The purpose of this training is to provide an in depth look into the treatment of eating disorders in the outpatient counseling setting.

Learners will be engaged in education and practice of various treatment strategies, interventions, and theoretical approaches to outpatient counseling eating disorder treatment.

Additionally, this training will explore the various considerations outpatient practitioners must integrate into treatment of clients with disordered eating.

Date: May 22nd, 2025
Time: 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Location: Virtual via Zoom
Presenter: Bridget Smith
CEUs are available!

Meet Your Presenter

Bridget Smith is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and Certified Mental Performance Consultant, who received her PsyD in clinical psychology from James Madison University and her masters in Sport and Performance Psychology from the University of Denver. In her role at VCU she provides individual psychological counseling and sport performance sessions, programming and outreach, and consultation services to teams and athletics staff.

Prior to VCU she completed both her clinical internship and post-doctoral residency at the James Madison University Counseling Center before joining as a senior staff psychologist where she specialized in trauma, eating and body image concerns, and student athlete mental health. During her tenure at JMU she played a role in establishing the integrated healthcare team within the athletics department to better meet the need of student-athletes. Additionally, she has also worked as a licensed provider at an eating disorder outpatient clinic in Philadelphia, and during graduate school worked at a higher level of care eating disorder treatment center as house counselor offering support after programming hours for residents.

As a clinician, she is committed to honoring an individual’s lived experience and cultivating change through warmth, humor, and fostering a sense of empowerment.

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At a LivingWorks safeTALK workshop, you’ll learn how to prevent suicide by recognizing signs, engaging someone, and connecting them to an intervention resource for further support.

A skilled, supportive trainer will guide you through the course, and a community resource will be on hand to support your safety and comfort.

Date: May 28th, 2025
Time: 9:00am – 1:00pm (EST)
Location: Harborview Mental Health Center – 7025 Harbour View Blvd, Suite 119, Suffolk, VA 23435
Trainers: Karin Duncan and Shytianna Taylor

Like all of LivingWorks’ core programs, LivingWorks safeTALK is evidence-based. Here’s what over 15 peer-reviewed reports and government studies on LivingWorks safeTALK found:

— Improves participant skills and readiness
— Safe for participants, with no adverse effects from training
— Effective for participants as young as 15 years old
— Helps break down suicide stigma in the community
— Better skill retention compared to other connector programs

LivingWorks safeTALK participants learn to recognize when someone is thinking about suicide and connect them to an intervention provider, such as an LivingWorks ASIST participants.

In this way, LivingWorks safeTALK participants build a safety network around these intervention providers and greatly increase their reach and impact.

Register Here

Learners will be engaged in diving deeper into grief therapy practices and techniques, walking away with the ability to:

1. – Identify common death and non-death losses impacting children, adolescents, and adults.
2. – Appraise the most common emotional, social, physical, and spiritual reactions to loss.
3. – Compare modern models of grief counseling.
4. – Integrate the Core Principles of Grief-Informed Practice into clinical practice with grieving clients.
5. – Employ creative interventions to support grieving clients experiencing loss.

Date: June 5th, 2025
Time: 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Location: Virtual via Zoom
Presenter: Dr. Erica Sirrine

Meet Your Presenter

Dr. Erica Sirrine is a licensed clinical social worker with over 22 years of experience in the field of death, dying, and bereavement. She earned a PhD in social work and has been awarded the distinction of Fellow in Thanatology by the Association for Death Education and Counseling. Dr. Sirrine has conducted and published research on grief and bereavement, including a study on college student experiences of loss amid the COVID-19 pandemic that was published in OMEGA: Journal of Death and Dying and featured in TIME magazine. She maintains a blog on grief and is the author of Sammy’s Story, an anticipatory grief counseling book for young children experiencing the serious illness of a parent.

Dr. Sirrine has extensive expertise providing individual and group therapy to children, adolescents, adults, and families experiencing illness and loss. She has implemented numerous interventions and programs aimed at improving the emotional health of clients and currently serves as the director of social work at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Dr. Sirrine frequently presents seminars on bereavement and loss throughout the United States and is known for her interactive and engaging workshops.

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What are adverse childhood experiences?

Adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, are potentially traumatic events that occur in childhood (0-17 years). For example: experiencing violence, abuse, or neglect, witnessing violence in the home or community, having a family member attempt or die by suicide.

Also included are aspects of the child’s environment that can undermine their sense of safety, stability, and bonding, such as growing up in a household with: substance use problems, mental health problems, instability due to parental separation or household members being in jail or prison.

Join us for an in-depth discussion as we talk about ways to combat Adverse Childhood Experiences.

Date: June 12th, 2025
Time: 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM (EST)
Location: Online via Zoom
Presented by: Brian Van der Linden

This training will:

— Help you to understand what Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are; plus, the impact and consequences they have on individuals and communities.
— Recognize the symptoms and behaviors of toxic stress.
— Learn strategies that build resilience in trauma-impacted individuals.
— What are adverse childhood experiences?

How big is the problem?

ACEs are common. About 61% of adults surveyed across 25 states reported they had experienced at least one type of ACE before age 18, and nearly 1 in 6 reported they had experienced four or more types of ACEs.

Preventing ACEs could potentially reduce many health conditions. For example, by preventing ACEs, up to 1.9 million heart disease cases and 21 million depression cases could have been potentially avoided.

Some children are at greater risk than others. Women and several racial/ethnic minority groups were at greater risk for experiencing four or more types of ACEs.

ACEs are costly. The economic and social costs to families, communities, and society totals hundreds of billions of dollars each year. A 10% reduction in ACEs in North America could equate to an annual savings of $56 billion.

What are the consequences?

ACEs can have lasting, negative effects on health, well-being, as well as life opportunities such as education and job potential. These experiences can increase the risks of injury, sexually transmitted infections, maternal and child health problems (including teen pregnancy, pregnancy complications, and fetal death), involvement in sex trafficking, and a wide range of chronic diseases and leading causes of death such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and suicide.

ACEs and associated social determinants of health, such as living in under-resourced or racially segregated neighborhoods, frequently moving, and experiencing food insecurity, can cause toxic stress (extended or prolonged stress). Toxic stress from ACEs can negatively affect children’s brain development, immune systems, and stress-response systems. These changes can affect children’s attention, decision-making, and learning.

Children growing up with toxic stress may have difficulty forming healthy and stable relationships. They may also have unstable work histories as adults and struggle with finances, jobs, and depression throughout life. These effects can also be passed on to their own children. Some children may face further exposure to toxic stress from historical and ongoing traumas due to systemic racism or the impacts of poverty resulting from limited educational and economic opportunities.

Register Here

At a LivingWorks safeTALK workshop, you’ll learn how to prevent suicide by recognizing signs, engaging someone, and connecting them to an intervention resource for further support.

A skilled, supportive trainer will guide you through the course, and a community resource will be on hand to support your safety and comfort.

Date: June 26th, 2025
Time: 9:00am – 1:00pm (EST)
Location: Harborview Mental Health Center – 7025 Harbour View Blvd, Suite 119, Suffolk, VA 23435
Trainers: Shytianna Taylor and Brian Van der Linden

Like all of LivingWorks’ core programs, LivingWorks safeTALK is evidence-based. Here’s what over 15 peer-reviewed reports and government studies on LivingWorks safeTALK found:

— Improves participant skills and readiness
— Safe for participants, with no adverse effects from training
— Effective for participants as young as 15 years old
— Helps break down suicide stigma in the community
— Better skill retention compared to other connector programs

LivingWorks safeTALK participants learn to recognize when someone is thinking about suicide and connect them to an intervention provider, such as an LivingWorks ASIST participants.

In this way, LivingWorks safeTALK participants build a safety network around these intervention providers and greatly increase their reach and impact.

Register Here

This 2 hour Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) skills training, facilitated by Damara Beckett, CSAC, LPC, LALA, introduces participants to the foundational structure, philosophy, and practical application of DBT.

The training is designed for behavioral health professionals seeking to deepen their clinical skillset in supporting clients with emotional dysregulation, interpersonal difficulties, and self-destructive behaviors.

CEUs are available!

Date: June 27th, 2025
Time: 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Location: Harbour View Training Center – 7025 Harbour View Blvd Ste 119, Suffolk, VA 23435
Presented by: Damara Beckett, LPC, CSAC

Meet Your Presenter

Damara Beckett is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and Certified Substance Abuse Counselor (CSAC) with a decade of experience in the field of counseling. Currently serving as a Clinical Administrator at Western Tidewater Community Services Board, Damara brings a wealth of expertise in both clinical supervision and substance abuse treatment.

A graduate of Liberty University’s Master of Counseling program, Damara initially focused her training on substance abuse and has since developed a specialization in clinical supervision and consultation. She is adept at guiding and mentoring supervisees who work with individuals struggling with addiction.

In addition to her work in substance abuse, Damara has extensive experience with the geriatric psych population and is dedicated to the rehabilitation of individuals with serious mental illnesses. Her multifaceted background underscores her commitment to improving the lives of those she serves through compassionate and effective therapeutic practices.

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Working as a Mental Health Professional can be complicated especially when working with people!

The focus of this training is to discuss ethical issues that come up in everyday life so that you are better grounded on how to make ethical choices and decisions.

We will cover:

• – Ethics & Boundaries- How do ethical boundaries inform how we conduct ourselves with clients.
• – Agency & Autonomy – Recognizing client’s autonomy and respecting personal choices
• – Keeping yourself on the Ethical Track
• – Recognizing your own bias and issues that can get in the way of making ethical professional decisions.

CEUs are available!

Date: July 14th, 2025
Time: 10am-12pm
Location: Online
Trainer: Karen Bailey, LPC, ACS, ASDCS

Karen Bailey is a Licensed Professional Counselor, Approved Clinical Supervisor and Autism Spectrum Disorder Clinical Specialist. Karen Bailey has worked in the field for 28 years.

She specializes in Autism, Neurodiversity, Intellectual Disabilities, Depression, Anxiety, Trauma recovery, Grief and Loss, Developmental issues, and Women issues. Karen Bailey currently works as the Manager of Autism ID Treatment Services at Western Tidewater Community Services Board.

Register Here