Clinical Trainings

Catholic Charities is pleased to offer clinical trainings to colleagues, former employees, and the general public. We are approved by the Maryland Board of Social Work Examiners and the National Board for Certified Counselors to sponsor continuing education for social workers and licensed professional counselors.

For any questions, contact Johanna Miller at [email protected]

CURRENT OFFERINGS:

Understanding and Responding to Sexual Abuse

This training will provide clinicians with an in-depth understanding of Sexual Abuse across the lifespan. Participants will explore the differences between sexual abuse, sexual assault, and other forms of sexual violence. The session will cover ethical and legal considerations, including mandated reporting and confidentiality, and offer strategies for navigating sensitive conversations with clients. Relevant resources and community support for survivors will also be reviewed.

Course Outline

9:00 am: Introduction and Overview of Course Objectives

9:10 am: Defining Sexual Abuse

9:20am: Review of Child Sexual Abuse and Warning Signs

9:35 am: Perpetrators of Sexual Abuse

9:45 am: Mandated Reporting Requirements and Ethical Considerations

10:05 am: Navigating Conversations about Sexual Abuse

10:35 am: Resources and Support Services

10:45 am: Case Discussion

Training Details
Date: Friday, January 16, 2026
Time: 9:00 am – 11:00 am
Location: Virtual
Presenter: Veronica McDade and Charla Spano
Cost: Free – $50

Course Completion & CE Info:

Participants must attend the entire course and complete a course evaluation to earn CE credit. Certificates of completion will be e-mailed within 10 business days. This course qualifies for 3 contact hours.

Questions? Contact Johanna Miller at [email protected].

The Trevor Project’s Connect, Accept, Respond, Empower (CARE) Training

Designed for individuals of all backgrounds, this interactive training provides an overview of suicide among LGBTQ+ people and the different environmental stressors that contribute to their heightened risk for suicide. Trevor CARE combines research, best practice recommendations, and practical steps for reducing the risk of suicide and promoting resiliency.

Course Outline

I. Introduction and Overview

II: Fact or Myth

III: Understanding Suicide

IV: Risk Factors, Warning Signs, and Protective Factors

V: How You Can Help

VI: Resources and Q&A

Training Details
Date: Friday, January 30, 2026
Time: 9:30 am – 11:30 pm
Location: Virtual
Presenter: Johanna Miller, LCSW-C
Cost: Free

Course Completion & CE Info:
Participants must attend the entire course and complete a course evaluation to earn CE credit. Certificates of completion will be e-mailed within 10 business days. This course qualifies for 2 contact hours.

Questions? Contact Johanna Miller at [email protected].

Foundations of Family Therapy Part I

Providing effective treatment for children and adolescents is fraught with challenges, the greatest of which might be to involve and engage families, and to intervene with family members in the room. In this family therapy training you will enhance your ability to listen for change talk and use engagement and joining skills. These concepts and some practical tips on how to actually contact and reach families will help you get families to attend and to remain involved.

Understanding the context that a behavior or symptom occurs in and the function it serves will allow you to have a deeper understand of families and individuals. You will also acquire beginning understanding of family boundaries and hierarchy that help answer the questions like “why does this problem persist” and “who in the family has power and influence to sanction or make changes.” Specific intervention skills including joining, reframing and highlighting will be discussed and applied by the audience to a specific challenge a therapist faces.

This training is for therapists who want to understand and work with families better, but it is likely to enhance your ability to understand and intervene with individuals as well. The training is a prerequisite for trainings titled “Advanced Practice in Family Therapy.”

Course Outline

9:00 am: Challenges of Family Therapy and Why Do It?

9:15 am: Getting Families Involved

9:50 am: Structural Family Skill Development

10:45 am: Break

10:50 am: Understanding Families as Systems

11:15 am: Introduction to “process” and boundaries

11:40 am: Application of skills and concepts to Drena’s Dilemma

Training Details
Date: Friday, March 6, 2026
Time: 9:00 am – 12:15 pm
Location: In-Person at 2300B Dulaney Valley Road Timonium, MD 21093
Presenter: Carl Fornoff, LCPC and Julia Tilghman, LCSW-C
Cost: Free – $75

Course Completion & CE Info:
Participants must attend the entire course and complete a course evaluation to earn CE credit. Certificates of completion will be e-mailed within 10 business days. This course qualifies for 3 contact hours.

Questions? Contact Johanna Miller at [email protected].

Use of Structural Family Therapy to Address Anger & Aggression

Have you ever used a family therapy approach to “decrease” anger and aggression only to feel like you and the family were fanning the flames or making the problem even worse? You are not alone! In this training participants will learn how to use structural family therapy assessment and restructuring skills to address these problems. Learning to assess patterns of family interaction will allow you to develop a different “frame” than the family uses to understand and address these intense emotions and behaviors. Restructuring skills, including tracking, blocking, and highlighting, will help you influence the family to accept this new frame and gradually shift into healthier ways of interacting. You will learn to use these skills through discussion, role plays and review of actual family therapy session content. This training is for intermediate and advanced audiences and Foundations of Family Therapy is a recommended prerequisite.

Course Outline

1:15 pm: Intro and brief demonstration of an angry family interaction

1:30 pm: Anger and aggression and its purpose in a family

1:50 pm: Intervening with an enmeshed family as it relates to anger and aggression

2:30 pm: Use of tracking and reframing to support healthy self-expression in families

3:15 pm: Break

3:30 pm: Skills to support and encourage healthy leadership in the family

4:15 pm: Summary and questions

Training Details
Date: Friday, March 6, 2026
Time: 1:15 pm – 4:30 pm
Location: In-Person at 2300B Dulaney Valley Road Timonium, MD 21093
Presenter: Carl Fornoff, LCPC and Julia Tilghman, LCSW-C
Cost: Free – $75

Questions? Contact Johanna Miller at [email protected].

Promoting Healthy Relationships

This training will give clinicians a foundational understanding of healthy relationship dynamics and a youth-focused perspective on dating violence prevention. The session highlights signs of healthy, unhealthy, and abusive relationships, explores factors that shape relationship dynamics, and offers practical strategies and resources to support youth and adults in building safe and respectful relationships.

Course Outline

9:00 am: Introduction and Overview of Course Objectives

9:10 am: Defining Types of Relationships and Differences Between Teen Dating Violence and Intimate Partner Violence

9:20am: Factors in Health and Unhealthy Relationships

9:45 am: Strategies for Discussing Relationships

10:05 am: Methods for Assisting Clients in Developing Healthy Relationship Skills

10:35 am: Resources and Support Services

10:45 am: Case Discussion

Training Details
Date: Friday, March 13, 2026
Time: 9:00 am – 11:00 am
Location: Virtual
Presenter: Charla Spano, LMSW and Veronica McDade
Cost: Free – $50

Questions? Contact Johanna Miller at [email protected].

Introduction to DBT

This training is designed to provide clinical professionals with the fundamental knowledge and application strategies of DBT. Attendees will review the foundational theory and development of DBT and learn to identify populations where it is most efficacious. The final component involves intensive, guided practice, empowering participants to apply DBT concepts and skills effectively in their therapy sessions immediately following the workshop.

Course Outline

9:45 am: Welcome, Centering, Review of Objectives

9:55 am: Foundational Theory & Development

10:30 am: DBT’s Target Population & Structure

11:00 am: Skill Module Deep Dive: Mindfulness

11:15 am: Discussion: Mindfulness in Practice

11:30 am: Restorative Break

11:45 am: Skill Module Deep Dive: Distress Tolerance

12:15 pm: Skill Module Deep Dive: Emotional Regulation

12:40 pm: Discussion: Application and Next Steps

12:50 pm: Resources

Training Details
Date: Friday, April 17, 2026
Time: 9:45 am – 1:00 pm
Location: In-Person at 2300B Dulaney Valley Road Timonium, MD 21093
Presenter: John Windsor, LCPC
Cost: Free – $75

Questions? Contact Johanna Miller at [email protected].