Upcoming Medical Conferences in Calgary

Current Obstetrical Management Seminars is organized by University of Calgary - Continuing Medical Education and Professional Development and will be held on Oct 25, 2019 at MacEwan Conference & Event Centre, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Who Should Attend: Family physicians, specialist physicians, physician assistants, midwives, registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, nurse practitioners, specialist allied health professionals, residents and students Course Overview: This program is intended to provide an opportunity to review and update your knowledge and management of normal and abnormal obstetrical cases. Issues with respect to newborn care, lactation, preconception care and planning, women’s mental health and postpartum management will also be covered. Course Objectives: • Employ up-to-date information about common and important clinical obstetrical issues • Apply up-to-date information in management of newborn care, lactation, preconception care and planning, women’s mental health and common postpartum issues • Facilitate the exchange of information and develop informal networks with other health professionals Additional details will be posted as soon as they are available.

Essential Strategies for Chronic Pain Management is organized by University of Calgary - Continuing Medical Education and Professional Development and will be held on Oct 28, 2019 at Richmond Road Diagnostic and Treatment Centre, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Credits: Mainpro+ Group Learning – 69.0 credits Day 1 – 24.0 credits Day 2 and Day 3 – 45.0 credits Day 1 MOC Section 3 – 28.5 credits Day 2 and Day 3 MOC Section 2 – 30.0 credits Who Should Attend: All Healthcare Providers including Physicians, Physician's Assistants, Nurse Practitioners, Registered Nurses, Pharmacists, Physical Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Psychologists, Social Workers, Nutritionists, Kinesiologists and Pain Researchers Description: Family physicians are responsible for the majority of the management of chronic pain. Day one of this course will be held in a classroom setting to provide an overview of key issues in chronic pain. Days two and three will be arranged as observership days, in conjunction with the Course Coordinator at the Chronic Pain Centre, and will provide a clinical preceptorship that responds to the needs of the individual learner. Objectives: • Gain sufficient knowledge of the physiological, anatomical and psychological mechanisms of pain to be able to explain it in plain language to patients • Know how to assess the biological, psychological and socio-economic aspects of pain • Acquire some useful tips for managing patients with chronic pain in a primary care setting; including communication skills, medication management and basic counselling skills • Become aware of the resources available in the community to support patients with chronic pain • Practice interviewing, physical examination and treatment skills. Additional details will be posted as soon as they are available.

Urgent Care Conference 2019 is organized by Urgent Care Conference Calgary and will be held on Nov 02, 2019 at Alberta Children's Hospital, Calgary, Alberta, Canada Accreditation: This Group Learning program has been certified by the College of Family Physicians of Canada and the Alberta Chapter for up to 6.5 Mainpro credits. Description: This one day conference is designed specifically for physicians, paramedics, nurse practitioners and nurses working in Urgent Care Centres. Residents, medical/nursing students and physicians/nurses working in rural emergency care will also benefit. Participants will have the opportunity to attend lectures, workshops and hands-on skill sessions applicable to an Urgent Care setting. A networking social event will cap off the day’s learning activities. Additional details will be posted as soon as information is available.​

CBT Strategies: Core Skills and Competencies to Treat Your Most Challenging Clients! is organized by Jack Hirose & Associates Inc and will be held on Nov 20, 2019 at Best Western Premier Calgary Plaza Hotel & Conference Centre, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Who Should Attend Clinical Professionals: All mental health professionals including, but not limited to Clinical Counsellors, Psychologists, Psychotherapists, Social Workers, Nurses, Occupational Therapists, Hospice and Palliative Care Workers, Youth Workers, Mental Health Workers, Addiction Specialists, Marital & Family Therapists, Speech Language Pathologists, Vocational Rehabilitation Consultants, School Counsellors, Behaviour Specialists, Rehabilitation Consultants, Geriatric Specialists, and all professionals looking to enhance their therapeutic skills. Description: Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is the most empirically supported therapeutic approach for multiple psychiatric disorders, and is widely considered the “gold standard” treatment for a variety of issues.  Most mental health professionals claim to do “some CBT,” but many clinicians in the trenches resort to a more “eclectic” approach and treatment often loses direction. Leave this 1-day intensive breakthrough course with international CBT expert Dr. Jeff Riggenbach with core competencies, transformed clinical skills, and an improved understanding of conceptualization based treatment that will ensure you never get stuck in therapy again. You will be able to utilize concrete strategies for helping your clients who suffer from: • Bipolar and depressive related disorders • Anger • Anxiety disorders • Personality Disorders Additional details will be posted as soon as they are available.

The Canadian Mental Health Summit: Advanced Interventions and Strategies For Frontline Professionals is organized by Jack Hirose & Associates Inc. and will be held from Nov 20 - 22, 2019 at Best Western Premier Calgary Plaza Hotel & Conference Centre, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Who Should Attend: Clinical Professionals: All mental health professionals including, but not limited to Clinical Counsellors, Psychologists, Psychotherapists, Social Workers, Nurses, Occupational Therapists, Hospice and Palliative Care Workers, Youth Workers, Mental Health Workers, Addiction Specialists, Marital & Family Therapists, Speech Language Pathologists, Vocational Rehabilitation Consultants, School Counsellors, Behaviour Specialists, Rehabilitation Consultants, Geriatric Specialists, and all professionals looking to enhance their therapeutic skills. Conference Overview: Day One: Wednesday, November 20, 2019 ANXIETY MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES Workshop 1-  Anxiety Management Techniques CBT STRATEGIES Workshop 2 - CBT Strategies: Core Skills and Competencies to Treat Your Most Challenging Clients! MINDFULNESS Workshop 3 - Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy ACCEPTANCE AND COMMITMENT THERAPY (ACT) Workshop 4 - Harnessing the Transformative Power of Mindful Acceptance and Commitment (ACT) DELAYS IN INDEPENDENCE Workshop 5 - Failure to Launch: Overcoming Delays in Independence Day Two: Thursday, November 21, 2019 EMDR Workshop 6 - Attachment-Focused EMDR: Basic Principles, Video Taped Demonstrations and “Resource Tapping” (Part 1 of 2) TRAUMA Workshop 7 - Post-Traumatic Growth: Leading Clients on a Journey of Resiliency and Healing DEPRESSION Workshop 8 - The 10 Best Ever Depression Management Strategies PERSONALITY DISORDERS Workshop 9 - Treatment and Management of Personality Disorders: The Challenge of the Hidden Agenda MOTIVATIONAL INTERVIEWING Workshop 10 - Advanced Motivational Interviewing (Part 1 of 2) Day Three: Friday, November 23, 2019 EMDR Workshop 11 – Attachment-Focused EMDR: Working with Adults Abused as Children (Part 2 of 2) DIALECTICAL BEHAVIOUR THERAPY (DBT) Workshop 12 - Dialectical Behaviour Therapy Skills Training for Mental Health Professionals MOTIVATIONAL INTERVIEWING Workshop 13 - Advanced Motivational Interviewing (Part 2 of 2) GRIEF Workshop 14 - Grief Therapy and Quest for Meaning ANXIETIES, PHOBIAS AND OCD Workshop 15 - Stopping the Noise: Practical Strategies to Help Clients with Panic, Generalized Anxiety, Phobias and OCD.

Failure to Launch: Overcoming Delays in Independence is organized by Jack Hirose & Associates Inc. and will be held on Nov 20, 2019 at Best Western Premier Calgary Plaza Hotel & Conference Centre, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Who Should Attend: Clinical Professionals: All mental health professionals including, but not limited to Clinical Counsellors, Psychologists, Psychotherapists, Social Workers, Nurses, Occupational Therapists, Hospice and Palliative Care Workers, Youth Workers, Mental Health Workers, Addiction Specialists, Marital & Family Therapists, Speech Language Pathologists, Vocational Rehabilitation Consultants, School Counsellors, Behaviour Specialists, Rehabilitation Consultants, Geriatric Specialists, and all professionals looking to enhance their therapeutic skills. Workshop Description: Parents who formerly worried about “empty nest syndrome” might today worry more that their children will never leave home. In countries around the world, increasing numbers of young people – particularly males – are having difficulty navigating the transition from adolescence to adult self-sufficiency. They remain isolated, avoidant, jobless or underemployed, and a-motivational – often staying in their childhood home into their 30s. The causes are numerous: economics, internet connectivity, changes in parenting, features of the educational system, and more. Yet the issue is infrequently studied, perhaps because it does not fit neatly into a diagnostic category. Despite this, clinicians are increasingly seeing these individuals – or their parents – in therapy. At Change ways Clinic in Vancouver, Dr Randy Paterson has been working with failure-to-launch cases for over 20 years. In this one day workshop, he reviews the nature of the problem, the factors that seem to contribute, and a wide variety of interventions drawn from cognitive therapy, behavioural activation approaches, and attachment theory. Whether you work with these young people directly, or see the parents struggling with a too-long-occupied nest, this program will provide you with perspectives and techniques to help. Learning Objectives: • Learn to identify this non-diagnostic clinic population, and to distinguish normal dependency from an interruption in development. • Develop an awareness of the multiple factors likely to be operating in any given case. • Know strategies for siding with the client and increasing motivation. • Understand when to hold back and when to push progress. • Develop an array of intervention strategies that can be tailored to the individual. • Learn how to incorporate family in the therapy – even when the goal is independence. • Increase awareness of how and why families inadvertently sabotage progress. Additional details will be posted as soon as they are available.

Harnessing the Transformative Power of Mindful Acceptance and Commitment (ACT) is organized by Jack Hirose & Associates Inc and will be held on Nov 20, 2019 at Best Western Premier Calgary Plaza Hotel & Conference Centre, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Who Should Attend Clinical Professionals: All mental health professionals including, but not limited to Clinical Counsellors, Psychologists, Psychotherapists, Social Workers, Nurses, Occupational Therapists, Hospice and Palliative Care Workers, Youth Workers, Mental Health Workers, Addiction Specialists, Marital & Family Therapists, Speech Language Pathologists, Vocational Rehabilitation Consultants, School Counsellors, Behaviour Specialists, Rehabilitation Consultants, Geriatric Specialists, and all professionals looking to enhance their therapeutic skills. Workshop Description Acceptance and mindfulness-based practices are rapidly making their way into mental health care, medicine, and society both to alleviate human suffering and nurture psychological health and wellness.  This body of work also offers a fresh perceptive on psychological suffering and a set of powerful clinical strategies that support meaningful life changes.   In this workshop, we will learn about one particular approach and set of practices based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (or ACT, said as one word). ACT is a newer third-generation evidence-based behaviour therapy that balances mindfulness and acceptance processes with commitment and behaviour change processes to (a) weaken the unhelpful influence of thoughts and emotional avoidance in guiding actions, while (b) promoting greater experiential and psychological flexibility in the service of (c) valued ends.  It is both a form of therapy and an approach to living well, with evidence showing that it is useful for many forms of psychological and emotional suffering.  In short, ACT teaches clients how to be with their hurts and do what works – to live well, richly, and meaningfully, without first having to defeat sources of emotional and psychological pain. Learning Objectives: • Define the three pillars of ACT • Describe and identify each of the six hexaflex ACT processes that contribute to human suffering and link them with the six corresponding ACT intervention processes that are used to promote psychological flexibility • Conceptualized common clinical concerns (e.g., anxiety, depression, problem anger) within an ACT process-oriented approach • Define and identify “fusion” and “experiential avoidance” and describe mindful and compassionate alternative behaviors • Practice essential ACT intervention exercises to cultivate psychological flexibility • Deliver values clarification exercises in dyads and small groups • Apply and integrate mindfulness and acceptance processes with commitment and behavior change processes to assist clients in doing what matters to them • Describe strategies to foster the ongoing development of ACT consistent clinical competencies

The 10 Best-Ever Anxiety Management Techniques is organized by Jack Hirose & Associates Inc and will be held on Nov 20, 2019 at Best Western Premier Calgary Plaza Hotel & Conference Centre, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Who Should Attend: Clinical Professionals: All mental health professionals including, but not limited to Clinical Counsellors, Psychologists, Psychotherapists, Social Workers, Nurses, Occupational Therapists, Hospice and Palliative Care Workers, Youth Workers, Mental Health Workers, Addiction Specialists, Marital & Family Therapists, Speech Language Pathologists, Vocational Rehabilitation Consultants, School Counsellors, Behaviour Specialists, Rehabilitation Consultants, Geriatric Specialists, and all professionals looking to enhance their therapeutic skills. Workshop Description: In The 10 Best-Ever Anxiety Management Techniques, Margaret Wehrenberg, Psy.D presents the most useful psychotherapeutic approaches to generalized anxiety, panic and social anxiety. Via discussion, practice in the seminar, and concise client examples in all age groups, you will learn methods to manage anxiety that work in every clinical population. Even experienced clinicians will come away with tools to help clients resolve their anxiety symptoms. Drawing on the latest research for the neurobiological basis of anxiety to explain why psychotherapy is so effective, Dr. Wehrenberg demonstrates comprehensive techniques to stop rumination, eliminate panic and prepare people to participate in social environments without distress. Among the 10 Best-Ever Anxiety Management Techniques are methods that manage the physiological aspects of anxiety: stress, the dread and agitation of generalized anxiety, panic attacks, and the nervous system-based blushing, sweating and shaking of social anxiety. You will get information about ruling out causes of anxiety and physical conditions that mimic anxiety. Learning Objectives: • Describe neurobiological basis of anxiety and the implications for why and how psychotherapy works to use the brain to change the brain. • The basis of ruminative anxiety and how to eliminate worry, including the methods of technique #1 “Contain Your Worry.” • Dealing with Stress That Creates Anxiety Disorders: 4 competencies to prevent or recover from stress damage and eliminate it for good! • Fear Based Anxiety Disorders: Panic and Social Anxiety. Apply the panic reduction protocol “Prevent Panic” and the “3 Cs for Effective Exposure” to eliminate social anxiety.To include mindfulness techniques, interoceptive exposure, and eliminate panic triggers. • Model effective use of diaphragmatic breathing techniques and relaxation methods that reduce both physical and mental tension. • Apply the most effective cognitive interventions to reduce persistent rumination (Erase the Worry Trace) and stop worrying over real or potential problems. • Utilize cognitive therapy interventions with clients to manage perfectionism, procrastination and rigid approaches to problems. • Effectively enable socially anxious clients to face their fears and improve their participation in life, challenging false beliefs and successfully engaging in social environments.

Post-Traumatic Growth: Leading Clients on a Journey of Resiliency and Healing is organized by Jack Hirose & Associates Inc and will be held on Nov 21, 2019 at Best Western Premier Calgary Plaza Hotel & Conference Centre, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Who Should Attend Clinical Professionals: All mental health professionals including, but not limited to Clinical Counsellors, Psychologists, Psychotherapists, Social Workers, Nurses, Occupational Therapists, Hospice and Palliative Care Workers, Youth Workers, Mental Health Workers, Addiction Specialists, Marital & Family Therapists, Speech Language Pathologists, Vocational Rehabilitation Consultants, School Counsellors, Behaviour Specialists, Rehabilitation Consultants, Geriatric Specialists, and all professionals looking to enhance their therapeutic skills. Workshop Description: Become empowered as a trauma clinician! Learn from expert trauma clinician Lisa Ferentz how to shine a spotlight on your clients’ resiliency and creativity – while planting the seeds of hope and Post-Traumatic Growth even in the earliest stages of therapy! When we work with traumatized clients we often feel compelled to stay focused on the inevitable byproducts of PTSD. As we look for the ways in which clients have been adversely affected by their trauma, it can inadvertently narrow our sense of who they are, and solidify their identities as “damaged” or “broken.” Although helping clients to reconnect with and process their pain and grief is important, this workshop takes you further. You will learn respectful and powerful ways to weave the concepts of Post-Traumatic Growth into the treatment process. Using moving and inspiring case examples and videos made by clients we will identify the tangible markers of post-traumatic growth including: • a new way of relating to others • the capacity to believe in new possibilities • the rediscovery of personal strengths • a newfound appreciation for life Learning Objectives: • Process the Impact of Trauma • Assess for Client Resiliency • The Power of Positive Self-Talk • Move Beyond a Trauma Identity • Explore the Manifestations of Post Traumatic Growth • Move Beyond the Traumatized Self • Help Clients Pay it Forward • Build on the Seeds of Traumatic Growth

Attachment-Focused EMDR: Basic Principles, Video Taped Demonstrations and “Resource Tapping”, (Part 1 of 2) is organized by Jack Hirose & Associates Inc and will be held on Nov 21, 2019 at Best Western Premier Calgary Plaza Hotel & Conference Centre, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Who Should Attend: Clinical Professionals: All mental health professionals including, but not limited to Clinical Counsellors, Psychologists, Psychotherapists, Social Workers, Nurses, Occupational Therapists, Hospice and Palliative Care Workers, Youth Workers, Mental Health Workers, Addiction Specialists, Marital & Family Therapists, Speech Language Pathologists, Vocational Rehabilitation Consultants, School Counsellors, Behaviour Specialists, Rehabilitation Consultants, Geriatric Specialists, and all professionals looking to enhance their therapeutic skills. Description: Over the last two decades, EMDR has emerged as one of the most powerful clinical tools available to trauma therapists. In this workshop, Dr. Laurel Parnell will teach you how to integrate an attachment focus into EMDR and to use EMDR in combination with a variety of complementary techniques. Much of this workshop is built around videos of actual clinical sessions conducted by Dr. Parnell. These videos bring the training to life: participants can see, not just hear about, how the ideas and procedures they’re learning are used with real patients in the real world. Dr. Parnell is an EMDRIA Approved Basic Training Provider as well as an experienced and highly skilled therapist. Her workshops are as enjoyable as they are instructive and consistently receive rave reviews. Learning Objectives: Upon completion of this workshop, attendees will be better able to: • Describe the five basic principles of Attachment‐focused EMDR and how they can be integrated into the treatment of relational trauma. • Discuss how an attachment‐focus can be integrated into the history taking and preparation phases of EMDR • List the four most commonly used resources to install as well as other useful resources and how they can be integrated into EMDR with an attachment focus • Repair early developmental stages using imagination and bilateral stimulation. • Name three techniques for working with dissociation • Describe four ways to integrate an attachment‐focus into the desensitization, installation, closure and reevaluation phases of EMDR. • Utilize at least four interweave strategies • Describe how and why to adapt the standard EMDR protocol for clients with attachment wounds