Therapy on the Cutting Edge

In this episode, Eli discusses how his background in working in one clinic treating children with anxiety, and another clinic treating significant childhood behavioral problems, lead him to develop his program SPACE. Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE) has been found to reduce childhood anxiety at the same levels as a course of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for children by working directly with the parents. He discusses how the previous thinking was that children who are not willing to do CBT were not going to be able to benefit from therapy, and yet for behavioral problems there were treatments that were effective by working only with the parents. He found that treatment for childhood anxiety was based on methods for adults, but was leaving out the important distinction that children look to their parents for help in coping with anxiety provoking situations. This lead him to develop a treatment that focused on parents changing behaviors in order to not accommodate anxiety, using support as well as communication, and disengaging from the anxiety process in a loving way. Eli Lebowitz, Ph.D. is the Director of the Program for Anxiety Disorders at the Yale Child Study Center, creator of SPACE (a parent-based treatment program for child and adolescent anxiety and related disorders), as well the author of Treating Childhood and Adolescent Anxiety: A Guide for Caregivers with Haim Omer and Breaking Free of Child Anxiety and OCD: A Scientifically Proven Program for Parents, his most recent published work. Dr. Lebowitz's research focuses on the development, neurobiology, and treatment of anxiety with a focus on cross-generational and family influences.

In this episode, Kaethe discusses the history of developing her conceptualization of four witness positions, and how witnessing effects people differently depending on their sense of empowerment/disempowerment and awareness. She discusses how she submitted her book, Common Shock: Witnessing Violence Every Day, two days before 9-11 and editors had difficulty understanding the ideas. By September 13, they deeply understood the experience of witnessing. She discusses the development of her Witness-To-Witness (W2W) Program, and how it has supported professionals working with adults and children in various stages of the immigration process who suffered as a result of many policies. Her social justice and larger systemic work helps lawyers, clinicians, childcare workers, and a multitude of other service providers working with people made vulnerable by national, state and local policies. Her work creates Reasonable Hope. Kaethe Weingarten, Ph.D., is the director of the Witness to Witness (W2W) Program for Migrant Clinicians Network. Dr. Weingarten’s work focuses on the development and dissemination of a witnessing model. One prong of the work is about the effects of witnessing violence and trauma in the context of domestic, inter-ethnic, racial, political and other forms of conflict. She has published numerous articles, chapters, essays, and books, including her book, Common Shock: Witnessing Violence Every Day, and serves on the editorial boards of five professional journals. She has taught and spoken in numerous contexts in the United States and internationally, as well as founded and directed the Program in Families, Trauma and Resilience at the Family Institute of Cambridge.

In this episode, Russell talks about his career in the field of ADHD, and his involvement in a task force seeking to address ADHD, Inattentive Subtype, a separate disorder other than ADHD itself. He discusses Sluggish Cognitive Tempo, and the hypoactive nature, which is very different from the hyperactive and impairment in impulsivity. Russell explains that rather than being overly engaged with the environment, children, adolescents, and adults with SCT are disengaged from the environment, and often find themselves preoccupied with internal thought and experience. He discusses his experience helping families and children with ADHD, and his new book, 12 Principals for Raising a Child with ADHD. Russell Barkley, Ph.D. is the author of 12 Principals for Raising a Child with ADHD among several other works about ADHD and defiance in children and adolescents, and ADHD adults. Dr. Barkley retired as a Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology from the University of Massachusetts Medical Center and subsequently worked as a Professor of Psychiatry and Health Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina. He is currently a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center. Dr. Barkley continues to lecture widely and develop continuing education courses for professionals on ADHD and related disorders, as well as consult on research projects, edit The ADHD Report, and write books, reviews, and research articles.

In this episode, Laura discusses her career path and her own struggles with bipolar disorder and addiction, and her integration of the 12 Steps and evidence-based therapy such as CBT & DBT. She explains how the Big Book of AA was written many years ago, and that Bill W.'s original intent was that individuals would be getting therapy alongside doing the twelve steps. She explained how she is currently writing a book that goes through each step of the 12 steps, and DBT skills to enhance the step work to help those in recovery gain the benefits of evidence-based tools. Laura Petracek, Ph.D. is a clinician psychologist, speaker, and the author of the Anger Workbook for Women: How to Keep Your Anger from Undermining Your Self-Esteem, Your Emotional Balance, and Your Relationships. Dr. Petracek has over 30 years of experience, specializing in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and other evidence-based therapies for alcohol/substance use, mood disorders, and anger dyscontrol issues. Her other areas of expertise are working with children and adolescents with ADHD, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Autism Spectrum Disorders, and other learning disabilities. She is also a past clinician at San Quentin Federal Prison, and currently in the process of writing the book Pain is Inevitable; Suffering is Optional: Dialectical Behavioral Skills for Alcoholics & Addicts.

In this episode, Veronique discusses her career path and her experiences as an African-American woman and how it has influenced her career as a clinical psychologist. She discusses the innovative work being done at the Carl B. Metoyer Center for Family Counseling to help previously incarcerated parents transition through the re-entry process, and to rebuild relationships within the faily system. She highlights the importance of working with the whole family unity through this process, including the parents, children, and caregivers. Veronique and I also discuss training issues such as multicultural awareness, and the importance of validation, non-defensiveness, and being open to feedback. Veronique Thompson, Ph.D. is a tenured faculty at the Wright Institute in Berkeley and the Clinical Director at the Carl B. Metoyer Center for Family Counseling, East Oakland. There she and her colleagues are piloting a program, the Umoja Reentry Family Unity Project, to support families with formerly incarcerated parents. She has experience working with adults and families, as well as adolescent status offenders, and her theoretical orientation combines developmental, systems, social justice therapy, and narrative therapy perspectives. Dr. Thompson is a past teaching associate for the University of California, Berkeley in general psychology and minority mental health, as well as a fellow in the Berkeley Teacher Training Program. In addition to her work mentioned above, she also maintains a private practice.

In this episode, Shawn discusses his work with families with transgender/non-binary/gender diverse youth. In discussing his career, he talks about the process of coming out as a transgender man, and his personal experience in the professional community of clinicians. He explains how the bulk of his work in training clinicians and assisting families is helping them examine how they think about their own gender, and becoming aware of how one knows what his, her or their gender is. He also discusses his work with families and transgender youth, and the issues that lead him to create the Gender Health Institute in order to provide training to clinicians who were seeking more competency in working with trans clients. Shawn Giammattei, PhD is the founder and director of the Gender Health Training Institute and the TransFamily Alliance, and contributor to the edited book, The Gender Affirmative Model: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Supporting Transgender and Gender Expansive Children. Shawn also has a clinical practice specializing in trans young people and their families, and couples therapy. Shawn teaches at Alliant International University in California, School of Professional Psychology and helped develop the Rockway Institute's LGBTQ Human Services Certificate, as well as being the first to teach a semester long Transgender Mental Health course for Psychology graduate students. Shawn does ongoing research in collaboration with Kaiser Permanente and Emery University, doing consultation on issues in trans health.

In this episode, Dossie describes her latest endeavor where she and her colleague have been leading six-week group workshops for survivors of sexual abuse, as well as six-week groups for sexual violence offenders. Among many topics, she discusses the need for broader open communication about sex, consent, and the nuances of working with sexual violence transgressors. Dossie also discusses her work with individuals in open, polyamorous, and BDSM relationships, and the concepts of attachment, consent, communication, and healing aspects of BDSM. ​ Dossie Easton, LMFT is the author of The Ethical Slut: A Practical Guide to Polyamory, Open Relationships & Other Adventures, as well as four other books on various aspects of BDSM, sex, and relationships, all co-authored by Janet W. Hardy. Dossie is also a licensed marriage and family therapist in the San Francisco Bay Area, specializing in working with trauma survivors. She works iwth alternative sexualities and open relationships, and serves the polyamorous, gender-diverse, and LGBTQ communities. She is also a speaker on the topic of cultural competency with couples and individuals in the BDSM community. Recently, she has been running separate six-week groups for survivors, and transgressors of sexual abuse called Navigating Consent: Helping Build a More Consensual Future.

In this episode, Lynn discusses her work with children and families, and how she developed her approach that integrates family systems, hypnosis, and cognitive behavioral therapy. She discusses working with children and adolescents with anxiety, and how she focuses on the pattern, and helping the clients to see how they are "doing the disorder", and interrupt that pattern, as opposed to focusing on the content of the anxiety. She identifies what skills the family is needing, and helps them develop those to not let worry and anxiety run the family. Lynn Lyons, LICSW is a psychotherapist, author, and speaker with a special interest in interrupting the generational patterns of anxiety in families. Lynn is the co-author with Reid Wilson of Anxious Kids, Anxious Parents and the companion book for kids Playing with Anxiety: Casey's Guide for Teens and Kids. She is the author of Using Hypnosis with Children: Creating and Delivering Effective Interventions and has two DVD programs for parents and children. Lynn also hosts her own podcast, FlusterClux, where she helps parents and families with anxiety. She is in private practice in Concord, New Hampshire where she sees families, and she speaks regularly to parent groups, schools, and clinicians.

In this episode, Dr. Walser talks about her career and how it lead her to becoming interested in, and becoming a researcher and author in the Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT) Approach. Robyn discusses how ACT resonated with her, and how she has gone on to develop the approach in working with clients with PTSD. She discusses the concepts of ACT, gives an example of the "chessboard metaphor", and talks about her current work in the area of moral injury, and discusses her recent publications. Robyn also talks about her application of ACT to couples therapy. Robyn Walser, Ph.D. is Director of TL Consultation Services and co-director of the Bay Area Trauma Recovery Center and staff at the National Center for PTSD, Dissemination and Training Division. As a licensed psychologist, she maintains an international training, consulting and therapy practice. She is an expert in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and has co-authored 6 books on ACT including The Heart of ACT: Developing a Flexible, Process-Based, Client Centered Practice Using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and The ACT Workbook for Anger. She also has expertise in traumatic stress and substance abuse and has authored a number of articles, chapters and books on these topics.

In this episode, Jaqueline Persons, Ph.D. discusses conducting research in private practice and contributing to the scientific literature. One important way clinicians can contribute to research is by She explains the importance studying of using data from practice settings to examine the role of cultural and other diversity in the treatment process, as many research studies have a lack of cultural diversity in the populations being studied. Dr. Persons values evidence based treatment and as the director of the Oakland Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Center, works with her team to collect data, study the process and research outcome of treatment, and publish their findings in scientific journals. She discusses her career in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and her work around individualizing Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for clients. Dr. Persons talks about the importance of studying whether the evidence -based practices are fitting for clients of nondominant cultures, and really understanding and connecting with clients to find a treatment that works for them. Jacqueline B. Persons, Ph.D. is the director of the Oakland Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Center and works with clients using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Dr. Persons is author of the book, The Case Formulation Approach to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and has published numerous articles and two other books. Additionally, she is the past president of the Association for Behavioral and of Cognitive Behavioral Therapists, is a clinical professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and has published a video series through the American Psychological Association in which she and her co-authors teach the basic skills of of clinicians to learn Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.