Clinical Strategies to Handle Those Difficult People Who Become Our Clients

by Jeff Riggenbach, Ph.D. | Nov 17, 2022 | Uncategorized

Date course created: November 2022

We all have them. Those clients that make us want to pull our hair out! You know, the ones that just don’t seem to improve like the others on your caseload? They argue. They avoid. They don’t do homework. They discount their progress and the progress of others. They know more than you do. They don’t trust anyone. They make threats, have emotional outbursts, and play coy when you are only trying to get information to help them.

Psychotherapy research has made unthinkable gains in recent decades. We now have evidence-based protocols for dozens of clinical conditions, and clients are experiencing outcomes their parents and grandparents couldn’t have dreamed of. Clinicians also have a plethora of new tools at our disposal, many of which can be useful for clients with a variety of differing diagnoses. Thus, it can be easy for practitioners to slip into a rut of regularly pulling out the same “go to” tools from the therapeutic toolbox regardless of the client’s unique presentation. And as Mark Twain is often credited with saying, “if all you have is a hammer, everything you see looks like a nail.” However, we all still run into those clients that don’t respond to standard protocols. Some even seem to have aversive reactions to the tools that we have become used to using regularly that so many clients find helpful. These clients can leave clinicians feeling frustrated, stressed out, and sometimes even defeated. There is hope!

Join award-winning author and international expert in the field of personality dysfunction Dr. Jeff Riggenbach for this refreshing look at how personality and addiction issues often complicate treatment undermining client outcomes, and learn what you can do about it. Incorporate motivational exercises, dialectical behavior therapy strategies, and schema modification interventions into your work. You’ll learn how to help individuals struggling with addictions, paranoia, aggression, lack of empathy and other dysregulated emotions not only get well, but stay well. Leave this enjoyable, information packed 6-hour course feeling invigorated to help your “stuck” and “difficult” clients take meaningful steps toward creating a life worth living – Oh, and you might even learn to enjoy the process more and save yourself some hair along the way!

**This is a 5.5-CE noninteractive, self-paced online video course delivered in home study format via an industry-standard online learning platform**

Agenda:

00:00 – 01:00: Integrated Treatment Model

01:00 – 02:00: Conceptualization and Treatment Planning

02:00 – 03:00: Various Client Types

03:00 – 04:00: Various therapeutic approaches

04:00 – 05:00: Relapse Prevention, Intimacy Circles, Interpersonal Effectiveness Exercises

05:00 – 05:40: Warning Signs for Relapse

Objectives:

This training will provide participants clinical knowledge and tools to:

a). After completing this training, participants will be able to understand the 5 specific Characteristics that make clients “difficult.”

b). After completing this training, participants will be able to discover why mainstream treatment doesn’t work with certain populations and leave with 5 key elements to incorporate into your approach.

c). After completing this training, participants will be able to integrate evidence-based modalities including CBT, DBT, and Schema Therapy into a practical and cohesive treatment approach.

d). After completing this training, participants will be able to learn 3 maladaptive coping response styles and gain insight into how they, when unaddressed, perpetuate client problems and contribute to relapse.

e). After completing this training, participants will be able to acquire case conceptualization skills useful for individualizing treatment planning and driving effective treatment.

f). After completing this training, participants will be able to develop/hone diagnosis specific treatment skills for multiple DSM 5 conditions including addictive behavior disorders and borderline personality disorders.

g). After completing this training, participants will be able to discern the cognitive and behavioral makeup of 3 cross-cutting symptoms including paranoia, narcissism, and non-suicidal self-injury, and learn effective intervention strategies for each.

h). After completing this training, participants will be able to learn 3 red flags for relapse and learn what to do to prevent it more times than not.

Target Audience:

Mental Health Clinicians & Therapists, Social Workers, Psychologists, Marriage & Family Therapists, Counselors, School Personnel, Healthcare Workers, and anyone from the general population interested in learning more about how to handle “Difficult People”!

Instructional Level: Intermediate

Instructor(s): Jeff Riggenbach, PhD

Material Author(s): Jeff Riggenbach, PhD

Jeff Riggenbach, PhD is a best-selling and award-winning author who has earned a reputation as an international expert in cognitive approaches to treating personality disorders. Over a 20-year period, he has developed and overseen CBT-based treatment programs for mood disorders, anxiety disorders, addictive behavior disorders and personality disorders at two different psychiatric hospitals and clinics serving over 3,000 clients at multiple levels of care. Dr. Riggenbach trained at the Beck Institute of Cognitive Therapy and Research in Philadelphia, is a Diplomat of the Academy of Cognitive Therapy, and is a certified cognitive therapist. He has trained over 20,000 professionals worldwide including audiences in all 50 United States, The UK, Canada, Mexico, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Dr. Riggenbach is the author of seven publications including his most recent clinical release The CBT Toolbox (2nd ed): A Workbook for Clients and Clinicians (2021) and his brand new general audiences book “Disarming High Conflict Personalities: Dealing with the 8 Most Difficult People in Your Life Before you Burnout!” (2022). Jeff is known for bridging the gap between academia, research findings, and day-to-day clinical practice, and his work has earned him the reputation for being “the practical tools guy.” His seminars on CBT, DBT, and Schema-Focused Cognitive Therapy routinely receive the highest evaluations from conference participants in terms of clinical utility as well as entertainment value.

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Course Materials & Delivery Method:

• Course materials – The course is composed of a recorded presentation and written materials (e.g. a slide deck and/or other worksheets, manuals, or handouts as provided by the instructor). The slide deck and any additional worksheets or handouts (as provided by the instructor) are made available inside the Lesson module after a course is purchased.
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