Professional Development
Dr. Jeffrey L. Whitaker, Ph.D., LMFT, is approved by the Oklahoma State Board of Behavioral Health Licensure (BBHL) to provide continuing education (CE). The Outdoor Achievement Group, L.L.C. is happy to offer wide-ranging content that provides practitioners with opportunities to develop their clinical skills and thinking, especially surrounding work within the family relationship system. Our trainings meet the continuing education unit (CEU) needs of licensed marital and family therapists (LMFTs) and licensed professional counselors (LPCs) as set forth by the BBHL. Our trainings are designed to be academically Challenging and professionally Enriching. Tickets are made available through Eventbrite. For more information, please contact the Outdoor Achievement Group, L.L.C. at 405.361.1754.
Please read our updated policies regarding COVID-19 & Seasonal Influenza.
Schedule of Upcoming Events
Differentiation of Self: The Role of Self in Psychopathology
When: Friday, October 4, 2024, from 9:00am to 4:00pm
Where: Zoom.
Facilitator: Dr. Jeffrey L Whitaker, Ph.D., LMFT
Description: This is a 6.0 CEU seminar addressing the topic Differentiation of Self: The Role of Self in Psychopathology. This seminar is part of our Working Within the Family Series. This installment is designed to provide clinicians with a working understanding of the organization of the psyche and how individuals’ sense of self-directedness relates to their experience with anxieties and the development of psychopathologies. This material is presented through the lens of object relations family therapy and Bowen Family Systems Theory (BFST). Clinicians will leave this seminar with better understandings about how early and ongoing relational experiences contribute to ego development, individuals’ capacity for self-governance, and the development of psychopathologies. This seminar is appropriate for clinicians who work with individuals, couples, and families. This seminar is appropriate for graduate counseling students, candidates for licensure, early career professionals, seasoned clinicians, and allied professionals.
Registration: TBA.
Resources: Recommended reading: Chapter 4 of Family evaluation: The role of the family as an emotional unit that governs individual behavior and development (1988) by Dr. Michael E. Kerr, Ph.D., & Dr. Murray Bowen, M.D.; Murray Bowen’s Scale of Differentiation (adapted); Assessing interpersonal fusion: Reliability and validity of a new DSI fusion with others subscale.
Mental Health Grand Rounds
When: Wednesdays from 8:15am to 9:30am
Where: Zoom
Facilitator: Dr. Jeffrey L. Whitaker, Ph.D., LMFT
Description: Rounding is a methodology of learning that involves the presentation and examination of clinical cases. Mental Health Grand Rounds has been created in the image of Physician Rounds, Balint Groups, and Reflecting Teams. These are traditional ways of teaching and learning in medicine, psychotherapy, and family therapy. Mental health grand rounds focus on enhancing the various skills of the mental health professional including Clinical Interviewing, Assessment & Diagnosis, Clinical Decision-Making, Case Formulation, and Treatment. Mental health grand rounds are appropriate for graduate students, candidates for licensure, new career professionals, and seasoned mental health clinicians. Independently licensed clinicians will earn 1.25 CEUs weekly.
Registration: $49.99/month.
Resources: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, Text Revision.
Past Events
Nuclear Family Emotional Process: The Story of Adam Lanza and his Family
When: TBA.
Where: TBA.
Facilitator: TBA.
Description: This is a 5.0 CEU seminar addressing the topic Nuclear Family Emotional Process: The Story of Adam Lanza and his Family. This seminar is part of our Working Within the Family Series. This installment is designed to provide clinicians and allied professionals with better understandings about various forces that influence emotionally fueled reciprocal interactions within families (e.g., emotional conflict, withdraw, triangulation, and dominant-adaptive functioning) and how those interactions interact with individuals’ and families’ adaptiveness to the vicissitudes of life. As a backdrop for growing knowledges about the nuclear family emotional process we will examine the story of Adam Lanza and his family through the lens of Bowen Family Systems Theory (BFST) and object relations family therapy. This is an academic-level seminar that is appropriate for graduate students, candidates for licensure, new career professionals, and seasoned clinicians.
Registration: TBA.
Resources: Please read http://andrewsolomon.com/articles/the-reckoning/.
Family Systems with Family Guy: Art Imitating Reality?
When: TBA.
Where: TBA.
Facilitator: TBA.
Description: This is a virtual 3.0 hour continuing education (CE) workshop about concepts in family systems. Specific clips from the animated sitcom family Guy will help provide context to major systemic concepts. Topics will include self-differentiation, feedback loops, and aspects of the family emotional process (FEP) including emotional conflict, withdraw, dominant-adaptive functioning, triangulation, and transmission of parental undifferentiation. This workshop meets CE needs of licensed marital and family therapists (LMFTs) and licensed professional counselors (LPCs) as set forth by the Oklahoma State Board of Behavioral Health Licensure (BBHL). This workshop is part of our Working Within the Family Series. This workshop will include brief descriptions of major family systems concepts followed by coactive discussion. This is a theory-oriented workshop that is appropriate for graduate students, candidates for licensure, new career professionals, and seasoned clinicians.
Registration: TBA.
Resources: TBA.
Chronic Anxiety: Why Does This Person Have This “Illness” at This Time?
When: TBA.
Where: TBA.
Facilitator: TBA.
Description: This is a 4.0 CEU seminar addressing the topic Chronic Anxiety from a Bowen Family Systems Theory (BFST) Perspective. This seminar is part of our Working Within the Family Series. This installment is designed to provide clinicians with an understanding about how chronic anxiety contributes to the development and maintenance of many of the physical, emotional, behavioral, and social symptoms we see in clinical practice. Chronic anxieties are often bound within relationship systems resulting in emotional conflict, a pattern of over/under functioning, the development of “symptoms” in one or more family members, and/or emotional cutoff. Clinicians will leave this workshop with better understandings about how chronic anxieties can manifest in individuals and relationships. A light continental breakfast will be provided.
Registration: TBA.
Resources: Please download, complete, and score the Assessing interpersonal fusion: Reliability and validity of a new DSI fusion with others subscale.
Intervention in Family Psychotherapy: Experimenting with Observation of Self
When: TBA.
Where: TBA.
Facilitator: TBA.
Description: This is a 4.0 CEU workshop addressing the topic Intervention in Family Psychotherapy: Experimenting with Observation of Self. This event meets continuing education (CE) needs of licensed marital and family therapists (LMFTs) and licensed professional counselors (LPCs) as set forth by the Oklahoma State Board of Behavioral Health Licensure (BBHL). This workshop is part of our Working Within the Family Series. This installment is a blend of didactic instruction and experiential learning. The focus of this workshop is to introduce a family intervention for increasing understandings about family roles and patterns of action and reaction. This is an academic-level workshop that is appropriate for graduate students, candidates for licensure, new career professionals, and seasoned clinicians.
Registration: TBA.
Resources: TBA.
Administration, Scoring, & Interpretation of Clinical Measures
When: TBA.
Where: TBA.
Facilitator: TBA.
Description: This is a 6.0 CE seminar that addresses Administration, Scoring, & Interpretation of Clinical Measures. This seminar is part of our Clinical Competencies Series. Participants will learn about ethicolegal considerations in assessment, evaluation & selection of clinical measures, psychometric properties, administration, scoring, and interpretation, and clinical decision-making. Several specific measures will be analyzed: Patient Health Questionnaire – 9 (PHQ-9/PHQ-A); Generalized Anxiety Disorder – 7 (GAD-7); ADHD Rating Scale – 5; Conners Comprehensive Behavior Rating Scales™ (Conners CBRS®); Revised Children’s Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS); Comprehensive Executive Function Inventory™ (CEFI™); Confusion, Hubbub, and Order Scale (CHAOS); Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA); Conners 3rd Edition™ (Conners 3®); Conners Early Childhood™ (Conners EC™); Beck Depression Inventory (BDI); Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children 2nd Edition™ (MASC 2™); Family Assessment Measure – III™ (FAM – III™); Life Events Checklist (LEC) for DSM-5 (LEC-5); PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5); and Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children™ (TSCC™). This seminar has been developed for counseling students, candidates for licensure, early career professionals, and seasoned clinicians who would like to incorporate the use of clinical measures into their practice.
Registration: TBA.
Resources: TBA.
Assessing and Documenting for Suicidality and Lethality
When: TBA.
Where: TBA.
Facilitator: TBA.
Description: This is a 4-hour seminar addressing the topic Assessing and Documenting for Suicidality and Lethality. This seminar meets the continuing education (CE) needs of licensed marital and family therapists (LMFTs) and licensed professional counselors (LPCs) as set forth by the Oklahoma State Board of Behavioral Health Licensure (BBHL). This seminar is part of our Clinical Competencies Series. This installment is designed to introduce a structured approach for assessing for suicidality and lethality in the clinical population. Participants will develop greater competencies for working within high-risk populations. Topics include epidemiology and etiology of suicide, predisposing and potentiating factors, suicide assessment protocol, structured suicide inquiry, safety planning, and documenting the clinical encounter. This seminar is appropriate for students, candidates, new professionals, and seasoned clinicians.
Registration: TBA.
Resources: TBA.
Introduction to Psychopharmacology for the Psychotherapist
When: TBA.
Where: TBA.
Facilitator: TBA.
Description: This is a 7.0 CE seminar addressing the topic Introduction to Psychopharmacology for the Psychotherapist. This seminar is part of our Clinical Competencies Series. This seminar is designed to introduce mental health clinicians to the major classes of psychoactive medications and their associated DSM-5-TR diagnoses. Participants will develop working knowledges about neuroanatomy, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, psychoactive drug classes, and the role of the psychotherapist when coordinating care with prescribing providers. This is an academic-level seminar that is appropriate for graduate students, candidates for licensure, new career professionals, and seasoned clinicians.
Registration: TBA.
Resources: TBA.
Working Within the Family: Clinical Case Conceptualization (consultation) and Supervision Group
When: TBA.
Where: TBA.
Facilitator: TBA.
Description: This is a 1.5 hour monthly clinical case conceptualization (consultation) and supervision group that focuses on the application of a theory of the family to develop systemic case formulations through discussions about ongoing and historical clinical cases. A theory of the family helps provide context to the various forces that influence individual and family behavior and symptomatology. Bowen Family Systems Theory (BFST) constitutes the theoretical underpinning for this clinical case conceptualization (consultation) and supervision group. This group offers an opportunity for clinicians and allied professionals to participate in systemic clinical supervision from an American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) clinical fellow, AAMFT approved supervisor, and member of Delta Kappa International Marriage and Family Therapy Honor Society. This group is appropriate for students, candidates, independently licensed clinicians, and allied professionals.
Registration: TBA.
Resources: Recommended reading(s): Family evaluation: The role of the family as an emotional unit that governs individual behavior and development (1988) by Dr. Michael E. Kerr, Ph.D., & Dr. Murray Bowen, M.D.; The Family Crucible: The Intense Experience of Family Therapy (1988) by Dr. Augustus Napier, Ph.D., & Dr. Carl Whitaker, M.D.
Clinical Assessment & Documentation: The Psychiatric (clinical) Interview
When: TBA.
Where: TBA.
Facilitator: TBA.
Description: Updated for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-5-TR). This is an 8-hour seminar addressing the topic Clinical Assessment & Documentation: The Psychiatric [clinical] Interview. This seminar meets the continuing education (CE) needs of licensed marital and family therapists (LMFTs) and licensed professional counselors (LPCs) as set forth by the Oklahoma State Board of Behavioral Health Licensure (BBHL). This seminar is part of our Clinical Competencies Series. This installment is designed to introduce a structured approach for the psychiatric [clinical] interview, psychiatric review of systems (symptoms), and mental state (status) exam (MSE) to facilitate assessment and diagnosis based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5-TR) and documentation based on the subjective, objective, assessment, and plan (SOAP) format. Throughout this seminar participants will have an opportunity to observe and participate in the diagnostic process as it unfolds. Participants will learn how to use probative and focused questions, epidemiological patterns, and information about etiology to inform diagnosis. This is an academic-level seminar that is appropriate for graduate students, candidates for licensure, new career professionals, and seasoned clinicians.
Registration: $160.00. Registration TBA.
Resources: Please have your copy of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders available. We recommend the companion text The Pocket Guide to the DSM-5-TR Diagnostic Exam by Dr. Abraham Nussbaum, M.D. (2022).