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The Ontario Mental Health Summit

A Conference Tailored for Mental Health and Education Professionals at All Levels and Any Professional that Applies Behavioural Science to Practice

Presented by Gordon Neufeld, Ph.D. and Eboni Webb, Psy.D., HSP and Jeff Riggenbach, Ph.D. and Daphne Fatter, Ph.D. and Lynne Kenney, Psy.D. and Carissa Muth, Psy.D., CCC, R.Psych

Monday, November 27, 2023 – Wednesday, November 29, 2023  |  Oakville, on


Download Brochure (.PDF)  

!  Important Notice:

Online registration is now CLOSED for this conference. You can arrive up to one hour early to register at the door.


Date & Location

Monday, November 27, 2023 – Wednesday, November 29, 2023

8:30am – 4:00pm

Oakville Conference Centre

2515 Wyecroft Rd, Oakville, ON

phone:  905.618.7510

fax:  905.618.7515

website:  http://www.oakvilleconference.com

 Full map & directions


Registration on this page is for live in-person attendance only. To attend virtually please register here: https://webinars.jackhirose.com/product/the-ontario-mental-health-summit/

Live In-Person Conference

  • Complimentary tea, coffee and assorted pastries
  • On-site exhibitors
  • Buffet lunch available for purchase

Live Stream from Home

  • This conference will be live streaming from Oakville, ON to online participants on November 27 – 29, 2023 from 8:30am – 4:00pm ET
  • Recorded footage and all course content will be available until January 6, 2024
  • Please allow 3 – 5 business days after the conference has ended for recorded footage to become available
  • More information & live stream registration: https://webinars.jackhirose.com/product/the-ontario-mental-health-summit/

Please note, in-person registration does not include access to the live stream or recorded footage.

 

Buffet Lunch

DATE: November 27, 28, & 29, 2023

$30.45 per person, per day – includes taxes and gratuity

Lunch Buffet includes:

Day One (Nov 27) Day Two (Nov 28) Day Three (Nov 29)
  • Bread Station
  • Chef’s Daily Soup
  • Hearts of Romaine Caesar Salad
  • Classic Chicken Parmigiana w/ Tomato-Basil Coulis
  • Penne Primavera
  • Tiramisu Parfait
  • Bread Station
  • Chef’s Daily Soup
  • Garden Mix Heritage Salad w/ Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette
  • Striploin Roast w/ Red Wine Jus
  • Roasted Rosemary Potatoes
  • Roasted Seasonal Vegetables
  • Cinnamon Churros
  • Bread Station
  • Chef’s Daily Soup
  • Arugula & Beet Salad w/ Orange Vinaigrette
  • Pan-Seared Salmon w/ Sauce Vierge
  • Rice Pilaf
  • Sauteed Vegetables
  • Fresh Fruit

Letter from Jack Hirose

Dear Colleagues,

The past few years have changed the landscape for how we learn and attend events. Zoom has been an invaluable tool for all of us, but the time has come to get back to the method that revitalizes the passion for our professions. Conferences allow for in person benefits such as, the chance to meet fellow clinicians and educators, exhibitors, on-site bookstore, group work and refreshments. We’ve removed the keynote but added even more presenters and a flexible format to create a custom learning experience of the highest calibre.

This year a total of 26 workshop sessions will be offered and will address a host of topics relevant to mental health, education, and any professional who applies behavioural science to practice. We invited 6 accomplished guest presenters who will share their knowledge and insights on a host of valuable mental health topics. Every session offered will focus on effective intervention strategies, recent advances and timely topics that will provide all professionals with the necessary knowledge and skills to better serve their clients and/or students.

Attendees have the option to attend either full-day or half-day sessions that will cover a diverse and broad range of important topics. For those who prefer to learn at home we will be streaming portions of the conference online. The Ontario Mental Health Summit will be held in Oakville on November 27-29, 2023. Once again we are pleased to work closely and collaborate with our co-sponsors CTV, Sunshine Coast Health Centre and Georgia Straight Women’s Clinic. We hope to see you at our conference which promises to be another exceptional opportunity to not only enhance one’s knowledge and competencies, but to network with our colleagues.

Sincerely,

Jack Hirose
CEO & President
Jack Hirose and Associates


Dear Fellow Conference Attendees,

On behalf of the entire team at Sunshine Coast Health Centre and Georgia Strait Women’s Clinic, we do hope you join us for the The Ontario Mental Health Summit being held from the 27th to the 29th of November, 2023. We are once again pleased to be co-sponsoring an event with Jack Hirose & Associates, Canada’s premier psychotherapy conference organizer. The pandemic has been difficult for all of us but Jack’s hosting of this live event is a positive sign that the worst of the pandemic is solidly behind us.

We have missed the intimacy of live events but are excited to see all of the events/conferences planned for the Fall of 2023. Jack and colleagues will also be offering plenty of virtual events with the same world-class expert lineup you have come to expect over the years. We like to think of this hybrid approach as offering the best of both worlds.

I also want to acknowledge Jack Hirose & Associates for reaching an important milestone, having trained over 100,000 mental health professionals over the past 25 years. One cannot overestimate the spinoff benefits to communities across the country in which clients and their loved ones have benefited from working with skilled practitioners.

Melanie Alsager, MBA
Chief Executive Officer
Sunshine Coast Health Centre & Georgia Strait Women’s Clinic

 

 

 


 


Who Should Attend

A Conference Tailored for Mental Health and Education Professionals at All Levels and Any Professional that Applies Behavioural or Developmental Science to Practice

Mental Health Professionals: All mental health professionals including, but not limited to Clinical Counsellors, Psychologists, Psychotherapists, Social Workers, Nurses, Occupational Therapists, Hospice and Palliative Care Workers, Youth Workers, Mental Health Workers, Addiction Specialists, Marital & Family Therapists, Speech Language Pathologists, Vocational Rehabilitation Consultants and all other mental health professionals looking to enhance their therapeutic skills.

Education Professionals: All education professionals who work with children or youth including, but not limited to K–12 Classroom Teachers, School Counsellors, Learning Assistance/Resource Teachers, School Administrators, School Paraprofessionals including Special Education Assistants, Classroom Assistants and Childcare Workers and all other professionals who support behavioural challenges and complex learning needs.


Agenda


Day One – November 27, 2023


Workshop #1: Addressing the Emotional Roots of Anxiety & Agitation: An Attachment-Based Developmental Approach
Presented by Gordon Neufeld, Ph.D.

8:30am - 11:45am   November 27, 2023

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This session is available for live stream.

There is currently an epidemic of anxiety and agitation affecting children and teens which can take many forms including attention problems, clinginess, eating problems, obsessions, compulsions, phobias, panic, sleep issues, physical illnesses, as well as a host of other perplexing behaviours. Today’s world can create many challenges for children and youth with school pressures, peer interactions, family dynamics, negative self-image, perfectionism, and many other stressors that can impede a child’s ability to learn and mature. Whether it’s the natural, episodic worries or more profound and crippling versions of anxiety, Dr. Neufeld will help make sense of the roots of anxiety and agitation and suggest ways in which we can help bring the anxious and agitated to rest.

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COURSE OBJECTIVES:

  • Understanding the spectrum of syndromes that are all rooted in the primary emotion of alarm
  • Appreciating the attachment roots of anxiety and agitation
  • Exposing the emotional root of most attention problems
  • Equipping with solutions that are both natural and developmental
Gordon Neufeld, Ph.D.

Dr. Gordon Neufeld is a Vancouver-based developmental psychologist with over 50 years of experience with children and youth and those responsible for them. A foremost authority on child development, Dr. Neufeld is an international speaker, a bestselling author (Hold On To…

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More information: www.neufeldinstitute.org



Workshop #2: Trauma & Attachment
Presented by Eboni Webb, Psy.D., HSP

8:30am - 11:45am   November 27, 2023

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This session is available for live stream.

Many of the clients that we serve have such complex problems due to extensive trauma and attachment disturbances.  These early wounds have informed their adult presentations resulting in mental illness and personality disorders.  The poet William Wordsworth wrote in his poem, My Heart Leaps Up When I Behold (1802)“..the Child is father of the Man.”  Future pioneering psychologists would be inspired by this passage as they came to understand that both function and dysfunction are born in childhood and guide us in our adult lives.

In this course you will come to understand the impact of trauma on the developing mind and how attachment is formed or lost through traumatic events.  You will learn how the brain is organized through healthy attachment and the critical elements of healthy attachment.  We will examine the current neuroscience behind both trauma and attachment and the top evidence-based strategies to address key DSM-V disorder through the lens of trauma.

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COURSE OBJECTIVES:

  • Learn the impact of trauma on the developing mind.
  • Identify the key features of healthy attachment and its impact neurologically.
  • Identify the key defensive survival strategies in trauma.
  • Learn how relational character strategies are formed that can be effective adaptations to relationship disturbances.
  • Develop strategies to address key disorders across the lifespan that are influenced by trauma and attachment disturbances (ADD/ADHD, Anxiety, Depression, PTSD, etc.)
  • Develop strategies to address key personality disorders across the adult lifespan that are influenced by trauma and attachment disturbances (Antisocial, Borderline, Obsessive Compulsive Personality, etc.)
  • Understand how to establish a safe therapeutic environment that reestablishes healthy boundaries, connected communication and validates a client’s survival journey.
Eboni Webb, Psy.D., HSP

Eboni Webb, Psy.D., HSP is a licensed psychologist and serves as an advisor to the Dialectical Behavior Therapy National Certification and Accreditation Association (DBTNCAA). She has practiced in numerous community settings including clinics that treat underserved communities of color, clients with…

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Workshop #4: Traumatic Memory & Best Practices for EMDR: Resource Development, Expectations & Setting Clients up for Effective EMDR Treatment
Presented by Daphne Fatter, Ph.D.

8:30am - 11:45am   November 27, 2023

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This session is available for live stream.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) relies on accessing implicit memory to resolve traumatic memories. Dr. Fatter will focus on what every EMDR clinician should know about traumatic memory to help support effective EMDR treatment. The nature of traumatic memory and the role of arousal management during EMDR will be examined. Best practices for resource development, setting realistic expectations and what clinicians can do to set up EMDR trauma treatment for success will be discussed. Dr. Fatter will provide ways to integrate the “Identity, Race, Culture Interview,” a culturally oriented strengths-based approach, during Phase 1 to better identify potential resources for Phase 2. Interventions to use during Phase 2 and Phase 4 will also be discussed including how to quickly track dissociation in session, how to apply a somatic regulating exercise, and ways to integrate relational resources. Case examples and research on what contributes to client’s dropping out of therapy will be reviewed.

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COURSE OBJECTIVES:

  • Describe in client-friendly terms what happens in the brain during EMDR to help set realistic treatment expectations.
  • Identify at least 2 indicators of client readiness for EMDR trauma processing.
  • Apply at least 2 interventions to use during Phase 2 to support client’s accessing resilience.
Daphne Fatter, Ph.D.

Daphne Fatter, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist, international speaker and consultant in private practice in Dallas, Texas. Having trained under the direct supervision of Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, MD., international pioneer in research on traumatic stress, Dr. Fatter is…

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Workshop #5: Why Our Children's Mental Health is Deteriorating & What Can Be Done About It
Presented by Gordon Neufeld, Ph.D.

12:45pm - 4:00pm   November 27, 2023

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This session is available for live stream.

The alarming rise in anxiety, depression, despair, and attention problems, begs for an explanation. The prevailing premise blames the social isolation experienced during the pandemic.  When the dots are joined however, another picture emerges that reveals the attachment roots of mental health. This current mental health crisis provides us with a unique opportunity to understand the underlying dynamics, giving us a guide to better take care of our children, our students and ourselves.

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COURSE OBJECTIVES:

  • Gaining insight as to the attachment and emotional roots of mental health
  • Making sense of how the pandemic affected the mental health of students
  • Appreciating how peer orientation predisposes to mental health problems
  • Understanding why self-care for children can be counterproductive
  • Being equipped with developmental interventions for the prevention and reversal of mental health problems

Workshop #6: Working with the Highly Dysregulated Child
Presented by Eboni Webb, Psy.D., HSP

12:45pm - 4:00pm   November 27, 2023

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This session is available for live stream.

Working with emotionally dysregulated children is an often overwhelming and exhausting endeavour. Many teachers and counsellors feel the pull of being “saviours” for dysregulated children and their parents. How to intervene and steps that can be taken by teachers and administrators will be presented. This training will enable participants to employ strategies in which teachers and parents can experience success through learning to reestablish structure, create a validating and secure environment, and increase compassion for all family members and care providers.

Dr. Webb will additionally address key childhood disorders that left untreated can lead to maladaptive coping behaviours in adulthood. Dr. Webb will teach participants how to apply and adapt various skills training to reflect the language of children and how to establish a safe and supportive classroom in which children can learn and generalize these skills. Working with emotionally-dysregulated children in your classroom can be overwhelming and exhausting. You probably feel the pull of being the “saviour” for dysregulated children and their worried parents. Learn how to implement the skills you need to be more effective in the classroom, avoid burnout and achieve positive outcomes.

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COURSE OBJECTIVES:

  • Describe the biosocial model of pervasive emotional dysregulation disorders found in innately sensitive children.
  • Utilize behaviour modification strategies at the earliest stage of dysregulation.
  • Summarize the importance of structure in both skills training and home environments and how to teach parents or care providers to implement these strategies.
  • Explain how to adapt each skills module to reflect the language of the child.
  • Explain the role of educators, care providers, and parents and how to reestablish a safe and loving structure that enables the child to learn and generalize skills.

Workshop #8: Using IFS-Informed EMDR for Complex Trauma
Presented by Daphne Fatter, Ph.D.

12:45pm - 4:00pm   November 27, 2023

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This session is available for live stream.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and Internal Family Systems (IFS) are both well-established evidenced-based approaches that address multiple clinical issues including treating PTSD and complex trauma. Using IFS-informed relational interventions provides enhanced benefit to clients that may struggle in the traditional application of EMDR, including clients with complex trauma. Dr. Fatter will review the latest assessments and treatment recommendations for complex trauma. Dr. Fatter will examine the theoretical underpinnings, shared principles as well as the differing approaches to trauma treatment of both EMDR and IFS. Dr. Fatter will discuss the proposed mechanisms of change of each model including explaining both model’s use of the neurophysiological process of memory reconsolidation. With almost 20 years of experience in EMDR and as a seasoned IFS consultant, Dr. Fatter will review each phase of the eight phases of EMDR treatment while providing nuanced IFS-informed interventions to use at each phase while maintaining fidelity to the EMDR standard protocol. Case examples and a practical exercise will be provided for participants to practice using IFS-Informed interventions in various clinical situations. Common examples of when clients experience blocked trauma processing in EMDR, and ways IFS interventions can help clients return to trauma processing will be discussed. Ethical considerations, risks and limitations will also be reviewed in integrating these two models.

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 COURSE OBJECTIVES:

  • Identify overlapping theoretical underpinnings of both EMDR and IFS models.
  • Describe an example of how to use an IFS-Informed intervention.
  • Apply at least 2 IFS-informed interventions to use during EMDR’s 8 Phase model.

Day Two – November 28, 2023


Workshop #10: Internal Family Systems Therapy for Trauma Treatment
Presented by Daphne Fatter, Ph.D.

8:30am - 11:45am   November 28, 2023

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This session is available for live stream.

Developed by Richard Schwartz, Ph.D. forty years ago, Internal Family Systems (IFS) is becoming one of the fastest growing therapy models. The evidenced-based approach is non-pathologizing and attends to the complex impact of traumatic stress, making it effective for working with PTSD and Complex Trauma. Dr. Fatter will review the basic model of IFS, including theoretical assumptions, goals for treatment, and steps of using the IFS model. Dr. Fatter will apply an IFS framework common clinical presentations including how to conceptualize PTSD. This presentation will include case examples to describe the process of applying IFS to trauma treatment in individual therapy with adults. Dr. Fatter will guide an experiential exercise to demonstrate the model and invite clinicians to have increased awareness of their own parts. This presentation will also include ways IFS can be used to help clinicians cope with countertransference reactions and vicarious trauma that often occurs among clinicians when providing trauma treatment. Applications of IFS to legacy and cultural burdens, traumas that are passed down intergenerationally from parents, caregivers, and ancestors as well as burdens from collective trauma and dominant culture, will also be discussed.

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COURSE OBJECTIVES:

  • Describe qualities of Self in Internal Family Systems (IFS).
  • Identify qualities of the three types of parts in an individual’s system.
  • Report on two specific IFS techniques necessary for using IFS in trauma treatment.

Workshop #12: Strengthen Executive Function, Attention, Memory, Response Inhibition & Self-Regulation in Children & Adolescents
Presented by Lynne Kenney, Psy.D.

8:30am - 11:45am   November 28, 2023

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This session is available for live stream.

Did You Know?

  • For many students, Executive Function is a better predictor of academic outcomes than intelligence quotient (IQ) and socioeconomic status (SES), (Blair & Raver, 2015; Cortés Pascual et al. 2019; Micalizzi et al., 2019).
  • Executive Function skills predict math and reading in higher grade levels (Ribner et al., 2018; Magalhães et al., 2020).
  • Self-Regulation skills predict academic, behavioral, and social achievement across a lifetime (Robson et al., 2020).

The Key Is To:

BOX: Empower children and adolescents with the skills to think, plan, attend, inhibit, and self-regulate. “When students develop their ability to think things through, pay attention, manage their emotions, resist their impulses, and plan the sequence of their actions they are better able to successfully learn, connect, and behave.”

This Is Achieved By:

Strengthening Executive Function and Self-Regulation Skills.

Show more

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

Learn About:

  • The current science supporting the importance of improving executive function skills in your students.
  • The developmental precursor skills that shift the trajectory of student learning, behavior and achievement.
  • Evidence-based methods for strengthening executive function.
  • The relationships between executive function skills, reading and math.

Understand How To:

  • Improve your student’s focused attention.
  • Teach your students how to be the “Best Coaches” for their own brains.
  • Use cognitive skills coaching activities to bolster self-regulation and impulse control in your students.
  • Play cognitive-motor activities like CogniTap and Think-Ups, which require self-regulation, attention, memory, and self-control.

Develop Skills To:

  • Teach your students become “Cognitive Scientists” more invested in their own learning.
  • Help your students achieve self-regulation quickly and effectively.
  • Incorporate cognitive-motor movement to help your students achieve an alert state of learning readiness.
  • Teach your students how to better monitor and manage their attention, memory and cognitive flexibility.

Be Ready To Implement:

  • Cognitive Skill Coaching Activities for better organization, planning, time management, attention, memory, self-regulation, and cognitive flexibility.
  • Simple 5-minute Brain Priming activities to prepare your students to actively participate in classroom lessons.
  • Social-Cohesion activities to help students practice kindness, respect, and collaboration.
  • Rhythmic vestibular, visual-tracking, and proprioceptive activities to support learning and engagement.
Lynne Kenney, Psy.D.

Lynne Kenney, Psy.D., is the nation’s leading pediatric psychologist in the development of classroom cognitive-physical activity programs for students in grades K-8. Dr. Kenney develops curriculum, programming, and activities to improve children’s cognition through coordinative cognitive-motor movement, executive function skill-building strategies,…

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More information: www.lynnekenney.com



Workshop #13: Navigating Addictions: Practical Interventions to Promote Healing & Recovery
Presented by Carissa Muth, Psy.D., CCC, R.Psych

8:30am - 11:45am   November 28, 2023

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This session is available for live stream.

The field of addictions is muddled with a myriad of theories and treatments, yet little progress has been made over time to improve relapse rates.  Given the repetitive and persistent nature of addictions, mental health professions addressing such concerns are at increased risk for compassion fatigue and burnout.  In order to reduce this risk on treatment providers, the workshop will focus on empowering workers by providing techniques to effectively address a variety of client presentations. Often default recommendations of attending inpatient care are provided to clients as professionals lack the tools to know how they can make positive impacts on a clients care at various stages of the recovery journey.

In this workshop, you will also be provided with tools to understand the complexity involved in the development of substance use disorder and thus be able to make effective treatment recommendations.  Attendees will leave the workshop equipped with practical techniques for treating those struggling with addictions including basics of assessments, working with families, and providing post-treatment care.  Additionally, various invention methods will be overviewed including CBT and narrative therapy in order to provide the client with techniques to implement with a variety of client presentations.

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 COURSE OBJECTIVES:

  • Develop an understanding of the impact of historical perspectives of addictions and how they continue to influence treatment decisions and stigmatization.
  • Formulate treatment plans based on a robust understand of various components contributing to the development of the disorder.
  • Competently navigate the addiction field through a basic understanding of various perspectives and current areas of research.
  • Demonstrate an ability to generally assessment addictions and provide treatment recommendations.
Carissa Muth, Psy.D., CCC, R.Psych

Dr. Carissa Muth is a registered psychologist in Alberta and British Columbia and the Clinical Director at the Sunshine Coast Health Centre and Georgia Strait Women’s Clinic.  She holds Doctorate of Psychology, Master of Arts in Counselling, and Bachelor of…

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Workshop #15: Polyvagal Theory and Trauma-Informed Stabilization Tools
Presented by Daphne Fatter, Ph.D.

12:45pm - 4:00pm   November 28, 2023

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This session is available for live stream.

Polyvagal Theory has become a common go-to resource in trauma treatment. However, clinicians often have difficulty understanding what Polyvagal Theory is and how to incorporate it into effective trauma treatment. Dr. Fatter will discuss Polyvagal Theory in the context of treating PTSD and complex trauma, including how it fits in to a traditional three phase model for trauma recovery. As such, the importance of creating a treatment plan around arousal regulation will be examined. Dr. Fatter will explain in detail symptoms of hyper-arousal, hypo-arousal and calm states of the autonomic nervous system based on Polyvagal Theory. This will help clinicians better identify signs of what state clients are in and help clinicians be able to educate clients about their nervous system. Specific trauma-informed stabilization tools will be discussed that support Polyvagal Theory. There will be opportunities for participants to experience and practice these tools themselves.  This presentation will be interactive and experiential!

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COURSE OBJECTIVES:

  • Understand Polyvagal theory and how it applies to effective trauma treatment.
  • Identify several signs of when clients are in a state of hyper-arousal or hypo-arousal.
  • Apply at least one trauma-informed intervention to use when clients are in hyper-arousal and one intervention when clients are in hypo-arousal.

Workshop #17: (CONTINUATION) Strengthen Executive Function, Attention, Memory, Response Inhibition & Self-Regulation in Children & Adolescents
Presented by Lynne Kenney, Psy.D.

12:45pm - 4:00pm   November 28, 2023

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This session is available for live stream.

THIS IS A CONTINUATION OF THE MORNING SESSION 

Did You Know?

  • For many students, Executive Function is a better predictor of academic outcomes than intelligence quotient (IQ) and socioeconomic status (SES), (Blair & Raver, 2015; Cortés Pascual et al. 2019; Micalizzi et al., 2019).
  • Executive Function skills predict math and reading in higher grade levels (Ribner et al., 2018; Magalhães et al., 2020).
  • Self-Regulation skills predict academic, behavioral, and social achievement across a lifetime (Robson et al., 2020).

The Key Is To:

BOX: Empower children and adolescents with the skills to think, plan, attend, inhibit, and self-regulate. “When students develop their ability to think things through, pay attention, manage their emotions, resist their impulses, and plan the sequence of their actions they are better able to successfully learn, connect, and behave.”

This Is Achieved By:

Strengthening Executive Function and Self-Regulation Skills.

Show more

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

Learn About:

  • The current science supporting the importance of improving executive function skills in your students.
  • The developmental precursor skills that shift the trajectory of student learning, behavior and achievement.
  • Evidence-based methods for strengthening executive function.
  • The relationships between executive function skills, reading and math.

Understand How To:

  • Improve your student’s focused attention.
  • Teach your students how to be the “Best Coaches” for their own brains.
  • Use cognitive skills coaching activities to bolster self-regulation and impulse control in your students.
  • Play cognitive-motor activities like CogniTap and Think-Ups, which require self-regulation, attention, memory, and self-control.

Develop Skills To:

  • Teach your students become “Cognitive Scientists” more invested in their own learning.
  • Help your students achieve self-regulation quickly and effectively.
  • Incorporate cognitive-motor movement to help your students achieve an alert state of learning readiness.
  • Teach your students how to better monitor and manage their attention, memory and cognitive flexibility.

Be Ready To Implement:

  • Cognitive Skill Coaching Activities for better organization, planning, time management, attention, memory, self-regulation, and cognitive flexibility.
  • Simple 5-minute Brain Priming activities to prepare your students to actively participate in classroom lessons.
  • Social-Cohesion activities to help students practice kindness, respect, and collaboration.
  • Rhythmic vestibular, visual-tracking, and proprioceptive activities to support learning and engagement.

Workshop #18: (CONTINUATION) Navigating Addictions: Practical Interventions to Promote Healing & Recovery
Presented by Carissa Muth, Psy.D., CCC, R.Psych

12:45pm - 4:00pm   November 28, 2023

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This session is available for live stream.

THIS IS A CONTINUATION OF THE MORNING SESSION 

The field of addictions is muddled with a myriad of theories and treatments, yet little progress has been made over time to improve relapse rates.  Given the repetitive and persistent nature of addictions, mental health professions addressing such concerns are at increased risk for compassion fatigue and burnout.  In order to reduce this risk on treatment providers, the workshop will focus on empowering workers by providing techniques to effectively address a variety of client presentations. Often default recommendations of attending inpatient care are provided to clients as professionals lack the tools to know how they can make positive impacts on a clients care at various stages of the recovery journey.

In this workshop, you will also be provided with tools to understand the complexity involved in the development of substance use disorder and thus be able to make effective treatment recommendations.  Attendees will leave the workshop equipped with practical techniques for treating those struggling with addictions including basics of assessments, working with families, and providing post-treatment care.  Additionally, various invention methods will be overviewed including CBT and narrative therapy in order to provide the client with techniques to implement with a variety of client presentations.

Show more

 COURSE OBJECTIVES:

  • Develop the ability to guide clients and their families through the recovery process.
  • Integrate a focus on the client’s relationship with substances into treatment.
  • Obtain a roadmap for recovery and tools to increase client success at various stages.
  • Gain an understanding of various treatment interventions for addictions.

Day Three – November 29, 2023


Workshop #19: Trauma-Focused DBT
Presented by Eboni Webb, Psy.D., HSP

8:30am - 11:45am   November 29, 2023

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This session is available for live stream.

Working with emotionally dysregulated and traumatized clients/students in your practice can be overwhelming and exhausting. You probably feel the pull of being the “savior” for their constant state of dysregulation. Learn how to develop the skills needed to be more effective in treatment, avoid burnout and achieve positive outcomes through developing an integrative lens to treat trauma and attachment more effectively across the lifespan through integrating Dialectical Behavior Therapy and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy techniques and interventions. Dr. Webb will give you the training you need through case stories, neuroscience research, and experiential activities. Learn to work together with clients/students and all relevant support systems to increase compassion through seeing the function of their behaviors through the lens of trauma, reestablish structure, and create a validating environment. Leave with the knowledge and skills to confidently teach clients/students and all critical care providers how to implement a safe structure that enables clients/students to learn and master these skills throughout all the pertinent areas of their lives.

Attend this workshop and you will discover how critical complex interventions are for the complexity of treating trauma and attachment disorders.

Join Dr. Eboni Webb, former advisor to the Dialectical Behavior Therapy National Certification and Accreditation Association, and Advanced Certified Practitioner of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and take home evidence-based strategies from both modalities to use with clients who come from hard places.

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COURSE OBJECTIVES:

Defining Trauma and Attachment

  • Biosocial Model
  • Effects of inadequate validation in early emotional development
  • Symptoms of a pervasive emotional dysregulation disorder
  • Developmental vs. attachment trauma
  • Single-incident trauma
  • Common sources of trauma
  • Parenting Styles
  • Attachment Styles

Trauma and Brain Development

  • Biphasic arousal model
  • Core organizers of experience

Workshop #20: The Personality Disorder Toolbox
Presented by Jeff Riggenbach, Ph.D.

8:30am - 11:45am   November 29, 2023

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This session is available for live stream.

Individuals with personality disorders have long been considered the most challenging clients presenting in the clinical setting. Many patients lack motivation, most begin with poor insight, and some have such deeply engrained dysfunctional beliefs, unhealthy coping skills, and destructive behavioural patterns that continue to frustrate providers, family members, and consumers alike. Many professionals even continue to view them as untreatable.

However, there is hope. Emerging research suggests this is simply not the case. DBT, CBT, and Schema Therapy have paved the way in pioneering new attitudes and outcomes related to treating these conditions

Join leading exert in the field of personality dysfunction Dr. Jeff Riggenbach for this enjoyable training chock full of the latest research, techniques, and practical strategies. This powerful workshop will give you a new ability to help struggling individuals deal with issues related to self-injurious behaviours, multiple suicide attempts, frequently hurt feelings, intense and unpredictable mood swings, substance use, angry outbursts, toxic relationships and other problems that impair their ability to function in society. Leave this day long training with an integrated DBT/CBT /Schema Informed approach to treating these cases and giving clients with even the most complex needs a life worth living.

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COURSE OBJECTIVES:

  • Understand evidence based approaches to treating personality disorders, and learn why traditional patient care doesn’t work
  • Learn communication skills for effectively engaging clients with complex needs
  • Acquire skills for modifying deeply engrained beliefs driving behaviours outside of client awareness
  • Disrupt lifelong self-defeating patterns
  • Identify 8 motives for self-injurious behaviours and interventions that work for each
  • Learn symptom-targetted strategies that help with clients in the moment
  • Develop schema modification techniques proven to benefit even your most “difficult” PD clients
  • Build resilience in clients by teaching strategies that help them not only get well, but stay well
Jeff Riggenbach, Ph.D.

Jeff Riggenbach, Ph.D. is a best-selling and award winning author who has earned a reputation as an international expert in CBT and personality disorders. Over the past 20 years he has developed and overseen CBT-based treatment programs for Mood disorders,…

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Workshop #21: Neufeld's Traffic Circle of Frustration: A Revolutionary Approach to Aggression, Depression & Suicide
Presented by Gordon Neufeld, Ph.D.

8:30am - 11:45am   November 29, 2023

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This session is available for live stream.

We all get frustrated, as this primal emotion is automatically evoked when something – anything for that matter – doesn’t work. There are several indicators that the groundswell of frustration is rising. This powerful emotion can be experienced in many ways and have a myriad of outcomes. Included in the array of emotional outcomes are compulsions regarding change, attacking impulses, suicidal impulses, aggression, and even frustration-based depression. Frustration can also result in healthy change and inner transformation. Dr. Neufeld will help us walk through the traffic circle of frustration in a way that benefits all. Given the critical importance of developing a healthy relationship with frustration, we should all be ready to serve as traffic directors when needed.

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COURSE OBJECTIVES:

  • Understanding the underlying roots of aggression and depression
  • Appreciating the key role that frustration is meant to play in our lives
  • Recognizing when pivotal feelings are missing that need restoring
  • Knowing the symptoms, signs and challenges when frustration gets stuck
  • Making sense of why some of our current behaviour management approaches backfire
  • Knowing how to direct traffic when frustration needs to find an outlet

Workshop #23: (CONTINUATION) Trauma-Focused DBT
Presented by Eboni Webb, Psy.D., HSP

12:45pm - 4:00pm   November 29, 2023

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This session is available for live stream.

THIS IS A CONTINUATION OF THE MORNING SESSION 

Working with emotionally dysregulated and traumatized clients/students in your practice can be overwhelming and exhausting. You probably feel the pull of being the “savior” for their constant state of dysregulation. Learn how to develop the skills needed to be more effective in treatment, avoid burnout and achieve positive outcomes through developing an integrative lens to treat trauma and attachment more effectively across the lifespan through integrating Dialectical Behavior Therapy and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy techniques and interventions. Dr. Webb will give you the training you need through case stories, neuroscience research, and experiential activities. Learn to work together with clients/students and all relevant support systems to increase compassion through seeing the function of their behaviors through the lens of trauma, reestablish structure, and create a validating environment. Leave with the knowledge and skills to confidently teach clients/students and all critical care providers how to implement a safe structure that enables clients/students to learn and master these skills throughout all the pertinent areas of their lives.

Attend this workshop and you will discover how critical complex interventions are for the complexity of treating trauma and attachment disorders.

Join Dr. Eboni Webb, former advisor to the Dialectical Behavior Therapy National Certification and Accreditation Association, and Advanced Certified Practitioner of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and take home evidence-based strategies from both modalities to use with clients who come from hard places.

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COURSE OBJECTIVES:

Defining Trauma and Attachment

  • Biosocial Model
  • Effects of inadequate validation in early emotional development
  • Symptoms of a pervasive emotional dysregulation disorder
  • Developmental vs. attachment trauma
  • Single-incident trauma
  • Common sources of trauma
  • Parenting Styles
  • Attachment Styles

Trauma and Brain Development

  • Biphasic arousal model
  • Core organizers of experience

Workshop #24: Mastering the Core Skills & Competencies of CBT
Presented by Jeff Riggenbach, Ph.D.

12:45pm - 4:00pm   November 29, 2023

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This session is available for live stream.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is the most empirically supported therapeutic approach for multiple psychiatric disorders, and is widely considered the “gold standard” treatment for a variety of issues. Most mental health professionals claim to do “some CBT,” but many clinicians in the trenches resort to a more “eclectic” approach and treatment often loses direction. Leave this 3-hour afternoon session with international CBT expert Dr. Jeff Riggenbach with core competencies, transformed clinical skills, and an improved understanding of conceptualization based treatment that will ensure you never get stuck in therapy again.

You will be able to utilize concrete strategies for helping your clients who suffer from:

  • Bipolar and depressive related disorders
  • Anger
  • Anxiety disorders
  • Personality Disorders

Through case studies, interactive discussions, role-plays, and reproducible handouts, you will take away practical CBT strategies to use immediately with any client. Leave this conference armed with tools you can use in your very next session!

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COURSE OBJECTIVES:

  • Develop core competencies in CBT, including the therapeutic alliance, collaborative agenda setting, fostering behavioural and cognitive change, and giving client feedback.
  • Understand the role of cognitive distortions in information processing and the unique processing present in specific symptom sets.
  • Learn evidence based strategies for treating clinical conditions including depression, anxiety disorders, anger management, and personality disorders
  • Utilize techniques from traditional CBT, meta-cognitive, and schema based approaches
  • Demonstrate how case conceptualization drives effective treatment planning & improves therapy outcomes.
  • Discuss case studies to increase understanding of specific cognitive models of depression, anxiety and anger and effective treatment strategies for each.

Workshop #25: Resilience & the Stress Response: Addressing Emotional Stuckness & Trauma
Presented by Gordon Neufeld, Ph.D.

12:45pm - 4:00pm   November 29, 2023

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This session is available for live stream.

New understandings reveal that there is much wisdom to the stress response. Rather than focusing on dysfunction, we should begin by appreciating how our brains are brilliantly programmed to not only summon the strength required to deal with distressing situations, but to also serve as an emotional first-aid response. The problem is not with the stress response per se, but when the stress response is not followed in a timely fashion by its partner, the resilience response. We will be much more effective in our interaction with distressed children, youth and students if we first come alongside how their brains are trying to take care of them, and from this stance, proceed to help the stress response become unstuck.

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COURSE OBJECTIVES:

  • Updating an understanding of the stress response through the lenses of attachment and emotion
  • The ability to differentiate between the two kinds of strength that is often associated with resilience
  • An appreciation of what has to bounce back for emotional health and well-being
  • An understanding of the wisdom of the stress response and how to come alongside it

Registration & Fees

Registration Early bird Fee Regular Fee
Individual 1 Day Enrollment $279 $299
Individual 2 Day Enrollment $499 $519
Individual 3 Day Enrollment $699 $719
Group 3-7 $679 $699
Group 8-14 $659 $679
Group 15+ $639 $659
Full-Time Student $639 $659

All fees are in Canadian Dollars ($CAD)

Fees do not include applicable taxes (13% GST).

Early bird cutoff date: November 13, 2023
The early bird date has passed. Regular rates apply.


Please review our Registration Terms and Conditions for information on our cancellation policy, payment policies, rebates, and more. You must agree to our Terms and Conditions to register for a workshop or conference.


Register Online   Download Registration Form (.PDF)   Register your Group


Downloads

All brochures and forms are provided in .PDF format.
If you are unable to open our files, we recommend downloading Adobe Reader for free.


Brochure (.PDF)   Registration Form (.PDF)  


Exhibitors are welcome at this event. We are pleased to offer sponsorship opportunities to businesses and organizations that provide services related to nursing, psychotherapy, addictions treatment, counselling, marriage & family therapy, psychology and other related fields.
More information

Exhibitor Application Form (.PDF)


Recommended Accommodation

Holiday Inn Oakville at Bronte

2525 Wyecroft Rd, Oakville, ON

phone:  905.847.1000

website:  www.ihg.com/holidayinn/hotels/us/en/oakville/yyzov/hoteldetail

 Full map & directions


Our rates:

To make a reservation over the phone, please call 905.847.1000

Rate is $154.00 plus tax per night for single/double occupancy.

Please reference “Jack Hirose & Associates Inc.” and “Group Code: “JHA” when making a reservation.

*please note, room reservations are subject to availability*

Please keep in mind when booking Jack Hirose and Associates corporate guest rooms, reservations booked for most hotels can be cancelled within 48 hours . If you are booking guest rooms through third party websites in many instances the reservations booked cannot not be cancelled.



When booking hotel rooms, ask for the Jack Hirose and Associates corporate rate. To receive our corporate rate, rooms must be booked one month prior to the workshop date. Please keep in mind hotel rates may fluctuate.


Continuing Education Credits

This workshop has been formally approved by the following associations:
  • Canadian Addiction Counsellors Certification Federation (CACCF)
    CACCF is only pre-approved for the workshop Navigating Addictions by Carissa Muth, Psy.D., CCC, R.Psych
  • Canadian College of Professional Counsellors and Psychotherapists (CCPCP)
  • Canadian Professional Counsellors Association (CPCA)
  • Canadian Psychological Association (CPA)

     Jack Hirose & Associates is approved by the Canadian Psychological Association to offer continuing education for psychologists. Jack Hirose & Associates maintains responsibility for the program.

† The Alberta College of Social Workers (ACSW) and the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Social Workers (NLASW) accept CPA-approved CEUs.

* Participants will receive a certificate of completion after every workshop. Workshops are pre-approved for 5.5 or 6 credits per day unless otherwise specified.

Please check back closer to the conference date for more information.


Co-Sponsored by Sunshine Coast Health Centre & Georgia Strait Women’s Clinic

 


Exhibitors

Exhibitors Welcome:

At the conference, exhibitor tables will be provided to allow your organization the opportunity to display and circulate informational packages to conference attendees who may require the services of your respective organization or business.

The conference is an excellent opportunity for exhibitors to gather attendee information – collect business cards to enter a draw, scan badges to participate in your activity and interact with mental health and education professionals throughout the country.

Exhibitor booth, all 3 days, fee: $3,000.00 plus tax (For-profit organization) $2,500.00 plus tax (Non-profit organization) 

To secure an exhibitor booth, please contact our office at 604-924-0296 or email: registration@jackhirose.com