Practical for Your Practice

Who isn’t stressed these days? Stress seems ubiquitous in ourselves, our clients, and everyone else! The good news? According to our guest this episode, Dr. Gabriel Paoletti, stress doesn’t have to mean that things are going wrong. Stress is actually an indicator of the things that matter to us and what we care about. Listen with us as Dr. Paoletti stresses reorienting our approach from “feeling g...

In this episode we are joined by one of CDP’s suicide prevention experts, Dr. Sharon Birman, to talk about means safety counseling and how to work collaboratively with a person in suicidal crisis to more effectively mitigate harm. Come join us as we talk about how this public health initiative has become a key one-on-one intervention. We’ll review common myths and barriers to the use of means safe...

While disrupted sleep is one of the number one presenting concerns for military-connected clients, it remains under assessed and mis- or undertreated. In this episode, we pull the covers back to reveal the most common pitfalls for providers when it comes to addressing sleep disorders with CDP’s own sleep guru, Dr. Diana Dolan. There are a lot of ways sleep can go wrong and often sleep problems tak...

The future is now. Technology augmentation of the dissemination and implementation of EBPs has never been more widely accepted, from mobile apps to synchronous telehealth to asynchronous post-workshop support. Join us as we geek out with Dr. Peter Tuerk about the merits of technology adoption in EBPs, thinking creatively about using familiar technologies in new ways, provider-crowd-sourcing, and a...

Almost all clinicians agree that consultation helps us be better at our jobs. Committing to the consultation can be another story. In this episode, Dr. Andrew Sherrill of the Emory University Prolonged Exposure Consultant Training Program shares some actionable intel on facing and overcoming five common barriers to committing to consultation. Andrew M. Sherrill, Ph. D. is an assistant professor in...

Motivational Interviewing (MI) is a style of communication that can be useful in many different clinical situations. Maintaining the spirit of MI while practicing EBP presents a challenge. In this episode, Dr. Onna Brewer shares some actionable intel that will help you to listen with an ear for connection and change talk and to do what comes naturally (or maybe NOT so naturally) in practicing EBPs...

When learning a protocol for evidence-based psychotherapy, the question commonly arises about common factors: “Why do I need to learn this protocol if most of the change in psychotherapy can be traced back to common factors?” or conversely “If I follow the steps on this protocol checklist, I don’t have to worry about common factors at all like therapeutic alliance, right?” Join us as we discuss th...

Anger is the most highly reported challenge, across disorders, for Servicemembers and Veterans, especially post-deployment. In this episode, we get fired up talking about anger, aggression, and the role of other secondary emotions such as guilt, shame, and fear. Our guest, Dr. Shannon Miles, helps us distinguish between impulsive and premeditated aggression and walks us through the main components...

Microaggressions are subtle, covert forms of discrimination that impact marginalized populations. In this episode, Dr. Ryan Warner shares his insights on the importance of recognizing and responding genuinely to microaggressions in a clinical context as well as some of his own experiences of microaggressions. Ryan C. Warner Ph. D., CRC is a licensed psychologist, researcher, speaker, and consultan...

Provider self-care is an important and ethical responsibility for all providers. Our training as behavioral health providers does not render us immune from stress and even symptoms of mood or anxiety difficulties. Many of us found that some of the self-care behaviors we relied on prior to the COVID-19 pandemic were suddenly unavailable. What can be done? Consider creatively applying the advice we...

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Robyn Walser for a rich discussion on how clinicians can get better at conceptualizing cases on the fly. We talk about moving from technical to functional, from fidelity to competence, the importance of contextual factors, and most importantly, balancing the need to be present with our clients with our hearts as well as our heads. Come hear Dr. Walser’s action...

Physical pain can be tough to address when it is a focus of psychotherapy, and it can be even tougher when it “shows up” unexpectedly like an unwanted guest. In this podcast, our colleague Dr. Sharon Birman shares some practical, evidence-based tips for responding to comorbid physical pain during the course of therapy for other presenting issues. Dr. Birman’s take-home message… don’t be afraid to...

The recent events in Afghanistan have left many military-connected clients (and providers!) reeling, creating a sense of anxiety in clinics about how to best provide support. In this episode we bring lead EBP consultants from VA and DoD together to talk about the importance of examining our own reactions, making room for our client’s grief, anger and other emotions and how to be fully present in t...

Masks, social distancing and hand sanitizer oh my! This week we are joined by Dr. Kelly Chrestman, one of CDP’s Prolonged Exposure mavens, to talk about practical tips for doing in vivo work during the pandemic. We dig into how assigning in vivo items may or may not have changed in the midst of the pandemic and creative ways to maintain momentum. Not doing PE? There is still actionable intel for y...

All of us have been to multiple day workshops to learn new clinical skills. Although we might leave with some enthusiasm, new skills, and new information, that doesn’t always mean that we are proficient in applying new learning. In this podcast, Drs. Holloway and Santanello chat about some of the strategies that they have used as EBP practitioners to improve their skills. Resources mentioned in th...

Three clinical psychologists and trainers from the Center for Deployment Psychology (CDP) at the Uniformed Services University (USU) come together to talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly of actually implementing Evidence-Based Psychotherapies (EBPs). Practical for your Practice is a bi-weekly podcast featuring stories, ideas, support, and actionable intel to empower providers to keep working...