Becoming a Neurodivergent-Affirming Clinician: Understanding ADHD and Autism through a Strengths-Based, Neurodivergent-Affirming Lens
2026-05-20 10:00 - 2026-06-24 13:15 (America/Los_Angeles) | Zoom
Law & Ethics, Health Equity,
and Cultural Competence CEs!
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 for six consecutive Wednesdays: May 20th through June 24th, 2026, from 10:00 am – 1:15 pm Pacific / 1:00 pm – 4:15 pm Eastern

Wednesday, May 20th, 2026 | 10:00 am – 1:15 pm Pacific / 1:00 pm – 4:15 pm Eastern
Wednesday, May 27th, 2026 | 10:00 am – 1:15 pm Pacific / 1:00 pm – 4:15 pm Eastern
Wednesday, June 3rd, 2026 | 10:00 am – 1:15 pm Pacific / 1:00 pm – 4:15 pm Eastern
Wednesday, June 10th, 2026 | 10:00 am – 1:15 pm Pacific / 1:00 pm – 4:15 pm Eastern
Wednesday, June 17th, 2026 | 10:00 am – 1:15 pm Pacific / 1:00 pm – 4:15 pm Eastern
Wednesday, June 24th, 2026 | 10:00 am – 1:15 pm Pacific / 1:00 pm – 4:15 pm Eastern

Where: Live on Zoom. You will receive your Zoom link/invitation the week of the event.
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 on June 30, 2026.
REGISTER HERE

Retirement for Therapists
2026-06-11 09:00 - 16:30
Law & Ethics CEs
Retirement for Therapists
Presented by: Sandy Voit, MS, EdS, LMHC, CDFA
When: Thursday, June 11th, 2026 | 9:00 AM – 4:30 PM, Pacific Time
Where: Live on Zoom. You will receive your Zoom link/invitation the week of the workshop.
Continuing Education Credit Hours (NBCC and NASW-WA Approved): 6 CEs – 3 are Law & Ethics CEs | $165.00
We are blessed to be in a profession that doesn’t enforce mandatory retirement upon us when we reach a certain age. (The majority of people who are no longer working didn’t stop voluntarily…) Clients see our grey hair as a sign of wisdom. We can work as much, or as little, as we choose. There will come a time when you are ready to stop working, and retirement has several issues you must address before you can retire… And there might come a time when circumstances beyond your control – death, disability, illness, incapacity, and/or caregiving – will prohibit you from continuing.
You will do yourself and your family a service by planning for this in advance. We will discuss therapeutic issues, notification, records, liability, creating a professional will, and identifying a professional executor. We will also discuss whether or not you are financially prepared for retirement. Substantial handouts and resources are provided so you can focus on the discussions without spending all your time taking notes.
Workshop Objectives:
• Understanding therapeutic aspects of preparing for retirement.
• Preparing a Professional Will and identifying a Professional Executor.
• Understanding your obligations for notification and access to your records.
• Preparing for the Unexpected – what happens if you were to die or become incapacitated?
• Your personal finances in preparation for retirement.
REGISTER HERE

🆕 BRAND-NEW! More than a Personality Test: How to Work Mindfully with Enneagram
2026-06-11 09:00 - 16:30
BRAND-NEW!
Health Equity or Cultural Competence CEs
More than a Personality Test: How to Work Mindfully with Enneagram
Presented by: Dr. Jennifer Manlowe
When: Thursday, June 11th, 2026 | 9:00 am – 4:30 pm Pacific Time
Where: Live via Zoom (you’ll receive the link the week of the workshop)
Continuing Education Credit Hours: 6 CEs – 2 Meet Health Equity or Cultural Competence Requirements | Cost: $199.00
This continuing education workshop weaves mindfulness practice and Enneagram wisdom to help clinicians recognize how personality patterns emerge as adaptive responses to suffering. Through meditation, inquiry, and embodied awareness, participants learn how to work skillfully with shame, fixation, and reactivity—supporting clients with complex PTSD in moving from defensive patterning toward grounded presence and self-compassion.
WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES:
By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to see:

A framing of Enneagram as a map of psycho-social conditioning— not as a typology to label clients, but as a lens on how trauma crystallizes around core fears and strategies.
Tools to use mindfulness and meditation practices as nervous-system support— practices that cultivate tolerance for experience rather than bypass it.
Working with manifestations of shame as central to therapy— how each type organizes around avoiding a specific wound, and how mindfulness softens that structure.
Embodiment and gentleness— aligning with somatic psychotherapy by staying close to lived, felt experience rather than abstract insight.
Learning how to help our clients move from fixation to freedom— reframing personality not as pathology, but as a doorway to awakening.

The tone of this workshop is non-pathologizing and invitational—less about technique and more about cultivating our own therapeutic presence as the primary healing field. Attendees will experience a workshop that is:

Experiential rather than overly theoretical
Focused on befriending rather than fixing
Emphasizing compassion, specificity, and curiosity
Framing the Enneagram as a map of ego survival strategies that can be met with mindfulness awareness

REGISTER HERE

🆕BRAND-NEW! Cultural Humility in Working with Immigrant Clients 🆕
2026-06-12 09:00 - 12:15
BRAND-NEW!
Law & Ethics, Health Equity, and/or
Cultural Competence CEs
Cultural Humility in Working with Immigrant Clients
Part Two of a Two-Part Series
(though you don’t need to be registered for both to attend either)
Part One, From Immigration to Homecoming: Supporting the Mental Health Needs of Immigrant Clients, is on Friday, May 1st. Learn more and register here >>>
Presented by: Dr. Gitika Talwar
When: Friday, June 12th, 2026 | 9:00 AM – 12:15 PM, Pacific Time
Where: Live on Zoom. You will receive your Zoom link/invitation the week of the workshop.
Continuing Education Credit Hours: 3 Law & Ethics, Health Equity, and/or Cultural Competence CEs | $99.00
This course builds on material from the Part One course about Immigration and Mental Health on Friday, May 1st (more here).
Though this course can be taken independently, it will discuss how therapy is a site of acculturation for the therapeutic dyad (therapist and client/ therapist and couple/ therapist and family). Recognizing values alignment and values misalignment can be an opportunity for a deep and sincere therapeutic encounter. Cultural humility can be a practice to navigate this therapeutic encounter in helpful ways.
Cultural humility can help the therapist be an effective steward of the therapeutic space because it focuses on continuous self-reflection, discovery, and fostering honest, trustworthy relationships with clients (Yeager & Bauer-Wu, 2013). It represents a shift from cultural competence, which emphasizes “knowing” about various cultural groups, to an ongoing process of “understanding” and “being” with the client (Tervalon & Murray-García, 1998; Lekas et al., 2020).
Key aspects and principles of cultural humility include:

Lifelong self-exploration and learning: continuous commitment to self-reflection and a willingness to learn from clients’ experiences (Summers & Nelson, 2022).
Acknowledging power dynamics and biases: Therapists are invited to recognize their own biases and the inherent power imbalances within the therapeutic relationship (Summers & Nelson, 2022).
Respect for diverse identities and cultural capital: It entails showing respect for clients’ various identities (e.g., race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, age, gender, ability) and acknowledging their strengths and resources (Summers & Nelson, 2022).
Trust and belief in client reports: Culturally humble practitioners trust clients’ accounts of harassment, discrimination, and oppression, rather than seeking alternative explanations for presenting problems (Summers & Nelson, 2022).
Not being the expert: Therapists understand that they are not the experts when clients have lived experiences different from their own (Summers & Nelson, 2022).
Openness, curiosity, and flexibility: This approach encourages therapists to be open, curious, flexible, and empathetic to better understand clients’ needs (Summers & Nelson, 2022).
Advocacy: It includes advocating to dismantle systemic barriers that impact clients (Summers & Nelson, 2022).

Mosher et al. (2017) report that the impact of cultural humility in therapy includes:

Deeper therapeutic alliances
Opportunities to communicate respect for the client’s cultural identity
Better therapy outcomes
Opportunities for meaningful engagement and repair of cultural mistakes

Research indicates that common humanity, a component of self-compassion, can increase cultural humility in counseling students (Rikard, 2022). Cultural humility is considered a desirable trait in therapists and is significantly related to a strong working alliance and client improvement (Hook et al., 2013). Given how religious and spiritual beliefs can be entwined with cultural beliefs, cultural humility can be expanded to include humility towards spiritual and religious beliefs in order to serve our racially, ethnically, and spiritually diverse clients.
Workshop Objectives

Learn about cultural humility

Define and differentiate cultural humility from cultural competence, recognizing it as a lifelong process of self-reflection and learning.
Demonstrate respect for diverse client identities and cultural capital, acknowledging clients’ strengths and resources
Recognize the role of history, sociology, and current events on the culture of communities
Recognize how immigration influences the experience of culture. How pre- and post-migration factors influence the practice of culture
Define spirituality expansively, reflect on the role of spirituality in our culturally diverse clients, and recognize how this impacts therapy.

Identify and analyze their own biases and the power dynamics present in therapeutic relationships.
Adopt a non-expert stance in therapeutic interactions, particularly when clients have lived experiences different from their own.
Explain the positive impact of cultural humility on therapeutic alliances, client outcomes, and the repair of cultural mistakes
Recognize the role of cultural humility in supporting the client’s experience of acculturating to therapy.
Reflect on ways to incorporate spirituality into our therapeutic work
Cultivate trust in clients’ reports of experiences, including harassment, discrimination, and oppression.
Identify specific strategies to integrate in your practice to foster a culturally humble healing environment
Identify ethical considerations that challenge the therapist’s capacity to be open, curious, flexible, and empathic in responding to clients’ needs.
Identify common clinical conceptualizations that can create cultural tensions within this therapeutic space, especially when there are cultural or spiritual values that challenge the therapist’s own value system
Identify alternatives to common clinical conceptualizations that can foster greater cultural humility in the therapeutic space
Discuss how spirituality may impact the therapeutic space
Recognize the importance of advocacy in dismantling systemic barriers that impact clients.

REGISTER HERE

Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT): Tapping for Clinicians
2026-06-12 09:00 - 12:15
Law & Ethics CEs!
Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT): Tapping for Clinicians
Presented by: Shelley White, MA, LMHC
When: Friday, June 12th, 2026 | 9:00 am – 12:15 pm Pacific Time
Where: Live on Zoom. You will receive your Zoom link/invitation the week of the workshop.
Continuing Education Credit Hours (NBCC and NASW-WA Approved): 3 Law & Ethics CEs | Cost: $99.00
Emotion Freedom Techniques (EFT) – also known as EFT Tapping –has become a widely accepted, effective, evidence-based strategy to reduce emotional distress and increase physical well-being. Many prominent therapists and psychologists, including trauma expert Bessel van der Kolk, use a form of tapping with their clients, and now you can too.
EFT Tapping is a technique based on the same science as acupuncture. Since its inception in the late 1980s, more than 200 research studies supporting its effectiveness have been published. Studies show that Tapping can reduce activity in the amygdala, up-regulate immune genes, down-regulate inflammation genes, increase endorphin release, and decrease cortisol levels in a very short period of time. Tapping has demonstrated its effectiveness in a variety of ways. It has been shown to increase test scores, manage phobias, and reduce pain. Tapping helps with trauma symptoms by safely releasing emotional numbing, calming fears of vulnerability and connection, reducing the need to be perfect, and quieting shame. This workshop provides you with the introductory skills you need to start using basic tapping techniques immediately.
In addition to learning how to help clients with this evidence-based intervention, attendees will also learn how to include Tapping as a technique in their own self-care toolkit. Listening to our clients’ fears, stress, anxiety, and pain can affect our ability to stay calm, centered, and peaceful in our own lives. Our self-care is crucial to our ability to offer quality care to our clients, which is why it is an ethical mandate in the mental health professions. Tapping can help you stay focused and present for your clients and help you to release any intense energy you may be holding after a therapeutic session.
Through observation, lecture, and practice, workshop attendees will learn the history of tapping and understand the psychology and science behind its success. Attendees will learn and practice the basic Tapping protocol, so you will be able to use EFT with your clients—and in your own self-care– immediately. Come earn 3 law & ethics CEs by learning this effective self-regulatory tool—for you AND your clients!
Workshop Objectives:
After attending this workshop, attendees will:

Understand the history and origins of EFT Tapping and know that it works by using the same acupressure points and meridians that are used in acupuncture. Understand EFT/Tapping offers an effective, evidence-based intervention and can easily be introduced into a clinician’s ongoing self-care practice. (NASW, 2021; ACA, 2014; APA, 2019)
Comprehend that self-care adds to their clinical competency and adheres to the ethical mandate to include self-care in their daily lives to avoid impairment in functioning (NASW, 2021; ACA, 2014; APA, 2019).
Learn how to introduce Tapping into the therapeutic setting, communicating with clients about the purpose and use of EFT/Tapping in ways that are both developmentally and culturally appropriate, aligning with the ethical imperative of informed consent. (NASW, 2021, 1.03, 1/05; ACA, 1.03, 2014.)
Understand that EFT Tapping is an evidence-based intervention and be able to discuss positive outcomes from using tapping to increase calm and reduce anxiety, to improve concentration, and decrease high blood pressure. EFT Tapping can be used for both sensory/physical and emotional self-regulation.
Obtain continuing education in EFT/Tapping and gain experience in using EFT/Tapping by practicing in triads and following the various protocols for using EFT/Tapping. (APA, 2019; AMHCA, 2020; ACA, 2014; NASW, 1.03, 2021).
Learn that EFT/Tapping ensures the ethical principles of client autonomy and client self-determination by offering an easy-to-use, effective, ethical, and evidence-based technique clients can learn and use on their own to manage physical and/or emotional symptoms (AAMFT, 1.1.8, 2015; NASW, 1.02, 1.03, 2021; ACA, 2014, 1.; APA, 2019).
Demonstrate their ethical compliance with the ethical and legal standards that mental health practitioners work toward competency when introducing a new treatment or clinical skill. (ACA, 2014; NASW, 2019; AAMFT, 1.1.2, 2015).
Understand how to explain EFT/Tapping in clear and understandable language to their clients, demonstrating their adherence to ethical standards when introducing a new clinical tool or technique. (ACA, 2014, A. 2.d).

REGISTER HERE
