Freedom Institute, Academics West, and Therapy West Present on
the Relationship Between Executive Functioning Issues and Substance Abuse
Thursday, November 14th, 2019
5:30 – 7:30 PM
2 Continuing Education Units Provided by Academics West for LMSW & LCSW
at
Academics West
37 West 65th Street, 5th floor
Refreshments will be served
About this Event
Executive functioning refers to the self-regulation skills and mental processes that allow us to plan, focus attention, remember and follow instructions, control impulses and learn from experiences.
A deficit in these skills will no doubt add to the complexity of treating an addiction and make the process for the client and clinician more challenging.
This course will provide an overview of what executive functioning is, how to identify problems in this area, and discuss the crossover between learning differences and substance use disorder. Research strategies will be presented and practiced with a special focus on working with clients with learning disabilities and ADHD. Dialectical Behavior Therapy and experiential treatment strategies will be offered to address the issue of co-occurring addiction and executive functioning deficits.
About Our Speakers
Evan Flamenbaum, DSW is an advocate for children and adolescents who experience mental health and academic issues. As a former Dean of Students at a prestigious private school he used his clinical knowledge to help students stay in school during periods of difficult psychological adjustment. As a licensed social worker, Dr. Flamenbaum has trained with some of the leading experts on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. He now teaches other professionals about his approach to treat such problems.
Tessa Kleeman, MA, LMHC, has a master’s in counseling psychology and is a licensed mental health counselor and a Gestalt-certified psychotherapist in private practice. As the director of dialectical behavior therapy at Freedom Institute for the last five years, she leads an intensive outpatient program for substance abuse and addiction treatment. The program Tessa developed integrates action methods, Gestalt therapy, and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). She is an advanced student of psychodrama at the Hudson Valley Psychodrama Institute.