OUR FIRST FALL 2026 CE PROGRAMS ARE OPEN FOR REGISTRATION: ENROLL TODAY!
OUR FIRST FALL 2026 CE PROGRAMS ARE OPEN FOR REGISTRATION: ENROLL TODAY!
ACE Foundation Programs
Some verbal and apparently insightful clients seem not to be able to use therapy to move forward in their lives. Seeming almost intentionally to resist proven therapeutic interventions, they can be frustrating to work with, whether their therapist focuses on dissociated experiences and memories, trauma, object relationships, attachment issues, or internal conflict.
The distressing disconnect between clients’ intelligence, verbal acuity, and impressive self-knowledge, and their continued participation in potentially harmful, self-destructive or self-defeating behavior has been linked to the disorder called alexithymia, an inability to use language to process emotions, which affects the ability to use language to regulate affect and thought.
These difficulties can both impact and be impacted by an individual’s sense of self. In this presentation, a brief overview of theory and extended clinical material will introduce some of the issues that emerge in psychotherapy with clients with this combination of difficulties. We will consider what traditional therapeutic approaches work best to help clients connect these different components of self, to expand their capacity for both self-awareness and self-regulation.
*NYSSCSW Discount applies to NYSSCSW current members only.
**Student Discount only applies to full time students currently enrolled in social work and MHP master level programs.
If this is your first time taking an ACE Foundation program not shared with the NYSSCSW, you will be prompted to make your complimentary account on the ACE Foundation Learning Center platform, where you will be able to access all current and future programs and course materials from your dashboard. You will be asked to set a password for your new ACE Foundation Learning Center account.
Please register by Thursday, November 5 at 5pm.
Live online via Zoom
The Advanced Clinical Education (ACE) Foundation of the NYS Society for Clinical Social Work, Inc. is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed marriage and family therapists #MFT-0028; licensed mental health counselors #MHC-0045; licensed psychoanalysts #P-0017; licensed psychologists #PSY-0121; licensed social workers #SW-0056; and licensed creative art therapists #CAT-0120.
Out-of-state providers are welcome to request a certificate upon completion of the presentation evaluation but must check with their own state licensing boards to inquire about whether or not the certificate is recognized as transferrable for CEs in their state’s jurisdiction.
1. Identify alexithymia, difficulties with symbolization, and other forms of disconnect between thoughts, words, and feelings in clients
2. Explain why these issues interfere with many forms of therapeutic work
3. List three tools and techniques that help link emotional and verbal experience
4. Discuss techniques for helping clients develop a cohesive, consistent, and mostly positively colored sense of self
Psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, licensed psychoanalysts, nurse practitioners and family and marriage/couple therapists, mental health counselors and licensed creative art therapists.
This seminar is appropriate for clinicians with all levels of experience.
F. Diane Barth, LCSW, is a therapist with more than 40 years of experience. She has a private practice with couples and individuals, provides volunteer psychotherapy at a community clinic for undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers, supervises and teaches other therapists, and is the author of several books and numerous articles.
Her most recent book is I Know How You Feel: The Joy and Heartbreak of Friendship in Women’s Lives (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018). Her articles have been published in Psychoanalytic Dialogues, Psychoanalytic Social Work, Psychoanalytic Psychology, The Clinical Social Work Journal, and Psychotherapy Networker, among others, and as chapters in numerous edited books. She edited a special edition of Psychoanalytic Inquiry and co-edited a special edition of The Clinical Social Work Journal.
Her Psychology Today blog “Off the Couch” has over 19 million views to date. She also blogs for Crowsfeet and Substack about “Aging without a Map.”
Contact Hours will be awarded once the entire course is completed, as evidenced by signing in and out and completing a course evaluation. Instructions for evaluating the presentation will be emailed within 5 days of the course date. Once evaluation is complete, CE certificate will be emailed to you.
ACE welcomes participants with diverse abilities. Please contact Kristin or Debbie at info.acefoundation@gmail.com, at time of registration, to request accessibility accommodations. Accommodation requests are considered in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities ACT (ADA), Section 505 of the Rehabilitation ACT.
Cancellations made at least five days before the event will be refunded less a 10% cancellation fee. For cancellation please call 1-800-288-4279, or email us at info.acefoundation@gmail.com.
Should Inclement weather occur, we will be notifying all registrants via the email by which the registrant signed up. Please be sure to check your email before you leave for the course.
Please visit our FAQ page to review our frequently asked questions.
