People experiencing psychosis may feel they are a passive victim of something going terribly wrong, and much of standard care for psychosis inadvertently reinforces this passivity, creating the belief that there are no options beyond trying medications, even though for many these are inadequate.
Effective therapy for psychosis is very different. It encourages curiosity about what is going on and provides hope that problems may shift as people experiment with other ways of making sense of and responding to their experience. With adequate help, people have a chance to recover control of their minds and their lives.
But it is not easy to competently provide therapy for psychosis, since the states of mind involved can be tricky or even bewildering, both for those experiencing it and for those wanting to help. Without adequate training, therapists may flounder or give up trying to work with these issues and experiences.
That’s why I’ve made it my mission to provide high quality training on therapy for psychosis. These trainings are based mostly on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for psychosis, since it is the most researched approach, with over 50 studies attesting to its effectiveness. And then to provide a more complete view of what is possible, my seminars also draw upon perspectives and methods taken from sources such as the Hearing Voices Movement, dialogical approaches, various trauma therapies, and Compassion Focused Therapy.
These trainings are informed by my experiences in the last couple decades working as a therapist specializing in psychosis. You can find out more about me, my work, and my experience as a trainer at this link.
“I appreciated today’s seminar very much in many dimensions—the depth, extent, and critical importance of the material and its implications for treatment on fundamental levels, and your combination of knowledge, compassion, and openness in the delivery.” – Bryan W. Rich, Ph.D., LMFT (More testimonials here.)
Training Options:
I offer engaging and affordable training to both individuals and to groups and agencies, both in person and online, and also with self-paced options. I also provide follow-up consultations to help insure that what is learned can be effectively put into practice.
Examples of topics for seminars I can provide include:
- An Overview of CBT for Psychosis: Dialogue and Collaborative Exploration
- Essential Elements of CBT for Psychosis: Engagement Style, Normalizing, & Developing a Formulation
- Paranoia and Troublesome Beliefs: A CBT Approach
- Voices, Visions, and Other Altered Perceptions: Changing Outcomes with CBT
- Trauma, Dissociation, and Psychosis: CBT and Other Approaches to Understanding and Recovery
- Addressing Spiritual and Cultural Issues Within Treatment for Psychosis
Training for groups and agencies:
I am available to travel to your location, or to offer training online. Please contact me to discuss possibilities: Email: 4ronunger@gmail.com Phone: 541-513-1811
Training for individuals:
I am currently offering a series of online seminars on various aspects of CBT for psychosis: you can sign up for the whole series or just the ones that most interest you. More information is available at this link.
I periodically offer seminars open to anyone interested, both online and in various locations in the US. Sign up here to be informed about those seminars when they are scheduled.
Another option is to take one or more of the self-paced online courses that I offer.
The first is “CBT for Psychosis, An Individualized, Recovery-Oriented Approach.” You can complete the course at your own pace, and you can go back and access any part of the course whenever you want. Use the link to get more information and/or to register.
A second online course is “ Working with Trauma, Dissociation, and Psychosis: CBT and Other Approaches to Understanding and Recovery.” Learn how to help people heal even after experiencing this complex intersection of problems!
The third course is “Spiritual Issues Within Treatment for Psychosis and Bipolar: Explore Spiritual and Existential Meaning That Can Be Found in “Madness,” and Pathways to Healing”
Discover ways to respect spiritual perspectives while also helping people consider alternatives to ways of framing and reacting to their experience that may be keeping them stuck.
Other Training Options:
You might want to also check out what training others are providing. I’ve put together this list of possible leads on that!
Additional Resources:
Lots of resources for learning more about CBT and other approaches to therapy for psychosis, many of them free, are listed here.