Day 1 Course Outline
Morning Session:
STRESS MANAGEMENT AND BUILDING RESILIENCEY
- “Lifestyle” practices to support resiliency
- The stress experience and the mindbody connection
- Strategies for eliciting the relaxation response
- Neuroplasticity: Using the habituated brain
THE SYMPATHETIC AND PARASYMPATHETIC NERVOUS SYSTEMS
- Evidenced-based practices in integrative medicine to support behavior change
- Ways to elicit the “relaxation response” to antidote stress
- When and where to use mind-body approaches - inside and outside treatment
- Six ways to fight stress fast
POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY AND GRATITUDE
- The science behind gratitude and abundance
- Self-compassion and renewal is the key to change
- Outline how positive psychology can increase resilience to psychological stress and physical disorders
- Gratitude & breaking free of the vicious cycle of negative thoughts
Afternoon Session:
THE SCIENCE OF HABIT LOOPS
- How the brain forms new habits
- The connection between stress, impulse control and neurotransmitters
- Why will-power isn’t enough!
- Brain-based tools for retraining the habit brain
MINDFULNESS-BASED COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY
- Cognitive reappraisal and positive expectation to stop allostatic loading
- Master the O.N.E. technique
- Learn how to integrate tools into clinical practice via evidenced-based techniques
- Techniques from mindful cognitive behavior therapy
MINDFULNESS AND MEDITATION
- Health-related benefits of contemporary meditative practices
- The science behind mindfulness and meditation, why meditation works and how it changes your brain
- Teach clients to begin a daily practice to ease symptoms of depression & anxiety
Day 2 Course Outline
Morning session:
INFLAMMATION
- Inflammation and the mind-body connection
- Acute and chronic inflammation
- Stress, sleep, mood, nutrition
- Identify lifestyle factors contributing to inflammation
- The links of inflammation, to stress, disease, anxiety and depression
- The enteric nervous system
GUT HEALTH, THE BRAIN AND THE MICROBIOME
- Sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system
- Rest and digest vs. fight or flight
- A user’s guide to the gut brain axis
- This axis that connects the brain, central nervous system and the digestive tract is the basis for understanding our microbiome
NUTRITION AND MENTAL HEALTH
- Nutrition and links to mental and physical health
- Clinicians in the kitchen: Nutritional involvement in mood disorders
- Using motivational interviewing
- Evidenced-based education on how nutrition impacts mental health
- The role of sugar and fats on mood related disorders
- Chemicals and additives in food and their effect on mental and physical health
- The link between nutrition and mental health
- Recognize nutritional deficiencies signs and symptoms
- Identify why food is medicine
- Food allergens, lactose intolerance and mood
- Minerals & vitamins, magnesium, omega’s, B vitamins
- Supplements
- Clinical therapies
- Key nutrients for pain, mood, attention and cognition
- Prebiotics and probiotics
Afternoon Session:
PHYSICAL HEALTH AND IMPACTS ON MENTAL HEALTH
- Using exercise to reduce anxiety and depression
- Walking meditation
- Stretching
- Yoga
- Pilates
RESTORATIVE SLEEP & SLEEP HYGIENE
- Science of sleep, from weight to mood
- Sleeping pills and supplements
- Questionnaire for clients rating their sleep habits
Day 3 Course Outline
Morning Session:
THE ANCIENT WISDOM OF OTHER CULTURES
- Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine
- Chinese medicine, acupressure and acupuncture
- Ancient ways of eating and cooking
- Movement from Tai Chi to meditation
- Introduction to the concept of the Blue Zones & culture
LIVING IN A TOXIC ENVIRONMENT, PHYSICALLY AND EMOTIONALLY
- A toxic environment - it’s more than chemicals
- Protect the brain and body from toxins in food, air, water, and environment
- Check list for clients
- How toxins can harm parts of the brain and body
- Key food groups that are involved in detoxification
- Teach clients how to create a safe, nontoxic environment
HORMONES
- Hormones every clinician should understand
- Signs your hormones are out-of-whack
- Develop a treatment plan to address hormonal shifts, including referrals
- Tools to help clients recognize when and if hormones are not functioning properly
- Steps to take when addressing with a medical provider
Afternoon Session:
ON THE ROAD TO RECOVERY: SUBSTANCE MISUSE AND RELAPSE
- Support recovery with diet and lifestyle behaviors
- Relapse prevention techniques and tools
IMPACT OF DIET AND NUTRITION ON RECOVERY:
- How we feed ourselves is part of recovery
- Vitamin and mineral deficiencies
- Sugar and caffeine
- Self-medication hypotheses
- Nutrition impacts cravings
- Relapse prevention
- Normalize neurotransmitters and mood
- Insulin, glucose, B6 & B12
MINDFULNESS AND MEDITATION AID IN RECOVER AND RELAPSE PREVENTION
- How mindfulness and meditation promote self-care
- Incorporating a meditative practice in recovery
- Adopting a healthy lifestyle
CBD WELLNESS AND EDUCATION
- The Natural Endocannabinoid System
- Your brain is a cannabinoid playground
- CBD terminology
- Regulation
- CBD with zero THC
- Teas, tinctures and terpenes
- Cautionary statements
SCOPE OF PRACTICE
- Clinician’s scope of practice, nature of the research and limitations
- Focus on safe areas to intervene and make suggestions
- Conditions for referral
- When to recommend, suggest & limits of liability
- What clinicians can do with CIMHP


