CTSA Center of Excellence Program

The goal of our Center of Excellence program is to provide personalized training and consultation to clinics or agencies interested in the professional development of their staff in treating anxiety and related disorders.

This new training program offers the opportunity for clinics to receive tailored intensive training in evidence-based and exposure-focused CBT for OCD, PTSD, BFRBs, and Anxiety Disorders.

The Center of Excellence program allows for clinics to select from a menu of training and consultation services designed to build or strengthen your own anxiety specialty clinic.

Together with the CTSA, you can develop a training plan designed to meet your clinic needs. The following workshop and consultation services could be included as part of your package:

4-day workshops:

• Exposure and Response Prevention for OCD
• Prolonged Exposure Therapy for PTSD

3-day workshops:

• Exposure Therapy for Transdiagnostic Anxiety 101

1-day workshops:

• Assessment of OCD, PTSD, and Anxiety Disorders
• Evidence-Based Assessment of PTSD
• Exposure and Response Prevention for Pediatric OCD
• Prolonged Exposure Therapy for Adolescents with PTSD
• Exposure-based CBT for Social Anxiety Disorder
• Exposure Therapy for Specific Phobias
• Habit Reversal Training for Trichotillomania and Excoriation Disorders
• CBT for Generalized Anxiety Disorder
• CBT + Interoceptive Exposure for Panic Disorder

Half-day workshops:

• Anxiety Among Children and Adolescents Related to the Coronavirus Pandemic
• Inhibitory Learning in Exposure Therapy for Anxiety-Related Disorders
• Interoceptive Exposures for Anxiety-Related Disorders
• How to Develop a Detailed Exposure Plan for Any Fear
• Prolonged Exposure Therapy and Telehealth
• Working with Grief in Prolonged Exposure Therapy for PTSD

Consultation Services:

Research shows that consultation is a critical component to successful implementation of evidence-based treatments. Consultation has also been shown to improve patient outcomes. CTSA offers the following options: 

• Group consultation (CTSA consultant runs group case consultation with groups of up to 10 clinicians)
  • 1-2 hours per week (depending on size of clinical staff)
  • 1-4 times per month
• Individual consultation (CTSA consultant is matched to individual clinicians)
  • 30 – 60 minute individual meetings
  • 1x per week for 3-6 months
•  Individual consultation for certification as a PE or EX/RP Therapist
  • 30 minute individual meetings
  • 1x per week until the completion of 2 full cases
  • Videotaping of sessions for CTSA consultant review is required

Special Topic Lectures:

Special topic lectures provide the opportunity to supplement workshop content with 90-minute lectures from our expert faculty. While these can be tailored to any particular needs of a clinic, past lectures have included the following:

• Suicidality & Risk Assessment
• Advanced Techniques in Exposure Therapy
• ARFID
• Relationship OCD
• Scrupulosity in OCD
• Separation Anxiety & School Refusal
• Clinical Perfectionism
• Trichotillomania
• Pediatric Anxiety & Reward Systems 

How does it work?

1. Contact Dr. Sandy Capaldi to discuss and design the training experience that fits your clinic goals.
2. Your clinic will be assigned a lead expert consultant, workshop instructors, and additional consultants to execute the training plan. The lead consultant will be the primary point of contact for clinic leadership and will ensure execution of the training plan.
3. Once the training plan is complete, your clinic will be listed on the CTSA’s website as a CTSA Center of Excellence for a period of one year. If your clinic’s training plan includes specialization in only one area (e.g. your training plan included only workshops and consultation in EX/RP for OCD), your clinic will be listed as a CTSA Center of Excellence in EX/RP for OCD.
4. Continued consultation and training of any new staff can be designed for your clinic in order to maintain CTSA Center of Excellence status.

Unique Benefits of the CTSA Center of Excellence program:

• Provides the opportunity to develop an OCD, PTSD, BFRB, or Anxiety Disorder specialty clinic.
• More cost effective to train your clinicians as a group as opposed to individually.
• Clinicians can earn CE credits for workshop trainings.
• Your clinic can tailor the training and consultation plan to your specific needs.
• Your clinic is  awarded CTSA Center of Excellence status and is added to CTSA’s website as a preferred provider for OCD, PTSD, BFRBs, and/or Anxiety Disorder treatments.

Sample 12-month Training Plan

Workshops Provided:

Month 1:           Assessment of OCD, PTSD, & Anxiety Disorders

Month 1:           Fundamentals of Exposure Therapy

Month 2:           Exposure and Response Prevention for OCD Workshop

Month 3:           Prolonged Exposure for PTSD Workshop

Month 4:           CBT for Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Month 5:           CBT with Interoceptive Exposure for Panic Disorder

Month 6:           CBT for Social Anxiety Disorder

Specialty Topics Lectures:

Months 6-12:     90-minute specialty topic lectures, 1-2 times per month

Consultation:

12 months of weekly group consultation run by CTSA expert faculty

2 CTSA faculty assigned for individual consultation for select clinicians

Bi-monthly administrative meetings with lead consultant to discuss implementation strategies