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Saturday Workshops below

To register online with Visa or MC or to print out the registration form click here.

All classes are appropriate for licensed therapists that practice individual psychotherapy or analysis. Students are also welcome.

2009 Spring Case Conferences

Monday Case Consultation Seminar
Peter Schumacher, MFT
February 2 - May 18, 2009, Mondays, 10:30 - 12:00 noon (19.5 CE hours)*
SFPRG, 9 Funston Avenue, The Presidio, San Francisco
This seminar will be a forum for developing an individualized approach to treatment based on each patient's unique history, with a focus on working with difficult patients. Using principles of Control Mastery Theory, we will make sense of the complex and often counterintuitive interactions and behaviors presented by patients who seek our help. We will discuss the effectiveness of treatment by attitude, and look at when and how to utilize this powerful technique. Participants will learn how to: 1) carefully make hypotheses about the nature of the patient's problems and the patient's goals from the first several sessions; 2) test these hypotheses by studying the patient's reaction to the therapist's interventions, and continue to check these as the therapy progresses; 3) identify the patient's tests and possible ways to successfully pass them; 4) offer interpretations that will facilitate movement towards the patient's goals; 5) track therapeutic progress by noting changes in the patient's behavior and feelings outside of therapy; 6) interpret the meaning and origin of the patient's symptoms and character disorders.

Wednesday Case Study Group
Norman Sohn, Ph.D.,LCSW, & Alan Rappoport, Ph.D.
January 21 - May 27, 2009, Wednesdays, 9:00 - 10:00 am (17 CE hours)*
SFPRG, 9 Funston Avenue, The Presidio, San Francisco
In this course we study psychotherapy cases as a way of educating ourselves about the therapeutic process. We will follow cases verbatim, and formulate and test hypotheses about the nature of the interactions between therapist and client. We will attempt to understand how the interactional process may be furthering and/or hindering the client's progress, and also evaluate how well Control Mastery principles help us understand the client and the therapy. By the end of the class participants will be able to: 1) evaluate what kinds of interactions may be helpful and unhelpful in psychotherapy, 2) use Control Mastery theory to understand the nature of passed tests and pro-plan interpretations and how the patient may respond to them, 3) develop and test hypotheses about the therapeutic process;4) formulate cases in case specific ways.

The Therapeutic Process
Steven Foreman, M.D.
February 4 - June 10, 2009, Wednesdays, 2:30-4:00 pm (22.5 CE hours)*
SFPRG, 9 Funston Avenue, The Presidio, San Francisco
This course will use continuous case presentations, along with selected readings and group discussions, to deepen participants' understanding of the therapeutic process. We will study closely how the therapist's comments, interpretations, attitudes towards the patient's goals, hopes and fears and reactions to the patient's testing facilitates (or in some instances may hinder) the patient's progress. By the end of the class, participants will be able to: 1) explain the therapeutic process from a Control Mastery perspective 2) discuss how the psychotherapist actually contributes to the patient's progress, 3) analyze the sequential unfolding of the therapeutic process over an extended period of treatment, and 4) detect connections between the therapist's attitudes, actions and interpretations on the patient's progress and/or failure to progress.

Treatment By Attitudes (East Bay)
Helene Goldberg, Ph.D.
January 29 - June 11, 2009, Thursdays, 2:30 - 4pm (31.5 CE hours)*
Dr. Goldberg's Office in the East Bay- Call (510) 524-7833 for details
The course will focus on the therapeutic relationship and how we can use our own enjoyment of that relationship to help our patients-with a special emphasis on the humor and humanity that Hal Sampson brought to Control-Mastery Theory. We will develop case formulations and increase our understanding of the patient's unconscious plan to help us balance authentic boundaries with the spontaneity and genuine feeling that makes the therapy come alive. Guest lectures by Hall Sampson and Michael Bader. By the end of the class participants will learn how to: 1) analyze how psychotherapy works according to Control-Mastery Theory; 2) hypothesize case formulations and identify patient's plans and pathogenic beliefs from early sessions of the treatment; 3) use ideas in Hal Sampson's Treatment by Attitude to guide the therapist in creating a beneficial therapeutic relationship; 4) track therapeutic progress by noting patient's behavior in and out of the sessions; and 5) develop a personal style of interacting with patients that allows for maximal benefit.

How Control Mastery Theory Works (East Bay)
Michael Lowenstein, M.D.
January 16 - June 5, 2009, Fridays, 9:30 - 11:00 am (30 CE Hours)*
Dr. Lowenstein's Office in the East Bay- Call (925) 258-9302 for details
This course is designed for all clinicians (experienced or not) who wish to further their understanding of Control Mastery Theory. We will examine it as both a theory of the mind as well as a clinical theory. We will look at CMT's strengths and limitations and compare it with other contemporary theories. By the end of the class participants will be able to: 1) apply Control Mastery theory to their work with patients in order to understand a patient's psychological problems, 2) infer what kinds of interventions will be helpful to the particular patient, 3) formulate how to track the process and progress of treatment, and 4) develop and enhance their clinical skills so that the individual therapist can creatively solve clinical problems using their individual strengths.

Friday Afternoon 2pm Research Group
Marshall Bush, PhD
January 16 - April 24, 2009, Fridays, 2:00 - 3:00 pm (16 CE Hours)*
SFPRG, 9 Funston Avenue, The Presidio, San Francisco - no cost.
This class is intended for SFPRG members and graduate students who would like to participate in the task of designing and carrying out a variety of new clinical research projects. Participants will learn how to 1) implement new research projects to expand, validate, and correct (if necessary) control mastery therapy, 2)to systematize and operationalize the basic principles of control mastery therapy so that it can be further validated as an empirically supported therapy, 3) to compare control mastery theory to other theories of therapy, 4) to develop a control mastery, theory approach for understanding and treating specific clinical populations, and 5) to develop process and outcome measures for studying transcripts of the case of AR.

* Continuing Education credit earned on an hour for hour basis. These are maximum offered if no class is missed.

Saturday Workshops - Spring 2009
All Saturday Conferences held at
the San Francisco Jewish Community Center, 3200 California Street (at Presidio Ave).

Pre-registration prices listed - cost increases by $20. one week before class.

Introduction to Control Mastery Theory
George Silberschatz, PhD & Kathryn Pryor, PhD, MFT
Saturday, February 28, 2009, 9 am - 4:30 pm.... 6 CEs $50 ($70 after 2/13) ($20 students)
SF Jewish Community Center

An intensive introductory course on Control Mastery theory.
This course is a must for anyone who is new to the theory, or who wants to refresh their understanding of the basics of Control Mastery theory and research. Two didactic lectures in the morning and two case presentations in the afternoon in which participants play the role of their clients will each be followed by a question and answer period that offers participants an in-depth dialogue with the three presenters. Participants will be able to: 1) Identify how pathogenic beliefs are acquired and how they produce psychopathology; 2) Recognize the patient's primary motivation in psychotherapy, how patients work consciously and unconsciously in therapy in accord with their plans to solve their problems; 3) describe how the therapist may help patients; 4) Infer a patient's plan; 5) demonstrate how testing occurs and specify how the therapist passes tests.

Recent Breakthroughs in the Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder: a Control Mastery & Schema Therapy Perspective.
George Lockwood, Ph.D. & John Curtis, PhD
Saturday, May 30, 2009 9 am - 4:30 pm 6 hours CE
$70 Members/$90 Nonmembers/$20 Students
At the SF Jewish Community Center

Participants will learn the concepts of Schema Mode Work, a new advance in Schema Therapy designed to produce deep and far-reaching personality changes in patients with BPD. Participants will view videotaped segments of an actual patient that demonstrates Schema Mode strategies. Key similarities and differences between Schema Therapy and Control-Mastery will be discussed and explored. Implications of the lessons learned from the treatment of BPD for the treatment of a broad range of serious character pathology will also be discussed. At the end of the seminar, participants will have learned 1) Schema Therapy theory and goals for BPD treatment; 2) a broad range of techniques for treating BPD patients, including schema and mode dialogues, imagery and other emotion-focused techniques, limited-reparenting, and behavioral pattern breaking; 3) how to create a strong constructive therapeutic alliance with BPD patients that is central to treatment success; 4) how to conceptualize patients in easy-to-understand ways that can be shared with the patient, and that lead to collaborative, compassionate and effective interventions; 5) the key similarities and differences between Schema Therapy and Control Mastery in the treatment of serious character pathology.

George Lockwood, PhD is Director of the Schema Therapy Institute Midwest and a Founding Fellow of the Academy of Cognitive Therapy.

John Curtis, PhD is a Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, UCSF and a board member of SFPRG.

 

*Continuing Education credit has been approved for all of the listed classes.

L.C.S.W.s/M.F.C.C.s: SFPRG is a provider approved by the Board of Behavioral Sciences, Provider Number PCE104, for CE credit on an hour-for-hour basis.
PSYCHIATRISTS: SFPRG is accredited by the Institute for Medical Quality/California Medical Association (IMQ/CMA) to provide continuing medical education for physicians. SFPRG takes responsibility for the content, quality and scientific integrity of this CME activity. Physicians attending this Workshop may report, on an hour-for-hour basis, AMA PRA Category 1 credit.
PSYCHOLOGISTS: SFPRG is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. SFPRG maintains responsibility for these programs and their contents.

Cancellation and Refund Policy

If you cancel 15 days or more before a program, your fee will be refunded, minus a $25.00 administrative fee, or you may apply the amount paid to another program(s) with no penalty. If you cancel less than 15 days before a program, you will receive a credit voucher, minus a $25.00 processing fee, which may be applied to another program(s) with one (1) year of the date of issue.

Paying by credit card will increase cost by $5 per Conference for processing/bank fees.