role-plays while receiving personal, supportive coaching from trainers. This workshop provides a wealth of information about relationship theory, observation, couple dynamics, relationship assessment, treatment planning, when and how to use interventions, and working with co-morbidities. All materials may be used in clinical settings.

In the counselling environment, a well-established therapeutic relationship provides the necessary foundation for delivering a wide range of treatment interventions that enhance treatment outcomes. In the AOD counselling environment, brief interventions are often delivered opportunistically to raise a client’s awareness of some of the issues associated with their AOD use. A sound skill in the use of micro-counselling skills can build a strong therapeutic relationship that thereby facilitates clients’ optimal receipt of treatment for problematic AOD use.

This workshop is designed for those wanting to gain a basic understanding of what psychoactive drugs are and the various licit and illicit substances used in Australia to-day

Community Living Assn. & WWILD SVP Assn. are offering a training workshop for professionals, support workers and social work/psychology and human services student who wish to improve their understanding of the lived experience of intellectual disabilities and mental health disorders/ issues, and appropriate support of these people experiencing dual disability. It utilises the bio-psycho-social and community-based mental health model to support people experiencing dual disability

How can we differentiate bipolar disorder from borderline personality disorder (BPD), obsessive-compulsive disorder from obsessive compulsive personality disorder, or a cognitive lack of empathy from the emotional lack of empathy that is part of narcissistic personality disorder (NPD)? Although personality disorders are often talked about, their symptoms can be difficult to recognise - particularly by novice therapists who may be baffled by behaviours associated with personality disorders. This seminar will provide an understanding of the ten DSM-5 listed personality disorders, with an emphasis on: learning to identify the symptoms; understanding the lived experience of consumers; and learning to manage some of the difficult behaviours.

**FPS Relevant Activity**

Master class in sand play therapy - a Gestalt approach. A powerful method with families, children couples and individual sessions.

Positive psychology is at times, mistakenly, interpreted as being simply positive thinking and as having the aim of producing perpetually smiling clients. This is, of course, not the case. Rather, positive psychology is a research-based branch of psychology that encourages therapists, as well as clients, to widen their focus from being largely problem-centred to also include clients’ strengths and the things that go right in their lives.

Learn art and play therapy methods ideal for counselling children 2 – 10 years. Explore suitable toys and materials to best engage and work with children in therapy.

Gestalt a a way of being. Here and now!

This workshop is designed to enable the participant to establish a basic Intervention model that clearly describes the process of therapeutic relationship between client and therapist. This requires the participant to become familiar with the ‘phases’ of this relationship. After demonstrating some degree of comfort in this structure, the participant will be able to begin to develop his or her own ‘style’ of interventions and creative practice.

This well received 2-day informative, interactive and experimental workshop will offer therapists and understanding of working with couples from a Gestalt and Emotion Focused (EFT) perspective.

It will support participants in understanding how effective couples therapy can assimilate somatic, systemic and behavioural interventions in enriching a diverse approach. The workshop will include live demonstrations of couples therapy.

Create your own stories for children, young people and adults in therapy. Learn a story-making framework and use metaphor mapping to produce tailor made therapeutic stories.

Schema Therapy has been designed to treat disturbed people, including those with chronic mood disorders and personality disorders. There is now considerable evidence of effectiveness with randomised control trials.

**FPS Relevant Activity**

Narratively oriented therapists take the position that our lives are shaped by stories. We never see the world as it is, we always see through a narrative ‘lens’, we give value to certain aspects of experience and neglect other aspects, we are constantly interpreting what is happening in, to and around us. It is through the stories we have about ourselves, others and life in general that we make sense of things and navigate our way in the world. And how we see the world clearly shapes how we act in the world.

**FPS Relevant Activity**

Mindfulness and Self-Compassion is an outstanding workshop. The program consist of didactic and experiential training exercises in mindfulness and self-compassion, to improve professional skills and personal lives. Rapidly expanding research shows that mindfulness and self-compassion are strongly associated with emotional well-being, lower levels of anxiety, pain and depression, better healthy habits such as diet and exercise, more satisfying personal relationships and enhanced self-care.

* FPS Relevant Activity *

How can we differentiate bipolar disorder from borderline personality disorder (BPD), obsessive-compulsive disorder from obsessive compulsive personality disorder, or a cognitive lack of empathy from the emotional lack of empathy that is part of narcissistic personality disorder (NPD)? Although personality disorders are often talked about, their symptoms can be difficult to recognise - particularly by novice therapists who may be baffled by behaviours associated with personality disorders. This seminar will provide an understanding of the ten DSM-5 listed personality disorders, with an emphasis on: learning to identify the symptoms; understanding the lived experience of consumers; and learning to manage some of the difficult behaviours.

**FPS Relevant Activity**

Complex trauma is highly damaging but frequently unrecognised and inappropriately treated. While current research in the neurobiology of attachment has major implications for treatment of trauma, the potential of these insights is not widely operationalised in clinical practice and confusion about the differences between ‘complex’ and ‘single incident’ trauma persists.

**FPS Relevant Activity**

Dissociation – i.e. disruption to integrated psychological functioning – occurs in a range of forms and spans a wide spectrum of experiences. These range from `normal everyday’ (e.g. daydreaming, absorption in a task, `highway hypnosis’) to protection from overwhelm (i.e. a response to trauma).

**FPS Relevant Activity**

Attachment consists of diverse lifespan phenomena. Studies have now expanded including all age cohorts: younger and older children, adolescents, adults and older adults. Both understanding and responding to attachment needs of each group requires knowledge of important differences and similarities, continuities and discontinuities. This seminar provides a unique overview of practical interventions applicable across the full attachment lifespan.

**FPS Relevant Activity**

This seminar expands the basics of Attachment Theory with a specific focus on risk associated with maladaptive attachment.

**FPS Relevant Activity**

Community Living Assn. & WWILD SVP Assn. are offering a training workshop for professionals, support workers and social work/psychology and human services student who wish to improve their understanding of the lived experience of intellectual disabilities and mental health disorders/ issues, and appropriate support of these people experiencing dual disability. It utilises the bio-psycho-social and community-based mental health model to support people experiencing dual disability

The emphasis of this two-day training program is upon imparting practical, accessible skills to use immediately with survivors of complex trauma (especially child abuse and neglect).

* FPS Relevant Activity *

This weekend workshop will explore the use of art exercises alongside medical models of psychological and behavioural interventions. Social workers will gain knowledge and experience in attending the 2 Day workshop. 7 Art exercise will be included (no artistic talent required).

Calling on his upcoming book Triggered: An Integrated Approach to Trauma, Attachment Disturbance, and Risky Behavior (Guilford), John Briere presents an innovative, integrated approach to self-endangering behaviour, the compensatory avoidance model. Approaches to three risky behaviours will be presented in detail: self-injury, risky sexual behaviour, and bingeing and purging.

**FPS Relevant Activity**

In the counselling environment, a well-established therapeutic relationship provides the necessary foundation for delivering a wide range of treatment interventions that enhance treatment outcomes. In the AOD counselling environment, brief interventions are often delivered opportunistically to raise a client’s awareness of some of the issues associated with their AOD use. A sound skill in the use of micro-counselling skills can build a strong therapeutic relationship that thereby facilitates clients’ optimal receipt of treatment for problematic AOD use.

This workshop is designed for those wanting to gain a basic understanding of what psychoactive drugs are and the various licit and illicit substances used in Australia to-day

This 2 day Intensive “Dialectical Behaviour Therapy Training” is designed to assist practitioners gain knowledge of how to work with DBT as individual therapists/health care workers and also as skills group trainers/facilitators. Training can be tailored to specific region’s needs and information on how to set up a DBT program including Therapists Consult groups is also detailed. DBT for Adolescents and Children is also detailed in the training.

Motivational interviewing is a collaborative, goal-oriented style of communication with particular attention to the language of change. It is designed to strengthen personal motivation for, and commitment to, a specific goal by eliciting and exploring the person’s own reasons for change within an atmosphere of acceptance and compassion. Motivational interviewing utilises the principles and practices of person-centred counselling to engage a person in a conversation about change.

**FPS Relevant Activity**

This workshop is for health workers wanting to develop core skills in managing clients who are ambivalent about making changes to their drug use.

**Free for QLD Health Staff**

Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) is a chronic disorder characterised by excessive worry, accompanied by somatic symptoms such as restlessness, sleep disturbance, muscle tension and fatigue. It is one of the most common comorbid disorders, particularly with major depression and other anxiety disorders. GAD is also frequently associated with chronic pain conditions, medically unexplained symptoms and sleep disorders. Estimates of lifetime prevalence range between 4.0% and 7.0%. Because of its frequently chronic course, GAD has the potential to create greater disruption in peoples' lives than other anxiety disorders. Historically, it has been less responsive to psychological treatment than other anxiety disorders, and until around 2000, studies reviewing treatment outcomes based on standard CBT interventions found limited improvements.

* FPS Relevant Activity *