Exposure Therapy (ET): Helping Clients Face Their Fears Step-by-Step | NASW-NYS Continuing Education
Presenter(s): Reji Mathew, PhD, LCSW
NASW-NYS Members: $30
NASW Other Chapter Members: $60
Non-Members: $75
This workshop is approved for 3.0 continuing education credit hour(s) for licensed social workers, licensed mental health counselors, licensed marriage and family therapists, and licensed psychologists.
Workshop Description
Exposure therapy is a specific type of cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy designed to help people face problematic fears step-by-step. Clients often present with a wide range of common fears in counseling: social anxiety, public speaking anxiety, or test anxiety, for example. When chronic fears are not addressed, they can develop into phobias such as social phobia, intimacy phobia, and/or trauma-related phobias.
Through systematic cognitive and behavioral techniques, a client is gradually exposed to the feared trigger that causes them distress with the aim of gradually neutralizing or reducing the fear. The goal of exposure therapy is to create a safe environment in which a client can reduce anxiety, decrease avoidance of dreaded situations, and improve one’s quality of life. Participants in this training will be offered practical strategies to apply directly into clinical practice.
Learning Objectives
After the completion of this webinar, participants will be able to:
- Understand the fundamentals of Exposure Therapy.
- Conceptualize the cyclical mechanism of anxiety and how it triggers chronic cycles of avoidance developing into phobias.
- Set up fear hierarchies/ladders specific to a client’s temperament, circumstances, and abilities.
- Draw from a range of cognitive and behavioral strategies to help clients develop the courage to progress forward through progressive exposure behavioral experiments and integrate competence into self-concept.
This workshop is approved for 3.0 continuing education credit hour(s).
NASW-NYS is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers (Provider ID #0014), licensed mental health counselors (Provider ID #MHC-0053), licensed marriage and family therapists (Provider ID #MFT-0037) and licensed psychologists (Provider ID #PSY-0088).
Reji Mathew, PhD, LCSW, is a N.Y. Licensed Clinical Social Worker with over 20 years of direct clinical treatment experience. Reji is a clinical instructor of continuing education courses; she specializes in teaching evidence-based treatment approaches – DBT, CBT, ACT, CFT, Positive Psychology, Interpersonal Psychotherapy, and Mindfulness. Reji is a frequent instructor at NYU – SSW, and NASW. They have also taught at Hunter College and Brooklyn OHEL Institute for Training. Reji is an Integrative cognitive behavioral therapist. She incorporates many strategies within a skill-oriented therapeutic approach. Reji is both Neuroscience and Trauma-Informed. Reji also has a commitment to diversity, inclusion, and accessibility. Supervision sessions will include training & teaching on a wide variety of current evidence-based strategies. She offers affordable supervision & mental health training for individuals, educational, and clinical settings. I am also an ARTS advocate. Reji arts advocacy work includes freelance health journalism and graphic design artistry. Reji is currently completing certification to be a REAT (Registered Expressive Arts Therapist) Please see Reji’s website for her visual arts project on “Positivity, Hope & The Art of Pause.” (Website: https://www.rejimathewphd-writer.com/).