Designed for mental health professionals navigating the complexities of diagnosis, this course offers a liberatory and strengths-based lens for understanding mental distress beyond pathology. Participants will explore how diagnoses are constructed, how they shape treatment and identity, and how to engage with them ethically and critically in clinical practice. Drawing from case examples and guided reflection, the course highlights how clinicians can align diagnostic work with a culturally humbled, trauma-informed, and strengths-based practice.

Session Outlines and Times:

I. Understanding the DSM: History, Purpose, and Cultural Context
Explore the origins of the DSM and its evolution from psychoanalytic theory to symptom-based categorization.
Analyze key historical shifts, including the inclusion and removal of diagnoses like homosexuality and hysteria, and the political movements that led to the recognition of PTSD.

II. Diagnosing Distress: Limitations and Consequences
Critique the limitations of the DSM: lack of context, potential for overdiagnosis, and westernized assumptions about mental health.
Case discussion: A child labeled with ODD following trauma; a workplace client diagnosed with MDD amid racialized microaggressions.

III. Beyond Labels: A Strengths-Based, Trauma-Informed, and Culturally Humbled Framework
Learn alternative approaches to conceptualizing distress that center client agency, survival strategies, and socio-cultural context.
Define the role of trauma (individual, intergenerational, and historical) in symptom development.
Explore culturally grounded understandings of healing and distress—including Mad Pride, neurodivergence, and spiritual or communal lenses.

IV. Ethical Use of Diagnosis and the Role of the Clinician
Engage in self-reflection on clinician identity, countertransference, and diagnostic assumptions.
Discuss the ethical process of psychiatric referral, how to frame it from a strengths-based lens, and how to partner with clients during this process.
Consider how to integrate the client’s meaning-making into diagnostic formulation and treatment planning.

V. Closing Reflections and Group Dialogue
Review insights, discuss the evolving role of diagnosis in mental health, and explore how to stay curious, culturally responsive, and client-centered in a system that often prioritizes pathology.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

1. Describe the historical evolution and socio-political influences of the DSM.

2. Identify limitations of DSM-based diagnosis, including its cultural biases and lack of context.

3. Apply strengths-based, trauma-informed, and culturally humbled principles to diagnostic formulation and treatment planning.

4. Reflect on the impact of clinician countertransference and identity in the use of diagnosis.

5. Engage clients in collaborative meaning-making around their experiences of distress and diagnosis.

Cost: $60

Course Length: 3 Contact hours (3 hours total); CEU’s and certificate offered upon completion of survey and evaluation.

Cancellation/Refund Policy: We do not offer refunds when you cancel. If our instructor cancels, a full refund will be issued within 3-5 business days.

If you have any further questions about the workshop, please don't hesitate to reach out to our business office at: training@liberationbasedtherapy.com

Liberation-Based Therapy LCSW, PLLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0861.