VIRTUAL PROGRAM (via Zoom)

The MDPAC psychotherapy training program is a year-long training course for physicians (or nurse practitioners in primary care). wishing to develop a focused practice in psychotherapy or to increase their skills in providing psychotherapy in the context of a comprehensive family practice setting. While there are many models of therapy, it has become more apparent and empirically researched that the most important factor in healing is the therapeutic alliance or relationship.  This program will focus on the basic core skills required to foster, manage ruptures of, and create safety within this relationship, while also learning ways to care for ourselves while caring for others.

Each weekend will consist of both didactic and experiential components with adequate opportunities for feedback and interaction with presenters and colleagues.  Participants are expected to attend each weekend and five online group supervision sessions throughout the year.

 

CLICK HERE TO WATCH AN INFORMATION VIDEO ABOUT THE PROGRAM

 

---

 

TESTIMONIALS

More aware of my own responses in therapy and impact of transference both directions

Building community within the participants

It gave me core "soft skills" outside of the specific therapeutic techniques that I need to practice competently, safely, effectively.

 

---

DATES AND LOCATIONS

The program takes place over five weekends from January 2022 to November 2022 with the following topics:

MODULE 1: January 14-16 2022
Topic: Initial Assessment and Intake & the Therapeutic Alliance
Dr. James Whyte King & Dr. Alison Arnot

MODULE 2: March 11-13 2022
Topic: Therapeutic Presence & Providing Patient Safety
Dr. Robin Beardsley and Dr. Harry Zeit

MODULE 3: April 22-24 2022
Topic: Ethics, Record Keeping, Medical/Legal Issues & Psychopharmacology
Dr. Thomas Minde & Dr. Kyle Greenway 

MODULE 4: September 9-11 2022
Topic: Boundaries, Transference, and Countertransference
Dr. Robin Beardsley & Dr. Elizabeth Parsons

MODULE 5: November 18-20 2022
Topic: Trauma, Self Care, and Burnout Prevention
Dr. Harry Zeit & Dr. Amy Alexander

 

Each weekend will consist of both didactic and experiential components with adequate opportunities for feedback and interaction with presenters and colleagues.

Participants are expected to attend each weekend and attend five online group supervision sessions throughout the year.

 

---

SCHEDULE

(NOTE: Times Indicated are EASTERN TIME ZONE)

Friday Evening

6:00pm – 7:30pm In Session
7:30pm – 7:45pm Break
7:45pm - 9:15pm In Session

Saturday and Sunday 
12:30pm – 2:00pm In Session 
2:00pm – 2:30pm Break 
2:30pm – 4:00pm In Session 
4:00pm – 4:30pm Break 
4:30pm – 6:00 pm In Session

 

---

REGISTRATION FEES

$1500 includes program and supervision fees

A deposit of $500 is required at time of registration.

Balance of $1000 due by October 16, 2020.

 

---

CANCELLATION POLICY

Cancellations must be received in writing or via email to the MDPAC Office.

Cancellations received prior to January 7 2022 are subject to an administration fee of $100

Cancellations received after January 7 2022 will not receive a refund, however a $500 credit may be used for another MDPAC program within the next 12 months.

---

 

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS

Dr. Amy Alexander MD, MHSc, CCFP, CD, Capt (Ret'd)

Dr. Alexander is a Family Physician with a Focused Practice in Psychotherapy. She has training in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Interpersonal Therapy, Trauma Psychiatry and Internal Family Systems. She also undertook Mind-Body Medicine training through the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind-Body Medicine, specializing in treatment protocols for both Cancer and Chronic Pain. In addition to being a yoga teacher, she also completed training in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Group Leadership as well as Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) Group Facilitation. She has a group psychotherapy practice in Oakville for people with medical illness and chronic pain. An Active Staff member in the Psychosocial Oncology and Palliative Care Unit at the Southlake Stronach Regional Cancer Centre in Newmarket, she sees patients for individual and group treatment. She holds clinical appointments in both the Departments of Psychiatry and Family & Community Medicine there.   

 

Dr. Robin Beardsley, MD CCFP, has a focused practice in Psychotherapy, in Ottawa. She obtained her medical Degree from the University of Toronto and completed her Family Medicine Residency at the University of Ottawa, (1989) and is now on Faculty with the Department of Family Medicine.  Dr. Beardsley is a member of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, the Canadian College of Family Physicians, The Satir Institute of the Pacific, the Medical Psychotherapy Association Canada, and is a trained teacher in Mindful Self Compassion (2015). She has had extensive training in the Satir Model and more recently has taken training in Internal Family Systems (Level 1).   She has had over twenty years’ experience in a Balint Group, which provides peer support for physicians regarding the doctor- patient relationship issues. She has always been interested in caregiver well-being.

 

Dr. Alison Arnot BSc, MD. CCFP, FCFP, Psychotherapist with a focused practice in substance use and concurrent disorders

Dr. Alison Arnot is an MD Psychotherapist with a focused practice in substance use and concurrent disorders. Dr. Arnot graduated from medical school at the University of Ottawa in 1981. She completed her family medicine residency at the University of Toronto in 1983, followed a year of emergency medicine. She was a partner at Credit Valley Family Practice Associatesfrom1988-2009 where she provided comprehensive care including emergency medicine and obstetrics. She joined the treatment team at the Addiction & Concurrent Disorders Centre at the Credit Valley Hospital in 1997. She also worked part-time at the Health & Counselling Centre at the University of Toronto Mississauga campus from 2000-2015.She opened a solo practice in the community when the Addiction Treatment Program at the hospital ended in order to provide continuity of care to her patients. She is a Certificant and Fellow of the College of Family Physicians of Canada and a lecturer in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto. Dr. Arnot is a member of the Board of the MD Psychotherapy Association of Canada and a mentor in the Medical Mentoring in Addictions and Pain program organized by the Ontario College of Family Physicians.

 

Dr. Kyle Greenway MD, MSc

Dr. Kyle Greenway is an R5 in Psychiatry at McGill University and member of the Clinician Investigator Royal College Program. He has a deep clinical and research interest in the integration of psychotherapy and psychopharmacology, spanning from conventional antidepressants to novel psychedelic treatments. He is currently co-leading the first randomized controlled trial to investigate the hemodynamic, inflammatory, and clinical effects of adjunctive music to intravenous ketamine for severely resistant unipolar and bipolar depression. He is passionate about psychodynamic psychotherapy and third-wave cognitive behavioural therapies, particularly Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.

 

 

Dr. Elizabeth Parsons, MD CCFP MDPAC(C) completed her Family Medicine residency in Northeastern Ontario in 1999 and has had a focused practice in psychotherapy since 2007. She has training in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy (level 2) and Internal Family Systems Therapy (level 1) and continues to engage in learning. In 2020 she is taking courses in Psychodrama and Ecopsychology as well deepening her work in SP with Advanced Training in Complex Trauma and Dissociation and a level 2 training in IFS for couples. She has experience running short-term DBT-style groups and is in the process of developing IFS-based groups in her practice in Ottawa. Since 2017, Elizabeth has been on the Board of Directors for MDPAC and has been the Chair since 2018.

 

Dr. Thomas Minde BA(H), MD, CCFP, FCFP, ABIHM did his undergraduate degree at Queen’s University, a B.A. (Honours) in Psychology. He then received his MD degree from Queen’s University in 1990, and did his residency in Family Medicine at Memorial University in Newfoundland.

Since that time, he has been working in various aspects of family medicine, in Montreal, Wakefield, Salluit (in the arctic) and Ottawa. This has included office-based primary care, ER, hospital inpatients, geriatrics, psychotherapy, research and teaching. His particular clinical interests include mindfulness and spirituality in mental health, cultural aspects of health, mind-body medicine and working with trauma. Currently he practices exclusively as a psychotherapist in Montreal, and teaches residents in the Department of Family Medicine at McGill University. He also leads workshops and teaches about Tibetan Buddhism.

He is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Family Medicine at both McGill University and the University of Ottawa. He has been awarded a Fellowship by the College of Family Physicians of Canada, and by the American Board of Integrative and Holistic Medicine. He is very pleased to currently be serving as the Chair of the Medical Psychotherapy Association of Canada.

In his spare time he enjoys playing cello and is looking forward to once again join an orchestra or string quartet as the pandemic winds down.

 

Dr James Whyte BScN, MD, CCFP is a Family Physician with a focused practice in psychotherapy.  He sits on the Executive committee of the PCMH section of OMA and On the BOD for MDPAC.  He is formerly a professor at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine and Tyndale University.  He has an interest in Supportive Therapy, Interpersonal Therapy and Biofeedback. 

 

Dr. Harry Zeit MD, MDPAC(C) Certified in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy currently works full-time practicing trauma therapy and psychotherapy. He is certified in sensorimotor psychotherapy. Dr. Zeit previously worked as an American board-certified emergency physician in Cambridge and Toronto, Ontario, between 1983 and 2005.

Dr. Zeit is an advocate for trauma-informed and humane medical and mental health care. He is passionate about teaching and about cultivating the healing potential of traditional modalities integrated with newer somatic and neuroscience informed models.

Dr. Zeit recently began running trauma-informed groups based on creating a felt sense of safety and connection, combining sensorimotor psychotherapy, internal family systems, yoga and relational models.  In both the Caring for Self while Caring for Others series and in his short- and long-term groups, he is assisted by his partner, Irina Dumitrache, a certified yoga teacher and health coach. You can find out more about their work on his website: www.harryzeitmd.com