Full Course Description
Keynote – Death Doula Lessons for Life
Program Information
Objectives
'More information coming soon'
Copyright :
05/14/2026
Ageism and Mental Health
If your clients have expectations that their lives will be worse the older they get – it may very well turn out that way. What we believe about aging matters.
And with rampant anti-aging messaging pervasive in many corners of society, it can take a rooting out of internalized ageism on the part of the therapist – and direct communication about ageism with clients – to make a difference.
In this session, Dr. Regina Koepp – renowned geropsychologist and founder and CEO of the Center for Mental Health & Aging – will show you to how to reframe aging as a time of continued growth, strength, and connection. You’ll learn:
- Longevity mindset shifts to center new, positive expectations for growing older
- Strategies to make a real impact on quality of life in older adulthood
- Tools to enhance older adults’ resilience and sense of community
Program Information
Objectives
- Differentiate structural versus individual ageism.
- List at least three ways in which ageism impacts mental and physical health.
- Identify strategies to reduce ageism and enhance belonging.
Outline
How We See Aging: Why Mindset Matters
- Common messages about aging and how they set expectations
- Structural versus individual ageism
- Ageism in everyday life and in care settings
Age Beliefs, Health, and the Brain
- Age-related beliefs and mental and physical health
- How small shifts in beliefs can improve health outcomes
- Limitations of the research and potential risks
Longevity Mindset Shifts: Tools You Can Use in Practice
- Four longevity mindset shifts that reframe aging
- ABC method to help clients notice, question, and challenge internalized ageism
Aging, Identity, and Belonging: From “Me” to “We”
- Race, gender, sexual orientation, and other identities to shape risk and resilience
- Ageism, loneliness, and belonging
- Build more inclusive, age-affirming spaces in your work and community
Target Audience
- Counselors
- Social Workers
- Psychologists
- Psychiatrists
- Marriage and Family Therapists
- Addiction Counselors
- Other Mental Health Professionals
Copyright :
05/14/2026
Cultural Humility Across Generations
All clients are impacted by the historical events, social norms, and power structures in which they live.
And so are all therapists.
To be effective across generations, clinicians must expand their understanding of culture by viewing age cohort and generation as critical variables, going beyond stereotypes about how “Boomers” or “The Silent Generation” will present in and respond to psychotherapy.
In this session, Dr. Katherine Dearborn King – geropsychology expert and author of The Well Helper– will give you tools to explore how intersectional identities converge to influence how older adults understand mental health, express distress, relate to authority, and engage in treatment. You’ll walk away with:
- A practical framework to improve generational solidarity and mutual understanding
- Strategies to reduce the harmful effects of misattunement and sterotyping
- A framework to adapt communication and intervention across generational and cultural differences
Program Information
Objectives
- Evaluate how cultural generation intersects with race, gender, class, sexuality, disability, and immigration status in older adult clinical work.
- Identify at least three ways historical and sociocultural context shapes symptom expression, help-seeking, and engagement in therapy among older adults.
- Utilize at least three culturally responsive strategies to improve assessment, case conceptualization, and intervention with older adult clients.
Outline
Generation, Culture, and Clinical Practice
- Defining culture, generation, and age cohorts
- How historical events, social norms, and power structures impact individuals
- Overview of major age cohorts represented in older adult clinical work
- The risks of stereotyping
- Cultural humility and curiosity across generations
Clinical Implications: Case Conceptualization
- The influence of historical context on values, communication styles, and help-seeking
- How generational and cultural context shape symptom presentation and meaning-making
- Older adults’ relationships to authority, diagnosis, and mental health treatment
- Intersection of generation with race, gender, class, sexuality, disability, and immigration status
- Culturally responsive case conceptualization
Intervention Strategies and Generational Solidarity
- Practical strategies for improving generational attunement and therapeutic alliance
- Adapt communication and intervention approaches across generational and cultural differences
- Address internalized ageism in clients and clinicians
- Techniques to foster mutual understanding and collaboration across generations
- Ethical considerations
- Limitations of current research and potential risks
Target Audience
- Counselors
- Social Workers
- Psychologists
- Psychiatrists
- Marriage and Family therapists
- Addiction counselors
- Other Mental Health Professionals
Copyright :
05/14/2026
Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) for Life Transitions
Clients in midlife and beyond frequently find themselves struggling with difficult life changes. Whether retirement, marital shifts, caregiving, health challenges, or bereavement - all transitions include uncertainty and can trigger emotional distress, interpersonal strain, and feelings of loss or disconnection.
Now there’s a roadmap for how to guide your clients through life transitions to emotional wellness!
In this session, Dr. Lillian Gibson – highly recommended speaker and expert in Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) – will show you a practical, evidence-based approach for helping clients navigate change while utilizing strategies to strengthen emotional resilience. You’ll learn:
- How to apply the stages of change model to life transitions so clients can set targeted goals
- Tools for identifying patterns in your clients’ relationships that contribute to emotional distress – and what to do about them
- Communication analysis strategies to help clients move forward with greater confidence and connection
Program Information
Objectives
- Evaluate how key life transitions interact with the Stages of Change model.
- Identify 3-phases of Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) treatment to assist with intervention planning.
- Utilize at least two Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) strategies that can be used as a guide to support clients’ emotional wellness during life transitions.
Outline
Life Transitions in Mid- and Later Life
- Caregiving, retirement, health changes, and other common transitions
- Emotional and interpersonal challenges unique to midlife and beyond
- Stages of change model in life transitions
Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) Framework as a Clinical Roadmap
- Core principles and problem areas of IPT
- How to engage clients using an IPT model
- The interpersonal inventory to identify supports and stressors
- Communication and decision analysis for navigating roles
- Role-playing to target affective expression
- Strategies to help clients process grief, identity shifts, and relational changes
- How to integrate IPT tools into sessions
- Limitations of the research and potential risks
Target Audience
- Counselors
- Social Workers
- Psychologists
- Psychiatrists
- Marriage and Family Therapists
- Addiction Counselors
- Other Mental Health Professionals
Copyright :
05/14/2026
Aging with Wisdom
When symptoms persist despite “doing everything right,” anxiety, depression, and trauma responses often deepen – especially for midlife and older clients navigating hormonal shifts, chronic pain, sleep disruption, and existential stress.
In this training with Leslie Korn, PhD, MPH – a renowned integrative medicine clinician and educator – you’ll gain practical tools to support client well-being while staying clearly within your scope of practice.
You’ll be able to:
- Personalize mind-body and lifestyle-based recommendations for clients over age 45
- Support sleep, energy, and cognition using integrative approaches appropriate for mental health clinicians
- Motivate sustainable lifestyle changes that improve mental and physical health
Program Information
Objectives
- Identify anxiety and disordered breathing patterns in adults over age 45 and use this information to guide personalized, mind-body interventions.
- Determine two herbal medicines and three nutritional supplements with evidence supporting sleep, energy, muscle health, and cognitive functions in adults over age 65.
- Analyze lifestyle-based research on memory and well-being and use evidence-informed strategies to engage clients in sustainable lifestyle changes.
Outline
Understanding Aging-Related Transitions
- Midlife and later-life stressors impacting mental health and physical health
- Anxiety, breathing patterns, sleep disruption, and cognitive concerns
Integrative Strategies Within Clinical Scope
- Nutrition, supplements, herbs, movement, and mid-body approaches
- Personalizing recommendations across aging stages
Clinical Application and Engagement
- Translating research into practice
- Motivating sustainable lifestyle change
- Referrals, limitations of the research, and potential risks
Target Audience
- Counselors
- Social Workers
- Psychologists
- Psychiatrists
- Marriage and Family Therapists
- Addiction Counselors
- Other Mental Health Professionals
Copyright :
05/14/2026
The Clinician’s Guide to Brain Health in the Second Half of Life
Clients in the second half of life often notice changes in memory, attention, and mental stamina—and many assume these shifts mean something is “wrong.” Therapists must help clients understand what’s typical while avoiding both over-pathologizing and minimizing their concerns.
In this session, Ann M. Steffen, Ph.D., ABPP, Professor of Psychological Sciences and Board-Certified Clinical Geropsychologist will give you a clear roadmap of the top strategies clinicians need to support brain health with confidence and nuance. You’ll learn:
- How to provide clear psychoeducation about normal cognitive changes
- Practical tools to help clients identify and address feeling “different from themselves”
- Evidence-based approaches that strengthen cognitive vitality across diverse populations
Program Information
Objectives
- Identify practices to enhance clients’ understanding of normal cognitive aging.
- Determine evidence-based strategies to promote brain health in culturally diverse clients.
- Examine three within-session therapeutic strategies that accommodate clients’ concerns about normal cognitive aging.
Outline
Normative Age-Related Cognitive Changes
- Attentional Processes, Memory & Executive Functions
- Sources of variability in cognitive aging
- Resources for discussing brain health with clients
Promoting Brain-Health in Culturally Diverse Clients
- Research on preventing cognitive decline
- Clinical strategies to build healthy habit formation
- Risks and Limitations of the Current Research
Target Audience
- Counselors
- Social Workers
- Psychologists
- Psychiatrists
- Marriage and Family Therapists
- Addiction Counselors
- Other Mental Health Professionals
Copyright :
05/14/2026
Aging with Pain
Your older clients’ chronic pain can profoundly impact every aspect of their lives – from preoccupation with managing discomfort that directs their decisions... to fatigue and irritability created by disrupted sleep... to isolation caused by avoiding activities and feeling unseen.
It’s easy for them – and for you – to feel hopeless that anything can change.
In this sesion, Dr. Afton Hasset - leading expert in the field of resilience and pain and author of Chronic Pain Reset: 30 Days of Activities, Practices and Skills to Help You Thrive – will give you the top tools every therapist needs when working with older adults experiencing chronic pain. You’ll get:
- Strategies for providing psychoeducation to clients that help them shift their relationship to pain
- Intervention
Program Information
Objectives
- Examine the relationship between chronic pain and mental health symptoms in aging adults.
- Evaluate three different pain mechanisms and their impact on treatment planning.
- Utilize at least two interventions targeting chronic pain and related symptoms in psychotherapy.
Outline
Chronic Pain in Aging Adults
- Neuroscience of pain
- The three pain mechanisms
- The impact of chronic overlapping pain conditions
- SPACE symptoms and implications for treatment
- Pain, trauma, and grief
- How bad is it? Disability and life disruption
Therapy Interventions and Clinical Tools
- Provide psychoeducation to shift clients’ relationship to pain
- Overview of the most effective psychotherapeutic approaches
- Tools for catastrophizing and fear avoidance?
- Target social isolation and poor self-efficacy?
- Build resilience and promote greater life satisfaction – what strategies are used to accomplish this?
- Resources to support pain care
- Limitations of the research and potential risks
Target Audience
- Counselors
- Social Workers
- Psychologists
- Psychiatrists
- Marriage and Family Therapists
- Addiction Counselors
- Other Mental Health Professionals
Copyright :
05/14/2026
Unlocking the Power of Purpose
In this session, Richard Leider, internationally bestselling author of Who Do You Want to Be When You Grow Old? The Path of Purposeful Aging, will teach you how disruptions in purpose during later life often show up clinically as anxiety, depression, burnout, and emotional numbness—offering a clear framework for restoring meaning, vitality, and direction as we age.
Drawing on decades of counseling-based training, research, and work across healthcare, government, and community systems, this session reframes purpose as a core driver of mental health, resilience, and psychological well-being.
Participants will leave with:
- Purpose-centered practices clinicians can use to help clients reconnect with meaning and motivation
- Clinical strategies for supporting a “growing and giving” life intention and mindset
- Practical guidance for helping clients cultivate purpose across life stages and major transitions
Program Information
Objectives
After this training, participants will be able to:
- Apply purpose-based practices to deepen meaning, motivation, and engagement within the therapeutic relationship.
- Examine a “growing and giving for life” intention as a framework for helping clients cultivate a sustainable sense of purpose across life stages and challenges.
- Identify concrete, adaptable tools that translate values and meaning into daily, actionable practices.
Outline
The Purpose of Purpose
- Clinical relevance of purpose in mental health treatment
- Common presentations of purpose disruption (depression, burnout, grief, life transitions)
The Purpose Presence
- Purpose as a present-moment therapeutic process
- Using meaning-focused attention to enhance regulation and engagement
The Purpose Path
- Assessing purpose across the lifespan and major transitions
- Clarifying values, direction, and motivation in treatment planning
The Purpose Practices
- Evidence-informed, purpose-based clinical interventions
- Integrating purpose work int ongoing therapy sessions
- Risks and Limitations
Target Audience
- Counselors
- Social Workers
- Psychologists
- Psychiatrists
- Marriage and Family Therapists
- Addiction Counselors
- Other Mental Health Professionals
Copyright :
05/15/2026
Retirement Anxiety
Retirement is not a single moment but a process—a developmental stage that can evoke both anticipation and anxiety.
Clients have spent decades building a meaningful career, developing skills and expertise, and creating a professional identity rooted in a sense of competence and connection – only to face the unsettling tasks of letting it all go.
Many therapists are challenged by not knowing how to guide clients as they contemplate this transition and may feel pressured to provide “the right answers” about when and how to retire.
In this session, Margaret Wehrenberg, PsyD and Lynn Grodzki, LCSW, MCC – renowned experts and co-authors of Letting Go of the Work You Love – offer a clear, clinically grounded, evidence-based roadmap that you can use immediately with your clients or for yourself. You’ll learn:
- Evidence-based approaches to ease retirement-related anxiety
- Strategies for gently expanding identity beyond professional roles
- Tools to help clients define and assess their legacy
Program Information
Objectives
- Evaluate a client’s readiness for retirement based on the 4-Stage Readiness for Retirement Model.
- Interpret retirement with clients as a stage of life focused on meaning, contribution, and legacy rather than loss or decline.
- Utilize evidence-based tools to decrease anxiety and support identity transition related to retirement.
Outline
Retirement as a Developmental Stage
- Integrity vs. despair
- Components of retirement-related anxiety
- Ambivalence related to letting go of a career
- The Readiness for Retirement Model
Evidence-Based Tools for Anxiety Related to Retirement
- Reframe retirement as a life stage rather than loss or decline
- Push-pull dynamics for ambivalence
- Organize initial steps
- Work through emotions including uncertainty and guilt
- Shift into constructive retirement preparation
- Broaden identity to include personal values, character strengths, and community roles
- How to claim legacy – what is left behind and what is carried forward
- Limitations of the research and potential risks
Target Audience
- Counselors
- Social Workers
- Psychologists
- Psychiatrists
- Marriage and Family Therapists
- Addiction Counselors
- Other Mental Health Professionals
Copyright :
05/15/2026
The Menopause Map
Most women aren’t prepared for the changes they’ll experience with the menopause transition and often describe related mood dysregulation, anxious thoughts, weight gain, and sleep problems as things that are “wrong.” And since menopause is a natural feature of aging, therapists must walk a fine line between medicalizing and trivializing their menopausal clients’ complaints.
In this session, Signe Darpinian, LMFT, CEDS – author of A Women’s Guide to Menopause, Body Image, and Emotional Well-being at Midlife – will give you a roadmap of the top strategies you need to know to work effectively with your menopausal clients. You’ll learn:
- How to provide meaningful psychoeducation so clients can understand what’s going on in their brains and bodies
- Practical tools to pinpoint how menopausal clients feel different from themselves – and what to do about it
- The latest strategies for managing body dissatisfaction stemming from weight gain – without dieting
Program Information
Objectives
- Develop psychoeducation to help menopausal clients understand the body changes they are experiencing.
- Differentiate when menopausal clients are experiencing Major Depressive Disorder versus sub-threshold mood symptoms.
- Analyze the effectiveness of dieting versus health behavior change to manage weight and body image concerns in menopausal clients.
Outline
Menopause Basics – Tools 1 & 2
- Most common symptoms and treatments
- Expected body changes and why they happen
Menopause and Mental Health Symptoms – Tools 3 & 4
- Window of vulnerability and “not feeling like myself”
- A simple tool to tell the difference between depressive symptoms and MDD
Physical Symptoms and Body Changes – Tools 5, 6 & 7
- Constructive worry tool for sleep disruption and sleep disorder
- Manage body image grief in a youth-obsessed culture
- An alternative to dieting for concerns about weight gain and redistribution
Target Audience
- Counselors
- Social Workers
- Psychologists
- Psychiatrists
- Marriage and Family Therapists
- Addiction Counselors
- Other Mental Health Professionals
Copyright :
05/15/2026
Gray Divorce
Every divorce is unique, of course.
But a “gray divorce” – one that occurs after age 50 and following many years of marriage and its related entanglements – presents unique challenges for the individual, the couple, and the family.
With older couples often parting for reasons that differ from those of the younger generation – and potentially facing age-related obstacles – it's important for therapists to understand the differing challenges experienced by those over 50, versus those of their younger counterparts.
In this session, Linda Hershman – author of Gray Divorce: Everything You Need to Know About Later-Life Breakups – will give you the tools you need to be ready to help divorce-questioning, divorcing, and post-divorce clients and their adult children. You’ll learn:
- Clarifying questions to ask clients who are struggling with the divorce decision-making process
- How to help divorcing or divorce-questioning clients connect with supports
- Strategies for families to understand and navigate the changing family dynamics of gray divorce
Program Information
Objectives
- Identify at least three reasons for the rise in gray divorce.
- Evaluate at least two impacts of gray divorce on individuals and families.
- Identify at least three types of support available to gray divorcing boomers and seniors.
Outline
Gray Divorce
- Why are older couples splitting up at such a significant rate?
- Upsides and downsides to gray divorce
- Same-sex couples and gray divorce
- Mixed-orientations marriage gray divorce
- Gray divorce among people of color and underserved communities
Treatment Tools and Strategies
- Clarifying questions for clients struggling with the divorce decision-making process
- Therapeutic tools and tangible resources therapists can offer that will facilitate hope for clients to envision a positive post-divorce future.
- Help adult children of divorce set healthy boundaries with their divorcing parents
- Limitations of research and potential risks
Target Audience
- Counselors
- Social Workers
- Psychologists
- Psychiatrists
- Marriage and Family Therapists
- Addiction Counselors
- Other Mental Health Professionals
Copyright :
05/15/2026
Self-Compassion for Midlife Transitions
Clients in midlife are navigating challenging stressors like changing identities, loss, caregiving, and existential transitions that can trigger heightened self-criticism as they wonder if they're doing it all "right.”
And while traditional psychotherapy interventions are valuable, many clients also benefit from a more compassion-focused and embodied approach.
In this session, Dr. Ellen Albertson – author of Rock Your Midlife – will give you the tools you need to enhance your clients’ emotional regulation, resilience, and overall well-being during midlife transitions as you:
- Reshape clients' nervous systems with clear, evidence-based self-compassion practices
- Support clients in meeting aging-related changes with greater wisdom and vitality
- Transform self-judgment and shame into motivation and fulfilment
Program Information
Objectives
- Identify the psychological and neurobiological mechanisms through which self-compassion enhances well-being in adults at midlife and beyond.
- Utilize evidence-based self-compassion interventions to help clients manage difficult emotions and reduce self-criticism during midlife transitions.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of self-compassion interventions.
Outline
The Midlife Experience
- Unique psychological stressors of midlife and aging
- A changing body – common physiological stressors
- How self-criticism and perfectionism manifest in midlife
Evidence-Based Self-Compassion Practices for Midlife Clients
- Key findings from self-compassion and mindfulness research
- Parasympathetic activation, emotion regulation, and resilience
- Self-Compassion Scale to measure clients’ current capacity
- Tools: Self-Compassion Break, Soothing Touch, “How Would You Treat a Friend?”
- Case study: midlife woman with self-criticism and burnout
Additional Clinical Considerations
- Application tips for integrating self-compassion into CBT, ACT, and coaching frameworks
- Potential barriers: backdraft, inner critic
- Use of self-compassion by clinicians to avoid burnout
- Resources for clients and continued learning
- Limitations of the research and potential risks
- Reflection exercise
Target Audience
- Counselors
- Social Workers
- Psychologists
- Psychiatrists
- Marriage and Family Therapists
- Addiction Counselors
- Other Mental Health Professionals
Copyright :
05/15/2026
Empty Nest
Many midlife clients are surprised by the emotional impact of launching children into adulthood and transitioning toward an empty nest.
And there are ways to navigate the changes well… and ways to make the adjustment of both parents and children worse.
In this session, Keely Rodriguez – specialist in women’s midlife issues – will show you the tools you need to work with the loss of identity and purpose, heightened parenting anxiety, and emotional fatigue embedded in this developmental transition. You’ll learn:
- Practical strategies from ACT to support clients in redefining identity and adjusting to a parent-adult relationship
- A powerful DBT-informed distress tolerance sequence for anxious times and triggers, like an unanswered text
- Low-pressure ways for empty nest parents to reconnect socially and build community outside of parenting
Program Information
Objectives
- Identify how emotional distress, identity shifts, and relationship stress related to the empty nest commonly present in clinical work.
- Examine evidence based relational and developmental frameworks that support the transition from a parent-child dynamic to a parent-adult relationship.
- Utilize at least two clinical interventions to support clients experiencing distress during the empty nest transition.
Outline
Empty Nest as a Midlife Developmental Transition:
- Developmental stage, not clinical syndrome
- Common emotional response, identity shifts, and relationship changes
- Grief, anxiety, and relationship stress
Clinical Application and Practical Interventions
- Psychoeducation on developmental role shift from caregiver to coach
- ACT-based identity and values work to transition to adult-adult relationship
- Utilize client values and strengths to develop realistic micro-actions for daily life
- DBT-informed distress tolerance sequence for triggers to parental worry
- Grounding and nervous system regulation for anxiety
- Connection audit to strengthen social support and build community outside of parenting
- Limitations of the research and potential risks
Target Audience
- Counselors
- Social Workers
- Psychologists
- Psychiatrists
- Marriage and Family Therapists
- Addiction Counselors
- Other Mental Health Professionals
Copyright :
05/15/2026
“What Now?” Clinical Tools to Help Older Adults Reconstruct Meaning in the Second Half of Life
Later life often brings profound questions about identity, purpose, and how to live meaningfully in the time that remains. As clients navigate changing roles, losses, and a growing awareness of mortality, these existential concerns can create both distress and powerful opportunities for growth.
In this session, Dr. Julie Erikson will share practical, evidence-based strategies to help clients clarify values, reconnect with purpose, and cultivate vitality — even in the face of life’s finiteness. You’ll learn how to:
- Distinguish normative meaning struggles from clinical distress
- Explore identity transitions, grief, and mortality with sensitivity
- Use CBT, dignity therapy, and acceptance-based interventions to address existential anxiety and support meaning-making
Program Information
Objectives
- Identify the developmental and existential challenges commonly encountered in later life, including shifts in identity, purpose, and mortality awareness.
- Differentiate between pathological distress and normative meaning-related struggles that arise during the aging process.
- Integrate practical interventions from therapeutic approaches such as cognitive-behavioural therapy, dignity therapy, and acceptance and commitment therapy, to help clients reconstruct purpose, manage existential anxiety, and enhance well-being in later life.
Outline
The Developmental Landscape of Later Life
- Shifts in identity, purpose, and meaning
- Legacy, mortality, and living fully with finite time
Common Existential Themes in Older Adulthood
- Identity transitions and changing roles
- Loss, grief, and evolving sources of meaning
- Confronting death and dying
Differentiating Universal Struggles from Clinical Concern
- When existential questioning becomes distress
Therapeutic Frameworks & Approaches
- Existential perspectives
- Cognitive-behavioural strategies
- Acceptance-based tools
Reconstructing Meaning & Purpose
- Supporting self-acceptance
- Clarifying values and direction
- Cultivating vitality in the face of finitude
Clinical Integration & Application
- Practical guidance for therapy conversations
- Supporting growth for both clients and therapists
- Risks and Limitations
Target Audience
- Counselors
- Social Workers
- Psychologists
- Psychiatrists
- Marriage and Family Therapists
- Addiction Counselors
- Other Mental Health Professionals
Copyright :
05/15/2026
Alzheimer’s Disease & Other Dementias Certification Training
This training is vital for anyone who works with dementia and needs skills and proven strategies to provide optimal care!
Watch Dr. Sherrie All as she provides you with the assessment tools and interventions you need to identify and differentiate between dementias, prevent and reduce difficult behaviors, and improve your ability to communicate with cognitively impaired patients!
More than just an overview of dementia and Alzheimer’s, this program will offer practical solutions to some of the most challenging real-life situations you face and bring you up to speed on the latest medications, preventative treatments, and advances in early detection that could impact your work.
Best of all, upon completion of this training, you’ll be eligible to become an Evergreen Certified Dementia Care Specialist (ECDCS) through Evergreen Certifications. Certification lets colleagues, employers, and clients know that you’ve invested the extra time and effort necessary to understand the complexities of dementia care. Professional standards apply. Visit www.evergreencertifications.com/ECDCS for details.
Purchase today! No matter your profession, you’ll finish this comprehensive program more confident in your ability to minimize challenging behavioral issues associated with dementia, improve communication with your patients, and provide the best care possible for this vulnerable population!
CERTIFICATION MADE SIMPLE!
- No hidden fees – PESI pays for your application fee (a $99.99 USD value)*!
- Simply complete this training and the included post-event evaluation, and your application to be an Evergreen Certified Dementia Care Specialist through Evergreen Certifications is complete.
Attendees will receive documentation of ECDCS designation from Evergreen Certifications 4 to 6 weeks following completion.
*Professional standards apply. Visit www.evergreencertifications.com/ECDCS for professional requirements.
Program Information
Objectives
- Determine how the manifestations of each type of dementia impacts identification and prognosis.
- Develop a synopsis of 2 assessment tools that can be employed to screen for possible cognitive difficulty and relate to functional application with ADLs.
- Utilize non-verbal communication skills that can help professionals identify meanings behind gestures when working with patients who have dementia increasing quality of care and quality of life for patients.
- Evaluate how patient safety can be enhanced with strategies to redirect wandering and manage paranoia while increasing participation in therapy.
- Investigate how the latest medications, preventative treatments, and advances in early detection could impact care of people with dementia.
- Analyze end of life issues and elder abuse and correlate how the ethics of dying impacts the clinician, client, and their family.
Outline
Manifestations and Prognosis for Each Type of Dementia
- Cognitive decline vs. normal aging
- Mild Neuro-Cognitive Disorder
- Manifestations and prognosis for:
- Alzheimer’s
- Vascular Dementia
- Lewy Body Dementia
- Frontotemporal Dementia
- Parkinson’s
- Stages of dementia
- Psuedo-dementias and reversible conditions
Cognitive Assessment Tools and Advances in Early-Detection
- MOCA and SLUMS
- Step-by-step utilization
- What they tell you and what they don’t
- Brain imaging
- Research on biomarkers
- Genetic risk profiling
- When to refer for a formal neuropsychological assessment
Behavioral Interventions Toolbox: Causes and Solutions to Challenging Behaviors
- Identifying triggers for challenging behaviors
- Assess for pain in dementia patients
- What do for sundowning?
- Techniques to minimize combativeness and aggressive behaviors
- Strategies to redirect wandering
- Paranoia – causes and management
- Effective responses to hallucinations and delusions
- Strategies to reduce repetitive behaviors
- How to improve personal care and activities of daily living
Communication Strategies to Improve Care
- Successful non-verbal communication – find meaning behind gestures
- Best practices to avoid arguments
- Questions to ask, and how to ask them
- Innovative communication tools
Psychopharmacology and Nutrition: The Latest Medications and Preventative Treatments
- Approved medications for behavioral and cognitive symptoms
- Nutritive interventions for Alzheimer’s prevention
- Disease modifying medication
Ethical Issues Related to Dementia
- End of life issues
- Reporting abuse (physical, sexual, financial)
- Multicultural considerations
- Limitations, risks, and areas of further research
Target Audience
- Social Workers
- Counselors
- Psychologists
- Psychotherapists
- Psychiatrists
- Case Managers
- Marriage & Family Therapists
- Nursing Home Administrator
- Speech-Language Pathologists
- Occupational Therapists
- Occupational Therapy Assistants
- Physicians
- Physical Therapists
- Physical Therapist Assistants
- Nurses
- Nurse Practitioners
- Licensed Practical Nurses
- Certified Nurses Assistants
- Homecare Workers
- Other Rehab, Medical and Mental Health Professionals
Copyright :
01/17/2025
Psychotherapy with Older Adults: Effective Assessment and Treatment Strategies to Serve an Aging Population
Loss. Physical ailments. Regrets about the past. Anxiety about the future.
Often overlooked in clinical training, the needs of aging clients are unique...
...and while most mental health professionals don’t feel equipped to treat them, the truth is that you can easily supplement your existing skillset and expand your practice so that you can provide needed care for anxiety, depression, grief, and more in this rapidly growing yet profoundly underserved population.
Watch Dr. Katherine King, geropsychology expert, to discover the latest evidence-based assessment approaches and intervention strategies to transform your practice with older adults. You’ll get the roadmap you need and the necessary skills to:
- Differentiate depression from delirium and dementia – and address other common diagnostic challenges
- Employ Life Review and Reminiscence Therapy, CBT, DBT, ACT, and IPT to support aging clients through life transitions, illness, and end-of-life issues
- Identify legal aspects of serving older adults, such as recognizing elder abuse, financial exploitation, and self-neglect
REGISTER TODAY to gain the confidence you need to be ready to provide the best care possible for aging clients!
Program Information
Objectives
- Examine the psychosocial aspects of normal aging.
- Evaluate the impact of ageism, ableism, internalized stigma, and stereotype threat on older adults’ mental health.
- Utilize two interventions to assist older clients with navigating life transitions and grief.
- Differentiate depression in older adults from delirium and dementia.
- Choose three techniques from evidence-based psychotherapy approaches with older clients.
- Identify signs of elder abuse, self-neglect, and financial exploitation.
Outline
Psychotherapy with Older Adults
Psychological, Biological, and Diversity Considerations
- Important developmental stages and theories
- Navigate retirement, grandparenting, and other transitions
- Create continuing bonds in the face of grief
- How to help older clients identify and utilize strengths
- Medical problems and end-of-life issues
- Common health disparities for those with marginalized identities
- Impact of ageism, ableism, internalized stigma, and stereotype threat
- Counteract myths regarding sexuality
Assessment Strategies with Older Adults
What to Look for and How to Look
- Symptom profiles for depression and anxiety
- Cognitive assessment tools and brain health
- Differentiate delirium, dementia, and depression
- Life changes that lead to adjustment disorder
- Generational/cultural attitudes impacting trauma symptom disclosure
- Substance abuse and medication misuse
- Management of suicidality and aid-in-dying
- Co-existing health conditions
- Identification of medical/health distress
- Risk factors - isolation, financial stress, and more
- Intersectional and multicultural lens for case conceptualization
- Case study
Evidence-Based Treatment for Depression, Anxiety, Adjustment Disorders, and Trauma
Dialectical Behavior Therapy
- Core DBT skills for life changes, losses, and health challenges
- Interpersonal effectiveness to reduce isolation
- Improve challenging relationship dynamics
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
- Explore common existential themes
- Cognitive defusion and valued action to cope with medical problems
- Values identification and commitment
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
- Activity scheduling and behavioral interventions
- Common cognitive distortions related to pain, aging, loss
- Effective exposure-based trauma therapy
- Group CBT to reduce isolation, and stigma
Interpersonal Therapy
- Grief, role disputes and transitions, and interpersonal deficits
- Effective communication skills for aging clients
- Teach perspective-taking
Life Review and Reminiscence Therapy
- Structured approach to identify meaning
- Positive themes of resiliency and mastery
- Interventions to reduce bitterness
- Group therapy to form bonds
Additional Clinical Considerations
- Recognize elder abuse, financial exploitation, and self-neglect
- Special considerations for LGBTQIA+
- Involvement of family members in treatment
- Examine therapist biases and countertransference
- How to remain in the role of therapist when case management is also needed
- Coordinate care with co-providers
- Psychopharmacology: important considerations regarding cognitive side effects
- How to work with cognitive decline, pain, and physical needs
- Essential motivational interviewing and health psychology interventions
- Behavioral interventions to help with dementia
- Tips to make your practice older adult friendly
- Navigate systems of care, Medicare, telehealth
- Limitations of the research and potential risks
Target Audience
- Counselors
- Social Workers
- Psychologists
- Psychiatrists
- Marriage & Family Therapists
- Addiction Counselors
- Other Mental Health Professionals
- Nurse Practitioners
- Nurses
Copyright :
10/16/2025
Care for the Caregiver
Dementia caregivers re-center their lives around their loved ones, giving unquantifiable time and attention as they carry a heavy emotional load.
Of worry and of grief, of course – but also, at times, of frustration, irritability, guilt, and resentment. All of it alongside heartbreak.
And as a therapist, if you don’t understand the nuance of this complicated role, you can’t be helpful.
In this session, Dr. Edward Shaw – dually trained physician and geriatric mental health counselor and author of The Dementia Care Partner’s Workbook and A Leader’s Manual for Dementia Care-Partner Support Groups – will give you a framework to assess and support the ever-changing needs of dementia caregivers. You’ll learn:
- How to develop a useful care plan for the caregiver client that decreases stress and burden
- Useful questions to help caregivers open up and shift focus to their own needs
- Tools to help caregivers adapt to changing relationships and deal with anticipatory grief
Program Information
Objectives
- Summarize the stressors faced by dementia caregivers.
- Identify the roles and responsibilities of dementia caregivers to inform client-centered interventions.
- Utilize an awareness of the central needs of caregivers to inform interventions focused on decreasing caregiver stress and burden.
Outline
Modern Caregiving
- Caregiver vs. care partner
- Unique sources of caregiver stress and burden
- Dementia caregivers – statistics, roles, and responsibilities
Caregiver Needs in Psychotherapeutic and Support Group Settings
- 8 central needs of caregivers
- Utilization of central needs in assessment and treatment planning
- Use of silence to facilitate caregiver sharing
- Reflective listening and validation
- Useful questions to ask to help caregivers open up
- Access to education about course of illness
- Help clients adapt to changing relationships
- Cope with anticipatory grief and ambiguous loss
- Self-care for caregivers
- Supporting caregivers to seek additional help
- Logistical support for legal, financial, and end-of-life issues
- Explore existential and spiritual issues
- Limitations of the research and potential risks
Target Audience
- Counselors
- Social Workers
- Psychologists
- Psychiatrists
- Marriage and Family Therapists
- Addiction Counselors
- Other Mental Health Professionals
Copyright :
03/25/2026
Understanding and Preventing Suicide Among Older Adults
Suicide remains a significant public health concern among older adults, who consistently experience elevated rates of suicide compared to other age groups. While many clinicians feel confident addressing depression and anxiety in later life, suicide risk in older adults presents with some nuanced facets and can be difficult to detect.
In this session, you’ll gain a clear, evidence-based understanding of suicide in aging populations and learn practical assessment and intervention strategies you can apply immediately in your clinical work, including how to:
- Recognize key risk and resilience factors associated with suicide in older adulthood
- Conduct developmentally informed suicide risk and lethality assessments and incorporate safety planning strategies
Program Information
Objectives
- Describe the scope of suicide among older adults, including prevalence, risk, and resilience factors.
- Identify key components of suicide risk assessment for older adults, including the “5Ds” framework and commonly used screening and assessment tools.
- Apply effective lethality assessment and safety planning processes when working with older adult clients.
Outline
- The continuum of suicidal behaviors
- Epidemiology of suicide in general and specific to older adults
- Key issues regarding suicide and aging, including general risk and resilience factors
- Overview of the interpersonal theory of suicide and application to older adults
- The “5Ds” of suicide risk assessment for older adults
- Assessment tools and strategies
- Lethality assessment and safety planning
- Limitations of the research and potential risks
- Q&A
Target Audience
- Counselors
- Social Workers
- Psychologists
- Psychiatrists
- Marriage and Family Therapists
- Addiction Counselors
- Other Mental Health Professionals
Copyright :
03/12/2026
Death Anxiety and Psychological Wellbeing
Death is a taboo topic, and death anxiety along with it.
Yet death anxiety is increasingly recognized as a transdiagnostic factor that’s related to a wide range of mental health problems -
And leaving it out of your clients’ treatment may limit the relief they can achieve.
In this session, Dr. Rachel Menzies – death anxiety expert and author of Free Yourself from Death Anxiety: A CBT-Self-Help Guide for a Fear of Death and Dying – will show you how to integrate practical strategies for addressing this largely unrecognized treatment target into your care framework. You’ll learn:
- How death anxiety shows up in disguised or indirect forms in older adults
- Evidence-based CBT interventions to reduce death anxiety so clients can focus on living
Program Information
Objectives
- Identify key theoretical accounts of death anxiety.
- Analyze the relationship between aging-related factors and death anxiety
- Utilize at least two evidence-based cognitive behavioural strategies to assess death anxiety in clinical practice
Outline
Death Anxiety
- Terror Management Theory and other frameworks
- Transdiagnostic construct
- Aging, mortality salience, and shifts in existential concerns
- Psychological responses to aging
- Implications for clinical practice with older adults
Assessment and Treatment of Death Anxiety
- How death anxiety manifests directly and indirectly in clinical settings
- Panic, health anxiety, and other common presentations
- Assessment considerations
- Evidence-based CBT interventions for death anxiety
- Integrate death anxiety work into existing treatment
- Limitations of the research and potential risks
Target Audience
- Counselors
- Social Workers
- Psychologists
- Psychiatrists
- Marriage and Family Therapists
- Addiction Counselors
- Other Mental Health Professionals
Copyright :
03/23/2026