Becoming a Neurodivergent-Affirming Clinician: Understanding ADHD and Autism through a Strengths-Based, Neurodivergent-Affirming Lens
2025-08-20 10:00 - 2025-09-24 13:15 (America/Los_Angeles) | Zoom
Becoming a Neurodivergent-Affirming Clinician: Understanding ADHD and Autism through a Strengths-Based, Neurodivergent-Affirming Lens
Presented by: B Lourenco, MA, LMHC
When: This course will be held over six consecutive Wednesdays: August 20 – September 24, 2025

Wednesday, August 20th, 2025 | 10:00 am – 1:15 pm Pacific / 1:00 pm – 1:15 pm Eastern
Wednesday August 27th, 2025 | 10:00 am – 1:15 pm Pacific / 1:00 pm – 1:15 pm Eastern
Wednesday September 3rd, 2025 | 10:00 am – 1:15 pm Pacific / 1:00 pm – 1:15 pm Eastern
Wednesday September 10th, 2025 | 10:00 am – 1:15 pm Pacific / 1:00 pm – 1:15 pm Eastern
Wednesday September 17th, 2025 | 10:00 am – 1:15 pm Pacific / 1:00 pm – 1:15 pm Eastern
Wednesday September 24th, 2025 | 10:00 am – 1:15 pm Pacific / 1:00 pm – 1:15 pm Eastern

Where: Live on Zoom. You will receive your Zoom link/invitation the week of the workshop.
18 CEs (12 CEs can be used for Cultural Competence or Health Equity CEs, and 6 can be used for Law & Ethics CEs) | $599.00 *** (see below for payment options)
As technology progresses and education on mental health becomes increasingly more available, the population has become more self-aware. The world is changing quickly, and with it, more and more people realize that their brain works differently than others. Due to the influence of social media and the shift to focusing on lived experience as a legitimate means of diagnosis, we are seeing a sudden increase in clients that identify as Autistic and/or an ADHDer. We find that clients are speaking up and finding validation of what they have always known: their brains operate differently than the brains of their peers, colleagues, friends, and families. As a result, we are seeing a sudden increase in the young adult and middle-aged population who identify as being Neurodivergent in a Neurotypical world.
This workshop series is designed to help clinicians build greater awareness and familiarity with ADHD and Autistic experiences. Participants will come away from this course with a deeper understanding of ADHD and Autism from the Neurodiversity-Affirming Paradigm that focuses on strengths and differences, not diagnoses, disorders, and deficits.
Especially following the Covid pandemic and its sometimes long-term impact on the brain and the immune system’s inflammatory processes, many clients report having different and often challenging sensory processing experiences. We are seeing more adults presenting in our offices with reports that they now have issues not only with taste and smell but with a range of visual, hearing, tactile, balance, and internal bodily sensations they never have before experienced, as well as difficulties with attention and memory. This begs the question: have these brain differences always been there but now have been sensitized or magnified by exposure to Covid and months-long isolation?
Many adults are now recognizing they are not alone and are demanding they not be dismissed or invalidated any longer, often having experienced the continued frustration of providers questioning their own lived experiences and, as a result, having been either undiagnosed or underdiagnosed due to outdated and debunked diagnostic criteria still used by mainstream psychiatrists and physicians. These individuals are finding validation for what they have suspected all along: their brains work differently than those of their peers, families, and friends.
With new research available and an increasingly empowered clientele, we see more than ever the need to remain current in our understanding of–and support for–those who have brain differences. Committed to blending cutting-edge scientific evidence with the lived experiences of our clients, Cascadia Training, is delighted to offer a new workshop series designed to help clinicians build greater awareness and familiarity with ADHD and Autistic experiences.
Upon completion of this series, participants will have a deeper understanding of ADHD and Autism from the Neurodiversity Affirming Paradigm that focuses on strengths and differences, not disorders, diagnoses, and deficits!
Woven throughout the series are the law and ethics of working with neurodivergent clients, including the danger of misdiagnoses, and the harm of using biased, outdated, debunked diagnostic criteria leading to the under-diagnosis of ADHD and Autism spectrum experiences. In addition, participants will learn about and identify pathologizing, stigmatizing, and harmful treatment protocols and clinical interventions still utilized by providers in educational, physical, and mental health professions.
This series uses a system developed explicitly by B Lourenco, an expert on ADHD and Autism. The course focuses to a large degree on the internal, lived experience of neurodiversity. Each of the six weekly sessions will include a didactic portion, an experiential section, and direct case consultation time. All modules will include lecture, video, and experiential segments.
Certificate Program Weekly Modules:
Week One: Sensory Systems – Getting in touch with the sensory system is the most critical step in supporting neurodivergent clients. Sensory information can regulate emotional and physical experiences. In addition, we will focus on using sensory profiles, menus, and diets to support day-to-day quality of life.
Week Two: Communication and Relationships – Understanding how those with Autism and ADHD communicate creates room for therapeutic connection. With this understanding, we will dive into tools for managing meltdowns and shutdowns in an affirming way.
Week Three: Attending and Executive Function – This module will explain why those with Autism and ADHD face challenges attending to their environment by addressing social expectations on perceptions of “functioning.” You will also learn how to use the client’s natural rhythms to support positive functionality.
Week Four: Social Systems and Disability – Understanding how society directly impacts the lives of people with disabilities. We will focus on how clinicians can incorporate advocacy into their practice and tools to unlearn neurotypical values by connecting clients to personal values.
Week Five: Differentials and Comorbidities – This module will teach participants how to rule out or “dial in” on other mental health concerns or diagnoses. We will present comorbidities that exist with your neurodivergent clients and how to effectively support them in a non-stigmatizing way. The role of trauma and grief in the lived experience of clients who identify as neurodivergent will be discussed, as well as the impact of these events on the developing brain. We will process how to best support the grief and disenfranchised losses felt by our autistic and ADHD clients and their families.
Week Six: The Use of Joy As a Tool Against Oppression. Creating celebrations of being neurodivergent and finding joy in everyday life as we partner with our neurodivergent clients. The Neurodivergent-affirming certificate program series will conclude with various celebrations we can share with our clients and the shift to viewing “joy itself as a tool against oppression.” As clinicians, it is important for us to first comprehend–and then share– the ways that society benefits from neurodiversity in general and ADHD and Autism, in particular. We will conclude by learning ways to help our clients celebrate their neurodiversity and see themselves through an affirming, strengths-based lens.
Other topics that will be covered in this practice- and life-altering certificate program series include, but are not limited to:

Alexithymia and Dysthymia
ARFID
Misophonia
Gender and sexuality in the ADHD and Autistic communities
The role of menstruation on ADHD and Autistic brains
Interdependence vs codependence and/or independence
Myths and stigmas about neurodivergent people
Experiences of abuse in neurodivergent people
Pervasive Desire for Autonomy (PDA)

***Payment Options:
Cascadia Training values quality continuing education that is accessible, inclusive, and without barriers to all. We never want the cost of our workshops to be a barrier to attending one of our workshops, particularly our multi-session workshops.
We offer several options to make our workshops cost-inclusive: payment plans, a limited number of full and partial scholarships, discounts for students, and discounts for early professionals. Please email us at hello@cascadiatraining.org for more information.
For payment plans, you can select paying 50% today and 50% due by September 30, 2025.
REGISTER HERE

🆕BRAND-NEW! Foundations of Couples Counseling 🆕
2025-09-11 09:00 - 12:00
🆕BRAND-NEW!🆕
Foundations of Couples Counseling
Presented by: Dreya Blume, LCSW
When: Thursday, September 11th, 2025 | 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM, Pacific Time
Where: Live on Zoom. You will receive your Zoom link/invitation the week of the workshop.
Continuing Education Credit Hours: 3 CEs | $95.00
Are you interested in offering couples therapy but unsure where to start?
Certainly, it can feel overwhelming trying to figure out which theoretical orientation to study. Should you go with the Gottman Method? Imago Therapy? Imago Relationship Therapy? Terry Real’s Relational Life Therapy? And what’s the difference between Emotionally Focused Therapy and Emotion-Focused Therapy?
Whether you are new to couples counseling or simply seeking a more structured framework surrounding this specialized area, this training workshop will provide you with the clarity and confidence to move forward in your practice. You will gain a comprehensive introduction to the core principles and foundational techniques of couples counseling.
Designed as a broad overview, we will explore the similarities and differences between the major theoretical schools that focus on couples counseling. You’ll also learn a wide variety of skills and strategies that will allow you to best serve your clients who come to you for couples counseling.
Finally, we will examine some of the more common ethical issues that arise when working with couples so that you can feel confident in offering this service.
Objectives:

Explain the main schools of psychotherapy that focus on couples counseling
Identify core skills that a therapist needs to provide effective couples counseling
Understand the main ethical dilemmas that are commonly associated with couples counseling

REGISTER HERE

Dream Work for Deepening Clinical Outcomes
2025-09-11 09:30 - 17:00
Dream Work for Deepening Clinical Outcomes
Presented by: Becky Robbins, MA, LMHC, CEAT, CYT, NBT
When: Thursday, September 11th, 2025 | 9:30 am – 5:00 pm Pacific Time
Where: Live on Zoom. You will receive your Zoom link/invitation the week of the workshop.
Continuing Education Credit Hours: 6 CEs | $190.00 NOW ONLY $140.00!
This fundamentals workshop provides a strong, basic understanding of the necessary aspects of working with dreams in a clinical setting. The instructor utilizes integrated theoretical models of working with dreams, including cognitive-experiential, expressive arts, and nature-based dream work models, to explore the benefits of doing dream work with clients.
The purpose of this workshop is to introduce the context, foundations, benefits, and ethics of engaging in dream work in therapy sessions with clients, as well as to provide experiential exercises for “hands-on” learning that can be implemented immediately. Support material from Clara Hill’s work, “cognitive-experiential dream model” highlight the value of dream work in deepening outcomes with clients. This workshop will also introduce participants to working with clients’ significant dreams, grief/loss-related dreams, and trauma-related dreams with tenderness and through the clinical lens.
This session provides a good foundation for understanding the theories involved in working with the unconscious—aka dreams—as it provides a multi-modal, cooperative learning experience to reinforce the ideas presented. The instructor will make clear the benefits of doing therapeutic dream work using an integrated model. Participants will explore the ways in which the various approaches complement each other and are appropriate for a wide range of clients, including those clients who are remembering, working through, and healing grief, loss, and traumatic experiences. This session also considers ethical, legal, and documentation topics related to dream work in the clinical setting.
Objectives:

Explain the difference between “dream interpretation” and “dream work” and why the latter is what we do in therapy
“Light” foundations of dream work
Name individuals in our field who influence today’s workshop content, models, approaches
Understand how to introduce and use dream work in the clinical/ therapeutic setting, shifts from “Freudian” ways to multi-theoretical
Explain how our unconscious speaks through our dreams so that important information stored in our bodies and memories can come forth and become conscious, possible demo
Identify how dream work enhances one’s practice
Identify parts of dreams with examples of when they might come up in therapy
Understand how to utilize several dream work approaches from a range of exploratory, expressive, and nature-based theorists
Provide examples of appropriate application of each approach including that the client has the last word
View a live demonstration of dream work demo (recorded/link or live/volunteer)
Explore and practice techniques for doing dream work that can be used immediately, through demonstrations and “hands-on” experientials in this workshop
Learn how to become a better container for working with your clients’ dreams through self-empowerment, self-care, self-regulation, and protective practice when working with dreams, especially with dream content related to grief, loss, phobias, and trauma
Consider legal, ethical, and documentation implications for doing dream work, especially with survivors of trauma (such as a dream that recalls repressed childhood abuse) and those experiencing grief and loss, as well as social and environmental impacts (such as dynamics of power and privilege) of dream content in client’s waking life

REGISTER HERE
