Wednesday, August 1, 2018, 9:00am-4:00pm, Catholic Charities, 4800 Union Deposit Road, Harrisburg, PA

This workshop seeks to enhance providers understanding and treatment of children who are experiencing behavioral and cognitive symptoms that are causing functional impairments. While aggression will be a focus behavior of the workshop, participants will leave with an understanding of the neurobiological and physiological underpinnings of common behavioral and cognitive symptoms seen within their practice. This workshop will support providers in differentiating between child and adolescent psychopathology and stress-related responses, increasing provider sensitivity toward children’s responses to adverse experiences. Providers will have the opportunity to analyze their current clinical skills that have been efficacious in supporting children in practice while developing and practicing new clinical skills to improve treatment outcomes. The workshop will ensure a strength-based perspective through providing experiential activities for providers to formulate support plans that infuse child resiliency factors.

Learning Objectives:

At the completion of the workshop, participants should be able to:

1. Describe different types of stress and importance of understanding navigation of stress in children;
2. Discuss the neurobiological and physiological underpinnings of common child behavioral and cognitive symptoms;
3. Differentiate between psychopathology and stress-related responses;
4. Analyze current clinical tools and demonstrate new clinical tools needed to improve treatment outcomes;
5. Critique the use of evidence-informed and evidence-based practices with a given child case study;
6. Formulate support plans that demonstrate an understanding of child resiliency factors.

Trainer Biography:

Dr. Stephen DiDonato holds his Ph.D. in International Psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. Stephen is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in the State of Pennsylvania and holds his National Certified Counselor (NCC) credential. Stephen has clinical expertise working with children, families, and communities who have been exposed to potentially traumatic events.  Specifically, Stephen’s clinical focus has been on enhancing the adaption to the inherently complex traumatic environments that children and families face in underserved communities. Stephen as an outpatient trauma counselor and as an in-home counselor. Stephen also has a held non-clinical consultative role with the Center for Pediatric Traumatic Stress at Nemours Children’s Health System where he was the training director and program manager utilizing his counseling professional skills to enhance the way that medical professionals engage with and support children and families adapting to medical traumatic stress. Stephen now holds a small private counseling practice where he specializes in trauma treatment working children and their families impacted by exposure to potentially traumatic experiences. Stephen has been trained specifically in three evidence-based treatments (1) Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy (TF-CBT), (2) Surviving Cancer Competently Intervention Program – Newly Diagnosed (SCCIP-ND), and (3) Child and Family Traumatic Stress Intervention (CFTSI).  

Frequently Asked Questions
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