Psychological interventions play a vital role in mental health response around the world. The World Health Organization (W.H.O.) recognises the importance of these interventions in addressing various mental health challenges globally, in particular by using task-sharing approaches, where trained and supervised non-specialists deliver evidence-based interventions. This presentation will provide an overview of the work of W.H.O. in this area. This includes updated recommendations, the W.H.O. Psychological Intervention Implementation Manual, (that supports delivery of non-specialist interventions) and various evidence based psychological interventions that are open access, available in multiple languages and are designed for use in a range of settings. It will provide examples how these interventions are being used in different settings.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) is the frontline treatment for Insomnia Disorder; unfortunately, there is a demonstrable knowledge and practice gap in delivering CBT-I with fidelity, particularly in clients with comorbid insomnia. Studies unfortunately show that providers continue to use sleep hygiene as the main strategy for insomnia (Araújo et al., 2017; Ulmer et al., 2017), even with new clinical guidelines advising against the use of it (Edinger et al., 2021). Studies also show that there are unhelpful beliefs about comorbid insomnias that interfere with effective treatment (e.g., that the insomnia is caused by the comorbid disorder and therefore will remit with treating the other disorder) (Ulmer et al., 2017). Part of effective delivery of CBT-I is an in-depth, empirically based understanding of the causal factors for insomnia, and being able to match these factors with evidence-based strategies. This webinar will review interview, sleep diary, and validated questionnaire data from a complex comorbid insomnia case, and use a structured case formulation form, to focus attention on the key insomnia targets for the case. You will receive the clinical tools from the webinar to use with your clients and hone your CBT-I case formulation skills. This is the 2024 North American Global Ambassador Event for the World Confederation of Cognitive and Behavioural Therapies (WCCBT).

Culturally responsive care should be considered an ethical imperative and an important therapeutic relational factor. Although disparities in mental health care outcomes are multiply determined, one potential contributors are cultural barriers between clinicians and clients. One approach to bridging cultural barriers is to match clinicians to clients by cultural identity (e.g., race, ethnicity); however, given that the healthcare workforce does not reflect the diverse cultural identities of the treatment seeking population, matching may not always be feasible. An alternative to matching is to ensure that every clinician can provide therapy that is responsive to the cultural identities of all clients. This webinar will highlight considerations for adapting interventions to be responsive to clients’ cultural context. Dr. Calloway will discuss the foundation of providing culturally responsive psychotherapy, how culturally-specific stressors may impact mental health, and ways that cognitive and behavioral interventions can be used to lessen distress associated with culturally-specific stressors. Throughout the presentation, Dr. Calloway will use real-world clinical examples to inform concepts presented. The webinar aims to help clinicians feel empowered to use CBT interventions in a manner that is responsive to clients’ cultural identities and contexts.

Long considered an important treatment for depression, behavioral activation (BA) is a robust and transdiagnostic change process. Because reinforcement-based deficits are evident across disorders, BA is an evidence-based means of targeting reward systems and avoidance for disorders beyond depression (e.g., in PTSD, anxiety, disordered eating and substance misuse/abuse). Culturally-attuned BA combines activation with an intentional focus on personal values and meaning, and can be implemented by providers across levels of professional training. Improving session effectiveness and outcomes requires viewing age as a facet of diversity that intersects with other identities, calling for both humility and the age-appropriate application of culturally-attuned change strategies. This webinar highlights strategies and age-appropriate resources for applying BA with culturally diverse individuals across the lifespan, as we help our clients cultivate meaning in their daily lives.

There is a growing call for clinicians to shift away from formulating neurodevelopmental differences as signs of pathology or deficit, and to move toward seeing these differences as part of normal human variation, much in the same way as other diversity factors (e.g., race, sexual orientation). This webinar will highlight the clinical implications of working from a neurodiversity perspective, with emphasis on the benefits of approaching care from a frame of inclusivity. Using autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as an example, Dr. Hong will explain how neurodiversity-related differences can completely shift CBT formulations of maladaptive or unwanted behaviors and how not including neurodiversity factors into the formulation can lead to poor progress and, at times, harmful outcomes. She will then offer concrete ways to incorporate neurodiversity-related differences into the formulation while also ensuring an evidence-based approach to care. Dr. Hong will also touch on ways to adapt interventions to account for neurodiversity related differences and give patients language to explain their differences and needs to others. Throughout the presentation, Dr. Hong will use real-world clinical examples to inform concepts presented. The webinar aims to help clinicians feel empowered with ways to reframe difficulties that come with holding an (often invisible) minoritized identity and use existing evidence-based treatment strategies more effectively with neurodiverse individuals.

Eating disorders have been long stereotyped as disorders associated with thinness, whiteness, affluence, female gender, and youth. Although compelling data indicate that this stereotype is inaccurate and that eating disorders affect many who do not conform to the stereotype, the stereotype both persists and is often believed by health providers and laypersons alike. Importantly, research indicates that individuals who defy the eating disorder stereotype are less likely to be correctly diagnosed by providers and less likely to self-identify as having an eating disorder. The treatment of eating disorders also is commonly viewed as an area of clinical specialty; as such, many CBT practitioners, particularly those who work with populations that defy the eating disorder stereotype, obtain little if any training in the treatment and assessment of eating disorders. Combined, these factors (i.e., powerful inaccurate stereotype and lack of training) set the stage for significant diagnostic error, in particular, overlooked eating disorder diagnoses. Missed eating disorder diagnoses are problematic for numerous reasons. First, research indicates that early identification improves eating disorder clinical outcome. Second, eating disorders are associated with elevated mortality and significant medical morbidity, and failure to diagnose them can worsen medical sequelae and contribute to inappropriate medical treatment. Third, failure to diagnose an existing eating disorder can lead to incomplete and faulty clinical conceptualization and treatment planning. Finally, diagnostic accuracy is linked to the ethical principles of beneficence, non-maleficence, justice, and autonomy. The primary aim of this training is to help clinicians who have minimal eating disorders background understand why clients who they may think are at low risk for an eating disorder (e.g., those who are racially and ethnically minoritized, live in a higher weight body, identify as male, are of older age, are of lower income, identify as LGBTQIA+ etc…) are, in fact, very much potentially at risk. This webinar is also appropriate for those who have eating disorders training and can acknowledge that they, like so many in the eating disorders field, still feel the pull of the stereotype.