Continuing Education

Post-conference Workshops in Ethics and Diversity

Thursday, October 19, 2023

Hyatt Place Riverwalk, 601 South St. Mary’s Street, San Antonio, TX 78205
3 CE credits and $75 each

 

8:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.: Diversity Workshop
“Implementation of Culturally Responsive, Trauma-Focused, Evidence-Based Psychotherapies” presented by Brittany N. Hall-Clark, PhD, and John C. Moring, PhD

1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.: Ethics Workshop
“Ethical Considerations for Working with Military Members” presented by Jeffrey Cook, PhD

 

More details on each workshop are available below.

“Implementation of Culturally Responsive, Trauma-Focused, Evidence-Based Psychotherapies”
3-Hour Diversity CE Credit Event

Thursday, October 19, 2023; 8:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. CDT

PRESENTED BY:

Brittany N. Hall-Clark, PhD; Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio; Consultant, National Center for PTSD Consultation Program

John C. Moring, PhD; Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

In order to effectively treat patients suffering from PTSD, it is essential to understand factors related to their identities, and how specific events may be traumatic or serve to reinforce maladaptive beliefs as a function of trauma. Some stressors may be specific to how individuals self-identify in terms of socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, language, nationality, political perspectives, sex, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, religion, disability, age, size, and other aspects of human experience. It remains important to gain a comprehensive understanding of past experiences, how these experiences may be a function of identity, cultural beliefs related to trauma, and the intersection of these factors to guide assessment and inform case conceptualization. Attendees will learn strategies to leverage cultural strengths to enhance culturally responsive assessment and treatment approaches, in the context of Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) and Prolonged Exposure (PE). Experiential activities will also serve to reinforce learned skills.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1.  Understand cultural differences that may be related to increased trauma exposure among marginalized communities.
2.  Learn cognitive and behavioral strategies to guide patients to develop more realistic and helpful perspectives regarding their trauma.
3.  Acknowledge cultural differences that affect the therapeutic relationship.

Dr. Brittany N. Hall-Clark is a Texas-licensed clinical psychologist. She obtained her PhD in Clinical Psychology at The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Hall-Clark completed a two-year fellowship with STRONG STAR, a multidisciplinary PTSD research consortium. She then became an Assistant Professor within the Division of Behavioral Medicine and the Department of Psychiatry at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. For eight years, she worked at STRONG STAR’s Ft. Hood site as a cognitive-behavioral research therapist for several randomized clinical trials focused on PTSD and related conditions in active duty military personnel and veterans. She has been certified as a Master Prolonged Exposure clinician. Currently, she works with the STRONG STAR Training Initiative as a Prolonged Exposure therapy consultant. In addition, she is part of the VA’s National Center for PTSD Consultation team. Dr. Hall-Clark is passionate about diversity and cultural sensitivity, evidenced by her focus on cultural factors in treatment, provision of diversity training to graduate students and continuing education for professionals, and culturally oriented publications and presentations. Her professional interests include translational research, cultural factors related to PTSD and other mental health issues, and racial trauma. Additional clinical specialties include trauma nightmares, insomnia, sleep, and anxiety. Dr. Hall-Clark also practices privately at InSight Psychology and Behavioral Health Services in Pflugerville, TX.

Dr. John C. Moring is a board-certified licensed clinical psychologist. He obtained his doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology at the University of Wyoming, his predoctoral internship at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and San Diego VA Healthcare System, and his two-year post-doctoral fellowship with STRONG STAR at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio). During fellowship, Dr. Moring served as an independent evaluator and study therapist, and implemented Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), CBT for Posttraumatic Headache (CBT-H), and Written Exposure Therapy (WET). After fellowship, he joined faculty at UT Health San Antonio within the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and has received two career development awards (NIH). His research has indicated a neurobiological component that is shared between PTSD and tinnitus. He has previously investigated the relationship between internalized heterosexism and psychological distress, decreased self-esteem, and maladaptive behaviors, including drug and alcohol use and risky sexual activity, as well as online interventions for HIV prevention among rural men who have sex with men (MSM). He has provided webinars for the STRONG STAR Training Initiative regarding how to tailor CPT for LGBTQIA+ populations.

“Ethical Considerations for Working with Military Members”
3-Hour Ethics CE Credit Event

Thursday, October 19, 2023; 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. CDT

PRESENTED BY:

Jeffrey Cook, PhD; Director of Training and Education, Center for Deployment Psychology, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

Mental healthcare providers working with military service members often face ethical challenges unique to this population. Personal and professional ethical practice is contingent upon effective application of personal and cultural morals as well as professional regulations and expectations. Decision-making models are presented to address ethical dilemmas, with specific discussion of the role of dual-relationships within a clinical framework. The topics of informed consent/limits of confidentiality, boundaries of cultural and clinical competence, disposition-driven diagnoses, multiple relationships, mixed agency and professional fitness are all discussed in breadth and depth in the context of practitioners working with military-connected clients. Special emphasis will be placed on outlining the differences in how certain issues are managed differently in military settings (e.g., limits of confidentiality). Multiple case vignettes are discussed in workshop/group format to ensure comprehensive, nuanced discussion.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
1.  Evaluate the definition of ethics and how it relates to the role of the mental health provider.
2.  Analyze six (6) ethical challenges common to mental health providers working with the military population.
3.  Apply knowledge of the ethical decision-making process to military case examples.

Dr. Jeff Cook is a clinical psychologist who has worked for the Center for Deployment Psychology (CDP) at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences for the past 10 years. Dr. Cook serves as Director of Training and Education for the CDP, and during his tenure there has provided training across a wide variety of topics, including clinic optimization, evidence-based psychotherapies (EBPs), common disorder/diagnoses in military populations, and ethical consideration for providers working with military-connected clients. The ethics-focused workshops that he has developed and delivered for CDP have educated a wide variety of audiences, including uniformed and government behavioral health providers as well as community providers working with service members, veterans, and their families. Dr. Cook served in the military for 23 years before retiring from active duty in 2009. After spending his first several years of service as an enlisted reconnaissance Marine and then as a Navy psychiatric technician, Dr. Cook was the first enlisted student selected for the Clinical Psychology doctorate program at the Uniformed Services University (USU). After completing his degree, he served as a Navy psychologist in a variety of locations, including Okinawa, Japan, aboard the aircraft carrier the USS George Washington, and on deployment to Fallujah, Iraq. In his final assignment, Dr. Cook served as the Department Head for the National Naval Medical Center’s Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury Program. In addition to providing training for CDP, Dr. Cook also directs a variety of the Center’s programs and activities with an emphasis on research, clinic optimization, dissemination and implementation of EBPs, and the support of the services’ psychological internship programs.