Evidence-based presentations for your team. In person or live-online.

For over thirty years I have provided mental health education programs for agencies, professional associations, health authorities, groups of private practitioners, and members of the public.

My programs include the treatment of depression and anxiety disorders, communication skills training (based on The Assertiveness Workbook), private practice management, delayed transition to adulthood, mindfulness practice in therapy, group therapy technique, and the cultivation of the therapeutic alliance.

My focus in this work has been to teach the most well-supported strategies, rather than the latest trends. My niche, for the most part, is instruction in the fundamentals of therapy.

I provide both in-person programs (having taught across Canada, and in Australia, New Zealand, and Hong Kong), and live-online video programs. I have taught for dozens of health organizations and for training services such as Jack Hirose & Associates, PraxisCET (a division of New Harbinger Publications), the Australian Psychological Society, and Essential Therapy Training (in the UK).

On this page you can learn about the types of programs I offer and how to arrange a program for your own organization.

About my CE programs

You have a limited CE budget for your organization, and your clinicians have limited time. You want practical, evidence-based programs that provide your people with the tools they can use to make clients’ lives better. My goal is to provide those tools in an accessible, entertaining, and practice-focussed style. Learn more about specific programs below.

Programs for the public

In addition to my work for professional clinicians, I offer a variety of programs designed for the general public. These include the nature of depression, the difficulties of young adulthood, launching tips for parents, assertiveness skills in business and personal settings, stress management, personal goal-setting for success, and more. Contact me for more information, and to see if I can provide what your group is looking for.

  • HOST CHOICE!

    All programs are tailored to the needs of the audience. But don’t feel restricted by what you see here. If you have a topic in mind, let me know. It may be something that I can address but is not listed. And if I’m not a fit for the role I can often point you in the right direction. I know many of the prominent mental health educators in North America.

  • How to Treat Depression

    13 hours of instruction. Two full days, four half-days, or seven two-hour sessions. A program on conducting component-based individual therapy for depression using modules selected based on the factors present in the client's own life. Includes material on behavioural activation, lifestyle management, social life enhancement, meaning-based activity, cognitive approaches, and more. Participants receive over 40 pdf information handouts (over 200 pages in all) that they can select and provide to their own clients. Based in part on my book Your Depression Map. Available in live or live-online formats.

  • Group Therapy for Depression

    13 hours of instruction. Two full days, four half-days, or seven two-hour sessions. The Core Program is Canada's most widely-used depression group protocol, now in its third edition. Designed to be provided in eight to twelve sessions, this program includes modules on behavioural activation, lifestyle management, cognitive therapy, social life enhancement, and relapse prevention. Participants receive the complete 92-page Client Workbook, plus the 220-page Clinician's Guide, plus additional material. Available in live, live-online, and online-on-demand formats.

  • Exposure Therapy for Anxiety Disorders

    7 hours of instruction. One full day, two half-days, or four two-hour sessions. Exposure therapy is one of the most powerful CBT techniques of all, and forms the core of most anxiety treatment - yet most clinicians have little training in its use. This program provides specific guidance on each step of the process, from identifying the REAL fear to constructing a hierarchy to carrying out exposures in-session and out, to dealing with success and failure experiences. We consider special aspects of exposure for specific phobia, social anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, panic disorder, and agoraphobia. Participants receive full presentation slide handouts plus materials for use with clients. Available in live, live-online, and online-on-demand formats.

  • Assertiveness Training for Clinicians

    Various lengths, tailorable to sponsor's needs (most often 8 hours, but shorter programs can be constructed). Assertive communication is central to the success of virtually all relationships, and assertiveness training is a core component of CBT. It is a true clinical fundamental, but very few clinicians have training in its use. Why not learn from the guy who wrote the book? This program teaches clinicians how to present ideas discussed in The Assertiveness Workbook, and how to make the training experiential and effective. Participants receive full presentation slides plus a series of exercise handouts they can use with clients. Some hosts may also want to supply participants with copies of The Assertiveness Workbook, but the book is not essential for the course participants nor for their clients. Available in live and live-online formats.

  • Goal Setting That Works

    2 to 5 hours of instruction. No matter one's therapeutic orientation nor one's clients' concerns, goal setting is a part of almost every therapy. Behavioural activation, as it is often called, is a core component of the treatment of major depression. Almost any therapeutic task - exposure therapy, discussing an issue with a loved one, taking time for self-care, or working toward a career change - can be reconceived as essentially a goal-setting task. This program provides clinicians with concrete, actionable steps they can use to get the most impact from their goals work. Participants receive full presentation slide handouts plus materials for use with clients. Available in live, live-online, and online-on-demand formats.

  • How to Treat Failure to Launch

    Various lengths, best as a 6 hour presentation or series. Around the world, young people are finding it increasingly difficult to navigate the leap from dependent adolescence to independent adulthood. In extreme cases these individuals can become what in Japan are termed hikikomori - socially isolated shut-ins who seldom leave home, seek employment, or contribute to the household. Parents can be baffled at what appears to be a perfectly healthy young adult living very much the life of an invalid. This presentation describes the failure-to-launch phenomenon, its apparent causes, and the strategies that can be used to help young adults seize control of life and move forward. Participants receive presentation slide handouts plus resources that can be used with clients. Available in live, live-online, and online-on-demand formats.

  • Private Practice Made Simple

    2 to 6.5 hours of instruction. Perhaps half of all clinicians are in private practice, but managing one's own business is seldom taught in training programs. Based on my book of the same name, these presentations are tailored to the needs of the audience, and can also be structured as interactive coaching sessions. Topics can include defining your practice, finding and preparing office space, adopting client management software, managing finances, hiring admins, coping with CRA, getting referrals, handling record-keeping, avoiding burnout, and more. Available in live, live-online, and online-on-demand formats.

  • Launchpad Parenting: Helping Families Promote Adult Independence

    2, 3, or 4 hours. When young adults are delayed in their launch into responsible adulthood, it is often the parents who are the most distressed - and the most motivated to help things change. Fortunately, they have a very real role to play, and it can be very helpful to see them in therapy - whether or not the young adult comes along. Clinicians can help parents shift their caregiving from support for dependence to support for independence. Core concepts include intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation, addressing ambivalence over the end of childhood, and reducing the well-intentioned downsides to independence. Participants receive an extensive workbook they can use with parents in this situation. Available in live and live-online formats; an online-on-demand course intended for parents is also available.

  • How to Teach Diaphragmatic Breathing

    2 hours of instruction. Diaphragmatic breathing is perhaps the most basic relaxation skill, and the one most easily applied in stressful situations. It can be tremendously useful as an adjunct to exposure therapy - particularly if presented in a way that allows the client to open up to their anxiety rather than attempting to fend it off. An experiential program in which participants learn in part by doing. Available in live, live-online, and online-on-demand formats.

  • Process Made Simpler: Enhancing the Therapeutic Alliance

    3 to 6 hours, one session or several in series. Most CE training involves the application of particular techniques, but research is clear that it is the therapeutic alliance that accounts for most of the variability in client response. Many of the principles are troublingly vague. Be warm. Show empathy. Create a bond. These are all impressions to be cultivated in the mind of the client - they are not behaviours for the clinician to practice and perform. In this workshop or series we break down the elements of alliance-building into specific, discrete actions that can be learned and applied to enhance the impact of the work of therapy. Available in live and live-online formats.

  • One Hour: The Structure of a Therapy Session

    1.5 hours of instruction. The standard 50-minute therapy session is a container within which therapy is supposed to take place, but we seldom learn how to build that container. In this entertaining brief program, participants learn the basics of session structure - from waiting room to farewell, from agenda-setting to homework review, and everything in between. A useful set of concepts and touchstones for clinicians to help keep therapy on track and moving forward. Makes a great single-session training for beginner and intermediate clinicians alike. Available in live and live-online formats.

  • Cognitive Therapy Essentials

    3 to 6 hours, one session or several in series. Do we live in the real world? Cognitive therapy suggests not. We live in a world of ideas, assumptions, beliefs - in short, a world of story-telling. Sometimes the stories we tell about ourselves and the world are helpful and accurate. Sometimes they aren't. Cognitive therapy is all about seeing the distinction between external reality and the filtered and translated version we perceive, then rethinking our automatic appraisals to allow us to respond more effectively. This extremely practical workshop or series provides participants with metaphors, stories, and concepts with which to help clients learn and apply the basics of cognitive therapy. Participants receive complete presentation slide handouts, plus a series of explanatory handouts and exercise sheets for clients that can be used in therapy. Appropriate for experienced CBT clinicians and for those new to cognitive approaches. Available in live and live-online formats.

  • ... And More!

    Additional programs are available and can be constructed to meet the needs of specific groups. For example, I have provided a six-day training program on basic cognitive behaviour therapy skills, introductory programs on the nature of CBT, one and two-day programs on assertiveness skills, and programs focussed on the nature and treatment of various anxiety disorders.