May 13th & 14th

A Continuing Education Event - Offering 12 CEs

NHPA Spring Conference 2016:

Mindfulness Symposium 

Come join us for an illuminative two-day Mindfulness Symposium -explore the roots, understand the neuroscience, and learn clinical applications of mindfulness from experienced teachers.

Space is limited, register early!

 ***Early Bird Discount: $25 off (per workshop) if you register before April 13th 

Pre-registering offers significant savings.

   (Lunch and the Awards Dinner on Friday are optional and can be purchased with your registration.)     (Lunch on Saturday is included with the workshop.)

Register Now! 

Friday - May 13, 2016

Beyond Mindfulness: A Clinician's Guide to a Multifaceted Concept

Presented by: Delia F. Kostner, Ph.D.

9:00 am - 12:00 pm (3 CEs)

Description: The concept of mindfulness appeared on the healthcare scene almost thirty-five years ago and has subsequently infiltrated almost all schools of psychotherapy. Seen as a radical new way of relating  to our experience of basic human pain and suffering, mindfulness has been variously operationalized and applied in diverse therapeutic and educational settings. However, the understandable zeal to empirically demonstrate the usefulness of mindfulness and apply it in a secular context has led to a troubling denaturing of the concept, such that it has almost become synonymous with attention. As mindfulness is assimilated into psychodynamic, behavioral, and cognitive-behavioral theory in the West, it is evolving but may also be losing some of its original therapeutic value. The concept arose out of a  2600 year old Buddhist tradition, an examination of which demonstrates that mindfulness is far deeper, broader, more complex and more clinically relevant, than the current curricula of mindfulness-based treatments and techniques would have us believe.  In this seminar we will explore the deeper meaning of mindfulness in order to understand the broader, richer psychology of mind it actually encompasses. In addition, we will examine how the calm, lucid and equanimous awareness of the therapist with a meditation practice positively enhances the therapeutic relationship through deepening presence, acceptance, and affect tolerance. This seminar will include two brief  meditation practice periods appropriate for all level meditators, including beginners.

Objectives:

1. Identify and apply key concepts in mindfulness and psychotherapy.
2. Gain a deepened and broadened understanding of mindfulness and recognize ways in which mindfulness impacts and enhances the therapy relationship.
3. Describe an understanding of the early Buddhist roots of mindfulness practice and ways in which such understanding can apply to psychotherapy work.
4. Practice the first hand usefulness of mindfulness through two brief periods of guided meditation.

About the Speaker: Dr. Delia R. Kostner is a psychologist and psychoanalyst in private practice in Amherst, NH. A former faculty member at the Pine Psychoanalytic Center and current member of the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, she has taught, written, and lectured widely on the confluence of mindfulness, psychoanalysis, and psychodynamic psychotherapy. She is a trained Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) teacher, and has been a serious student of Buddhism since 2001. Dr. Kostner has authored two chapters - Suffering and the End of Suffering: Conundrum and Cure in Psychoanalysis and Buddhism in Mindfulness, Acceptance, and the Psychodynamic Evolution, (2014); and, It’s Not Just About the Mindfulness: Foundations of Buddhist Thought and Why it Matters for Psychoanalysts in, Freud and the Buddha: The Couch and the Cushion (2015) edited by Axel Hoffer.  She also is the founder and co-facilitator of the Souhegan Valley Insight Meditation Group in southern NH.

 

Lunch - Annual Meeting (*please register if you would like to attend)

12:00 pm - 1:30 pm

This is your opportunity to meet with NHPA leadership, hear from the NHPA board on the state of the Association, reconnect with colleagues, and discuss items important to the practice, education, and research of psychology in New Hampshire.

 

Meditation and the Brain

Presented by: Sara W. Lazar, Ph.D.

1:30 pm - 4:30 pm (3 CEs)

Description: Mindfulness meditation is becoming progressively popular, and although there is an ever-increasing amount of research on the practice and its effects, scientists are still learning about what precisely is happening when people meditate and what effects such practice has on the brain.  In this workshop we will discuss some of the neurobiological bases of meditation practice.  We will explore research on how the brain changes over the course of an 8-week mindfulness based program, and how such changes can positively impact experiences of stress, anxiety, depression, and pain.  We will also delve into specific forms of meditative practice (such as, compassion meditation, yoga, etc.) and examine additional outcome metrics including: changes in physiology, the “default state,” well-being, and cognition.  There will be one to two brief guided meditation practices and ample Q&A periods. No prior knowledge of neuroscience is required. 

Objectives: 

1. Identify brain structures involved in the neuroanatomical basis of mindfulness meditation.
2. Discuss the relationship between neurobiological changes and changes in clinical symptoms.
3. Describe the impact of meditation practice on the default state and cognition.

About the Speaker: Sara W. Lazar, PhD is an Associate Researcher in the Psychiatry Department at Massachusetts General Hospital and an Assistant Professor in Psychology at Harvard Medical School. The focus of her research is to elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying the beneficial effects of yoga and meditation, both in clinical settings and in healthy individuals. She is a contributing author to Meditation and Psychotherapy (Guilford Press). She has been practicing yoga and mindfulness meditation since 1994. Her research has been covered by numerous news outlets including The New York Times, USA Today, CNN, and WebMD, and her work has been featured in a display at the Boston Museum of Science.  More information can be found at http://www.nmr.mgh.harvard.edu/~lazar/

 

Social Hour

5:00 pm - 6:00 pm

Come join us for some fun, relaxed social engagement... make new connections, network, and reconnect with colleagues you may not have seen for a while.  All are welcome!

 

Awards Dinner (*please register if you would like to attend)

6:00 pm - 9:30 pm

Every year the NHPA gives three awards to members and laypeople for their outstanding service to the NHPA, the field of psychology, and service of mental health in NH. Come join us as we celebrate the individuals making such significant contributions to our field!

 

Harnessing Mindfulness: Fitting the Practice to the Person (*lunch is included)

Presented by: Ronald D. Siegel, Psy.D.

9:00 am - 4: 30 pm (6 CEs)

Description: Mindfulness-based psychotherapy is the most popular new treatment approach in the last decade—and for good reason. Mindfulness practices hold great promise not only for our own personal development, but also as remarkably powerful tools to augment virtually every form of psychotherapy. Mindfulness is not, however, a one-size-fits-all remedy. Researchers are now differentiating the effects of focused attention, open monitoring, loving-kindness, compassion, and equanimity practices. Practices need to be tailored to fit the needs of particular individuals—and this workshop will show you how. 

We will explore seven important clinical decisions to consider when deciding when and if to introduce different practices into treatment of individuals with different needs. Once you understand the components of mindfulness practices and how they work to alleviate psychological distress, you’ll be able to creatively adapt them to meet the needs of diverse people and conditions. You’ll learn how to use mindfulness practices to help resolve anxiety, depression, and stress-related medical disorders, gaining practical knowledge and skills that will take your practice of mindfulness-based psychotherapy to the next level.   

Mindfulness: What Is It Really? 

• The three pillars of mindfulness
• What mindfulness is and isn’t
•  How to cultivate mindfulness both inside and outside of the therapy hour

How Mindfulness Works

•  Identify the common factors in virtually all psychological disorders
•  Learn how to use mindfulness practices as their antidote
•  Discover how mindfulness can boost the effectiveness of all forms of treatment 

Fit the Practice To The Person

•  Learn seven guidelines to tailor techniques to particular patients or clients
•  Discover special practices for trauma survivors, fragile individuals, and others for whom meditation can be difficult or dangerous

 Working with Depression: Entering the Dark Places Together

•  Understand what mindfulness reveals about the dynamics of depression
•  Use mindfulness to moving toward experience to wake up and come alive

Befriending Fear: Treating Anxiety Disorders

•  Use mindfulness practices to overcome anxiety by befriending fear 
•  Practice CBT on steroids: embracing the wisdom of insecurity

Beyond Symptom Management: Resolving Stress-Related Disorders 

• The Strange Case of Chronic Back Pain
• Treating sexual dysfunctions, insomnia, and digestive distress
• See how psychophysiological disorders can be doors to personal development

Objectives:

1. Describe the three core elements of mindfulness practice.
2. Identify common denominators in psychological difficulties.
3. Specify seven ways that mindfulness practices can be tailored to the needs of particular types of clients.
4. Describe the core attitude toward experience found in depression and how mindfulness practice can help to transform it.
5. Indicate the mechanisms that maintain anxiety disorders and how these can be altered using mindfulness practice.
6. Specify the core dynamic of chronic pain and other psychophysiological disorders and how mindfulness practice can help in its relief.

About the Speaker: Dr. Ronald D. Siegel is an Assistant Professor of Psychology, part time, at Harvard Medical School, where he has taught for over 30 years. He is a long time student of mindfulness meditation and serves on the Board of Directors and faculty of the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy. He teaches internationally about the application of mindfulness practice in psychotherapy and other fields, and maintains a private clinical practice in Lincoln, Massachusetts. 

Dr. Siegel is coauthor of the self-treatment guide Back Sense: A Revolutionary Approach to Halting the Cycle of Chronic Back Pain, which integrates Western and Eastern approaches for treating chronic back pain; coeditor of the critically acclaimed text, Mindfulness and Psychotherapy, 2^nd Edition; author of a book for general audiences, The Mindfulness Solution: Everyday Practices for Everyday Problems; coeditor of Wisdom and Compassion in Psychotherapy: Deepening Mindfulness in Clinical Practice, with a foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama; coauthor of the professional guide Sitting Together: Essential Skills for Mindfulness-Based Psychotherapy; and professor for The Science of Mindfulness: A Research-Based Path to Well-Being produced by The Great Courses. He is also a regular contributor to other professional publications, and is co-director of the annual Harvard Medical School Conference on Meditation and Psychotherapy.

Register Now!

More Information

Cancellation policy: Refunds, minus a 35% cancellation fee, will be issued for all cancellations received two weeks prior to the start of the course (on or before April 28, 2016).  No refunds or vouchers will be made thereafter.  No shows are not refunded. 

Inclement weather policy: In the event that NHPA has to postpone or reschedule the training conference, a voucher equivalent to the full price amount of what was paid for the conference, will be issued.  If NHPA has to cancel the event with no postponement or reschedule date, a full refund will be given.  Please be sure that NHPA has your up-to-date contact information (email/text/phone).  Any weather cancellations or postponements will be made no later than three hours prior to an event.  Should you have questions or concerns about whether an event may be changed due to weather, please check the NHPA website or call our office at (603) 415-0451. 

Full attendance is required to obtain CEs.  No partial credit will be given.