Where
This is an online event.Contact
Tess FowlerVOA Al Forthan Scholarship
503-802-0299
tfowler@voaor.org
S.P.M.I.: Some. Possibilities. Might. Include. with Kate Davis, LCSW.
Please join us for the upcoming training on Wednesday, February 22nd for S.P.M.I.: Some. Possibilities. Might. Include. with Kate Davis, LCSW.
All proceeds go towards the Al Forthan Scholarship.
Cost: $110 for full day of training (6 CEUs); $60 for half day of training (3 CEUs)
S.P.M.I.: Some. Possibilities. Might. Include.
Featuring: Kate Davis, LCSW
When: 8:30am-4:30pm
Purpose
This training is for professionals who are working with people who are labeled with “severe and persistent mental illness. Helping professionals are often unprepared for joining with clients who live with these labels. There are rich resources in research, education, and activism by people with lived experience, yet these are rarely included in formal training.
People who attend this training will have the opportunity to evaluate their current practices on a practical and systemic level. People who attend this training will learn about collaborative practices that will significantly improve both their own and their clients’ relationships. Attendees will leave the training with a set of skills and perspectives that may bring to their work: joy, humor, sadness, growth, mutuality, hope, self-efficacy, and true engagement.
PART ONE: “psychotic” “delusional” “manic” “depressed” “schizophrenic” are words that have the potential to create a singular identity for clients and which also create a singular identity and role for providers.
Intersectionality and socially just principles and resources.
Deconstructing, from a critical social work and peer informed perspective, the limitations of an “illness” model. These limitations affect both clients and providers/helpers.
Re-considering the assumptions and professional skills that are suggested for work with people who have a variety of lived experiences.
How systems can teach clients and providers to give away their power, rights, and confidence.
Client/peer stories about how diagnoses are helpful and not helpful.
Anti-pathologizing and liberating practices from a national and international perspective.
PART TWO: “There are rainbows coming from your forehead.”
Working with the fearful voices inside our minds, the ones that make us ask “but what about medications? What about positive and negative symptoms? What about not reinforcing delusions?” “Will I make the psychiatrist mad?” “The landlord just gave them an eviction notice for setting a fire in their kitchen” “They told me I am an owl.”
In this section you will learn how to:
Listen to understand when someone is saying things that are not evident to you or which are not assigned to consensus reality.
Engage others with curiosity, collaborative practice, humility, and honesty.
Find the lost hopes, dreams and disappointments that could lead to an opportunity for clients to do something they thought they couldn’t do.
Harvest existing knowledge. Your clients know a lot about you and treatment before they meet you. You may be the 50th provider they’ve had. Trauma, incarceration, and institutionalization bring trauma but also bring some important experiences and resources to the therapeutic setting. “I learned DBT when I was in rehab. I’ve taken the course 5 times!” “I took Seeking Safety in prison and then I taught it.”
How to honor individual safety needs. “A big group from Safeway followed me here. Can we close the blinds?” “My cell was this size of a room. Can you leave the door open a crack?”
Using collaborative skills and advocacy with clients who interact with psychiatric providers, primary care, public housing and Social Security. Leveraging client and provider knowledge about resources and rights.
How to be brave when challenging the status quo with or for clients.
Kate Davis, LCSW
I received my Bachelor of Arts degree from University of Oregon, majoring in Human Services. I received my Master of Social Work degree from Portland State University in 2000, and have been a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) in the state of Oregon since 2008. I have worked in various community mental health settings for 40 years. Until 2020, I was on the faculty of Portland State’s Graduate School of Social Work, where I taught clinical social work courses and advised practicum students. I have been training and offering clinical consultation to local and State agencies for over two decades.
Currently, my heart lies in working with individuals who don’t feel at home with themselves for any reason, whether as a result of chronic trauma exposure or changes in circumstances. Trauma, social marginalization, and internalized stigma creates distress that makes life feel difficult and almost too much to bear. It can get better!
My passion lies in providing authentic, personalized, and collaborative care. My clients say they like me as a therapist because I’m direct in a kind way, we laugh together, and they feel understood. We agree that the best parts are when change starts to happen; we see it and we celebrate.
To Register, please click below
If you have any questions please contact Tess Fowler at tfowler@voaor.org or call me at 503-802-0299