The Prerequisites of Change: Advanced Techniques for Positive Change With Difficult Clients
Live Event

The Prerequisites of Change: Advanced Techniques for Positive Change With Difficult Clients

Sat, Aug 19th, 2023
11:00am – 2:15pm US Eastern Time
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About the Event

What does a therapist do when Motivational Interviewing (MI) and CBT are not working? Graduate therapy courses do not typically teach techniques that address how to help highly resistant, unresponsive, uninvolved, involuntary, and/or defiant clients to change. In this program, a model of change is presented that makes use of what could be called the prerequisites or precursors of change. Without these factors positive change is unlikely. Put in a different way, we have all been taught the “defense mechanisms,” but this presentation makes use of the “offense mechanisms” of change, based on empirically validated precursors of change. However, the main focus of this workshop is to provide powerful techniques to dissolve resistance so that CBT and other standard therapy approaches can then finally take effect.

Live Event
This live online event will be held as a Zoom Webinar. Attendees will have the option to interact through features such as the Chat and Q&A, but cameras and microphones will not be enabled.

Live Event Instructor

Fred J. Hanna, PhD

Fred J. Hanna, PhD

Fred J. Hanna, Ph.D., is a professor and co-designer of the PhD Program in Counseling at Adler University, in Chicago. He is also a Senior Faculty Associate at Johns Hopkins University where he taught graduate counseling courses for 25 years, including 11 years full time, leaving as a Full Professor. Fred has authored or co-authored over 70 peer reviewed and professional publications. An award-winning teacher, he has also delivered over 500 presentations at conferences, seminars, trainings, and workshops, across America. He was the recipient of the 2019 Humanistic Impact Award, a national award granted by the Association for Humanistic Counseling. He was also the recipient of the Adler University Social Justice Award for 2020. Fred has served as a consultant and trainer to the medical, mental health, corrections, business, and education communities, including such places as the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry, the Fort Peck Sioux Reservation in Montana, the Department of Psychiatry at Yale University, and a wide variety of school systems, community agencies, prisons, and criminal justice settings from coast to coast. His research interests have focused on developing the Precursors Model of Change which has received international attention. He has also developed, published, and presented many evidence-based, innovative psychotherapy techniques and strategies designed for application in the areas of client motivation, resistance to therapy, addictions, diversity and multiculturalism, oppression, liberation, trauma, spirituality, criminality, defiant adolescents, personal development, and difficult personalities. He is also an accomplished world traveler, having explored many remote areas in Asia. Fred is the author of the book, Therapy with Difficult Clients: Using the Precursors Model to Awaken Change, now in progress for its 2nd Edition. He and his Precursors Model were also the focus of a DVD, Treatment with Defiant, Aggressive Adolescents. The original book, the 2nd Edition, and the DVD are all published by or under contract with the American Psychological Association (APA). Fred is also currently working on a book that outlines and describes a new model of psychotherapy that includes many innovative new techniques, including variations on the themes of existentialism, mindfulness, Buddhist, and Yoga psychology.

Target Audience

This live interactive webinar is intended for behavioral health professionals, including Psychologists, Social Workers, Counselors, MFT's and Addiction Professionals.

Learning Objectives

After taking this activity, you should be able to:

  1. 1 Describe the prerequisites or precursors of change, without which therapeutic change is unlikely.
  2. 2 Explain why standard therapies such as CBT, MI, and the Stages of Change can be ineffective with some clients.
  3. 3 Implement unique and powerful techniques that will directly dissolve resistance and inspire the move to positive change.

Ferguson, H., Warwick, L., Disney, T., Leigh, J., Cooner, T. S., & Beddoe, L. (2022). Relationship-based practice and the creation of therapeutic change in long-term work: social work as a holding relationship. Social Work Education, 41(2), 209-227.

Hanna, F. J., & Cardona, B. (2013). Multicultural counseling beyond the relationship: Expanding the repertoire with techniques. Journal of Counseling & Development, 91, 349-357.

Hanna, F. J. & Green, A. G. (2004). Hope and suicide: Establishing the will to live. In D. Capuzzi (Ed.), Suicide across the life span: Implications for counselors (pp. 63-92). Alexandria, VA: American Counseling Association.

Hanna, F. J. (2002). Therapy with difficult clients: Using the precursors model to awaken change. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Melson, L., Ulvenes, P. G., Solbakken, O. A., Curran, P. J., & Wampold, B. E. (2022). Emotional clarity and tolerance of emotional distress as mechanisms of change in short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy for chronic depression. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 90(4), 289-302.

Pinson, D. M., Ottens, A. J., & Fisher, T. A. (2009). Women coping successfully with multiple sclerosis and the precursors of change. Qualitative Health Research, 19(2), 181-193

Reda, A. N. (2019). An Exploration of how Motivation from a Self-Determination Theory Perspective Impacts the Therapeutic Change Process. Doctoral Dissertation, Tennessee State University.

Spencer, J., Goode, J., Penix, E. A., Trusty, W., & Swift, J. K. (2019). Developing a collaborative relationship with clients during the initial sessions of psychotherapy. Psychotherapy, 56(1), 7.

Vickery, P. J., Hanna, F. J., & Wilkinson, B. D. (In Press) Techniques in the Freedom-from Oppression Model: An Integrative Existential-Cognitive Therapy. Journal of Humanistic Counseling.

Wilkinson, B. D. & Hanna, F. J. (Under Contract) 2nd Edition of Therapy with Difficult Clients book approved in 2022, to be retitled, and it is currently in progress for APA Press.

Wilkinson, B. D., & Hanna, F. J. (2018). Using the precursors model of change to facilitate engagement practices in family counseling. The Family Journal: Counseling and Therapy for Couples and Families, 26, 306-314.

Disclosure to Learners

CE Learning Systems adheres to the ACCME's Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Medical Education. Any individuals in a position to control the content of a CE activity – including faculty, planners, reviewers, or others ― are required to disclose all relevant financial relationships with ineligible entities (formerly known as commercial interests).

The following relevant financial relationships have been disclosed by this activity's planners, faculty, and the reviewer:

Planners and Reviewers

The planners of this activity have reported that they have no relevant financial relationships.

Faculty

There are no known relevant financial relationships to disclose.

Commercial support

There is no commercial support for this distance-learning course.

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Joint Accreditation (JA)

3 Psychologist CE credit hours
3 Social Worker CE credit hours
Eligible until Aug 19th, 2023
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American Psychological Association (APA)

3 CE credit hours
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As a Jointly Accredited Organization, CE Learning Systems LLC is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved under this program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. Social workers completing this course receive 3 continuing education credit(s).
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New York Education Department Board of Creative Arts Therapy (NYSEDCAT)

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CE Learning Systems (d/b/a impactce.com) is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed creative arts therapists. #CAT-0008
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New York Education Department Board of Mental Health Counseling

3 CE credit hours
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CE Learning Systems, LLC (d/b/a impactce.com) is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors. #MHC-0072.
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New York Education Department Board of Marriage and Family Therapy

3 CE credit hours
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CE Learning Systems, LLC (d/b/a impactce.com) is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed marriage and family therapists #MFT-0045.
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Event Agenda

Agenda times are listed in US Eastern Time. That is 3 hours later than US Pacific Time. The event starts at 8:00am US Pacific Time.

11:00-11:05 – Introduction 11:05-11:30 – Making use of research on empathy and the therapeutic relationshio 11:30-12:00- Techniques for Instilling a Sense of Necessity 12:00-12:30- Grit or The Willingness to Experience Anxiety or Difficulty 12:30-12:45 – Break 12:45-1:15 – Awareness and Confronting the Problem 1:15-1:45 – Effort Toward Change and Hope for Change 1:45-2:05 – Building Social Support 2:05-2:15 – Q&A

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