News

Improving Mental Health During the COVID Pandemic 05 November 2020 Improving Mental Health During the COVID Pandemic A Research Collaboration Between Curtin University and CCI Researchers at Curtin University and the Centre for Clinical Interventions have recently finished a study on a self-help guide to improve mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. The guide contains ideas to improve mental health in children, teenagers, adults and older adults. The researchers found significant reductions in anxiety and depression, and most people found the guide useful, and easy to read. The guide is free and available now at www.covidcbt.org.

New Consumer Modules for Social Anxiety Now Online 05 November 2020 Stepping Out of Social Anxiety New Consumer Modules for Social Anxiety Now Online We are pleased to announce the recent release of our latest set of consumer modules Stepping Out of Social Anxiety. Since the 2003 release of CCI’s original set of social anxiety modules, Shy No Longer, CCI’s social anxiety treatment program has evolved considerably, to reflect the state-of-the-art of the theoretical and empirical literature, and the contributions of CCI’s own applied clinical research program. This culminated in our recent randomised controlled trial which demonstrated that our imagery-enhanced and verbally-based group CBT programs for social anxiety both had effect sizes comparable to the largest effects found in the literature to date. Stepping Out of Social Anxiety presents much of the core content of these programs, in a format conducive to consumers working through them independently or with the assistance of a mental health professional. Some of the major chang...

BSOCIAL Trial Results Published 01 October 2020 BSOCIAL Trial Results Published For the past several years, CCI have been part of a randomised control trial comparing imagery-enhanced and verbally-based group cognitive behaviour therapy for social anxiety disorder (know as the BSOCIAL trial). We're very excited to announce that this trial was recently completed and the results have now been published in the journal Psychological Medicine. This kind of project epitomises the integration of research and clinical practice that we are so passionate about here at CCI, and we're hopeful that these results will not only help to guide our own treatment of social anxiety disorder, but also to support other clinicians around the world in providing evidence-based treatment for people experiencing social anxiety. Why did we do this study? People with social anxiety often report experiencing mental images that relate to past (and anticipated future) social experiences, which can be associated with high levels of anxiety. Despite this, ...

Funding Granted for Telehealth Research at CCI 01 August 2020 Funding Granted for Telehealth Research at CCI Our team at CCI were recently granted funding through the Building Allied Health Research Capacity grant scheme to conduct a research project exploring how we can improve telehealth delivery of eating disorder treatment based on outcomes and patients’ experiences during COVID-19. During the COVID-19 pandemic, CCI made a rapid transition to providing psychological treatment via telehealth (i.e., sessions held through video conferencing or telephone) in March-April of 2020. Understanding patient’s experiences of this transition to telehealth is of critical importance in the event that we experience a second wave of COVID-19 in Western Australia and, more broadly, will contribute to understanding how existing services could be expanded to meet the need of patients with eating disorders who are unable to access face-to-face therapy sessions (e.g., those living in rural or remote locations). We are interested in assessing the impact...

CCI Research News to Celebrate 01 June 2020 CCI Research News to Celebrate One of our Senior Clinical Psychologists, Professor Peter McEvoy was recently selected as a finalist for North Metropolitan Health Service 2020 Researcher of the Year awards. We are very lucky to have him heading up our research program here at CCI! Professor McEvoy’s research covers a broad range of areas, with a focus on improving evidence-based treatments for psychological problems. Last year Professor McEvoy contributed to an article about the use of mental imagery in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. We recently found out that this article was in the top 10% of most downloaded papers in the Australian Psychologist journal in the year it was published. You can read more about this article here. It is fantastic to see the interest this article has generated. To learn more about how and why we conduct research at CCI, you can visit our research overview page. You can also find simple summaries of our recent research on our publications page .

Resources Now in Easier to Use Fillable Format 03 April 2020 Resources Now in Easier to Use Fillable Format  The team at CCI have been working consistently over the past few weeks to support our clients and colleagues through the difficult times we are currently facing relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of the need to self-isolate and follow important protocols around social distancing, many people around the world are not able to attend work or appointments in person as they might normally. As a result, we are all needing to adapt to communicating online and finding different ways to conduct our everyday tasks. We are aware this may be a particularly challenging time for people experiencing mental health difficulties, and also for the professionals who are continuing to support these people. One of CCI's four core areas of business is to develop evidence-based online resources to support practitioners delivering psychological interventions, as well as individuals seeking self-help materials to improve their mental health. ...

Research Updates 02 March 2020 Research Updates: What, How, and Why We Research Research is one of CCI’s four core areas of business and is integral to us delivering effective, evidence-based treatments to people with mental disorders at our clinic in Perth, Western Australia. Research also guides the training we deliver to mental health professionals, and helps us develop resources for professionals, consumers and carers that we make available on our website. We have now introduced a new section to our website that provides brief overviews and links to recent research publications and presentations involving CCI staff. Each review gives a brief snapshot of why we completed a study and how, as well as what we found, and how this knowledge can and will be used at our service in the future (or by other professionals). Recent research updates have covered topics relating to bipolar disorder, eating disorders, and transdiagnostic factors such as...

Caring Less About Your Looks New Workbook Now Available 13 January 2020 Caring Less About Your Looks: New Workbook Now Available We are pleased to announce the recent release of our latest set of consumer modules – Caring Less About Your Looks – now available online on the CCI website. Most people feel dissatisfied with their appearance from time to time, however there is a difference between momentary dissatisfaction and being completely preoccupied and consumed by appearance concerns. Rather than change individuals’ beliefs about their appearance, this set of modules is designed to help lessen the impact of their appearance concerns on their lives. The modules first examine the consequences of having significant appearance concerns, such as the impact on relationships, mood and work/study functioning, before looking at the factors that maintain the problem (e.g., appearance preoccupation, body checking, appearance altering behaviours, avoidance behaviours and over-evaluation of appearance). The modules also detail specifi...

CCI 2020 Training Calendar Now Online 13 December 2019 The CCI 2020 Training Calendar is Now Online! CCI offers a range of one and two day training workshops for health professionals. Our workshops are designed to equip participants with the knowledge and skills to implement evidence-based treatments for a range of mental health problems. Workshops are facilitated by clinical psychologists are are usually held at our clinic in Perth, Western Australia. Please see our training calendar below to find out about our upcoming workshops (click on any workshop title for further details). All 1 day courses cost $160 (GST inc.) and all 2 day courses cost $286 (GST inc.). Courses run from 9:00am to approx 4:30pm. Once you've decided which workshop you would like to attend, you can visit our registration page to register. Please note our eligibility criteria on that page. 2020 Training Calendar Dates Level Cost  Course Register By ...

CCI Clinical Demonstration Videos Now Online 04 December 2019 CCI Clinical Demonstration Videos Now Online! The Centre for Clinical Interventions (CCI) is pleased to announce a special release of short videos demonstrating the use of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) strategies. Topics covered include psychoeducation about depression and anxiety, as well as collaborative applications of thought diaries, behavioural experiments, and behavioural activation, with clients.  These videos are designed to supplement the professional development and training needs of mental health professionals practising CBT. They are suitable for clinicians who have foundational knowledge of CBT or who have attended past CCI workshops, and would like to reinforce their work with examples of how to incorporate CBT principles into their sessions. Clinical supervisors and mental health training clinics may also find these videos a useful resource for their registrars and students.   You can find and subscribe to the CCI YouTube channel here. 

The Australia and New Zealand Academy for Eating Disorders 2019 Conference 04 November 2019 2019 ANZAED Conference in Adelaide CCI was thrilled when one of our team, Professor Peter McEvoy, was invited to be a keynote speaker at the Australian & New Zealand Academy for Eating Disorders (ANZAED) conference in August 2019, which was held in Adelaide.  Professor McEvoy presented a keynote on working with imagery in the context of emotional and eating disorders.  He also presented a pre-conference workshop with Dr Bronwyn Raykos (head of the Eating Disorders Program at CCI) on using imagery-based techniques to enhance outcomes in cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for eating disorders.  The other keynote speaker was Professor Ulrike Schmidt from the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London.  Professor Schmidt presented on novel brain-directed treatments in anorexia nervosa and also ran a workshop focusing on the importance and logistics of providing a rapid, early response when young people presented with their first eating disorder episode...

Mental Health Awareness Week 2019 07 October 2019 Mental Health Awareness Week 2019 This week is Mental Health Awareness Week (6th – 12th October), with World Mental Health Day falling on the 10th of October each year. Mental Health Week in WA has been running for more than 50 years, and is coordinated by the Western Australian Association for Mental Health (WAAMH) with the support of the Government of Western Australia, the Mental Health Commission and Lotterywest.  The World Mental Health Day website describes that “1 in 5 Australians are affected by mental illness, yet many don’t seek help because of stigma”. The focus of this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week will be on “how we live, learn, work and play - realising it's a combination of factors which impact our mental wellbeing”.  Here at CCI we believe that everyone should have access to the help they need for mental health problems. Our team have developed a number of evidence-based resources over the years to suppo...

9th World Congress of Behavioural and Cognitive Therapies Berlin 2019 12 July 2019 9th World Congress of Behavioural and Cognitive Therapies, Berlin 2019 In July, Bronwyn Raykos and Peter McEvoy from the Centre for Clinical Interventions (CCI) travelled to Berlin to present talks at the World Congress of Behavioural and Cognitive Therapies (WCBCT).  Over 4,000 international delegates attended the conference and it was a privilege to listen to the world’s leading experts in cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) discussing cutting edge research and advances in CBT for psychological disorders.  Highlights of the conference included excellent papers on the use of mental imagery to enhance outcomes in CBT across a range of psychological problems; the use of exposure-based techniques and learning principles to maximise the effectiveness of CBT interventions and reduce relapse, and a consideration of techniques that are effective in improving outcomes for individuals across a range of psychological problems (such as the use of mental imagery, addressing perfec...

Support and Skill Building Groups for Friends and Family Members at CCI 04 July 2019 Support and Skill-Building Groups for Friends and Family Members at CCI. Here at the Centre for Clinical Interventions (CCI) we are conscious that anyone who provides care and support to a partner, relative, or friend while they are experiencing a mental health problem plays a really important role in providing emotional and practical support to their loved one. We are keen to help people learn how they can best support their loved ones. At CCI we offer Support and Skill-Building Groups for people who have a loved one who has an Eating Disorders and also for people who have a loved one with Bipolar Disorder. These interactive groups provide information about the disorders and give participants an opportunity to share their personal experiences of supporting a person with a mental health problem, as well as providing the opportunity for participants to learn helpful skills and strategies relating to their support role. We have found that these brief groups have a big impact, and that pe...

A Trial of 10 Session Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Eating Disorders at CCI 01 June 2019 A trial of 10-session cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT-T) for eating disorders at CCI. To celebrate World Eating Disorders Action Day on June 2nd 2019, we share some recent innovations developed within our own Eating Disorders Program. There are currently long waitlists to access evidence-based interventions for eating disorders.  This has resulted in an increased need for shorter, cost-effective psychological therapies that are also effective to ease the burden on the healthcare system and ensure that individuals can access appropriate treatment more quickly.  Professor Glenn Waller and colleagues at the University of Sheffield recently developed 10-session Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for eating disorders – an outpatient treatment that adopts some of the key elements of CBT for eating disorders (CBT-ED) such as in-session weighing, exposure, nutrition, cognitive restructuring, body image work, and relapse prevention. Initial evaluations of CBT-T have shown it to...

Visiting Professionals... Opportunities for Learning and Collaboration 17 April 2019 Visiting Professionals: Opportunities for Learning and Collaboration Here at CCI we are continually looking at innovations in the field of psychology and ways we might be able to improve our practice, collaborate with other professionals, or contribute to advances in psychological interventions. In early April 2019, the team at CCI were fortunate to meet with Professor Bethany Teachman from the University of Virginia to discuss her work in the area of cognitive bias modification and learn more about the MindTrails Project. Professor Teachman works at the University of Virginia Program for Anxiety, Cognition and Treatment (PACT) lab, where she studies cognitive processes that contribute to the development and maintenance of psychopathology, particularly anxiety disorders. The lab has a particular focus on automatic cognitive processing, and trying to understand how thoughts that occur outside of our awareness or conscious control contribute to emotional dysregulation. Professor Teachm...

New Training Workshop CBT for Body Dysmorphic Disorder 28 February 2019 New Training Workshop: CBT for Body Dysmorphic Disorder In 2018 CCI was pleased to introduce a new training workshop to its training series that specifically focuses on CBT for body dysmorphic disorder (BDD). Given the positive feedback we received from participants at this training, we will be offering this workshop again this year on May 22nd from 9:00 – 4:30pm (for more details on the workshop, and to download the registration form, please see the Training section of our website). BDD affects 1-2 % of the general population, but prevalence rates can be as high as 6-7% in psychiatric settings. The appearance-related preoccupations and behaviours (e.g. mirror-checking, grooming) of individuals with BDD far exceed the physical appearance concerns experienced by most people from time to time. BDD commonly co-occurs with disorders such as depression and social anxiety disorder, and individuals with eating disorders may also report appearance concerns that meet criteria for a c...

CCI Founding Director Awarded Officer of The Order of Australia 11 February 2019 CCI Founding Director Awarded Officer of The Order of Australia Late last year, CCI’s founding director Paula Nathan was awarded the Office of the Order of Australia (AO) on the 2018 Queen’s Birthday List.  Paula was recognised for her distinguished service to community health as a psychologist, particularly to understanding mental health disorders, and to establishing specialised treatment and support services. Motivated by humanist and social justice values, Paula developed CCI to provide expert specialist psychological interventions for patients suffering from complex affective disorders and anxiety disorders.  In 2005, WA’s first adult and youth eating disorders service was established within CCI.  Strongly grounded in the scientist-practitioner model, CCI provides WA consumers with access to high quality, evidence-based psychological treatment, and continually works to improve treatments through an ongoing dialogue between clinical practice and a s...

2019 Training Calendar 03 December 2018 Every year, the Centre for Clinical Interventions (CCI) offers a series of clinically relevant and practical workshops in evidence based psychological therapy.  From the beginning therapist to the experienced clinician, the workshop series designed by the CCI team each year aims to provide a range of training experiences to extend participants’ understanding and clinical practice. We are pleased to present our training calendar for 2019 - in this coming year, we hope to continue sharing the most up-to-date, evidence-based approaches in working with specific clinical issues, including eating disorders, body dysmorphic disorder, social anxiety disorder, low self-esteem, and procrastination. Several of these workshops will require experience in using CBT; however, our introductory CBT Foundation workshop is suitable for mental health practitioners with no previous experience of CBT, and provides a good basis for completing other CCI workshops. For further information on our tr...

WA Health Excellence Awards Finalists 31 October 2018 WA Health Excellence Award Finalists We are delighted that two CCI projects have been selected as finalists in the Western Australian Health Excellence Awards. Our Family Based Therapy (FBT) program is being recognised for improving out of hospital healthcare for young people with eating disorders. CCI has made changes to ensure that young people and their families can access FBT quickly. This has presented some challenges for our service, due to the high demand for this treatment and the small number of clinicians working in this program. The hard work involved in reducing wait times for families is paying off. Preliminary results from our program are showing that when families access FBT sooner, they are more likely to complete treatment, and achieve better outcomes sooner. We are honoured to be selected as a finalist for this award, and particularly congratulate our FBT clinicians. For the last few years, CCI has been running support and skills building evenings for people with a l...

National Carers Week 09 October 2018 National Carers Week Carers are being recognised during National Carers Week from the 14th – 20th October. Carers play a unique and important role in supporting people who are experiencing mental health problems. If you have a loved one who is engaging in treatment at CCI, we would firstly like to say thank you! We appreciate the role you play in supporting your loved one as they engage in treatment. You may find it helpful to read our ‘Information for Carers’ brochure, which provides some information about what you can expect, and how you can support your loved one as they undertake the challenges involved with treatment. Equipping yourself with information can help you provide support to your loved one who is dealing with a mental health problem. The CCI website has free resources that can help you learn more about various mental health problems and helpful coping strategies. CCI also runs free information evenings for family and friends of people with an Eati...

Body Image Awareness Week 09 September 2018 Body Image Awareness Week Body Image and Awareness Week ran from the 1st to the 8th September.  It aims to raise awareness of eating disorders, which are a life-threatening illness.  It also takes the opportunity to celebrate our bodies – unique, diverse, strong, and beautiful.  A range of wonderful resources have been developed to assist with these goals.  So what can you do to be part of the conversation? We encourage you to look out for the resources at the Butterfly Foundation #LOVEYOURBODYWEEK #CHANGETHECONVO. Get informed.  You can find out more about eating disorders, through the National Eating Disorder Collaboration, including their video explaining what eating disorders are. For further information about eating disorders and their treatment, check out the huge range of resources available for consumers and professionals on the CCI website, including our handouts on “Body Image and Body Dissatisfaction” and ...

Welcome to our new website 14 August 2018 Welcome to our new website We are very pleased to present our recently upgraded website. Over the years we have been busy developing resources for use in our clinical work when treating people who come to our service for assistance with anxiety, depressive and eating disorders. About 15 years ago we were fortunate to receive a grant which allowed us to develop our original website and make our resources available to consumers and clinicians around the world. Over this time, our website has become incredibly popular and we are pleased that our resources have been so helpful to so many (thanks to everyone who has provided feedback over the years!). The website has also allowed us to promote and provide information about our training program and to highlight our research activities. We have now had the opportunity to upgrade the site, which allows us to reorganise the content and take advantage of many features to make accessing the site easier. All of our resources are still available on...

Updated handouts for eating disorders 10 August 2018 Updated eating disorders handouts now available One of the core areas of CCI’s business is the creation of freely available online resources that are accessible to both consumers and professionals. These include a range of guided self-help modules, as well as many information sheets covering a wide range of topics relating to mental health. These online resources are regularly accessed by people all over the world, and we are fortunate to frequently receive feedback from individuals and organisations that have used our resources (either for research, clinical practice or their own personal use) and have found them to be clear, accurate, and helpful. During 2017, CCI’s Eating Disorders Program team have been hard at work reviewing each and every one of their handouts, with the support of various experts in the field. This has involved carefully revising the content of each handout to ensure they contain the most up to date evidence-based information that is easy and accessib...

Treating severe and enduring anorexia 24 July 2018 Treating severe and enduring anorexia CCI has been working with Professor Glenn Waller from the University of Sheffield to assess whether people with more severe or enduring anorexia nervosa have poorer outcomes with cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). We also wanted to know whether people who have struggled with anorexia nervosa for longer are less likely to complete CBT treatment. We studied 134 people with anorexia nervosa who completed measures of eating disorder symptoms and quality of life before, during, and after treatment. We found that the duration of illness or severity of anorexia nervosa behaviours, attitudes or weight were not associated with treatment completion or outcomes in CBT. This study shows that individuals with more severe or long-standing anorexia nervosa did just as well in CBT as any other patient starting treatment. These findings offer hope for patients who have struggled with anorexia nervosa illness for a long time they have just as much chance of doin...

Social anxiety disorder treatment trial 19 July 2018 Update on social anxiety disorder treatment trial CCI is currently conducting an NHMRC-funded randomised controlled trial comparing two group treatment protocols for social anxiety disorder (SAD). The trial was funded from 2016-2019 with the aim of providing treatment to around 100 clients with a principal diagnosis of SAD. Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is one of the most common anxiety disorders, with an estimated 8.4% of Australian adults affected at some point in their life. People with SAD are highly fearful of evaluation, often expecting themselves to fall far short of others’ expectations. Situations such as parties, meetings, presentations, job interviews, and just being observed by others can be extremely anxiety-provoking for people with SAD. Because social situations cannot be easily avoided, SAD can be highly distressing, debilitating, and chronic without treatment. To date, over 90 people have been assessed and 60 have been randomised to a treatment condition. Af...