Today we are joined by Dr. Joe Ruzek, a clinical psychologist and former Director of the National Center for PTSD Dissemination and Training Division. Dr. Ruzek recently published a book on group therapies for PTSD and shares his findings and innovations with Jenna and Carin. We discussed the unique benefits of group therapies, more flexible ways of measuring progress, and future directions. As always, we wrap up with Actionable Intel; Dr. Ruzek provides listeners with numerous tips and resources to hone skills in group therapy.

Calls-to-action:

• Get busy running groups! Find a trusted colleague who wants to run a group on any topic. It will help you develop your skills in structuring groups, setting an agenda, and managing group dynamics, regardless of the topic.
• Visit the National Center for PTSD website to access many free resources on trauma-focused care, including group treatments. www.ptsd.va.gov
• Learn an evidence-based treatment for PTSD. Once you have developed competence and familiarity with the approach, consider implementing it in group format.
• Subscribe to the Practical for Your Practice Podcast
• Subscribe to The Center for Deployment Psychology Monthly Email

As behavioral health providers, many of us receive training, and are well positioned to help people after a disaster or traumatic event. But what do you do in situations of ongoing threat, ongoing stress and adversity perhaps lasting months or years? In this episode, we are joined by the amazing Dr. Patricia Watson, a psychologist at the National Center for PTSD, who walks us through the incredibly versatile Stress First Aid (SFA) model to include its essential elements, relationship to the stress continuum model, as well as core actions to take based on the type and severity of stress injury. From military members to fire fighters, law enforcement to EMS, harm reduction workers to healthcare workers, this model will help YOU help reduce stress reactions for those who need it most. Come hear the origin stories for both SFA AND Dr. Watson’s career. You won’t want to miss it.

Calls-to-action:

Review CDP Presents webinar recording on SFA and resources

Subscribe to the Practical for Your Practice Podcast

Subscribe to The Center for Deployment Psychology Monthly Email

In this episode of Practical for your Practice we are joined by motivational interviewing maven and one of our USU colleague besties, Dr. Abby Diehl, who challenges us to become more aware of our righting reflex - or our tendency, as behavioral health providers, to become problem detectors who offer immediate solutions to eradicate said problem(s). Sometimes easier said than done when one tries to operate in the larger (quick) “fix it” culture many of us find ourselves in. Her advice? Shut your mouth and open your ears and listen to understand. You might just be surprised how just being with people and deeply listening can lead to deeper connection and ultimately profound change. You’ll definitely want to keep your ears open for this not to miss episode.

Calls-to-action:

Take an upcoming CDP Motivational Interviewing workshop

Subscribe to the Practical for Your Practice Podcast

Subscribe to The Center for Deployment Psychology Monthly Email

Leave us a message on Speakpipe: https://www.speakpipe.com/cdpp4p

One of the most common co-morbid conditions with many of the disorders treated by mental health providers is substance-use disorder (SUD). And while many of us as providers are trained in evidence-based psychotherapies for disorders such as PTSD, MDD, GAD, Primary Insomnia, etc, many of us are not as well trained regarding how to manage or treat co-morbid SUD. Research demonstrates that concurrent treatment of the primary condition and co-morbid SUD has the highest likelihood of positive treatment outcomes. Join us as our guest, Dr. Mark Campanile, discusses medication assisted therapies for SUD and incorporating concurrent treatments for dual diagnosis cases in a Veterans Affairs clinic.

Calls-to-action:

Subscribe to the Practical for Your Practice Podcast

Subscribe to The Center for Deployment Psychology Monthly Email

Treatment of nightmares is an evolving field. Today we’re joined by Dr. Shantel Fernandez Lopez, who introduces us to a treatment option for youth. Exposure, Relaxation, and Rescripting Therapy (ERRT) is one of the evidence-based treatments for nightmares. Though it was originally developed for adults, modifications have been made for use with children and adolescents. As one of the treatment developers, Dr. Fernandez Lopez walks us through those evolutions and shares examples of ERRT in practice….including how to use Scooby Snacks to reclaim good sleep!

Calls-to-action:

Visit CBT Nightmares Web to complete a free training on CBT for Nightmares (CBT-N).

Subscribe to the Practical for Your Practice Podcast

Subscribe to The Center for Deployment Psychology Monthly Email

Medication-Assisted Treatment may be intimidating, but it can also be life-saving for clients who are facing withdrawal from opioid or alcohol dependency. Today we’re joined by Catherine Perri, Clinical Director of the Ripple Ranch. Catherine provides us with a crash course in understanding what MAT is, addressing the stigma associated with dual diagnoses, and the goal of utilizing MAT in conjunction with evidence-based psychotherapies to treat “the whole person.”

Calls-to-action:

• Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration’s website for a wealth of resources and unbiased recommendations: https://www.samhsa.gov/
• Learn more about the services available at The Ripple Ranch. https://rippleranch.com/
• Check out CDP’s free resources on motivational interviewing and motivational enhancement skills: https://deploymentpsych.org/Clinical-Skills-Resources
• Research and connect with MAT providers in your area. Collaboration is critical in this subfield.
• Subscribe to the Practical for Your Practice Podcast
• Subscribe to The Center for Deployment Psychology Monthly Email

Eating disorders often have a “bad rap” as being intractable, difficult to treat, and dangerous. There is a wide range of eating disorders, each with their own unique features and challenges. And to make matters more complicated, many mental health providers do not receive focused training on how to treat these disorders, oftentimes leading to reticence to engage, worried that we’ll say or do the wrong thing. Fortunately there is an effective evidence-based psychotherapy for eating disorders–CBT-E (The E is for “Enhanced”). While CBT-E shares a lot of common ground with other standard CBT therapies, there are some distinct differences and enhancements that address the unique psychological challenges clients with eating disorders face. Join us with Dr. Suzanne Straebler, psychologist and expert in treating eating disorders, as she discusses CBT-E, its general components, and how you can receive focused training to treat these disorders.

Calls-to-action:

1. Screen patients for eating disorders – A brief 5-question screener can be found at – https://eatingdisorderscreener.org/ (*This screener may miss individuals with Binge Eating Disorder. Don’t avoid asking questions about one’s view of their shape and weight and comfort with their current eating habits).
2. Check your own weight bias and stigma and consider how it may impact your views on who can have an eating disorder and its impact on treatment of individuals of all body shapes and sizes– some information can be found here - https://nedc.com.au/eating-disorders/eating-disorders-explained/weight-stigma
3. Eating disorders are treatable with well implemented evidence-based treatments – find out more about one of these treatments, CBT-E, here – https://www.cbte.co/
4. Consider registering for and attending an upcoming CBT-E workshop at CDP. You can find upcoming training opportunities here – https://deploymentpsych.org/training .
5. Like what you’re hearing? Like this episode, subscribe to the podcast, and share with others!

Do you have questions for our hosts? Feedback from prior episodes? Want to share your own “What Is Your Why?” story? Join us on Aug 13, 2024 from 1000-1200 EDT for our first-ever “Live” episode of Practical For Your Practice. Call us at 301-715-8592, code: 4878058925# to talk to our hosts live. Or if you can’t make it at that time, leave us a voicemail message at https://speakpipe.com/cdpp4p or an email at [email protected]. While the episode will not be broadcast/streamed live, we will record, edit, and include the discussion in our final episode of the season. Come join the conversation!

Always been curious about working with the National Guard or Reserves? In this not-to-miss episode we sit down with CDP’s own Jennifer Nevers who not only serves as an integral team member of the Star Behavioral Health Providers Program (SBHP) that aims to expand the availability of high-quality behavioral health services, especially for those in the reserve components BUT Jennifer is also a Major in the Indiana Army National Guard serving as a Behavioral Health Officer (BHO). Jennifer shares her “WHY” with us, both why she chose to join the National Guard as well as why she’s passionate about improving access and quality of care for this population. Come hear about some of the unique opportunities and challenges of serving in the reserve component as well as actionable intel that includes amazing free resources to support YOUR work to include the SBHP program.

Calls-to-action:

• Opt-in to receive training updates from the Start Behavioral Health Providers Program: SBHP Training Opt-In | Center for Deployment Psychology
• Learn About Military Culture | Center for Deployment Psychology
• Take the Self Awareness Exercise | Center for Deployment Psychology
• Subscribe to the Practical for Your Practice Podcast
• Subscribe to The Center for Deployment Psychology Monthly Email

Working with clients with suicidal thoughts and behaviors is one of the more difficult and challenging aspects of being a behavioral health provider. This is perhaps even more so when the client is a child or adolescent. An important, and sometimes overlooked, aspect of working with suicidal youth is working with and supporting their caregivers–moms, dads, grandparents, whoever may be primarily responsible for their care. How can we best support them while they are dealing with the scary unknown territory of suicide risk management for their child? At at time when almost 20% of high school students report suicidal ideation in the past year, and 10% report a suicide attempt in the same time period, join us for this vital discussion about caregiver care after youth self-directed violence.

Calls-to-action:

• Check out the resources Dr. Arango mentioned in the episode.
• Watch Dr. Arango’s CDP Presents Webinar: “Social Connectedness and Youth Suicide Prevention” July 11, 2024

Leave the P4P team a voicemail with your reactions, questions, requests for topics or guests, or anything else you’d like to share. We want to hear from you! Drop us a line at speakpipe.com/cdpp4p.

On this episode, Carin and Kevin are joined by long-time host and Friend of CDP, Dr. Andy Santanelllo. Andy has been focused on dissemination and implementation science through The ACT Academy, and returns to the P4P Podcast to share ideas about how we can deliver EBPs more consistently and competently. His suggestions are not just aspirational or “fanciful,” but rather small tweaks that we can make to existing training, supervision, and consultation efforts. Join us as we catch up with Andy and discuss ways to merge cutting-edge science with practical applications for learners, instructors, supervisors, consultants, and everyone in between.

Calls-to-action:

• Include more “doing” and “real plays” in your training, supervision, and consultation.
• Frequently provide informed consent in experiential learning to keep the learning environment safe and professional.
• Ask for more experiential practice from your instructor or consultant
• Did you like this episode? Is there a topic you want us to cover on CDP’s P4P? Give us your feedback at www.speakpipe.com/cdpp4p
• Subscribe to the Practical for Your Practice Podcast
• Subscribe to The Center for Deployment Psychology Monthly Email