Cascadia Training for Professional Development

SOLD-OUT! Sign Up for Next Session | Menopause and Mental Health: Navigating the Challenges from Perimenopause to Post-Menopause
2025-08-15 09:00 - 16:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Shoreline Center, 18560 1st Ave NE, Shoreline, WA, 98155, United States
SOLD-OUT!
Please register for our next session on Zoom on November 21, 2025 here: https://cascadia-training.com/course/menopause-and-mental-health-november-2025/
Meets Health Equity Continuing Education Requirements!
Menopause and Mental Health: Navigating the Challenges from Perimenopause to Post-Menopause
Presented by Rebecca Bloom, LMHC (she/her)
When: Friday, August 15th, 2025 | 9:00 am – 4:30 pm Pacific Time
Where: Live in-person at the Shoreline Center
Continuing Education Credit Hours: 6 CEs (meets criteria for Health Equity CEs) | Cost: $199.00
The experience of pre-menopause/perimenopause, menopause, and post-menopause is rarely talked about, but thousands of people are diagnosed daily with menopause-related challenges.
It shows up in clinical settings in many ways: if someone has been medically induced and is having many symptoms at once; if the whole family system is under stress because “now Mom is mad all the time;” if a client cannot get a medical doctor to address that all her symptoms are connected; or a client feels sex is just “too painful now” and plans never to have sex again.
As clinicians who may be in perimenopause, menopause, or post-menopause ourselves, do not understand our own bodies anymore and may find our work life more difficult than ever.
You may have a 48-year-old female client referred by a medical doctor. This new client has no history of depression, but suddenly, she cannot get out of bed, she cannot track her thoughts, and her blood pressure is through the roof. In this workshop, you will learn that these are all symptoms of perimenopause or menopause.
In this workshop, you will gain an in-depth knowledge of the 37 most common symptoms of perimenopause and menopause that affect us physically, mentally, emotionally, cognitively, and spiritually.
In addition, you will learn how to talk with your clients about these symptoms and how to help them advocate outside the walls of your office for themselves and the medical care they need. We will also look at how biases and inequalities surrounding race and gender (collectively, we’ll say women, but we mean that in a very inclusive way to include those who identify as a woman, those who are assigned female at birth (AFAB) but are transgender or non-binary but still have female reproductive organs and hormones), LGBTQIA+, socio-economic status, and more impact whether someone receives accessible, affordable, adequate, and effective health care.
We will also explore how the lack of adequate medical care for girls, women, and those AFAB continues throughout their lifespan and greatly impacts all aspects of their lives. This lack of adequate, affirming medical attention leads to this natural hormonal experience negatively impacting “everything” in our lives.
The destabilization and loss process in menopause will be explored from various angles. What does it mean to no longer be of “child-bearing age”? Is that transition cause for celebration? Is it a tremendous loss? What does it currently mean to be a “crone”? We will explore how this role has changed over time and in various cultures.
The latest neuroscience research suggests that the loss of estrogen in the brain has major impacts on many bodily systems. What does it mean to go on Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT)? Some current research suggests that HRT is safe for up to ten years. We will examine why this protocol changed and what it means for our clients and ourselves.
We will also explore natural options for care and support during the various phases of menopause. “Have your fans at the ready!” Let’s spend the day talking about menopause and learning about what impacts our receiving affirming, effective medical care, including the fact that the average medical doctor receives only one hour– in TOTAL—of formal training on menopause. You will leave this workshop knowing much more than when you arrived, knowledge that will help your clients and you on your journey.
Objectives:

Learn the three stages of menopause.
Learn the 37 most common symptoms of menopause.
Address how to help clients feel more stable in this process.
Learn how culture impacts on menopause.
Address the experience of gender and gender bias across the lifespan.
Destigmatize menopause and encourage authentic, effective discussions.

🆕BRAND-NEW! Mindfulness on Land and Water with Sea Kayaking 2-Day Retreat at the ONE Center🆕
2025-08-15 10:00 - 2025-08-16 17:00 | ONE-Olympia, 7400 Gallagher Cove Road NW, Olympia, WA, 98502, United States
🆕BRAND-NEW!🆕
Space Limited to 12 People!
Mindfulness on Land and Water with Sea Kayaking 2-Day Retreat
Presented by: Dr. Brenda Butterfield, EdD, MSW, LMHC
When: Friday, August 15 and Saturday, August 16, 2025 | 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM, Pacific Time
Where: Live in person at the ONE Center (7400 Gallagher Cove Road NW, Olympia, WA 98502)
Lodging Options: We invite you to spend the night on either or both Thursday and Friday. Camping for $30/night is available as well as one spot in the Sweet Sauna House for $85/night (the Sweet Sauna House sleeps two – would be great for two friends/colleagues to share!). $40 covers dinner on Friday night and breakfast on Saturday morning (Gluten-free, vegetarian, dairy-free provided). When you register, you can choose a lodging option or you can join us just during the day on Friday and Saturday. For any questions regarding lodging and/or food, please email the ONE Center at ournewexperiences@gmail.com.
Continuing Education Credit Hours: 12 CEs | $398.00 for workshop alone; $468.00 for camping one night and meals; $498.00 for camping two nights and meals.
This workshop is for colleagues ready to experience new ways of learning and healing in the present moment by taking the practice of mindfulness into the forest and onto the water. You’re invited to come to ONE, a nature-based retreat center for health care professionals on the beautiful South Salish Sea outside Olympia, WA. During this unique professional development workshop, we will combine mindfulness and nature therapy to learn about and experience nature’s powerful healing! Day one of the workshop is about learning how chronic stress undermines health and well-being, often leading to mental health conditions like panic disorder, depression, and anxiety. You’ll learn how to identify “indicator lights” of chronic stress for yourself and clients and then experience simple, nature-based mindfulness practices designed to relax, center, deeply ground oneself in the present moment through the portals of our senses. You’ll learn why and how to use these nature-based mindfulness interventions in your daily life and practice teaching them to clients as well.
Outside in nature, through discussion and shared resources, you’ll learn how stress plays a key role in illness and disease (physical and mental) and how to identify stress reactions in your body, mind, and soul. In the forest, gardens, and meadows at ONE, we’ll teach you simple, research-based ways to decrease symptoms of stress, depression, and anxiety and prevent panic attacks, like how to pull the ripcord on the parasympathetic nervous system, bringing yourself back to center whenever and wherever stress shows up. Learning diaphragmatic breathing not only calms the body down but also improves neurological processing and emotional regulation skills, enhances immune system functioning, and improves sleep quality. We’ll help you develop the language of mindfulness and nature therapy and explore ways of integrating these practices into your work with clients. In the evening, we’ll share dinner and enjoy the breathtaking beauty of the land and water in the good company of colleagues. Doesn’t an evening campfire with s’mores sound lovely too?
After a nourishing breakfast on Day Two of the workshop, we will head to beautiful Gallagher Cove for sea kayaking 101 skills training. We’ll teach you mindful kayaking, an invitation to practice non-striving on the water. “There is no place to go, and no place be. This is it, right here, right now.” Together, we’ll enjoy a slow, gentle paddle while “field testing” our newfound skills for stress management. By paying attention in a particular way, on purpose, in the present moment, we’ll learn how to navigate the stress of unpleasant emotions, body sensations, and distorted thinking by choosing new ways of being through the practice of mindfulness. And won’t it be fun to also cultivate mindfulness by noticing the awe and wonder of beauty all around us in nature, in community with colleagues? After all, noticing the pleasant is a practice too and one that serves us very well. Following lunch (bring your own), we’ll have time to process the lived experiences of mindfulness on water and explore ways to integrate and expand the practice of mindfulness into clinical work with clients. The day will end with a closing ceremony with tea made from gifts of the land at ONE.
Whether you’re new to mindfulness or have years of experience, you’re welcome at ONE. Whether you’re an avid paddler or have no experience but feel called from the South Salish Sea, we got you! Gallagher Cove is a protected, beautiful place to learn and grow. We’ll provide thorough instruction focused on safety as well as all the equipment needed (sea kayak, personal flotation device, paddle). We invite you to camp on the land before and/or after the workshop to really drop in and enjoy mindfulness on land and water.
Learning Objectives:
In this workshop, you will

Learn what mindfulness is and how to practice it for yourself so you can teach your clients.
Understand the research-based benefits of integrating Mindfulness Based Interventions (MBI) in clinical practice.
Understand the research-based benefits of integrating nature therapy in clinical practice.
Explore the language, concepts, and phenomena of mindfulness and nature therapy.
Learn about the Autonomic Nervous System and the important functions of both the Sympathetic and Parasympathetic response.
Learn ways to experience and teach diaphragmatic breathing.
Learn how to connect the dots between CBT thinking errors and the Autonomic Nervous System.
Understand the mind/body relationship between chronic stress & mental health conditions, including stress/depression/anxiety/panic attacks
Learn common symptoms stress reactions (behavioral, cognitive, emotional, and physical)
Learn simple nature-based mindfulness practices to activate the parasympathetic nervous system.
Learn emotional regulation skills.
Learn ways to integrate mindfulness in nature into clinical practice.

REGISTER HERE
