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Continuing Education

Adler Faculty of Continuing Education (formerly TAPE Studies) offers certificate programs that incorporate a case-based learning approach, encompassing theoretical discussion supported by real-life cases, scenarios, and role-playing. This approach allows participants experience with actual day-to-day challenges. 

Programs are designed to be interactive, offering participants an opportunity to engage in active discussions with both their peers and the instructor. The instruction goes beyond the application of cases, tying together theoretical models to everyday practice. 

All programs are developed and delivered by our extensive faculty of leading professionals and academics. 

COGNITIVE BEHAVIOURAL THERAPY

Overview: This certificate programs offer a unique learning experience that emphasizes comprehensive understanding of the theoretical models of CBT, applied to specific clinical and demographic populations, with a solid grounding in real hands-on experience for each course. Each course is taught by clinical and academic experts in their fields to ensure that challenging questions and issues pertaining to each course can be competently addressed. The broad spectrum of our CBT certificate programs prepares clinicians to begin the process of implementing and practicing cognitive behavioural therapy, currently the number one evidence-based intervention applied to the largest number of settings, providing mental health services to children and adults who suffer from diagnosed disorders. 

ADLER offers three face to face certificates in CBT:

  • CBT-100 Fundamentals of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (36 hours - 3 modules)  
  • CBT-200 Adapted CBT Techniques for Diagnostic Populations (36 hours - 3 modules)
  • CBT-300A Advanced CBT Skills and Specialty Settings with Groups (36 hours - 3 modules)
  • CBT-300B Advanced CBT Skills and Specialty Settings with Children (36 hours - 3 modules)

Cost: $895 (HST included)
Each Certificate program is divided into 3 modules, each module can also be taken at any time to work towards completion of the entire certificate at $325 (HST included) per module.  Register for the entire certificate program (all 3 modules) to save $80.
ADLER's CBT certificates are approved for CE credits by CCPA.

MENTAL HEALTH & ADDICTIONS

Overview: The purpose of ADLER's certificate programs in Mental Health and Addictions (MHA) is to provide practitioners, both beginning and experienced, with a range of integrated learning opportunities reflective of the current state of knowledge and practice in the field of mental health & addictions on which they can build and renew their skills. 

ADLER offers three certificates in Mental Health & Addictions:

  • MHA-100 Fundamentals of Mental Health & Addictions (36 hours - 3 modules)
  • MHA-200 Essential Skills for Mental Health and Addictions Practice (36 hours - 3 modules)
  • MHA-300 Integrated Skills for Mental Health & Addictions Practice (36 hours - 3 modules)

Cost: $895 (HST included)


Students in the process of completing the previous Mental Health & Addictions program, or the previous Adult Mental Health and Child, Youth & Family Mental Health programs may transfer into this program. Please contact our registrar at [email protected] for more details.

DIALECTICAL BEHAVIOUR THERAPY

Overview:  Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) is an intensive out-patient therapy developed by Marsha Linehan to treat chronically suicidal clients diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. DBT has also been adapted to treat clients with addictions, eating disorders and other complex problems.  

Working with clients who experience these difficulties is extremely challenging for mental health and direct service professionals. DBT has proven to be effective in reducing suicidal, self-harm and other impulsive behaviours and to increase client engagement in therapy. DBT blends Cognitive Behavioural Therapy with acceptance-based strategies stemming from Zen philosophy. A primary therapeutic task is to balance acceptance of the client with a focus on change. The structure of DBT includes four components: skills group, individual treatment, DBT phone coaching, and consultation team. During this training, participants will learn the theoretical underpinnings of DBT, the group and individual components and DBT skills from each of the four modules. 

This DBT-Informed Practice Certificate Program will include two days of theoretical foundations focusing on individual treatment, followed by two, two-day classes of applied learning using a standardized actor. To round out the program provided in the fall, there are two additional, two-day practice-based classes planned for the early winter term, to provide participants with the knowledge and skills required to run DBT-informed groups, a modality of intervention increasingly being used by mental health agencies for its effectiveness in supporting clients with multiple, complex mental health issues.   

This program has to be completed in the sequence in which it is being offered. In providing this program, the ADLER faculty is intent on conveying to participants interested in integrating DBT techniques into their practices that this program does not provide certification to become DBT therapists. The “Certification of Individual Therapists” is the only treatment-developer-approved certification program in DBT® in the US and Canada; it is provided exclusively by the DBT®-Linehan Board of Certification (DBT-LBC). The entire process for certification can be found at http://www.dbt-lbc.org

Completion of the ADLER DBT-Informed Practice Certificate Program provides the beginning steps toward certification and an opportunity to join existing DBT-Informed supervised practices in Ontario to continue learning and gaining experience in this technique.

  • DBT-100 Certificate in Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (36 hours - 3 modules)  

Cost: $895 (HST included)

All 3 modules of the DBT Certificate Program must be taken in order.

Mindfulness Training for Emotional Resilience (MTER)

Overview: Mindfulness Training for Emotional Resilience (MTER) is a brief 4 session program that teaches introductory mindfulness and emotion regulation skills to people struggling with mental health challenges with an emphasis on psycho-education and brief meditation practices.  This program teaches the participants to use mindfulness to engage in daily life, regulate difficult emotions and develop a feeling of safety in the body.   It also prepares them to participate in longer, more intensive 8-10 week groups, if they so choose. Concepts from sensorimotor psychotherapy such as the window of tolerance and basics of neuroscience are taught within the program to help participants understand the importance of modulating arousal in order to stay well.

This 2-day training will emphasize experiential learning by leading participants through the 4-week MTER curriculum followed by group discussion on the experience.  There will be time for in-session practice teaching of exercises and guided meditations.

GOALS: This training initiative will introduce clinicians to mindfulness practices through experiential learning.  Participants will have the skills to use the MTER resources to support clients in their setting.  This training will provide an opportunity for clinicians to deepen their own mindfulness practice which will serve as a foundation for providing mindfulness based interventions with clients.

  • 2-day course in Mindfulness Training for Emotional Resilience (12 hours)

Cost: $299 (+HST)

TRAUMA INFORMED CARE

This certificate program may be taken by health professionals who are allowed to perform the act of psychotherapy (psychotherapists, psychologists, doctors, nurses, social worker, or occupational therapists). 

Trauma psychotherapy strives to interpret and reframe the individual’s response to overwhelming situations, transforming maladaptive coping strategies into socially useful ones and to examine the resiliency of individuals by de-pathologizing them. Moving from “What’s wrong with you?” to “What happened to you?”. Many individuals who struggle with behavioural and emotional health issues have histories of trauma, but they often don’t recognize the significant effects of trauma in their lives; either they don’t draw connections between their trauma histories and their presenting problems, or they avoid the topic altogether. Likewise, treatment providers may not ask questions that elicit a client’s history of trauma, may feel unprepared to address trauma-related issues proactively, or may struggle to address traumatic stress effectively within the constraints of the work place, clinical orientation or personal level of comfort.

The definition of trauma is often misunderstood and misused. It is assumed that trauma refers only to terrible events, such as abuse, sexual exploitation, death, violence, etc. Trauma is not restricted to horrific experiences, it refers to any set of events that, over time, impose more pain than the individual can process and discharge. Professionals working with people, in any capacity, will be working with trauma. Each course will equip students with a trauma-informed framework that will serve as a critical guide for all future interactions with a variety of populations.

Introduction to Trauma Informed Care (36 hours)

  • AT-681 Foundations of Trauma Psychotherapy I
  • AT-685 Building on Trauma Psychotherapy II
  • AT-682 Intergenerational Trauma

Cost: $895 (including HST)

This certificate offers the student the opportunity to become immersed in the fascinating and cutting edge field of trauma informed therapy. Participants will be exposed to theory, research, and practical hands-on application providing rich clinical insight and highly sought after skills.

ONLINE COURSES

Online Certificate in CBT For Clinical Practitioners

ADLER's online CBT Certificate program is a stand alone program for those that are not able to attend our CBT certificate in person in Toronto.

CBT for Clinical Practitioners is an online platform for learning the skills of the cognitive-behavioural modality. Though Canadian in origin, it is comprehensive in nature, and designed with a broad audience of students in mind, both culturally and with regard to practice diversity. Please note that oral and written fluency in English is required.

CBT for Clinical Practitioners will introduce the student to the full set of interventions of the cognitive-behavioural approach, setting a solid foundation for practice. Students may choose to end their training after the beginner level, or progress on to any of the three applications of Intermediate Practice (students may take as many as they wish). Note: equivalency for prerequisites is approved on a case-by-case nature. Each level will leave the student with both a strong philosophical start, as well as a starter toolkit of worksheets that can be duplicated to support their practice.

Level 1: Beginning Practice: Cognitive Behavioural Foundations (24 hours) Cost: $695+HST

Level 2:  Intermediate Practice: CBT Applications

  • Level 2A: CBT with Mental Health & Addiction - Prerequisite: Level 1 (24 hours) Cost: $695+HST
  • Level 2B: CBT Advanced Skills with Complex Mental Health - Prerequisite: Level 1 & Level 2A (24 hours) Cost: $695+HST
  • Level 2C: CBT with Families: Couples, Kids & Youth Prerequisite: Level 1 (24 hours) Cost: $695+HST

Online CBT For Educators

Up to 6 months to complete

The emotional and psychological health of students today is becoming increasingly complex, taxing teachers and their classrooms. For many educators today, attending to the psychological mindset of the student is playing a larger and larger role, despite the fact that many educators have had no training in how to do so. To assist them, this course is written for both child and adult educators that wish to be able to address these realities with students today. Written for teachers, guidance counsellors, coaches and principals, students of this course will leave supported by two course packs of worksheets (one for child and youth students, and one for adult learners). Educators will leave the course having met the following objectives:

  • How to think about students behaviours with the lens of the whole self  
  • How to set up a dialogue about behaviour and emotion as it pertains to the learning environment
  • How to use a specific form of conversation with students so that both insight and motivation are effectively increased
  • How to use the worksheets to teach basic but important psychological skills to students

Cost: $495+HST

Online DBT Informed Practice

“Prepare the person for the path, not the path for the person.” In the course of practice, therapists will experience regular clinical encounters with clients who lack the internal skills to tolerate external situations that are painful. Further, these missing skills often serve as a block to the work of deeper therapies, such as MFT, EFT, CBT or ACT. Suitable for practitioners that work in community practice with issues such as suicidality, self-harm, emotion dysregulation and some personality disorders, DBT Informed Practice will teach practitioners how to help clients achieve greater emotional stability. Through eight online modules, students will learn how to apply these strategies across many client contexts, successfully supporting the client toward stabilization of longterm mental health. It is recommended that the student have access to a live client –or someone willing to role play- for this course.

Cost: $695+HST

Online Clinical Supervisor Training

Watkins et. al. has said “we would never dream of turning untrained therapists loose on needy patients, so why would we turn untrained supervisors loose on therapists who help those needy patients?” The need for quality supervision and oversight has become a large demand in many contexts. This course will introduce emerging supervisors to methods, practices and metrics that guide the supervision pathway. Students will learn concepts that must guide the supervision relationship, evidence-based measures for evaluation, and common themes that emerge during clinical supervision. Students will require access to a live supervisee that is either a true supervisee, or a colleague that is willing to be your “test” subject. You will require 4 supervision encounters from the supervisee. A live 1:1 grading and review of the students’ supervision tape with an experienced supervisor will be required of each student. Note: though this course is suitable for any aspiring clinical supervisor (teaching techniques, theories of adult learning), sample forms and metrics used are taken from the CBT model. Non-CBT Supervisors will need to find comparable tools for other modalities.

Cost: $795+HST

Online Setting Up a Thriving Private Practice

“What got you here won’t get you there” says Dr. Marshall Goldsmith. This is never truer than with trained helping professionals who, armed with great clinical skills, wish to become entrepreneurs with great business skills. Setting up your own practice will put you on the path of lifelong learning, and so this course will give clinicians the starter skills they need to open a practice responsibly. Presented by a 40-year veteran practitioner and regulator, students will receive: direction on how to set up practice from the ground up, insights on regulation and supervisory considerations, a downloadable coursepack of private practice start-up tools (including templates for intake and consents).

Cost: $495+HST

Online Motivational Interviewing

Therapists will regularly find themselves in conversations with clients that are characterized by ambivalence, uncertainty, and low motivation. This is normal. Once referred to as “resistance,” therapists today must understand how they contribute to or take away from increased motivation with people at all stages of the change cycle. This course will give students a required toolkit that empowers them to rely not on the clients “will” but on powerful, evocative questions that increase motivation and create change through strong coaching and dialogical skills within the therapeutic relationship.

Cost: $495+HST

ONLINE COURSE FOR BUSINESS PROFESSIONALS/LEADERS

Online Leadership Fundamentals

The discouragement and stress that a professional can find themselves in because of missing leadership skills is often very high. Originally promoted because of good industry skills, many professionals today move upward quickly, only to learn that they are lacking formal leadership skills once they get to their leadership role. Leadership Fundamentals is an introduction to 8 competencies of good leadership that include building cohesive teams, hiring and retaining great people, and how to manage change effectively. Note: students may opt to take the online curriculum only OR curriculum with coaching. Curriculum with coaching includes 3 live / remote coaching sessions with a trained coach (note that these sessions are often covered by RSW 3rd party insurance plans).  

Cost: $695+HST

Online Becoming a Coach-like Professional

Many professionals including managers, therapists and supervisors claim to be coaching.  A large study published in the Harvard Business Review (Milner & Milner, 2018) revealed that most managers who identify as coaches do not really understand what coaching is, and are defaulting to teaching, “telling” or attempting to persuade their direct reports.  The International Coaches Federation defines coaching as “partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.”  The heart of coaching is a conversation about change, and many professionals can significantly improve their coaching skills once they understand the fundamentals of how to motivate for change.  In this course, we look at the anatomy of a coaching conversation, how to elicit more change-talk with others, how to work with seemingly “uncoachable” people, and what to consider when wearing multiple professional hats. Note: students may opt to take the online curriculum only OR curriculum with coaching. Curriculum with coaching includes 3 live / remote coaching sessions with a trained coach (note that these sessions are often covered by RSW 3rd party insurance plans).


Cost: $495+HST

Online Cognitive Behavioural Coaching

If we work with people, we inevitably sign up for work with the habits of thinking that they bring with them. What do I do when my direct report displays lacks of confidence? Why does my team member always avoid certain tasks? What do I do when someone’s professional performance is being impacted by personally sabotaging views? Written for those that coach, supervise or manage others, this course will teach how to empower other people to notice, challenge and change their own sabotaging thinking, including a look at how to separate out those better suited for therapy. Note: students may opt to take the online curriculum only OR curriculum with coaching. Curriculum with coaching includes 3 live / remote coaching sessions with a trained coach (note that these sessions are often covered by RSW 3rd party insurance plans)


Cost: $495+HST