We offer the following courses with 3, 6 ,12, 18 and 36 Contact Hours:

All courses are presented by Yolanda Koumidou, LCSW unless otherwise stated.
Yolanda conducts the courses in a captivating, down-to-earth, light, and inviting style.

Most of the courses are offered in the comfort of your home on the zoom platform.
A few are offered in-person during the summer and fall at The Koumidou Retreat Center, upstate New York.

Courses at offsite facilities: All course work listed is also available on a flexible basis offered at your organization or facility by special
arrangement. If you would like us to travel to your area for a presentation, please contact The Koumidou Center here

For a program calendar of the courses taught throughout the year, click below
Yearly Program Calendar
To register for a course, click below:
Register for a Course
Testimonials

Course Descriptions

 

*SATISFIES NYS BOUNDARIES REQUIREMENT* Ethical Challenges in Mental Health Practice Presented by the Use of Technology

3 CONTACT HOURS, WEBINAR, with Kathryn Krase
This course aims to bring context to ethical concerns often experienced by behavioral/physical health professionals through the use of technology in their practice.
At the conclusion of this course, participants will:
1. Describe the ethical and legal responsibility of mental and behavioral health professionals to maintain appropriate professional boundaries with clients when using technology in their practice.
2. Describe the ethical and legal responsibility of mental and behavioral health professionals to protect client confidential information when using technology in their practice.
3. Apply a framework to avoid boundary conflicts when using technology in their professional practice, whenever possible.
4. Apply a framework to avoid breach of client confidentiality when using technology in their professional practice, whenever possible.
5. Explain how to demonstrate that a client has not been exploited or coerced, intentionally or unintentionally, through the use of technology in professional practice.

Decision Making Without Regrets: Loosening Habit Patterns

3 CONTACT HOURS, IN-PERSON, with Yolanda Koumidou
Our clients enter therapy when their life becomes unhappy and painful. The state of one's life is the result of decisions made. Decisions are made through different parts of our personality which have been formed into habit patterns. This is a natural, non-pathological process. However, when these patterns begin to dominate the clients' decisions without their awareness, regret and guilt often follow. One needs to reexamine and loosen the grip of these habit patterns. In this course we will explore how these patterns develop and how some of them become dysfunctional over time from both the psychological and spiritual points of view. We will introduce clinical skills to help clients become conscious and take control of their habit patterns, establishing decision making without regrets.

Helping Clients Leap into Retirement

3 CONTACT HOURS, IN-PERSON, with Yolanda Koumidou
This new frontier of extended lifetime offers surprising gifts and terrific limitations. As our clients prepare to retire or are already retired, they are faced with unfamiliar challenges. Retirement is when the emotional, psychological, mental, physical, and spiritual levels of one’s being are directly affected. Necessary information, preparation and adjustments are needed so they avoid getting stuck in the states of disorientation, regret, and depression. In this course we will explore the challenges of every level and demonstrate specific tools you can utilize with your clients in handling this newfound prolong freedom retirement offers.

NEW: Enhancing Client Wellness: Ayurveda and Biofeedback

3 CONTACT HOURS, WEBINAR, with Michelle Mangroo
This course offers valuable insights into how psychotherapists can integrate the ancient practices of Ayurveda with biofeedback principles into their practice. By understanding the interplay between ancient healing traditions and modern wellness techniques, they can offer their clients a more comprehensive mind-body approach to stress reduction. This integrated approach not only enhances client outcomes but also expands the toolbox of techniques available to psychotherapists, allowing for amore personalized and effective therapeutic experience.

NEW: Exploring the Ethics of Confidentiality

3 CONTACT HOURS, WEBINAR, with Kathryn Krase
This course aims to bring context to ethical concerns often experienced by behavioral/physical health professionals in practice with individual clients/patients.
At the conclusion of this course, participants will:
1) Understand the ethical obligation to keep client information confidential.
2) Understand the legal obligation to keep client information confidential.
3) Competently discuss with their clients these obligations so that clients make an educated decision when sharing information with the professional.
4) Appropriately respond to ethical, legal, and moral conundrums faced when considering breaching client confidentiality.

NEW: Mindfulness Based Sobriety (MBS) for Group Work

3 CONTACT HOURS, WEBINAR, with Gary Stofle
This course will acquaint participants with a unique group intervention that combines the best of Relapse Prevention, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Motivational Interviewing. This intervention is used for people who are being treated for substance use disorders as well as for those who are diagnosed with both substance use issues and dual diagnosis (significant MH concerns like schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder as well as substance use disorders).

NEW: Parenting Adult Children

3 CONTACT HOURS, IN-PERSON, with Yolanda Koumidou
Parenting adult children requires an entirely new set of skills to avoid conflict and/or distance between parents and their adult children. The course will focus on the necessary adjustments our clients need to make to transition from parenting teens to parenting adults. We will compare and explore the consequences of parenting according to one’s personality vs utilizing the system of Parenting with Love and Logic. We will then demonstrate four significant shifts a parent needs to make in parenting their adult children.

NEW: Permanent Stress Reduction in Clients

3 CONTACT HOURS, IN-PERSON, with Yolanda Koumidou
The course is a result of research conducted by Yolanda Koumidou on the Greek island of Ikaria, one of the Blue Zones. The Blue Zones are five locations on Earth where people enjoy longer, healthier, and happier lives. Most research conducted before cited one of the reasons as to why “people forget to die” to be low stress. Yolanda being Greek and familiar with the Greek culture, noticed that the reasons given in most documentaries and articles are conditions existing all over Greece. She was curious why Ikaria stood out. Her research produced a surprising result. The course will explore the five key areas Yolanda found contributing to the lack of stress that is teachable and transferable to our clients.

NEW: Transcending Self-Righteousness

3 CONTACT HOURS, IN-PERSON, with Yolanda Koumidou
It seems that in the core of any conflict, we find self-righteousness, fueling and prolonging whatever the conflict is about, whether between two people or two nations. We will explore the anatomy of self-righteousness and identify the positive and negative aspects it carries. We will demonstrate how it develops and what factors strengthen it. The focus will then turn to how to help clients handle self-righteousness, whether the client is on the defensive or offensive side of the stance.

Psychological-Spiritual Therapy

3 CONTACT HOURS, IN-PERSON, with Yolanda Koumidou
Spiritual esoteric traditions emphasize the importance of "detachment" while making decisions for a more balanced and satisfying existence. The psychological core principles of the theory of the Psychology of the Selves focus on enabling clients to identify and separate from their Operating Ego, thus enhancing the skill of detachment. The course will demonstrate ways to assist clients identify the parts of their personality composing their Operating Ego and develop the ability of detaching from these parts, thus promoting conscious decision-making skills.

The Inner Eater Selves: Integrating the Parts of the Personality Involved in Eating

3 CONTACT HOURS, IN-PERSON, with Yolanda Koumidou
The course is based on the theory of the Psychology of the Selves. It focuses on identifying the various parts of an individual who do the eating; it teaches professionals how to work with clients with eating disorders to help them develop control over these various personality parts and how to master the necessary skills needed to deal with the “new person” as natural weight is reached and maintained. Natural weight is where one is comfortable without inner conflict about their body image.

The Voice Dialogue Method, an Introduction

3 CONTACT HOURS, IN-PERSON, with Yolanda Koumidou
The Masterclass will enrich your couples therapy skills whether you are a beginner or a season psychotherapist. Day one will present the theoretical body of the method. Day two will dive into the specific skills needed to begin integrating this method in your current methodology. Day three will demonstrate through live examples how the method is utilized in couples work.

Yolanda Koumidou, a 30+ years veteran in working with couples nationally and internationally and trained directly by Drs. Hal and Sidra Stone - the creators of the Bonding Patterns approach - will introduce the theory and demonstrate the experiential aspect of this cutting-edge method of working with couples.
If you would like to be informed about upcoming courses,
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For courses taught throughout the year,
click on the calendar below:
Course Calendar

Testimonials

"Whether in conference, therapeutic, or classroom setting, Yolanda Koumidou is informative, intuitive and inspiring." – Alice Scourby, PhD, Chair, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Long Island University
"I have had the pleasure of attending several of Yolanda’s trainings and she is exceptional. She is very knowledgeable about the subject matter, always providing vignettes, techniques and tools. A very engaging, energetic and interesting speaker who encourages audience participation. I would recommend her trainings to all my colleagues without hesitation." – Anita Mancini, LCSW
"Yolanda Koumidou is an enthusiastic, exciting, and knowledgeable teacher. She has studied Voice Dialogue and the Psychology of the Selves with us for many years and we are happy to recommend her work - both as a teacher and as a therapist." – Drs. Hal and Sidra Stone, creators of Voice Dialogue
"A beautiful enriched experience that took me on a journey which highlighted how psychology and spirituality intertwine." – Marshalee Brown, LMSW
"Working with Voice Dialogue has helped me manage myself more effectively; learn my assets, blind spots and hidden biases. It raised the volume on my inner voices; gave me a respect for the many facets of my personality and brought me to greater balance." – Mary Adamo, MSEd, SPHR, Director, Leadership, Human Resources
"Yolanda Koumidou has an exceptional ability to present complex topics in a clear manner. The blend of experiential, psychological and spiritual concepts of the Psychology of the Selves breaths life to the material, gathering it all in a comprehensive whole." – R. Gasparik, LCSW
"Yolanda's message is clear, unflinching, and convincingly optimistic. She is a therapeutic force to behold." – Richard Hoetzel, MD, Psychiatrist
"Yolanda creates a dynamic workshop packed with her remarkable insights into the links between the wisdom of certain spiritual teachings and the Theory of Psychology of the Selves. Her discussions are useful as well in deepening the understanding of curative factors found in other theories and techniques of psychotherapy." – S. Perkins, LCSW
"...In my almost 40 years in social work practice, this training was the most dynamic and impactful of any training over the years. Yolanda brings deep passion and expert leadership to her work. Participants cannot be disappointed; but forever changed by her training..." – Sherry Fraser, LCSW
"This training will take you on a self-awareness journey that will have a tremendous impact on how you view yourself and how you relate to others in your personal and business relationships." – SL, Attorney
"I had one of the best experiences in my career. The combination of teaching and nature was an excellent component. I never expected to learn so much in these last three days. The different exercises, even when challenging, were instrumental in learning and appreciating the material." – W. Rodriguez, LCSW
"Profound spiritual experience that put me on a path of more in depth learning for my personal and professional life. Eternally grateful." – Yana Gaykov, LCSW