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Format:  Self-paced / asynchronous program
Engage with this recorded program on your schedule.

CE:  2 CEs total, read for more information on CEs
Fee: $35, read for more information on fees and scholarships

Description: Young adulthood has been a challenging time during the pandemic. The central developmental tasks of this age-stage are achieving competencies and capacity for greater independence, autonomy, and developing a sense of identity and relationship bonds that support ongoing wellbeing. Heightened vulnerabilities have increased young adults’ struggles with initiating, maintaining, and completing schooling and employment, commonly referred to as “failure to launch.” In this workshop, Becca Edwards-Powell provides an approach that targets anxiety-related avoidance and mood-dependent behaviors that accompany and reinforce young adults’ sense of stuckness. She describes a protocol that draws from evidence-based approaches (Unified Protocol UP, DBT, Emotional Resiliency, and mindfulness traditions) to bolster motivation, goal setting, and communication skills and provide guidance and practices for family members. The presenter will also highlight relevant structural factors that impact this age group, and minoritized groups in particular.

Learning objectives: 

  1. Identify at least 3 central factors that can reinforce struggles with development tasks of emerging adulthood.
  2. Apply at least 1 skill from each of the 4 evidence-based practices presented as they relate to the transition to adulthood.

Trainer: Becca Edwards-Powell, LCSW is currently a psychotherapist with the Triangle Area Psychology (TAP) Clinic, where she provides individual, family and group therapy.. Prior to joining TAP, Becca worked in community mental health for 10 years providing direct care, as well as clinician training and program development. Becca has expertise in treating severe emotional dysregulation, impulsivity, traumatic stress, anxiety, and mood disorders. She has extensive training and is a certified Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) clinician through the Linehan Board. Using DBT, Becca has expertise in treating mood disturbances and self-injury, as well as suicidal and maladaptive coping behaviors that can accompany diagnoses such as depression, anxiety, and borderline personality disorder. Becca is extensively trained in the provision of evidence-based treatments for trauma and PTSD and offers both Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) and Prolonged Exposure (PE). She also provides empirically supported treatment for Complicated Grief. Becca is also a member of TAP’s Behavioral Parent Training program where she helps parents and caregivers learn skills to best navigate difficult circumstances with their children.

References:

Barlow DH, Farchione TJ, Bullis JR, Gallagher MW, Murray-Latin H, Sauer-Zavala S, Bentley KH, Thompson-Hollands J, Conklin LR, Boswell JF, Ametaj A, Carl JR, Boettcher HT, Cassiello-Robbins C. (2017). The Unified Protocol for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders Compared With Diagnosis-Specific Protocols for Anxiety Disorders: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Psychiatry, 74(9):875-884. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2017.2164.

Gedik Z. (2019). Self-compassion and health-promoting lifestyle behaviors in college students. Psychol Health Med. 24(1):108-114. doi: 10.1080/13548506.2018.1503692.

Maleki, M., Khorramnia, S., Foroughi, A., Amiri, S., & Amiri, S. (2021). Comparing the effectiveness of the unified protocol in combination with an additional mindfulness treatment to the unified protocol alone as treatment for adolescents diagnosed with emotional disorders. Trends in Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, 43(1), 57-64. doi: 10.47626/2237-6089-2020-0046

Pistorello J, Fruzzetti AE, Maclane C, Gallop R, Iverson KM. (2021). Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) applied to college students: a randomized clinical trial. J Consult Clin Psychol., 80(6):982-94. doi: 10.1037/a0029096.

Tendhar T, Marcotte MA, Saikia MJ, de Mesquita PB. (2022). Relationship of compassion for self and others to sense of well-being of college students. J Am Coll Health, 27:1-8. doi: 10.1080/07448481.2022.2074276. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35622999.  

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