Strategies for Helping Teen Girls with Their Mental Health Struggles

A survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that was published in early February 2023 found that, in 2021 (at the height of the pandemic), 57% of high school girls reported experiencing “persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness in the past year,” up from 36% in 2011. That’s nearly twice as high as the 29% of males who reported having those feelings in 2021. What’s worse, 30% of the girls surveyed reported seriously considering suicide and 13% attempted suicide one or more times in 2021.

The Need For Victim-Centered Practices and Policies Regarding Sexual Offending

Though well-intentioned, policies and practices regarding sexual offending that are advocated by lawmakers and their constituents all too often result in efforts that are counterproductive for the long-term safety of the community. Just as problematically, they fail to adequately take into account the needs of the victims of abuse and do not adequately promote actions that can help individuals who have abused avoid re-offending.

Improving Results of Treatment with Adolescents Through an Injection of Fun

Christin Santiago and Anette Birgersson have taught professionals around the world how to incorporate fun into the very serious work of trauma-informed treatment for youth and adolescents. Studies have shown that interventions that are fun and engaging increase motivation, buy-in, and improve the therapeutic alliance. Likewise, incorporating aspects of fun into our lives as professionals is also essential for mental and physical overall health and wellbeing. 

Christin and Anette introduce best practices for both individual and group work that includes: utilizing games and activities, sensory-based interventions, facilitation techniques and mitigating risk. The aim of the webinar is to learn, laugh, and feel increased confidence as fun professionals!

Springtime Self-Care! Strategies and Discussion with Colleagues

In this webinar, Janet presents findings from her survey on professionals working with people who have abused, highlighting key self-care aspects. Arliss then discusses resources for busy professionals to enhance self-care, while David shares insights on integrating self-care into professional settings based on his practice experience.

Counseling Clients with Neopaganistic Worldviews 

A growing number of clients in treatment follow different spiritual paths than the religious practices most familiar to their treatment and supervision providers. This sets the stage for possible misunderstandings and tensions between the client and the members of treatment or supervisory team. While these worldviews can be puzzling to therapists and other professionals, Mr. Reeder explains how they can be understood in the context of counseling.

Working with Christian Beliefs in Treatment

There has been little guidance on integrating Christian beliefs with the material covered in most treatment programs for individuals who have sexually abused. Yet the topic is of vital importance to many clients in treatment. In fact, it is common for people convicted of sexual crimes to have questions about spirituality in the wake of their arrest and legal processing.

In this webinar, the panelists address topics related to religious objections to participating in treatment, discussing how the goals of treatment mesh with individual beliefs and how professionals can best interface with their clients’ faith systems.