Socratic Dialogue: Practical Tools to Improve Treatment Outcomes and Strengthen the Therapeutic Relationship
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Who is this for:
This workshop is intended for licensed mental health providers who are working with a diverse range of clients in a variety of settings.
Instructional Level:
Beginner to Intermediate
Why You’ll Love this Course:
Socratic dialogue is utilized across all theoretical orientations and can radically improve therapy outcomes and the clinical relationship. At the same time, socratic dialogue remains an elusive skill to master. This course will provide clinicians with a clear, comprehensive and practical guide of when and how to use socratic dialogue at each and every phase of psychotherapy.
Course description:
Course description:
Socratic skills provide a robust framework for creating meaningful and sustaining change for clients. In fact, research has found that the effective use of Socratic dialogue predicts symptom change and is associated with more robust therapy outcomes. For clinicians, the utilization of intentional and skillful Socratic questions can facilitate accurate assessment, sophisticated case conceptualization, collaborative treatment planning, and can cultivate effective and lasting therapy outcomes. For clients, Socratic dialogue opens up a world of self-inquiry, self-evaluation, motivation and empowerment.
There is evidence that Socratic strategies are some of the most challenging skills to implement effectively, even for seasoned clinicians. For example, it can be tempting for well-intentioned and capable therapists to try to convince a client, reassure a client or give client answers, instead of facilitating client’s understanding of their thinking and patterns, and creating their own opportunities for meaningful change.
This course will provide practical instruction to clinicians seeking to harness the power of Socratic dialogue during multiple stages of care- from building a strong alliance, to assessment, to case conceptualization, to treatment and motivation enhancement. This course will provide essential tools to engage in the Socratic process/stance and will provide concrete guidance regarding Socratic questions, rationale for questions and pacing.
There is evidence that Socratic strategies are some of the most challenging skills to implement effectively, even for seasoned clinicians. For example, it can be tempting for well-intentioned and capable therapists to try to convince a client, reassure a client or give client answers, instead of facilitating client’s understanding of their thinking and patterns, and creating their own opportunities for meaningful change.
This course will provide practical instruction to clinicians seeking to harness the power of Socratic dialogue during multiple stages of care- from building a strong alliance, to assessment, to case conceptualization, to treatment and motivation enhancement. This course will provide essential tools to engage in the Socratic process/stance and will provide concrete guidance regarding Socratic questions, rationale for questions and pacing.
Featuring:
- Skill demonstration of different types of Socratic questions depending on different treatment objectives
- Case example that illustrates how to use Socratic dialogue to address a client’s problematic belief in therapy
- Skills demonstration of summarizing and synthesizing in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Educational Objectives:
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
- Define how to engage in a curious stance, practice patience, and maintain openness when asking questions.
- Differentiate between types of Socratic questions.
- Apply Socratic Dialogue in at least 5 clinical situations.
Stephanie Sacks, Ph.D.
Stephanie Sacks, Ph.D. is a co-founder and the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of MindScience Collective. She is a licensed clinical psychologist (FL PY10014, DC PSY1001172) who is passionate about teaching, training, clinical work, entrepreneurship and the dissemination of evidence-based information to the masses.
In her private practice, Dr. Sacks specializes in the provision of evidence-based cognitive behavioral treatment for Trauma and Stressor-Related Disorders, OCD-Spectrum Disorders and Anxiety Disorders, with particular expertise providing care to clinically complex clients. She has a sub-specialty working with journalists who are exposed to occupational trauma and has received training from the Global Center for Journalism and Trauma.
She is a National Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Trainer and Clinical Consultant. She is also an invited lecturer and clinical consultant for many organizations, including the National Center for PTSD. Dr. Sacks is the creator of the Trauma Therapist Training Course, an interactive cohort-based learning experience that enhances therapists’ competence and confidence for working with trauma-affected clients.
She is an Adjunct Professor at Nova Southeastern University and a voluntary Clinical Adjunct Professor at the University of Southern California. She has proudly served as clinical and research supervisor at a number of academic and medical institutions. Dr. Sacks has authored numerous peer-reviewed research articles and contributed to a book entitled Cognitive Processing Therapy for Complex Cases.
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“MindScience Collective is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. MindScience Collective is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for Licensed Psychologists (#PSY-0312). MindScience Collective maintains responsibility for this program and its content.“
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