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Continuing Education

The clinic is pleased to announce its 2026 continuing education program for community-based professionals. Description of each Institute and registration forms come after the calendar section. Additional institutes/workshops are coming soon and will be posted as we determine availability.

Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT) Levels 1, 2, 3 and couples are now offered through the Greenberg Institute of Emotion Focused Therapy. Visit their website to view available offerings.

2026 Training Calendar**

Types of Training InstituteDates
Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, Second Edition (ADOS-2)(Videoconference Format) (Waitlist Only)February 3-5, 2026
Introduction to Body-based Practices in Emotion-focused Therapy for Trauma (EFTT) (Videoconference Format)March 26-27, 2026
Treating Somatic Symptoms in Children & Youth (Videoconference Format)March 27, 2026
Best Practices for Working with Older Adults/Seniors in Psychotherapy (Videoconference Format)March 27, 2026
Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, Second Edition (ADOS-2)(Videoconference Format)May 25 - June 1, 2026
Emotion Focused Therapy for Complex Trauma (Changed to Virtual Format)November 18-20, 2026
Emotion Focused Therapy for Eating Disorders (Videoconference Format)November 25-27, 2026

If you submit a registration form and do not hear from us within 2 business days, please follow up.

To be notified of any of our upcoming trainings/workshops, please email yupc@yorku.ca with your email address.

** York University Psychology Clinic reserves the right to cancel any registration at its sole discretion, in which case a full refund will be provided.

Institute/Workshop Information

The ADOS-2 is a semi-structured, standardized measure of communication, social interaction, play, and restricted and receptive behaviours synonymous with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It is widely considered the ‘gold standard’ measure of behavioural observation for assessment and diagnosis of ASD. With updated protocols and the addition of the Toddler Module, the ADOS-2 provides a highly accurate evaluation of current behaviour in individuals from 12 months of age to adulthood, from individuals who are nonverbal to individuals who are verbally fluent. By observing and coding these behaviors, you can obtain information that informs diagnosis, treatment planning, and educational placement.

Through completion of this introductory course, you will:

  • Obtain experience that will support your future administrations with the measure as you work towards independent clinical use
  • Learn the differences between clinical and research use of the ADOS-2
  • Learn how to select the appropriate module for working with different clients
  • Learn how to administer the tasks within each module
  • Learn how to code the specific items within each module

Fee:

Option A: $975 CDN

Option B: $1100 CDN

Option C: $165 CDN

Note: There is a 10% discount for full-time graduate students and York faculty/staff

Trainer: Dr. Adam McCrimmon

Registration Form [PDF]
Session Description [PDF]

This workshop will explore how body-based practices can augment and enhance emotion-focused therapy, especially when working with complex trauma (i.e., childhood abuse and neglect). It is well recognized that traumatic experiences are “embodied”, and thus body-based practices have been recommended as adjuncts to talk therapy for trauma-related disturbance. While attention to bodily experience is intrinsic to all emotion-focused therapies, for some clients, a more explicit focus on the body can help access and deepen emotional experience and transform maladaptive emotions, such as fear and shame.  

This workshop will present the model of EFTT and numerous videotaped examples of EFTT intervention used to accomplish the basic tasks of therapy – i.e., cultivating a safe and empathic therapeutic relationship; reducing fear, avoidance, and shame; processing trauma feelings and memories; and resolving issues with perpetrators of abuse and neglect through expressions of anger and sadness (with and without chair work). Throughout, the workshop will present a variety of body-based practices, drawn from yoga therapy (e.g., breath work, establishing intentions, postures, movement, meditation), that can be integrated into the moment-by-moment process of EFTT. These practices are designed to promote positive experiences necessary for emotional transformation and change, including deepening client goals, grounding and present-centered awareness, calming and safety, agency and empowerment, letting go of over-control, and self-compassion. Video-taped examples will illustrate how to identify in-session markers for introducing body-based procedures and how to seamlessly integrate these into standard EFTT interventions.

Prerequisites: This workshop is geared toward practicing professionals who have a basic familiarity with emotion-focused therapy theory and practice (i.e., EFT Level 1 or equivalent)

Fee: $700 CDN (10% discount for full-time graduate students and York faculty/staff)

Trainer: Dr. Sandra Paivio

Registration Form [PDF]

Somatic symptoms in children and youth present complex challenges for clients, families, and clinicians. In this interactive workshop, Dr. Jordana Waxman and Dr. Stella Dentakos will guide participants through the latest evidence-based approaches to understanding and treating somatic symptoms in pediatric populations. Drawing on national collaborative work among leading pediatric hospitals, the session will explore how to support clients and families from the initial presentation of symptoms through to recovery and improved functioning.

Participants will learn how to define and normalize somatic symptoms, communicate compassionately with families about the mind-body connection, and apply practical frameworks for assessment and intervention. The workshop will emphasize strategies for building trust, reducing confusion, and empowering families to move toward wellness. Through case examples, sample scripts, and interactive discussion, attendees will gain tools to support emotional processing, enhance daily functioning, and develop individualized symptom management plans.

Importantly, the session will also highlight the vital role of mental health providers within the multidisciplinary care team. Discussion will include how psychologists and other mental health professionals collaborate with medical providers to deliver integrated care, facilitate communication, and address the psychological needs of children and youth experiencing somatic symptoms.

Learning Objectives:

After attending this workshop, participants will be able to:

  • Explain the concept of somatization and recognize key challenges in assessment and treatment.
  • Utilize a structured approach for managing somatic symptoms, including techniques for empathetic and effective communication with patients and families.
  • Deepen understanding of comprehensive, multidisciplinary strategies that enhance treatment outcomes, including the role of mental health providers in collaborative care.

Fee: $150 CDN ($120 for full-time graduate students and York faculty/staff)

Trainer: Dr. Stella Dentakos & Dr. Jordana Waxman

Registration Form [PDF]
Description & Bios [DOC]

Individuals over the age of 60 make up an increasing proportion of the Canadian population. It is estimated that by 2030 older adults or seniors (65+) will represent between 21-23% of the total population. In this workshop, Dr. Pishdadian will discuss critical considerations for clinicians who are working with older adult clients in psychotherapy intervention, including determining when to refer to specialist clinicians. Content will include appropriate symptom measures, common developmental milestones, differences in common psychopathologies (e.g., anxiety, depression), consideration of common medical comorbidities (e.g., pain, diabetes), adapting psychotherapy for older adults, conducting cognitive-screening, and assessing for atypical cognitive decline. Resources and clinical case examples will be shared. The workshop will include time for practicing treatment planning. This workshop is open to clinicians and trainees from different backgrounds including psychology, psychiatry, social work, nursing, and occupational therapy.

Fee: $200 CDN ($120 for full-time graduate students and York faculty/staff)

Trainer: Dr. Sara Pishdadian

Registration Form [PDF]
Trainer Bio [PDF]

The ADOS-2 is a semi-structured, standardized measure of communication, social interaction, play, and restricted and receptive behaviours synonymous with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It is widely considered the ‘gold standard’ measure of behavioural observation for assessment and diagnosis of ASD. With updated protocols and the addition of the Toddler Module, the ADOS-2 provides a highly accurate evaluation of current behaviour in individuals from 12 months of age to adulthood, from individuals who are nonverbal to individuals who are verbally fluent. By observing and coding these behaviors, you can obtain information that informs diagnosis, treatment planning, and educational placement.

Through completion of this introductory course, you will:

  • Learn the differences between clinical and research use of the ADOS-2
  • Learn how to select the appropriate module for working with different clients
  • Learn how to administer the tasks within each module
  • Learn how to code the specific items within each module
  • Obtain experience that will support your future administrations with the measure as you work towards independent clinical use

Fee:

Option A: $975 CDN

Option B: $1100 CDN

Option C: $165 CDN

Note: 10% discount for full-time graduate students and York faculty/staff)

Trainer: Dr. Adam McCrimmon

Registration Form [PDF]
Session Description [PDF]

Psychotherapy clients with histories of childhood abuse and neglect (complex developmental trauma) are ubiquitous across diagnostic groups. Disrupted emotion processes are at the core of the constellation of disturbances associated with these childhood experiences. Successful therapy requires helping clients to access and explore painful feelings and memories to modify maladaptive emotions, construct more adaptive meaning, and resolve past relational trauma. Emotion-focused therapy for trauma (EFTT) is an evidence-based approach based on 20+ years of research supporting treatment effectiveness and posited in-session processes of change.

This three-day training is geared toward practicing professionals with a basic knowledge of Emotion-focused therapy (Level 1 training or equivalent). It includes material on the nature of complex trauma and the central role of emotional processes in the development of disturbance, the EFTT treatment model and how EFTT addresses central features of disturbance. Training also includes numerous videotaped examples illustrating EFTT treatment principles, and supervised peer-skills practice. Practice will focus on the general principles of EFT specifically tailored to the needs of this client group over the phases of EFTT. This includes training in interventions for cultivating a safe and empathic therapeutic relationship; for promoting and deepening client emotional experiencing; for evoking and processing trauma feelings and memories; for reducing fear, avoidance, and shame; for resolving attachment injuries with specific perpetrators through expressions of anger and sadness; and alternatives to chair-work for clients who are unable or unwilling to engage in these evocative procedures. This training also will introduce participants to the most recent developments in EFTT concerning the integration of body-based interventions into the moment-by-moment process of therapy. These interventions can help address client difficulties with emotion awareness, regulation, and reflection that interfere with engagement in EFTT procedures, emotional transformation, and change.

Day One. The morning will focus on the nature of complex trauma and introduce the EFTT treatment model, specifying distinguishing features from other approaches to trauma therapy and the general model of Emotion-focused Therapy. The afternoon will focus on Early Phase processes, including cultivating the therapeutic alliance, collaborative case conceptualization, and promoting emotional experiencing. Participants will practice empathic responding to achieve these early phase treatment goals.

Day Two. The morning will focus on guidelines for conducting the Imaginal Confrontation (IC) procedure (i.e., empty-chair dialogue with perpetrators of abuse and neglect) for the first time and introduce Empathic Exploration (EE) as a less stressful alternative to IC that does not involve chair-work. Participants will practice introducing both the IC and EE procedures for evoking unfinished business with past perpetrators. The afternoon begins the focus on Middle Phase processes (i.e., reducing maladaptive fear and shame) with a specific focus on working with trauma memories (identifying markers, intervention guidelines). Participants will practice interventions for processing trauma memories, with a focus on transforming fear and shame.

Day Three. The morning will focus on intra-personal conflicts related to self-criticism, anxiety, self-interruption, and self-doubt. Participants will practice interventions, with and without chair-work, to help clients resolve these conflicts. The afternoon will focus on reducing client experiential avoidance/over-control of emotional experience and strengthening self-soothing capacities. Participants will practice interventions to promote client self-soothing. The training will conclude with presenting a case example of EFTT with a challenging client over the course of therapy.

Learning objectives:

Training participants will learn:

  1. The nature of complex trauma and the central role of emotional processes in disturbance
  2. The EFTT treatment model and how therapy uniquely addresses central features of disturbance
  3. Assessment of client emotional processing difficulties (i.e. awareness, regulation, experiencing, transformation) that interfere with productive engagement in EFT interventions
  4. Interventions for:
    • Cultivating a safe and collaborative therapeutic relationship
    • Deepening client emotional experiencing step-by-step
    • Helping clients to imaginally confront and resolve issues with perpetrators of abuse and neglect (with and without chair-work)
    • Helping clients to re-experience and reprocess trauma feelings and memories
    • Reducing client fear, avoidance, and shame (with and without chair-work)
    • Strengthening client self-soothing capacities

Fee: $1,100.00 CDN (10% for full-time graduate students and York faculty/staff)

Trainer: Dr. Sandra Paivio, Clinical Psychologist
Facilitator: Dr. Jessica Burdo, Clinical Psychologist (Supervised Practice)

Registration Form [PDF]

Eating disorders are complex psychiatric illnesses that are challenging to treat. In this workshop, Dr. Stillar will outline how to treat Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, and Binge-Eating Disorder, from an Emotion-focused Therapy lens. The emotion-processing difficulties that are often at the core of eating disorders make EFT a compelling approach to eating disorder treatment. Dr. Stillar will discuss eating disorders in terms of emotion theory and teach participants how to formulate an EFT case conceptualization for an eating disorder client. Furthermore, she will teach participants how to use the two-chair dialogue intervention to treat eating disorder cases. Additionally, she will also show video demonstrations of several EFT interventions that she commonly uses in her practice with eating disorder clients such as, focusing, self-soothing, and chair work.

Learning Objectives:

After attending this workshop, participants will be able to:

  1. Formulate an EFT case conceptualization for a client with an eating disorder.
  2. Understand how emotion-processing deficits are often at the core of eating disorder symptoms.
  3. Utilize the two-chair dialogue EFT intervention to treat a client with an eating disorder.
  4. Understand how EFT interventions facilitate the development of healthy emotion processing and emotion regulation capabilities within an individual with an eating disorder diagnosis.

Fee: $900 CDN (10% for full-time graduate students and York faculty/staff)

Trainer: Dr. Amanda Stillar

Registration Form [PDF]
Bio [DOC]

Cancellation Policy

Cancellation Policy for 1-2 day training events:

When cancellations are made more than 14 days prior to the workshop date, you have a choice:

  1. receive a refund (less $50.00 administration charge)
    OR
  2. a credit for the full amount (less $20.00) to any future York University Psychology Clinic (YUPC) workshop.

If cancellation is received fewer than 14 days prior to the workshop date you will receive a credit (less $50.00 administration charge) to any future YUPC workshop.

Cancellation Policy for 3-4 day institutes:

The 3 & 4 day Institutes requires a $250.00 non-refundable deposit. These non-refundable deposits are not transferable unless we are able to fill the vacancy created by the change in plans. Please note, that if registration payment is transferred it is only transferable once.

When cancellations are made 28 days prior to the workshop date, you have a choice: receive a refund (less the $250.00 non-refundable deposit)or a credit towards a future Institute.

We regret that a refund/credit cannot be offered if your cancellation is received with fewer than 28 days notice prior to the workshop date.