Click Here to Register Online

Registration is open to attend upcoming live webinars and to view recordings of previous webinars in the series.

If you have questions or concerns contact: Rebecca Saionz at rss94@drexel.edu or 215-571-3410

Please let us know if you have any disability or other special needs so that we can ensure that your needs will be fully met.

Registration fee for one webinar: $30 USD (roughly equivalent to €25)

For participants who register for multiple webinars at a time, we offer the following discounted rates:
Registration for two webinars: $50 USD (approx. €43)
Registration for three webinars: $70 USD (approx. €60)
Registration for four webinars: $95 USD (approx. €81)

CE Certificate Fees:
***We offer CEUs for clinicians with a United States therapeutic license.
CEs available for Webinar 1. CEs on future talks still pending.

If participants sign up for multiple workshops at a time, they can pay a one time certificate fee, but will not receive their certificate until they complete all workshops.

PA State Board LMFT/LCSW/LSW/LPC - $25 per certificate
Psychologist CE - $35 per certificate

***Many states accept Psychologist CEs for Social Workers, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists, and Licensed Professional Counselors. Some states also accept other state board's CEs. Please check with your local licensing board to verify CEs you can use.***

NOTE: Full payment required prior to the start of the webinar.

Cancellation and Refund Policy

A $25.00 administration fee will be charged for all refunds. Telephone requests will be honored up to four business days before the start of the course begins and must be confirmed in writing. If cancellation occurs within three business days prior to the course, a refund will not be available. However, the full amount of tuition may be applied to a future course (Note: certain restrictions apply.) Allow minimum of six weeks from date of course completion for processing refunds.

PLEASE NOTE: A $50.00 administrative fee will be charged for any returned checks due to insufficient funds.

You will be emailed the link for the webinar and relevant handouts the day before the webinar will occur.

The link to view the webcast will be a Zoom link, which is an internet based program. If you are able to view and listen to videos via your computer you should be fine. An internet connection - broadband or wireless (3G or 4G/LTE) is suggested. We recommend that you allow yourself additional time to connect in the event of technical difficulties.

If you have any questions in reference to connecting to the webcast, please do not hesitate to contact us at abft@drexel.edu

Stamatoula Voulgari (BSPsych, PostGradDip, MSc, PostGradDip Supervision)

Stamatoula is a Principal Systemic Psychotherapist, and supervisor, who works for the outpatient clinic at the Maudsley Centre for Child and Adolescent Eating Disorders for over a decade. Stamatoula has extensive experience in individual, family, and group therapy, and is a trainer and training manager for the team, delivering training nationally and internationally.

Dr. Julian Baudinet (BA(hons.), MSc, DCP)

Julian is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist, who works across the outpatient and day care services at the Maudsley Centre for Child and Adolescent Eating disorders. He is actively involved in providing clinical services, research, consultation, teaching, and training. He focuses mostly on developing treatments for young people when they are feeling stuck or not progressing in treatment. This has included adapting and applying ABFT principles and techniques to child and adolescent eating disorder treatments.

Dumayi Gutierrez, PhD, LMFT, LMHP

Dr. Dumayi Gutierrez, LMFT, LMHP, has a Ph.D. in Couple and Family Therapy, is a licensed marriage and family therapist and mental health practitioner. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor in the Couple and Family Therapy Program at Alliant International University in San Diego and Online campuses. She also is an adjunct professor for the Office of Latino/Latin American Studies at The University of Nebraska at Omaha campus.
Dr. Gutierrez has a passion for working with multiple marginalized communities and has worked with individuals, couples, and families around the nation. She has published and presented nationally on minority stress, intersectionality of self and family systems, couple support systems, resiliencies of sexually diverse and gender expansive Latinx populations, intersectional culturally competent care, and Women of Color in higher education. Her current projects include examining ambiguous loss and safe spaces of BIPOC LGBTQ+ communities during the Covid-19 pandemic, Latinx lesbian experiences of distress and resiliencies, and re-authoring celebratory stories of women in academia. Clinically, she uses a narrative, experiential, and feminist approach, utilizing techniques of advocacy and empowerment. Additionally, Dr. Gutierrez has served as clinical coordinator and family therapist for the LGBTQ Counseling Clinic in Iowa, and The Gender & Family Project at the Ackerman Institute for the Family in New York. In her spare time, Dr. Gutierrez enjoys being at the beach and experiencing San Diego's plethora of food with her wife and daughter.

Alba Niño, PhD

Dr. Alba Niño is a licensed marriage and family therapist, an AAMFT-approved supervisor, and an Associate Professor in the Couple and Family Therapy Programs at Alliant International University. After obtaining undergraduate degrees in psychology and anthropology from Universidad de Los Andes, in Bogotá (Colombia), where she was born and raised, Dr. Niño pursued her higher education in couple and family therapy in the United States. She earned her master’s degree at University of Maryland, and her Ph.D. from Drexel University. Dr. Niño’s clinical, teaching, and research interests center on topics such as the person of the therapist training model (POTT), cross-cultural therapeutic relationships, post-traumatic growth, and trauma-informed care. Dr. Niño is a certified ABFT therapist, and an EMDR trained therapist. Among other clinical appointments, Dr. Niño is a voluntary bilingual (English/Spanish) psychotherapist at the University of California San Diego Student-Run Free Clinics.

Stephanie Manasse, PhD

Stephanie Manasse, Ph.D. is an Assistant Research Professor and Director of the Child and Adolescent Program at the Center for Weight, Eating and Lifestyle Sciences. Her research focuses on developing novel psychological treatments for adolescents and adults with eating disorders. In particular, she is interested on improving self-regulation (e.g., emotion regulation, impulsivity) in teens. Her work has been consistently funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Meredith Dellorco, LCSW

Meredith Dellorco, LCSW, is currently fulfilling the role of Newport Academy’s National Family Specialist. Meredith is a trained ABFT Therapist with significant experience applying ABFT successfully at Newport Academy's residential treatment center. She graduated from Columbia University with a master's in social work, including an advanced clinical practice with children, youth and families. Prior to her position at Newport Academy, Meredith had extensive trauma treatment experience with children, adolescents and families. This includes her experience as a primary trauma therapist for at risk youth and families in the foster care system in New York City. Following this Meredith worked for six years as an outpatient therapist providing a range of trauma treatment to children, adolescents and families in SandyHook, CT, following a community tragedy. She is also trained in a range of treatment modalities including CBT, DBT, EMDR, motivational interview and TF-CBT.

Gary M. Diamond, PhD

Gary M. Diamond, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at Ben-Gurion University in Beer Sheva, Israel, and Director and Chief Psychologist of the department’s community clinic. He is a licensed and supervising clinical psychologist and family therapist. He received his doctorate from Temple University in Counseling Psychology from Temple University in 1997, and completed a post-doctorate in clinical psychology at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, in 1998. His is one of the primary developers of attachment-based family therapy for depressed and suicidal adolescents, and has adapted the model for working with sexual and gender minority adolescents and young adults. His research interests include developing and testing the efficacy of ABFT, as well as examining change mechanisms such as alliance-building, emotional processing, parental reflectivity and parental responsiveness.

Jody Russon, PhD

Dr. Russon is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Science. She is a translational scientist contributing to the fields of family therapy and suicidology. Community-engaged research (CEnR) is a fundamental value of her approach to science, practice and education. Her line of research specifically focuses on the adaptation, dissemination and implementation of suicide interventions and prevention strategies. Dr. Russon has three, overlapping areas of research. Her primary research area is centered on adapting, testing and disseminating family-based suicide treatment models for underserved youth populations, particularly LGBTQ+ adolescents and young adults. She has focused her efforts on adapting a family-centered suicide treatment, Attachment-Based Family Therapy (ABFT; Diamond, Diamond, & Levy, 2014), for transgender and gender diverse youth. Second, in an effort to better engage with the systems interfacing with those with suicidal thoughts and behavior, she is establishing another line of research to implement screening and triage approaches in these systems. Finally, Dr. Russon’s third area of research contributes to the others by examining factors associated with help seeking and service utilization. To support these efforts, Dr. Russon operates a transdisciplinary research initiative, called the Alliance for the Study of Suicide Prevention and Intervention through Relationship Enrichment. Dr. Russon’s teaching and supervisory experience is focused on applied skills for family therapy researchers and practitioners. She has a particular interest in mixed methods research (MMR) and has developed a doctoral-level course to train students to conduct MMR. Dr. Russon is an American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy Approved Supervisor and a Person-of-the-Therapist instructor. She is also a certified trainer and supervisor in ABFT and has received advanced clinical training in emotionally focused therapy for couples.

Ilse Devacht

Ilse Devacht is an experienced registered clinical psychologist (KU Leuven, 1998). She is an accredited CBT therapist (KU Leuven, 2001), trainer and supervisor. She has attained a level II in Narrative Therapy (London, 2014). She was trained and accredited as ABFT therapist by the developers of ABFT at Drexel University (Philadelphia, 2016) and as ABFT trainer and supervisor (2019). As part of the start up team of a KU Leuven spin-off, promoting professional mental health in a range of businesses and organisations, she was specialised in handling team conflicts and system change.

For 6 years, she has worked as a clinical psychologist and researcher at Asster Hospital, with a young adult population (18 to 23 years of age) in an inpatient treatment program. Her clinical work focuses on providing ABFT family therapy for admitted young adults along with their families and on team coaching to promote the provision of attachment based care in an intensive inpatient setting.

In collaboration with her team, Dr. Suzanne Levy, Dr. Guy Diamond and prof Guy Bosmans (KU Leuven, Belgium), she has adopted the ABFT principles into a guidance framework for interdisciplinary teams in the development of the Attachment Based Care program for teams Program (ABC for Teams). This milieu program is based on attachment and learning theory and evidence based practice.

Her research efforts currently focus on the effectiveness of the ABC for Teams program and of the ABFT family therapy for young adults with multiple problems and diagnoses.

***We offer CEUs for clinicians with a United States therapeutic license.
CEs available for Webinar 1. CEs on future talks still pending.

If participants sign up for multiple workshops at a time, they can pay a one time certificate fee, but will not receive their certificate until they complete all workshops.

***Many states accept Psychologist CEs for Social Workers, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists, and Licensed Professional Counselors. Some states also accept other state board's CEs. Please check with your local licensing board to verify CEs you can use.***

This program is being offered for 1.5 hours of continuing education.

Psychologists

Drexel University College of Medicine, Behavioral Healthcare Education is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Drexel University College of Medicine, Behavioral Healthcare Education maintains responsibility for the program and its content.

PA State Board LMFT/LCSW/LSW/LPC

Drexel University's Counseling and Family Therapy Department is a Pre-approved Provider by the Pennsylvania State Board of Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapy and Professional Counselors of Continuing Education Credits. For LMFT, LCSW, LSW, and LPCs: The workshop qualifies for 1.5 CEs. A Certificate of Participation will be awarded after the presentation to all who attend and follow protocol for registration and evaluation forms.

Drexel University Counseling and Family Therapy Department maintains responsibility for the program and content. Accreditation does not imply that Drexel College of Nursing and Health Professions approves or endorses any product included in the educational activity.

Fees:

PA State Board LMFT/LCSW/LSW/LPC - $25 per certificate
Psychologist CE - $35 per certificate

Disclosure statement:

All planners and presenters at nursing continuing education activities are required to disclose to the audience any significant financial relationships with the manufacturer(s) of any commercial products, goods or services. Such disclosures will be made in writing in the course presentation materials.

Recordings of previous webinars in the Special Topics Series are available for purchase for 14-day access.

Webinar 1:
Attachment Based Care for Teams program
Date: Wed, December 2, 2020
Time: 7:30pm-9pm (GMT+1); 1:30pm-3pm (Eastern Standard Time)
Speaker: Ilse Devacht

ABC for Teams is a multi-tier program which teaches organizations to use attachment theory as a unifying clinical framework for all members of the treatment team. It was developed by Ilse Devacht at Asster Hospital in Belgium in collaboration with the ABFT Training Program and Professor Guy Bosmans at KU Leuven University in Belgium. The program can be implemented in in- and outpatient settings with the aim of supporting family work in restoring attachment ruptures between caregivers and kids. The ABC for Teams program consists of training, team supervision and guiding system change in order to create a secure learning environment for vulnerable youth to restore trust in help and care.

The program is characterised by its trans-diagnostic insights in dealing with emotional and behavioural problems. Firstly, emotional issues and problematic behaviour, often diagnosed as ‘pathology’, are viewed as ways of coping in human development when facing (extreme) distress. Secondly, team members are trained to analyse and guide behaviour based on the principles of learning theory, such as assessing behaviour’s function and meaning for clients. A third characteristic of the program is the emphasis on emotion focused conversation skills. A fourth and last aspect of the program is that it not only provides training for a team, but also engages a team and its leadership to rethink and reorganise their existing care program in alignment with the proposed attachment and learning theory insights.

For more info about ABC for teams:
English: https://drexel.edu/familyintervention/abft-training-program/attachment-based-care-milieu-program/ 
Dutch: https://ppw.kuleuven.be/ogop/abft/opleiding

Target Audience

Counselors, Couple and Family Therapists, Mental Health Professionals, Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Psychotherapists, and Social Workers. This first webinar is also appropriate for administrators and any frontline staff working with adolescents with mental health issues.

Program Objectives:

• Describe the importance of expanding ABFT family therapy impact through collaborative team efforts in care.
• Explain the attachment theory and learning theory foundations of the ABC for Teams program.
• Summarize an overview of the ABC for Teams Program components.

Webinar 2:
Middle Childhood Attachment Therapy
Date: Tues, March 2, 2021
Time: 7:30pm-9pm (GMT+1); 1:30pm-3pm (Eastern Standard Time)
Speaker: Leen Van Vlierberghe & Guy Bosmans

In spite of a clear need in clinical practice, there is a worldwide lack of well-designed and critically evaluated attachment-focused interventions for middle childhood. To solve this gap, we developed Middle Childhood Attachment Therapy (MCAT) as a novel transdiagnostic treatment for children between 8 and 12 years of age suffering from emotion and behavior problems. MCAT is a 16 session parent-child intervention that shares its basic principles with the Attachment Based Family Therapy model.

In this webinar, we will outline and illustrate the child-friendly therapeutic strategies we developed to create ‘live’ (in session) learning events in which children’s support seeking behavior is reinforced by both a sensitive parental response and the experience of reduced distress in the child. This way, MCAT aims to increase children’s support seeking behavior by stimulating the development of trust in parental support as a buffer to further mental health decline. Lecture, Q & A, and case description examples are used throughout the presentation.

Target Audience

Counselors, Couple and Family Therapists, Mental Health Professionals, Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Psychotherapists, and Social Workers.

Program Objectives:

• Explain MCAT’s theoretical foundation.
• Describe the core mechanism and strategies of therapeutic change.
• Discuss the four treatment stages and their specific goals.

Webinar 3:
Two Talks related to ABFT for LGBTQ+ Youth
Date: Tues, June 29, 2021
Time: 3pm-5pm (GMT+2); 9am-11am (Eastern Standard Time)
Speaker: Gary Diamond & Jody Russon

ABFT for Sexual and Gender Minority Young Adults and their Non-Accepting Parents
Gary Diamond will present the principles and intervention strategies for using ABFT to work with sexual and gender minority (SGM) young adults and their non-accepting parents. The first part of the talk will briefly review the variety of parental responses to their adult child’s SGM and the negative impact of ongoing parental rejection and non-acceptance on the young adult-parent relationship. Then, each of the five tasks of ABFT will presented, using descriptive and videotaped examples from work with this population. Differences between working with young adults, as opposed to adolescents, will be noted.

Program Objectives:

• Describe the variety of rejecting and non-accepting parental responses to their child’s SGM identity, and how such responses negative impact upon the young adult and rupture the attachment relationship.
• Describe how ABFT is applied to this population, including the need to help parents work through their own shame, fear and loss in order to be more responsive to their child’s feelings and unmet needs.
• Illustrate the core ABFT processes, including in-session corrective attachment/identity episodes, using videotapes from actual cases with this population.

ABFT for Transgender and Gender Diverse Youth presenting in LGBTQ+ Community Settings
Jody Russon will discuss clinical research findings from utilizing ABFT with transgender and gender diverse (TGD) youth presenting in LGBTQ+ Community Settings. Transgender and gender diverse (TGD) youth have been overwhelming absent from suicide research; yet, they are at even greater risk for suicidal behavior than sexual minority youth (Grossman & D’Augelli, 2007; Peterson et al., 2016). TGD youth often receive the bulk of their care in LGBTQ+ community centers and/or gender-affirming medical settings, where some may be exploring physical and social transition. In a recent study aimed to implement ABFT into LGBTQ+ centers, a small sample of TGD youth (N=8) received ABFT in community settings, including locations where they were receiving gender-affirming services. This presentation will describe the foundational principles of providing ABFT TGD youth in LGBTQ+ community settings and discuss how the delivery of ABFT was modified to be sensitive to the needs of TGD youth and their caregivers in these settings. ABFT delivery modifications will be illustrated through use of video and case examples.

Program Objectives:

• Describe the preliminary empirical evidence supporting the utility of ABFT for treating TGD youth in LGBTQ+ community settings.
• Discuss sensitive intervention techniques for joining with TGD youth and their caregivers in the context of ABFT delivered in LGBTQ+ community settings.
• Describe at least three ABFT delivery modifications for TGD youth presenting in LGBTQ+ community settings.

Webinar 4:
Let's talk. With your parents?!
ABFT for Young Adults
Date: Wed, November 17, 2021
Time: 7:30pm-9pm (GMT+1); 1:30pm-3pm (Eastern Standard Time)
Speaker: Ilse Devacht & Laura Deckers

Young adulthood, comprising the age range of 18-25, is a challenging developmental stage in the transition to adulthood. Engaging young adults into relational repair work with their parents can be difficult given laws about confidentiality, shifts in the role of parents for young adults, and caregiver fatigue when the young adult has suffered from mental health issues for a long time.

In the first part of this webinar, treatment experts, Ilse Devacht & Laura Deckers, will share some insights on young adult development and parenting for this age group. We will discuss issues to consider when engaging young adults and their parents in ABFT and share our clinical experiences in implementing ABFT with young adult in more than a hundred families. We will also share data on young adult acceptance of ABFT.

Our ABFT therapist community is growing and we want to hear your experiences as well. Have you come across young adults for whom you think ABFT could help? Are you thinking of trying ABFT with young adults or perhaps have already tried?

In the second half of this webinar, a panel of ABFT therapists working with young adults will lead an open conversation with the webinar attendees about experiences working with young adults and ABFT. We look forward to sharing and discussing our exciting work with emerging adults and cherish this opportunity to think together as an ABFT community.

Program Objectives:

• Identify the basics of the young adult developmental stage.
• Describe what to consider when engaging young adults and their parents for ABFT.
• Discuss the importance of attachment and relationship repair in the young adult age.

Webinar 5:
ABFT with Adolescents in Residential and Inpatient Treatment
Date: Thurs, March 17, 2022
Time: 2:30pm-4pm (Eastern Daylight Time); 7:30pm-9pm (GMT+1)
Speakers: Meredith Dellorco & Jasmijn Creten

Residential treatment centers in the US and inpatient treatment facilities abroad provide a comprehensive treatment approach for adolescents whose health and safety are at risk in their homes and communities. These adolescents are struggling with a range of mental health diagnoses, potential substance abuse and family conflict. Relational repair work between these adolescents and their caregivers is essential to their success post discharge. We have observed that repairing the adolescent's attachment to their caregivers and shifting their environment at home significantly reduces the risk of relapse post discharge from residential treatment.

In the first part of this webinar, the treatment experts, Meredith Dellorco & Jasmijn Creten, will share some insights on implementing ABFT in the residential/inpatient setting. We will discuss issues to consider when utilizing ABFT as the treatment approach in residential/inpatient settings where Clients are provided treatment for at least 30 days. This will include specific challenges and barriers that you may experience while utilizing ABFT in these settings and proactive ways to approach these challenges. In addition, we will share our own clinical experiences utilizing ABFT effectively while adolescents are in residential or inpatient treatment.

In the second half of this webinar, a panel of ABFT Therapists working with adolescents in residential or inpatient treatment worldwide will lead an open conversation with the webinar attendees about experiences implementing ABFT in this context. We look forward to discussing our exciting work utilizing ABFT with adolescents in this unique setting and using this as an opportunity to grow together as an ABFT community!

Program Objectives:

• Describe how to implement the five tasks of ABFT with adolescents and their families in a residential or inpatient treatment center.
• Discuss the unique challenges and creative adaptions of ABFT in residential and inpatient treatment settings.
• Discuss the importance of attachment and relationship repair between caregivers and adolescents prior to them discharging from residential or inpatient care.

Webinar 6:
ABFT with Binge Spectrum Eating Disorders
Date: Tues, June 21, 2022
Time: 1pm-2:30pm (Eastern Daylight Time); 7pm-8:30pm (GMT+2)
Speaker: Stephanie Manasse, PhD

Outcomes from treatment for adolescent binge-spectrum eating disorders is suboptimal, and few resources have been dedicated to novel treatment development. One reason for lack of suboptimal outcomes of standard treatments (cognitive behavioral therapy, family-based therapy) is the lack of focus of these treatments on family functioning (e.g., family conflict and cohesion). Poor family functioning may 1) lead to the child to binge eat to cope with negative affect 2) interfere with the family’s ability to help the child make changes to disordered eating.

Attachment-Based Family Therapy holds high promise for improving family functioning and enhancing outcomes for adolescent bulimia nervosa and binge eating. This presentation will focus on (1) application of the ABFT model to binge-type eating disorders; (2) integrating evidence-based behavioral techniques for eating disorders with ABFT; and (3) describe how to apply the 5 tasks of ABFT to eating disorders. Case examples will be discussed.

Program Objectives:

• Discuss how to apply the ABFT model to bulimia and binge eating disorder treatment
• Discuss the methods for integrating behavioral treatment methods for eating disorders with ABFT.
• Describe how to implement the 5 tasks of ABFT in the treatment of binge eating disorder and bulimia nervosa.

Webinar 7:
Exploring Clinical Implications with Racial Trauma: Utilizing Cultural Humility, Self of Therapist, and Attachment-Based Family Therapy Through an Intersectionality Lens
Date: Wed, November 2, 2022
Time: 2pm-3:30pm (Eastern Standard Time); 7pm-8:30pm (GMT+1)
Speaker: Dumayi Gutierrez, PhD, Alba Niño, PhD & Syreeta Mason, PhD

Vast literature has highlighted the impact of racial trauma (such as racial discrimination, prejudice, and racially motivated violence) on mental health and wellbeing. Experiences of racial trauma have exacerbated adverse mental health outcomes such as post-traumatic stress symptoms, depression, anxiety, and suicidality. Evidence has shown success with therapies such as Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and Attachment Based Family Therapy (ABFT) to ameliorate these symptoms. However, having an evidence-based model is only part of what is necessary to provide competent services to address the consequence or racial trauma. Exploring the impact of cultural humility, intersectionality, and self of the therapist factors with racial trauma is significant in cross-cultural clinical work. ABFT takes these issues into consideration in implementation of the therapy.

This presentation will discuss, 1) cultural humility and therapist role working with racial trauma, 2) integration of intersectionality framework and self of the therapist factors work with racial trauma, and 3) how ABFT utilizes cultural humility, intersectionality and self of the therapist factors with racial trauma in implementation of the therapy.

Program Objectives:

• Discuss awareness of therapist positionality and cultural humility working with racial trauma.
• Describe person of the therapist factors and intersectionality frameworks as related to working clinically with racial trauma.
• Describe ABFT utilizes cultural humility and helps families experiencing racial trauma.