DBT for Neurodivergent Clients: Adapted Techniques to Improve Emotional Regulation and Interpersonal Skills in Clients with ADHD, ASD, and more!

CPD

Planning Committee Disclosure - No relevant relationships

All members of the PESI, Inc. planning committee have provided disclosures of financial relationships with ineligible organizations and any relevant non-financial relationships prior to planning content for this activity. None of the committee members had relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies or other potentially biasing relationships to disclose to learners.  For speaker disclosures, please see the faculty biography.

Handouts

Speaker

Hannah Smith, MA, LMHC, CGP Related seminars and products

Potential Finders Network, LLC

---

Hannah Smith, MA, LMHC, CGP, an author, business owner, and innovator, is a licensed mental health therapist and internationally board-certified group psychotherapist, consultant & clinical trainer with nearly 25 years of experience in her dual passions: helping others recover from multiple difficult life circumstances and improve their well-being and enhancing the knowledge of clinicians who work in the field of clinical care. With undergraduate degrees in hard sciences and master’s degrees in in special education and counseling psychology, she combines her knowledge in unique ways to analyze and synthesize difficult concept into "feet-to-the-pavement," practical applications for clinical practitioners at all levels. She has done extensive study and work in neuroscience-informed treatment of anxiety and trauma and is certified in interpersonal neurobiology through the Mindsight Institute. Her work experience, both in the US and abroad, has given her a unique perspective, cross-cultural awareness, sensitivity & respect, and a relatability that puts people at ease and makes her highly approachable. Her dynamic and thought-provoking, teaching style is invigorating, making learning fun, personal, and practical.

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Hannah Smith maintains a private practice and receives a speaking honorarium from Cascadia Training. She receives royalties as a published author. Hannah Smith receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Hannah Smith is a member of the American Group Psychotherapy Association, and the Washington Mental Health Counselors Association.

Additional Info

Access never expires for this product.

For a more detailed outline that includes times or durations of time, if needed, please contact cepesi@pesi.com

Objectives

1. Utilise modern-day empowering terminology and adaptive techniques to improve client engagement with neurodivergent (ND) populations.
2. Identify DBT structure and the difference between individual and group approaches and their associated skills for ND populations as related to clinical practice.
3. Examine typical hemispheric brain lateralisation biases & vertical blocks in information processing in ND brains to enhance mindfulness practice and improve client level of functioning.
4. Describe the neuroscience-informed process of naming emotions to raise awareness of places for volitional behavioural intervention in relation to assessment and treatment planning.
5. Recognise vertical blocks to somatic awareness and distress tolerance skills to provide more targeted therapeutic applications and improve treatment outcomes.
6. Evaluate cognitive structures (ROSE, DEAR MAN, etc.) to de-mystify interpersonal effectiveness for purposes of ND client psychoeducation.

Outline

Masking, ableism and more: a clinician’s guide to modern neurodivergence concepts

• Masking, sponging, ableism, and other key vocab/concepts
• Raising clinician competence with the wheel of neurodivergence
  • Identifying/articulating key aspects of neurodivergence
  • Essential therapeutic adaptations for neurodivergent populations
    • In individual practice
    • In group practice

Why neuroscience in DBT for the neurodiverse population – benefits & challenges

• Neuroscience-informed structure of the standard four modules
• Key features of each module
• Important difference between group and individual practice
• Liabilities, limitations & research

The problem of dialectics

• What are dialectics? What are they really?
• Contrasting neurodivergent & neurotypical brains for clarity, engagement & troubleshooting
• Modified, brain-based DBT as a solution

Awareness & adaptations in teaching mindfulness: finding the beacon in the storm

• The neuroscience of mindfulness
• The power of the present moment
• The mindful clinician & the neurodivergent brain

Regulating emotions for sensory overload - riding the mighty waves

• The macro & micro of emotions
• The process of naming & taming emotions
• Clarifying places for client-lead intervention

Neuroscience-informed strategies for distress tolerance & crisis management: from tempest to tranquility

• The rules of distress tolerance/crisis management
• Two types of distress & sensory overload
• Targeting awareness & skills

De-mystifying interpersonal effectiveness - “it’s not just social cuing”

• The 13 millisecond problem – vertical (amygdala & nervous system) blocks to interpersonal relations
• The neurodivergent brain-based need for structure, literality, logic, and more

Case studies & practical applications

Target Audience

• Social Workers
• Counsellors
• Psychologists
• Psychotherapists
• Addiction Counsellors
• Marriage & Family Therapists
• Psychiatric Nurses
• Psychiatrists
• Physicians
• Occupational Therapists
• Speech-Language Pathologists
• Other Mental Health Professionals