Cascadia Training for Professional Development

Therapeutic Neuroscience Certificate Series: A Brain Science-Based Approach to Cognitive & Somatic Treatment of Common Mental Health Disorders🆕
2026-05-04 09:00 - 2026-06-01 12:15 (America/Los_Angeles) | Zoom
Popular Certificate Program!
Therapeutic Neuroscience Certificate Series: A Brain Science-Based Approach to Cognitive & Somatic Treatment of Common Mental Health Disorders
Presented by: Hannah Smith, MA, LMHC, CGP
When: Monday, May 4th – Monday, June 1st, 2026 | 4-Week Series | Meets Four Consecutive Mondays except Monday, May 25th | 9:00 am – 12:15 pm Pacific Time (same time each Monday)
Where: Live on Zoom. You will receive your Zoom link/invitation the week of the workshop.
Continuing Education Credit Hours: 12 CEs | $499.00
***see below for payment options
Are you ready for something really different?
As a provider of mental health treatment, it is important to stay informed about the latest advances in treatment. Beyond being a requirement of most licensure boards, research shows that improving practitioner competence decreases burnout and increases job satisfaction!
One of the hottest topics is the integration of neuroscience into mental health treatment. You heard this, and you want to learn more – but it feels daunting and overwhelming in the face of all you have to deal with every day. The prospect just does not sound pleasant.
So, why not make it easier?
Introducing Cascadia’s brain science certificate series!
In keeping with not only teaching to the brain in presentation style, but also in the ability to take in and retain, Cascadia now offers this in a series of three-hour sessions over a few weeks! The benefits are many!
First, the course is separated into four discrete and highly useful sessions:
Week One: Pertinent Therapeutic Neuroscience
Week Two: Applications in Therapeutic Neuroscience
Week Three: Neuroscience-informed Cognitive Approaches
Week Four: Neuroscience-informed Somatic Approaches.
Besides three-hour time blocks being easier to manage than an entire day, you will also have lots of time to think about, try things, and ask questions in between sessions, as skill support inquiries are encouraged!
None of us wants to spend our time learning only to come away tired and feeling that we could not retain what we learned. In this format, you will have the chance to really sink your teeth into the material and build a sense of competence!
All this will take place in the comfort of your own home!
If you have wanted to take your practice to the next level by incorporating cutting-edge neuroscience, then this is the course for you! Whether you aren’t quite sure what the amygdala really is or you are a PhD in Neuropsychology – this practical, application-based course will appropriately challenge and inspire you!
Workshop Objectives:

Learn Pertinent Brain Systems & Structures and Describe Their Practical Application to Clinical Work
Identify & Examine the Neurological Processes Underlying Common Mental Health Disorders, Such as Anxiety, Depression, Personality Disorders & Trauma.
Relate Specific Dysfunctional Behavioral Presentations to Associated Brain Functions to Improve Diagnosis & Pinpoint Effective Treatment Modalities
Apply the Neuroscience-informed Lens to Current Cognitive-based (ACT, CBT, IFS), Mindfulness-based (DBT, MBT), & Somatic-based (EFT, Expressive Therapies) Theories You Already Know Increasing Insights to Improve Treatment Trajectory & Outcomes
Evaluate the differences between amygdala-based and cortex-based symptoms
Apply proven strategies for calming and training the amygdala.
Use Practical Neuroscience-informed Techniques, such as Threat Analysis, to Improve Client Understanding, Compliance, and Outcomes
Convey Difficult Science Terms & Concepts in an Understandable, Client-friendly Manner

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.
For payment plans, you can select paying 50% today and the remaining 50% will automatically be processed from your credit card on the last day of June.
Please email us at hello@cascadiatraining.org to inquire about discounts and scholarships.

SPECIAL SALE! Trauma-Informed Approaches to Addiction and Loss
2026-05-18 09:00 - 12:15
Last-Minute Deal! $30 Off!
Health Equity or Cultural Competence CEs!
Trauma-Informed Approaches to Addiction and Loss
Presented by: Diane Bigler, LCSW, LSCSW
When: Monday, May 18th, 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 CEs – counts as Health Equity or Cultural Competence CEs | $99.00 Now Only $69.00!
Addiction treatment requires clinicians to be knowledgeable about trauma-informed approaches and the impact of loss on addiction. This workshop will present an overview of trauma-informed approaches, including the three E’s of trauma. The relationship between loss and addiction will be explored.
Clinicians will have information on how to ask about trauma and the ways to assess trauma, loss, and spirituality in a clinical setting. Trauma-informed interventions presented include dealing with trauma reminders, somatic experiencing, and appropriate trauma-informed questioning. Learners will discover new perspectives on addiction and loss and obtain valuable resources and clinical recommendations.
Workshop Objectives:

Explain the clinical and relational dynamics of trauma and loss in addiction.
Discover methods of assessing trauma and loss in addiction.
Identify at least three therapeutic interventions to support clients in addiction recovery.

REGISTER HERE

SPECIAL SALE! 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
Last-Minute Deal! $100 Off!
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.
Continuing Education Credit Hours (NBCC and NASW-WA Approved): 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) Now Only $499.00!
As technology advances and mental health education becomes increasingly available, the population has become more self-aware. The world is changing quickly, and with it, more and more people are realizing that their brains work differently from 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 who identify as Autistic and/or an ADHDer. We find that clients are speaking up and finding validation for what they have always known: their brains operate differently from those 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 from 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 barrier-free for all. We never want the cost of our workshops to be a barrier to attending, particularly our multi-session workshops.
We offer several options to make our workshops cost-inclusive: payment plans, limited full- and partial-scholarship opportunities, student discounts, early professional, military/veteran, LGBTQ+, BIPOC, and more discounts. 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

SPECIAL SALE! Motivating Clients from Indecision to Action
2026-05-21 09:00 - 16:30
Last-Minute Deal! $50 Off!
Motivating Clients from Indecision to Action
Presented by: Randi Jensen, MA, LMHC, CCDC
When: Thursday, May 21st, 2026 | 9:00 am – 4:30 pm Pacific Time
If this date doesn’t work for you, another session is offered on Thursday, December 10th, 2026. MORE INFO & REGISTER HERE >>>
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 | $190.00 Now Only $140.00!
Motivational Interviewing (MI) is an established evidence-based practice renowned for resolving ambivalence. MI, which originates in substance use disorder treatment, has been shown to enhance client motivation for change and improve treatment outcomes. The spirit of MI complements Self-Determination Theory (SDI), which asserts that people have an intrinsic desire to make life changes congruent with their core values. SDI states that people are more likely to be internally motivated if their actions, beliefs, and core values align. Motivational Interviewing provides the technique to make that happen.
The principles of Motivational Interviewing include providing accurate empathy, building discrepancy, rolling with resistance, and increasing self-efficacy. These supply the basis for building intrinsic motivation for change and can facilitate the resolution of life-threatening ambivalence in suicidality.
Researchers Britton, Williams, and Connor (2008) show how the therapist’s proficiency in Motivational Interviewing can resolve a client’s ambivalence and resistance to change.
This very practical workshop includes learning through lectures, interactive discussions, demonstrations, video role plays, and skill-building through group exercises. These methods combine to provide techniques and interventions that can be applied immediately.
Objectives:
• Describe the principles that underpin Motivational Interviewing and how they promote client autonomy
• Articulate the distinguishing techniques of open-ended questions, affirmations, reflective listening, and summarizations
• Explain the Stages of Change as described by Prochaska and DiClemente (1983)
• Discuss the significance of Self-Determination Theory in coordination with MI
• Distinguish different methods of using MI with specific populations and varied disorders
• Express and practice Motivational Interviewing techniques used in counseling suicidal individuals
• Describe ethical considerations and documentation
• Enumerate necessary therapist qualities that support the efficient use of MI
Randi is an expert in both using and teaching Motivational Interviewing. In addition to her many years of presenting Cascadia Training workshops, she taught Motivational Interviewing courses as an adjunct faculty member at Bastyr University and as Case Management Program Director for Antioch University and Seattle’s Job Initiative. She also uses her expert-level skills in Motivational Interviewing in her private practice, specializing in treating clients with suicidality, suicide ideation, substance use disorders, and more.
REGISTER HERE
