(FLYER)
DESCRIPTION
Clients often present with chronic anxiety and stress that do not fall into a clear-cut diagnosis with a specific protocol. In these cases, the therapist must conceptualize factors that contribute to the client's problems to formulate and guide the treatment plan. This can be challenging and lead the therapist to get lost in the content of what the client brings into sessions week to week. In these cases, it is beneficial to refocus on underlying assumptions to clarify and understand the common themes contributing to a wide variety of problems. Three underlying assumptions contribute to most, if not all, problems related to anxiety—Intolerance of Uncertainty, "What I don't know might kill me," Over Responsibility, "If others are not okay, I am not okay," and Perfectionism, "I cannot make a mistake."
This workshop will help therapists work with their clients to identify underlying assumptions and construct healthy new assumptions that decrease anxiety and strengthen flexibility and resilience. To help make these new assumptions believable for clients, therapists will gain tips for identifying the client’s current safety behaviors that reinforce the unhealthy assumptions. Therapists will also learn strategies to help clients drop safety behaviors and replace them with exposure-based behaviors that support healthy assumptions.
Therapists will be introduced to a worksheet to use with clients in sessions to help focus on assumptions from conceptualization through treatment.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
- Attendees will be able to identify the three assumptions that perpetuate anxiety and alternative beliefs with which to replace them.
-
Attendees will be able to list at least two unhelpful safety behaviors that maintain underlying assumptions and develop targeted behavioral interventions that support alternative healthy assumptions.
-
Attendees will be able to create collaborative treatment plans with clients using a targeted worksheet to assist them in stopping unhelpful thinking guided by underlying assumptions.
REFERENCES
Shannon, J., LMFT (2017). Don’t Feed the Monkey Mind. New Harbinger Publications.
Harris, R. (2019). ACT Made Simple: An Easy-To-Read Primer on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (Second Edition). New Harbinger Publications.
Greenberger, D., & Padesky, C. A. (2016). Mind over mood: A Cognitive Therapy Treatment Manual for Clients. (Second Edition). Guilford Press.
Persons, J. B. (2012). The Case Formulation Approach to Cognitive-Behavior Therapy. Guilford Press.
Beck, J. (2020) Cognitive Behavior Therapy: Third Edition Basics and Beyond. Guilford Press.
SPEAKER

Jennifer Shannon is a licensed psychotherapist and a Certified Diplomat in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, specializing in anxiety. She co-founded the Santa Rosa Center for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and has over forty years of experience treating children, teens, and adults. She is the author of numerous books, including Don’t Feed the Monkey Mind, The Anxiety Survival Guide for Teens, The Shyness and Social Anxiety Workbook for Teens, and A Teen’s Guide to Getting Stuff Done, all published by New Harbinger Press. Her books have been selected for the Reading Well Books on Prescription in the UK. She speaks regularly at national conferences and has been featured on radio programs as well as in magazines and newspapers.
REGISTRATION
To register, visit https://www.nccbt.net/event-6026985.
Members
Early Bird Rate (on or before 02/22/25)
- Professional Member - $40
- Early Career Member - $30
- Pre-Licensed Associate/Retired Members - $20
- Student - $10
Regular (after 02/22/25)
- Professional Member- $50
- Early Career Member - $40
- Pre-Licensed Associate/Retired Members - $30
- Student - $15
Non-Members
- Professional - $70
- Pre-Licensed Associate/Student - $45
CANCELLATIONS
If you register but cannot attend, please contact us. Refunds will be issued if requested prior to the event less a $5 administrative fee. Refunds will not be issued if requested after the event.
QUESTIONS
Email support@nccbt.net
Continuing Education (CE) Credit
The San Francisco Bay Area Center for Cognitive Therapy is approved to offer 3.0 hours* of continuing education (CE). No partial CE credits are granted.
Those who attend this workshop in full and complete the appropriate evaluation form will receive CE credits. Please note that the San Francisco Bay Area Center for Cognitive Therapy will issue credit only to those who attend the entire workshop. Those who arrive more than 15 minutes after the start time or leave before the workshop ends will not receive CE credits.
The San Francisco Bay Area Center for Cognitive Therapy (Provider Approval No.: CEN034) is approved by the California Psychological Association to provide continuing professional education for psychologists. The California Board of Behavioral Sciences (BBS) recognizes CE credit offered by any CPA-approved provider for license renewal for its licensees. The San Francisco Bay Area Center for Cognitive Therapy maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
Disclosure Information
The California Psychological Association and the American Psychological Association require that continuing education providers inform participants as to the source, amount, nature, and disposition of any funding used to support the continuing education activity, whether in the form of educational grants, cash contributions, or in-kind contributions. Individuals in a position to influence course content must also disclose whether they have one or more relevant financial relationships with individuals and companies who have a financial interest in activity content. These individuals include the CE Advisory Committee of the San Francisco Bay Area Center for Cognitive Therapy (SFBACCT) and the Leadership Committee of the Northern California Cognitive Behavior Therapy Network (NCCBT).
Institutional Conflict of Interest Disclosure
The San Francisco Bay Area Center for Cognitive Therapy does not receive commercial support for any of the continuing education activities it provides.
Individual Conflict of Interest Disclosure
- Janie Hong, PhD, NCCBT Network Leadership Committee, has no relevant financial relationships or conflicts.
- Kathrine Gapinski, PhD, NCCBT Network Leadership Committee, has no relevant financial relationships or conflicts.
- Nancy Liu, PhD, NCCBT Network Leadership Committee, has no relevant financial relationships or conflicts.
- Simone Madan, PhD, SFBACCT CE Advisory Committee, has no relevant financial relationships or conflicts.
- John R. Montopoli, LMFT, LPCC, NCCBT Network Leadership Committee, has no relevant financial relationships or conflicts.
- Daniela J. Owen, PhD, SFBACCT CE Advisory Committee and NCCBT Leadership Committee, has no relevant financial relationships or conflicts.
- Katherine Schulz, LCSW, NCCBT Network Leadership Committee, has no relevant financial relationships or conflicts.
- Aleksandra Soykin, PhD, NCCBT Network Leadership Committee, has no relevant financial relationships or conflicts.
- Melinda White, LMFT, NCCBT Network Leadership Committee, has no relevant financial relationships or conflicts.
- Bridget Whitlow, LMFT, NCCBT Network Leadership Committee, has no relevant financial relationships or conflicts.
Speaker Conflict of Interest Disclosure
- Jennifer Shannon, LMFT, Workshop Leader, has no relevant financial relationships or conflicts.