Understanding and Responding to Personality Disorders

The clients whose problems meet the DSM-5® criteria for personality disorder can be the most challenging clients to manage and treat. They may require more time in therapy, more energy and involvement on your part, experience a greater number of life crises, and create more upset with their family, work, and social systems than virtually any other diagnostic group. Often being “sent” for therapy rather than choosing therapy, their motivation for change may be limited and their personality disorder is likely co-morbid with other exacerbating disorders.

Far too often such clients are managed by under resourced services without the support or guidance of the mental health system. This situation results in poor case management, inadequate resolutions and repeated crises causing cost blowouts and stretching resources even more.

TATRA Corporate and Allied Health Training Services has developed a workshop which will foster an understanding of the specific challenges associated with caring for individuals with personality disorders. This is an interactive and fun workshop.  Case studies, group tasks and movie illustrations will be used to make this not only a valuable learning experience but also an enjoyable one. The content will include definitions and descriptions of personality disorders and their types, a discussion about how they develop, the underlying causes behind each and, most importantly, strategies for managing them and techniques that will help you to understand them and to engage them in a caring and effective manner.

The aim of this seminar is to provide more insight into the complex world of Personality Disorders and equip the participants with more strategies for dealing effectively with difficult behaviours displayed by Personality Disordered clients.

Who should attend?

This workshop is tailored for social workers, counsellors, nurses, housing and employment officers, community and youth workers, residential care workers, disability support, addiction counsellors and other such professionals.

• AASW: Members can accrue 7 CPD hours by participating in this activity
• ACA: Members can accrue 5 CPD points by participating in this activity

A certificate of attendance will be emailed to participants following the workshop.