Dr. Elana Spira, WJCS Director of Research and Evaluation, will review diagnostic features of ADHD, focusing on variations across different subtypes and developmental periods, along with evidence-based guidance for assessment and intervention across the lifespan.
Losses are ever-present in our lives, yet those that don’t involve death are often overlooked by clients, clinicians, and communities. Join us and deepen your grief-informed practice by considering the many ways your clients experience loss. This training clarifies core concepts such as Ambiguous Loss and Disenfranchised Grief and examines real-world examples across a broad spectrum of client experiences (including trauma, adoption, foster care, divorce, estrangement, immigration, deportation, forced migration, incarceration, brain injury, mental illness, developmental disabilities, gender and sexuality, aging, and caregiving). You will learn practical intervention strategies and principles for working with clients facing ambiguous losses and disenfranchised grief.
Enrollment Limited To: 20 Contact Hrs: 1.5 CEUs: 1.5 Method: Lecture Learning Objectives: Participants will learn the origins of peer support. Participants will learn the nature of the role and how it intersects with other roles in mental health clinics. Participants will learn the aspects of a recovery-oriented culture. Instructor: Jeremy M. Reuling, LCSW, NYCPS, CPRP Location: Zoom Cost for non-WJCS staff: $75 CLICK HERE TO REGISTER Westchester Jewish Community Services is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0101, and by the New York ...
The Annual 2025 WJCS Kurz Conference will explore how digital environments influence the mental health and emotional development of adolescents and young adults. While technology offers connection and creativity, it can also intensify stress, loneliness, and self-comparison. A focus will be the relationship between screen time, social media use, and mental well-being, with a focus on mental health, self-esteem, and identity development.
Dates & Times: 11/4/25 9-11am & 12/2/25 9-11am Enrollment Limited to: No limit Contact Hrs: 4 CEU’s: 4 Have you ever been uncomfortable discussing something sensitive with a client? In this two-part course, clinicians will learn how to engage in difficult conversations with their clients. The first session will cover general background on client- and therapist-interfering thoughts and behaviors that get in the way of approaching difficult conversations. We will use concepts from DBT and a framework for working with “resistance” and getting “unstuck.” The second session will focus more on practical application in the form ...
A Psychiatric Advance Directive (PAD) is an instruction to be followed when a person isn’t able to make decisions regarding her/his physical or mental health treatment. Learn your responsibilities and the rights of people who create a PAD. Learn to use a PAD as an empowering wellness tool.
This Introduction to Trauma-Informed Supervision is the required first step for supervisors in Westchester to become involved with Trauma-Informed Supervision work groups. This training will provide supervisor participants with a foundation in trauma and resilience as incorporated in their roles as supervisors, with particular attention to collective traumas and vicarious trauma.
Medications for Addiction Treatment (MAT): Clinical Strategies for Engagement, Selection, and Initiation
Tovah P. Klein, Ph.D., author of Raising Resilience and Director of the Barnard College Toddler Center and Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychology, will be the Keynote Speaker at the upcoming. WJCS Samuel Kahn Memorial Lecture. The lecture will take place on Wednesday May 14 from 1:30-2:30 pm via Zoom. Dr. Klein will focus on raising resilient children in an age of uncertainty. She will discuss how research on trauma and its impact on emotional and intellectual development, including her own findings, can help parents offset and even avoid damage that could derail their children’s future. The stressors and traumas could ...
This course brings real-world context to ethical concerns often experienced by professionals in practice in maintaining appropriate professional boundaries, including telehealth and social media domains. This course will provide a framework to contemplate ethical dilemmas and make informed decisions that insulate professionals from legal liability while protecting clients from harm.
This course brings real-world context to ethical concerns often experienced by professionals in practice in maintaining appropriate professional boundaries, including telehealth and social media domains. This course will provide a framework to contemplate ethical dilemmas and make informed decisions that insulate professionals from legal liability while protecting clients from harm.
This training will provide an overview of these various substances comprising this category of drugs, their intoxication and withdrawal symptoms, and co-occurring mental health and physical health concerns. Participants will also gain an understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms underlying stimulant use, the clinical presentation of stimulant use disorders, and effective evidence-based treatment approaches to address stimulant use disorders.
This workshop is designed for persons who have completed an introductory training and have begun to utilize the Motivational Interviewing model in their practice. This training will help participants to further develop MI skills and strategies beyond the basics in a supportive and challenging environment.
This workshop introduces participants to the research base, foundational spirit and basic strategies of Motivational Interviewing (MI). Motivational Interviewing is one of the most heavily researched interventions in the fields of addiction, behavioral health, and medicine.
Participants will learn about the essential components of OST and how to use the published treatment manual to address their clients’ organizational difficulties.
Behavioral addictions include gambling, sex addiction, internet gaming disorder, shopping addiction and food addictions, however the DSM-5-TR only recognizes gambling and internet gaming addiction within this category.
Veterans have a unique set of needs, based on their experiences. This course will help participants to broaden their view of who veterans are, to identify the needs that grow out of the veteran experience, and to learn effective ways of working with them in community mental health.
Novel drugs are synthetic illicit drugs sometimes referred to as designer drugs and are often sold as legal, safe, nondrug products, frequently escaping regulation, resulting in delays in professionals and legislators recognizing their use and impacts.
It is estimated that 2%-6% of the population suffers from hoarding disorder. Across two sessions, this course will review the common mechanisms associated with the development of hoarding disorder as well as how to recognize, assess, and treat hoarding disorder. The course will also provide an overview of a newly developed eight-week specialty treatment program for hoarding disorder that can be effectively delivered both in office or via telehealth in standard length psychotherapy sessions.
This training will help providers to be more prepared for the challenges associated with providing treatment to such individuals. Providers will learn how to conduct an assessment of substance use, how to decide what level of treatment is appropriate for specific individuals, assess individuals’ readiness for change, apply evidenced-based approaches to increasing individuals’ motivation for change, assess the functional purposes and impacts of substance use, select and utilize appropriate treatments for individuals with co-occurring conditions, and help individuals reduce the impacts of relapse.
Enrollment Limited to: 20 Contact Hrs: 1.5 CEU’s: 1.5 This course will focus on using Judith Herman, MD’s three stages of trauma treatment. This course will explore the common factors of evidence-based trauma treatments including Trauma Focused-Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), Skills Training for Affective and Interpersonal Regulation-Narrative Story Telling (STAIR-NST) and Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT). We will also discuss common pre-treatment beliefs and assessment. The course will include lecture and case discussion. Method: Lecture, discussion Learning Objectives: Participants will learn how to identify at least one prerequisite for successful trauma treatment. Participants will learn about Dr. Herman’s stages of treatment ...
This session will provide an overview of various substances comprising the category of hallucinogens, their intoxication and withdrawal symptoms, and co-occurring mental health and physical health concerns.
Enrollment Limited to: 20 Contact Hrs: 1.5 CEU’s: 1.5 This course will focus on Frank Putnam MD’s conceptualization of dissociation. Participants will learn basic skills in how to identify dissociation, assess dissociation and treat people with dissociative disorders. The course will include lecture and case discussion. Method: Lecture, discussion Learning Objectives: Participants will learn how to identify dissociation. Participants will learn two theories about dissociation and how it emerges as a trauma coping skill. Participants will learn basic treatment concepts for work with people with dissociative disorders Instructor: Liane Nelson, Ph.D. Location: 141 N. Central Ave, Hartsdale ...
This course will explain the indications, practice, and outcomes of ECT in an effort to clarify and destigmatize ECT. Extensive research has found ECT to be highly effective for the relief of major depression. It is also used for other severe mental illnesses, such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
