External Workshops and Events Publications

The Centre for Psychology and Emotional Health and the Greenberg Institute of Emotion Focused Therapy Presents 20 Skills to Work with Emotion in Psychotherapy with Dr. Leslie Greenberg. 

Published:   •  2 minute read

Learn skills to help you assess specific emotional issues and apply targeted interventions to address them.

Dates: July 11 and 12, 2024 

Times: 11:00AM to 3:00PM Eastern Daylight Time

Format: Online via Zoom 

If you register and are no longer available to attend the live workshop, a recording will be available for a period of time.

Overview 

Do you ever feel unsure about how to effectively work with emotions in your therapy sessions? Do you struggle to access, regulate, or deepen your clients’ emotional experience? Do you have trouble helping your clients process emotions productively?

Working with emotion is an essential component of psychotherapy, and therapists can encounter challenging emotional processes during treatment. For example, clients often present with secondary symptoms which are frequently mistaken for the main problem. These secondary symptoms obscure the deeper emotional issues that require focused attention and intervention. To address these and other emotional issues in psychotherapy, therapists require training to learn specific skills and techniques.

In this workshop, you will learn 20 evidence-based skills to help you assess specific emotional issues and apply targeted interventions to address them. These skills draw on decades of research on emotions from multiple perspectives, including evolutionary biology and neuroscience, and can be integrated into any psychotherapeutic approaches and used with any client population. Video recordings of real therapy sessions will be used to illustrate client processes and interventions.

Rates 

Early Registration Rate – $215 CAD (+ taxes)

(Early Registration ends 11:59pm June 13, 2024)

Regular Admission – $250 CAD (+ taxes)

Student Rate – $150 CAD (+ taxes)

Please email training@cpeh.ca for the Student Promo Code

We are offering APNS members a 10% discount. Please use APNS10 upon checkout on Eventbrite 

REGISTER NOW

Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) 2-Day Therapeutic Retreat for Mental Health Practitioners

Published:   •  4 minute read

*Wolfville Location*
August 9 – 10, 2024 9:30AM – 5:00PM

Facilitated by: Jacqueline Milner, Clinical Psychologist and Certified Mindfulness and Mindful Self-CompassionTeacher

Renew, Reflect, Reconnect: An opportunity to nourish your spirit, strengthen your resilience and rediscover the joy in your calling. Prioritize your wellness as we explore mindfulness and nurturing practices tailored specifically for those who dedicate their lives to supporting others’ mental health. 

This Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) Intensive Retreat is offered specifically for Mental Health Practitioners who face unique challenges which make them vulnerable to experiencing fatigue and burnout in their professional roles. Growing research is showing that self-compassion skills can be of particular benefit to health care professionals, allowing them to experience greater satisfaction in their caregiving roles, less stress, and more emotional resilience. Self-compassion skills are trainable and build your capacity to handle stressful challenges.

The 2-Day MSC Intensive Therapeutic Retreat is an adaptation of the Mindful Self-Compassion Short Course which originates from the empirically supported 8-week Mindful Self-Compassion program. This intensive is designed to begin cultivating and experiencing the skills of self-compassion combined with mindfulness while spending quiet, restful time with yourself and other practitioners with shared experiences.

As opposed to other self-care techniques, self-compassion practices can be used on the spot while at work with clients and colleagues.  As a participant of the program you can learn tools to use throughout the day to: 

  • Care for yourself while caring for others
  • Be able to listen with compassion 
  • Handle difficult emotions with greater ease
  • Reconnect to the values that give your life and work meaning

What to expect

Participants will meet as a group over the course of 2-days.  The activities of the MSC intensive will include short talks, experiential exercises, meditation, mindful movement, group discussions and home practices. There will be a silent retreat during the morning session of the second day.

At the completion of this program, participants should be able to:

  • Describe the main components of self-compassion and mindfulness and how they may be integrated into their role as healthcare professionals.
  • Explain the difference between empathy and compassion and utilize strategies to avoid emotional exhaustion.
  • Demonstrate strategies they can use on the job to regulate difficult emotions while caring for others in pain.
  • Apply at least one skill from each session to help them regulate emotions and care for themselves emotionally while caring for others who are experiencing difficulty.

Daily Schedule

  • 9:15 – 9:30 am: Sign-In
  • 9:30 – 12:30: Morning Session (with a 10-minute break, light nutrition and refreshments provided)
  • 12:30 – 2:00 pm: Lunch Break (participants can bring their own lunch or take advantage of any one of the lovely eateries in Wolfville)
  • 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm: Afternoon Session (with a 10-minute break, light nutrition and refreshments provided)

 Who is this intensive for?

This 2-day intensive retreat is being offered exclusively for mental health practitioners (psychiatrists, psychologists, clinical social workers and clinical therapists) who wish to begin integrating the core skills and principles of mindfulness into their work and/or are in much need of an opportunity to simply care for themselves.

Meditation experience is not required.

Fee: $350 (hst included)

** Most private health insurance covers the cost of this program. Please contact your insurance provider to determine whether therapeutic group sessions (in-person or online) offered by a Registered Psychologist are covered. The fee of this program for Mental Health Practitioners can also be claimed as a continuing education tax expense.

Limited space available.

REGISTER @ https://breathemindfulness.ca/event/mindful-self-compassion-msc-2-day-intensive-therapeutic-retreat-for-mental-health-practitioners// Should you have difficulty registering online or would like further information, contact admin@breathemindfulness.com

Restore and Rejuvenate Mind, Body, and Spirit With Our Upcoming Breathe Mindfulness Events:

Published:   •  5 minute read

REGISTER @ https://breathemindfulness.ca/events/

Should you have difficulty registering online, contact admin@breathemindfulness.com

Let’s Sleep! Sleep Better to Live Better 2-Hour Workshop

Given the importance of sleep for your well-being, this workshop is available: 

May 13, 2024 6:00PM-8:00PM: In-Person Dartmouth, NS
May 14, 2024 6:00PM-8:00PM: Live Online (with 30 Days Recorded On Demand Access)
May 15, 2024 6:00PM-8:00PM: In-Person Wolfville, NS 

Facilitated by: Jacqueline Milner, Clinical Psychologist and Certified Mindfulness Teacher

Say goodbye to restless nights and hello to rejuvenated mornings!

Join our transformative two-hour workshop designed to help you unlock the secrets to better sleep. Led by psychologist and wellness expert, Jacqueline Milner, you will learn practical strategies and techniques to overcome insomnia, reduce stress, and achieve restorative sleep. Getting enough good quality sleep is essential for overall well-being. Sleep affects both our mental and physical health. It is the foundation on which we have the energy to engage in other healthy thoughts and behaviours and show up fully in our lives. Good sleep promotes productivity, efficiency, mental clarity, and overall contentment. Getting too little makes us vulnerable to experiencing more stress, illness, and poor mental health. Improve your sleep, reserve your spot today!

Fee: $45 (HST included)

Half-Day Silent Mindfulness Meditation Retreat
Wolfville Location

Saturday, May 25 9:30AM – 1:30PM

Facilitated by: Jacqueline Milner, Clinical Psychologist and Certified Mindfulness Teacher

A 4-hour silent retreat to restore and rejuvenate mind, body, and soul.
Come experience the restorative and rejuvenating benefits of a silent meditation retreat in the beautiful Annapolis Valley. This half-day silent retreat is intended to deepen one’s practice of mindfulness as well as offer an introduction to a silent retreat experience and mindfulness practices.

What to expect
Led by Jacqueline Milner, an experienced and accredited mindfulness teacher, participants will be invited to engage in a variety of mindfulness-based practices, both movement and still, in the context of approximately 4 uninterrupted hours of silence. A nutrition break will be scheduled around mid-way of the retreat where light refreshments will be offered (vegan and gluten free options will be available). There will be an opportunity to reflect upon and share your experience with the facilitator and fellow participants at the end if desired.

Is this for me?
This half-day, accessible silent retreat is open to anyone who is curious about mindfulness and/or a silent retreat experience or who has an ongoing practice and would like to bask in a more immersive experience with others.
Although no previous meditation experience is required, please be aware that during this retreat, there will be extended periods of silence, and practices will be longer in duration to facilitate immersion and deepening of one’s experience.

Fee: $65 (HST included)

Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) 2-Day Therapeutic Retreat
Includes a half-day silent retreat.

Wolfville Location

June 22 – 23, 2024 9:30AM – 5:00PM

Facilitated by: Jacqueline Milner, Clinical Psychologist and Certified Mindfulness Teacher

Come rest and experience the benefits of cultivating a kinder, more supportive relationship with yourself in the beautiful town of Wolfville, Nova Scotia.

This 2-day intensive is an adaptation of the Mindful Self-Compassion Short Course which originates from the empirically supported 8-week Mindful Self-Compassion program. This intensive is designed to begin cultivating the skills of self-compassion and offers an opportunity to learn about and experience mindfulness while spending quiet, restful time with yourself. Research shows that self-compassion significantly enhances emotional well-being, lessens anxiety and depression, boosts resilience and happiness, leads to more satisfying relationships and can even help maintain healthy lifestyles such as nutritious eating and physical activity.

What to expect
Participants will meet as a group over the course of 2-days. The activities of the MSC intensive will include short talks, experiential exercises, meditation, mindful movement, group discussions and home practices. There will be a silent retreat during the morning session of the second day.

Course Themes Include:

  1. Practicing self-compassion / Self-compassion and mindfulness practices for daily life and moments of stress.
  2. Discovering your compassionate voice / An exercise focused on motivation with compassion.
  3. Self-compassion and resilience / A practice for working with difficult emotions.
  4. Addressing burnout / A practice for compassion with equanimity.
  5. Living deeply / Journaling to reconnect with your values.

Is this for me?
This group is open to anyone who is time-limited and still would like an opportunity to experience the transformational skills of self-compassion within an immersive, retreat experience. This intensive retreat is also for health professionals who wish to begin integrating the core skills and principles of mindfulness into their work and/or are in much need of an opportunity to simply care for themselves.
Please keep in mind that this 2-day program is a more “intense” and immersive experience than an MSC program that is offered over several weeks. Because self-compassion has the paradoxical effect of both soothing our emotional distress as well as opening us to the pain that we may have been unconsciously holding inside, difficult emotions may surface during the program, including past traumas. Hence, the intensive format can potentially be more emotionally challenging in which to learn MSC, so we urge careful consideration before enrolling.
Although therapeutic, our group programs are not a substitute for individual mental health therapy.
MSC teachers are committed to helping participants feel safe and supported during the course. However, participants agree at the outset that they will take primary responsibility for their emotional well-being. If you are unsure, please contact Breathe Mindfulness Centre for further discussion of the best fit for your circumstances.
Meditation experience is not required.

Fee: $350 (HST and Materials included)
*Most private health insurance covers the cost of this program. Please contact your insurance provider to determine whether therapeutic group sessions (in-person or online) offered by a Registered Psychologist are covered.

Two-Day, In-person Workshop: Psychological First Aid

Published:   •  2 minute read

ORGANIZATION: Red Cross Psychological First Aid
DATE & TIME: May 25 & 26, 2024 beginning at 9:00am to 4:00pm
LOCATION: St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Bloomfield 426

Facilitated by Marcelle Coppillie, Certified Red Cross Psychological First Aid Trainer, https://primaryresourcetraining.com/

Coordinated by Natasha Brubaker, Rector, Anglican Parish of Three Harbours and Ivan Drouin, R. Psychologist, St. Francis Xavier University

In a world where extreme weather events are increasing, we recognize that in addition to tangible physical support (i.e., community comfort centers, food, charging stations and so on), people need access to essential psychological and spiritual support in times of crisis and disaster. Such events are by their very nature traumatic and affect everyone. However, mental, and spiritual care are often overlooked, particularly on the social level, both in the moment itself and afterwards.

“Psychological First Aid (PFA) provides emotional and practical support to individuals, families, or communities who are having difficulty coping. It is about establishing a connection with people in a compassionate, non-judgmental manner to bring calm and comfort. It also helps to reduce stigma associated with mental health crises and can reduce negative health outcomes through general public and community-building strategies on self-care and promoting conversations about wellness” (Canadian Red Cross).”

We are inviting local emergency management staff, first responders, counsellors, psychologists, social workers, nurses, clergy, and other leaders and members of our communities to take part in an upcoming Red Cross Psychological First Aid training session. For health professionals, it is a unique opportunity to be trained and serve our community. A more advanced Red Cross Psychological First Aid Trainer program, for which this first workshop is prerequisite, will be offered in the fall of 2024.

This workshop is free of charge and is funded through a generous grant from the “Hurricane Fiona Relief and Resiliency Fund” program of the Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund of the Anglican Church of Canada and administered through the Anglican Diocese of Nova Scotia & PEI.

To register: rector3harbours@gmail.com