Selective Mutism Training for
Mental Health & Allied Health Professionals
Parent-Child Interaction Therapy
Adapted for Selective Mutism (PCIT-SM)
Virtual trainings in 2023

Kurtz Psychology Consulting PC provides trainings for mental health, behavioral, and allied health professionals in Parent-Child Interaction Therapy Adapted for Selective Mutism (PCIT-SM). The tranings are fully virtual. One cohort starts May 18-19, 2023 and one will start October 26-27, 2023. The May 2023 cohort is sold out, but we have a few spots still open for the October 2023 training. 

PCIT-SM is an empirically-supported treatment developed by Dr. Steven Kurtz to treat children with SM. PCIT-SM has been shown in both individual and intensive group formats to significantly increase verbalizations and engagement, to decrease mutism and avoidance, and to lead to significant remission rates of SM. Click here to read the original peer-reviewed research conducted independently by two SM programs not affiliated with Kurtz Psychology Consulting - one at the Florida International University and one at the British Columbia Children's Hospital in Vancouver, Canada.

SM is an impairing child anxiety disorder that typically renders children virtually unable to speak within their normal limits outside of their homes in school and community situations. SM is typically accompanied by other  comorbid anxiety disorders as well as often accompanied by externalizing disruptive behavior disorders.

Dr. Kurtz pioneered the development of PCIT-SM as an adaptation of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) - a gold standard treatment for young children with disruptive behavior disorders. PCIT-SM is provided to individual patients and families as well as provided in groups and intensive camp-like formats, most notably as Mighty Mouth Kids and Brave BuddiesSM  This training is designed to allow licensed clinicians to begin their practice of PCIT-SM based on solid didactic preparation as well as considerable skills practice and "checkouts" during the initial training.  

Certified PCIT-SM Therapist Process

After the 2-day didactics, clinicians then participate in 12 small-group monthly case consultations with Kurtz Psychology via secure video calls and having us review or sit in live on selected sessions.  Review includes receiving feedback on your acutal use of core components of PCIT-SM, e.g., SM teach sessions for CDI and VDI, doing parent coaching, and guiding fade-ins with teachers and/or peers. Clinicians who successfully complete the training as well as the case consultation and video review become Certified PCIT-SM Therapists.  Certified PCIT-SM therapists are entitled to list this credential in their own promotional materials and will be listed on Dr. Kurtz's website as Certified PCIT-SM providers with hyperlinks to their respective websites. The consultation calls we be held monthly and the requirement is to complete a minimum of nine calls over the course of one calendar year from the time the onsite training ends. This schedule allows for vacations or other reasons you might not be able to attend all monthly calls. Consultation calls are scheduled 10:00am Eastern the first Wednesday of each month for the May 2023 cohort, starting 6/7/23 and the fourth Wednesday of each month starting 11/22/23 for the October cohort.

Please note this PCIT-SM training process is completely separate and distinct from the training process for the original PCIT for disruptive behavior disorders which is administered by PCIT International. 

Lead Trainer:

Steven Kurtz, PhD, ABPP

Dr. Kurtz is a licensed clinical psychologist and is certified as a Master Trainer by PCIT International.  He is Board Certified in Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy by the American Board of Professional Psychology and a Clinical Fellow in the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA). He is on the Board of Directors for the Selective Mutism Association. Dr. Kurtz has been a tireless advocate for children's mental health for decades. In addition to many peer reviewed publications and presentations, he has appeared on ABC Nightline, NBC Today Show,  PBS Keeping Kids Healthy, and numerous other TV, print and radio outlets to spread awareness of empirically-supported treatments and to help de-stigmatize access to mental health care. He travels internationally to train parents, teachers and mental health professionals, with recent trips to Ireland, Dubai, Germany, Luxembourg, and Canada to carry forward this important work.

Dr. Kurtz will be accompanied by co-trainers yet to be determined for the 2023 trainings.

Schedule & Syllabus

Day #1

9:00 Welcoming remarks, introductions, goal setting

9:30 - 1:00 Introduction to Selective Mutism (SM)

PCIT-SM Overview

Assessment in PCIT-SM

1:00 - 5:00 Child-Directed Interactions (CDI) 

Guided Practice and Skills Checkouts

Day #2

9:00 Verbal-Directed Interactions (VDI)

Guided Practice and Skills Checkouts

10:30 - 1:00 Fading-in significant others to the child's talking circle

Peers, teachers, coaches, relatives 

1:00 Special considerations:

Collaborating with schools

Accommodations, 504, IEP processes

Medication considerations

Planning for your actual treatment cases

4:40  Wrap-Up & Closing Remarks

Basic Training Highlights for the Didactics:

• Overview of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) and the Adaptation to Selective Mutism (PCIT-SM)
• Didactic lectures with video exemplars of all stages of treatment
• Experiential skills practice throughout with feedback
• All essential forms will be provided and may be copied for future use
• Spreadsheets will be provided for assessment and treatment tracking
• Score, graph, and interpret the Selective Mutism Questionnaire (SMQ) Frankfurt Scale for SM (FSSM) and the other public domain questionnaires used in our assessment: SCARED Anxiety Questionnaire, SNAP Questionnaire for Disruptive Behavior Disorders
• Guided practice in the two phases of the PCIT-SM Treatment: CDI and VDI
• Discussion of special considerations such as children with significant comorbidities and how to work with schools in the treatment process
• Medication considerations for non-prescribers and how to manage expectations with families
• All forms, scoring and graphing templates included in training fee

Certification as a PCIT-SM Therapist:

• Followup case consultation to become credentialed provider of PCIT-SM by the treatment developer, Dr. Steven Kurtz and other trainers.
• 12 monthly case consultation calls to enhance your implementation of PCIT-SM
• Review with feedback of session videos covering your teaching and implementation of CDI, VDI, parent coaching and fading-in skills with peers or teachers.
• Upon successful completion of both the training and the video reviews with fidelity, you will be awarded documentation as a Certified PCIT-SM Therapist. 
• Listing on our website as a Certified PCIT-SM Therapist. 
• Permission to use this endorsement on your website and in your marketing as well.

Continuing Education (CE) Credits

PCIT International is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. PCIT International maintains responsibility for this program and its content. This didactics course will earn 10.5 CEs both for APA and for PCIT therapists. There is a $35 fee to process the CE certificate. A continuing education certificate for the event will be emailed after the didactic portion of the training.

Fees

The PCIT-SM Training fee is $2500 which covers both days of didactics, all materials, the year of case consultation calls and access to our resource library online always. You can choose to pay all at once or opt for a payment plan of $515 (includes convenience fee for payment plan) now and 4 automatic monthly payments of $500 per month plus a convenience fee of $15 per monthly payment.