workshop schedule

At Amrita Yoga studio, Barney McDowell, LCSW and noted yoga instuctor, Sarajoy Marsh, will co-lead a series of classes addressing anxiety with yoga and 'mindfulness' for cultivating a respectful, resilient, and, as odd as it may sound, a friendlier relationship to our arising fears. Through specfic yoga asanas, guided meditations, and dynamic educational dialogues, we'll explore the transforming effect of inviting anxiety into the immediate experience of the present.

Mondays, 7:15 pm 9:15 PM

Winter series: feb 11, 18, 25 and mar 3

Spring series apr 28 and may 5,12, 19

Fall series sept 22, 29 and oct 6, 13

Cost, $120 for each series of 4 classes. Register by calling the Amrita studio at 5093-552-YOGA (9642)

October 11, 2006 "What is Depression?" 8 AM PST Radio Broadcast

"We Are All A Little Crazy" is a radio web broadcast dedicated to mental health issues. Hosted by Debbie Bensching, LCSW, this show explores facets of depression. Catch the broadcast at health.voiceamerica.com. Debbie Bensching's site may be viewed at CounselingOption.com.

February 13, 2004 "Differentiation, Differentiation, Differentiation...and then?"

This presentation is sponsored by the Portland State University Graduate School of Social Work and Graduate School of Social Work Alumni Association. This is a two hour Friday afternoon seminar for professionals who may receive continuing education credits. You can contact the sponsor directly to register at www.ssw.pdx.edu. Here is a brief description of the seminar.

Many researchers employ some concept of differentiation. Margaret Mahler in early childhood development, Murray Bowen in family therapy, Jung in articulating the movement into the transpersonal realm. Robert Kegan, e.g., traces development as a progressive differentiation from one identity (first embedded into mom) to the next more inclusive self representation (blurred into family, then peers, etc.). With rich maps of how identity forms, Western therapies cultivate more adaptive identifications but with a ceiling of growth--our best hope is to be a little less neurotic! In contrast, Wilber, Washburn, and Almass among others articulate stages of differentiation from identification altogether-as long held in Eastern psychology. If this is valid, bold interventions come into relief and others are elucidated. As Wilber elaborates, the West excels in detailing how a “somebody” forms from a “prepersonal nobody”, while the East emphasizes differentiation from a “somebody” stage to a transpersonal “nobody”. In this inquiry, West to East, Freud to Jung, and object relations to transpersonal psychology are revealed on a continuum rather than in opposition.

February 28, 2003 "Pragmatics of HIPAA: Compliance with HIPAA for the Ethical Independent Practitioner"

The new federal "privacy standards" under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act [HIPAA] comprise hundreds of pages in the Federal Registry. This workshop is geared to help professional psychotherapists and counselors fulfill the many practical requirements of HIPAA and to be aware of "the privacy risks inherent in these new rules". Specific forms for compliance with HIPAA will be discussed along with discussions about the complexities of "psychotherapy notes" as defined by HIPAA. The American Mental Health Alliance sponsors this third in a series of workshops on HIPAA. As a service to the Oregon community of psychotherapists and other professionals, I am co-presenting this workshop with Michaele Dunlap, PsyD. Four hours of Continuing Education credit for professionals are possible. To be held at the Grotto, nr 85th and NE Sandy, Portland 8:30am-12:30pm; call the American Mental Health Alliance to register at 503-222-0322 or call me for more information at 503-234-9904.

September 2001: The Core Relationship Skill: Boundaries that Breathe Sponsored by Heatlhy Start of Clackamas County. This three hour workshop for approximately 100 professionals offered a model for keeping boundaries in interpersonal relationships especially with clients. A similar workshop was repeated a few months later for a group of professionals at the Educational Service District of Clackamas County.

Thanksgiving Retreat: Gratitude and Service : Yachatts Oregon House Thanksgiving 2001 A joint effort of Barney McDowell and Sarajoy Marsh, a noted yoga instructor and director of The Sanctuary, this retreat was dedicated as a time of renewal and learning for people working in service positions. In addition to two sessions of yoga daily, we explored the spectrum of the psyche's unfolding from our habitual contractions that come with natural, inevitable but too narrow psychological identifications to profound resting in the immediacy of the moment--simply basking in the present, the luxuriant unfolding of the day, and the radiant beauty of the coastal landscape. Through a consecration to respectful group energy, playful processes, and dialogue, we examined how we get caught up in resistance to our work and life and, then, refined the psychological skills to meet those challenges.

Novemeber 22, 2002 and April 17, 2002 The Pragmatics of HIPAA: The New Federal Privacy Rules. These workshops sponsored by the American Mental Health Alliance of Oregon were the second and third in a series on this topic elaborated above (see Feb 28, 2003).