Positive Practices for Psychosis

Foundations for Supporting Service Users Living with Psychosis

September 8, 2026, 12-4:30pm
Virtual via Zoom
Continuing Education Hours: 4
Note: This training is beneficial to anyone planning to take CBTp Orientation training.

Register

Course Description

This training will provide a foundational introduction to working with service users living with psychosis. The training will include an overview of psychosis (i.e. common experiences and causes of psychosis) and recovery models and an interactive discussion of open-ended and mindful language to utilize and ways to form a relationship with service users with psychosis. Cultural considerations and trauma-informed care will also be addressed. Training developers also acknowledge Peer Support Specialists Drew Musa and Brandon Daniels for their valuable contributions to this training.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify and distinguish among the common experiences of psychosis.
• Acquire skills and learn best practices for communicating with service users utilizing open-ended language and establishing a relationship with service users with psychosis.
• Apply knowledge of cultural considerations and trauma-informed care to work with service users with psychosis.

Shannon Pagdon

Shannon Pagdon, BA, MSW, is a doctoral student at the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work whose work focuses on early psychosis services, peer support, lived experience-led research, and alternatives to coercive mental health care. She has a background in peer support and peer-run mental health organizations, and her research uses participatory methods to meaningfully center the perspectives of service users, peer specialists, and people with lived experience of psychosis. Shannon is the co-creator of Psychosis Outside the Box and works in Dr. Nev Jones’ lab, where she leads research on peer support implementation in early psychosis programs.

Katie Eisen

Dr. Eisen is a Clinical Associate Professor and CA Licensed Clinical Psychologist in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine. She works with the INSPIRE clinic at Stanford and is the Inpatient Director of Psychological Services for the acute inpatient psychiatric units at Stanford Hospital. Her research and clinical interest center on therapeutic interventions that support recovery for individuals living with serious mental illness, in particular for individuals experiencing psychosis. Dr. Eisen received her bachelor’s degree from Cornell University, and her PhD from the University of Connecticut, and completed postdoctoral training at Stanford University. She is trained in CBT for psychosis (CBTp) and provides training and consultation in CBTp and CBTp informed skills to community-based clinicians, graduate students, medical students and residents, to support the use of recovery-oriented psychosocial interventions with individuals experiencing psychosis.