Amanda is a Registered Social Worker in Ontario and a certified Compassion Fatigue Specialist
with over 15 years of experience. Her private practice is based out of Ottawa, where she
offers psychotherapy and consulting services while specializing in supporting helping
professionals prevent and recover from stress related issues as a result of their caregiving
roles. Amanda has been featured as a speaker and trainer for over 500 professional and
conference groups. Using an experiential based delivery approach, Amanda applies wellness
concepts to “real life” work and personal situations. She teaches self-enhancing tools and
strategies that can improve collective and individual health.

Helping professionals are drawn to their work because they get a great deal of satisfaction
providing compassionate care to those they serve. Helpers know there are many rewards and
joys that come with the job, but they also become aware of the emotional and psychological
costs of caring. This is often referred to as compassion fatigue, and if you are a helper then
you’ve probably already heard the term. So how do we do this work in a compassionate way
but also protect our psychological well-being? In this workshop we begin with identifying risk
factors and warning signs of compassion fatigue and then we explore strategies to revitalize compassion
in both our personal and professional lives to protect our well-being while we continue to help others.

Join via this zoom link!

Bruce Tobin, Ph.D has maintained a private practice in psychotherapy for 40 years in Victoria, BC, as a Registered Clinical Counsellor and also as a Registered Psychologist in the NWT, specializing in the treatment of anxiety, depression, and emotional trauma. Dr. Tobin taught Expressive Therapies at the University of Victoria for 25 years, and was a member of the Graduate Faculty. He is the founder of TheraPsil, a non-profit humanitarian organization devoted to patient advocacy and assessment, and to professional training in psychedelic psychotherapy.

This presentation summarizes recent research using psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy in treatment of anxiety, depression, addiction, PTSD and pain. It will outline clinicians’ ethical responsibility to provide psilocybin treatment under certain circumstances, and will describe patients’ Charter of Rights & Freedoms-based right to access psilocybin for medical use. Dr. Tobin recently provided Canada’s first six legal treatments using the psychedelic substance psilocybin for palliative cancer patients suffering from end-of-life distress. He will describe his patients, their treatment sessions and outcomes, and share his own clinical impressions and personal learning. There will be ample opportunity for participant questions and discussion.

Connect via this Zoom link!

Jennifer Kim Penberthy, Ph.D., ABPP is the Chester F. Carlson Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, where she conducts research, teaches, and provides clinical care. Dr. Penberthy provides clinical treatment to patients in Psychiatry and the University of Virginia Emily Couric Clinical Cancer Center and also works with the Clinician Wisdom & Wellbeing program to mentor physicians and health care workers at UVA and nationally. She is the Associate Director of the Clinician Wellness Program and is a Fellow of Humanism in Medicine at the University of Virginia. She is Co-Director of the Effective Communication and Coping Skills for Physicians Continuing Medical Education Program at UVA and is on the UVA Diversity Consortium and past chair of APA Division 12 Diversity Committee. She is on the advisory committee for the American Psychological Association Continuing Education Committee and a fellow in the APA Leadership Institute for Women in Psychology and the president-elect of the American Psychological Association Society of Clinical Psychology. She is past-president of the International CBASP Society and a founding member of the CBASP Training Program. She has published extensively and lectures internationally about physician and clinician wellness, and psychotherapy, specifically for persistent depressive disorders. Her most recent books include ”Persistent Depressive Disorders” and “Living Mindfully Across the Lifespan: An Intergenerational Guide,” which was co-authored with her daughter.

Liliane Sayegh, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist and researcher who worked at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute in Montreal, Quebec, Canada for 30 years and is assistant professor at McGill University’s department of psychology. Dr. Sayegh retired from the Douglas Institute in June 2021 but is re-hired part-time at the Bipolar Disorders Clinic of the Douglas Institute to help during these difficult times. She specializes in mood disorders (unipolar depression and bipolar disorders) and is an accredited psychotherapist in CBASP for depression and in Kernberg’s Transference-Focused Psychotherapy for personality disorders. She published with Dr. Penberthy the therapist’s and patient’s manuals adapting CBASP for group therapy. She also published her research on the effectiveness of Group CBASP using the published manualized treatment and also most recently published a pilot study exploring the effectiveness of Group CBASP for bipolar depression. She lectured and trained graduate students and professionals in CBASP in Montreal and internationally and is the current secretary of the International CBASP Society.

Persistent depression is one of the most challenging psychological disorders to treat and traditional therapies and pharmacotherapies have provided only limited ability to provide full recovery for these patients. This workshop provides an introduction to the theory and practice of the Cognitive Behavioral Analysis System of Psychotherapy (CBASP), an evidenced-based third-wave psychotherapy for persistent depression, which has been found to be especially effective for persons with early trauma. This workshop will introduce the theory of CBASP, the three major treatment strategies, and hands-on practice and role-play with the major techniques of CBASP as applied in a group format. CBASP is designed to address interpersonal avoidance and teach coping skills by promoting felt safety with the therapist and increasing the patient’s ability to recognize and begin to change the consequences of their behaviour on others (interpersonal mindfulness).

Register for this event here!