Integrating Sleep Treatment into Mental Health Care with Colleen Carney

Sleep Problems Rarely Occur in Isolation

Sleep disturbances and fatigue are among the most common concerns reported in both primary care and psychotherapy, yet they are often deeply connected to conditions such as PTSD, chronic pain, depression, and anxiety disorders. Although many clinicians regularly work with these concerns, fewer have received focused training in how to assess and treat the sleep problems that can interfere with recovery and affect overall treatment outcomes.

Go Beyond Traditional CBT-I

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) is the gold-standard psychological treatment for insomnia, but applying sleep interventions within complex clinical presentations requires additional knowledge, flexibility, and careful case formulation.

In this practical, two-day in-person workshop in Toronto, Dr. Colleen Carney will demonstrate how to integrate evidence-based sleep interventions into the therapeutic approaches clinicians are already using with clients experiencing trauma, chronic pain, depression, anxiety, nightmares, nocturnal panic, and other co-occurring concerns.

Learn from a Leading Sleep Expert

Dr. Colleen Carney is one of Canada’s leading experts in psychological treatments for insomnia and the Director of the Sleep and Depression Laboratory at Toronto Metropolitan University. With more than 200 publications and extensive experience delivering clinical workshops, she brings together current research, clinical expertise, and a highly practical teaching style.

The in-person format will provide participants with opportunities to work through clinical examples, take part in hands-on exercises, observe demonstrations, ask questions, and explore how the interventions can be adapted to the realities of their own practice.

Learn Practical, Evidence-Based Sleep Interventions

Participants will develop practical skills in:

• Brief Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia (BBTI)
• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I)
• Imagery Rescripting and Rehearsal Therapy for nightmares
• Cognitive behavioural treatment for nocturnal panic
• Exposure strategies for claustrophobic responses to sleep apnea treatment
• Sleep interventions for clients working night or rotating shifts

Through case examples, demonstrations, discussion, and applied exercises, participants will learn how to assess sleep concerns, formulate complex cases, create individualized treatment plans, and integrate sleep-focused strategies into evidence-based psychotherapy.

Integrate Sleep Treatment into Your Clinical Practice

Rather than treating sleep as a separate specialty, this workshop emphasizes realistic ways to incorporate effective sleep interventions into the treatment you are already providing. Participants will leave with practical strategies they can use with clients experiencing insomnia alongside trauma, anxiety, depression, chronic pain, irregular sleep schedules, and other complex clinical presentations.

Why This Training Matters

Sleep is a foundational component of mental health, yet it is often overlooked during assessment and treatment planning. Strengthening your ability to recognize and treat sleep disturbances can improve client functioning, support progress in therapy, and enhance outcomes across a wide range of mental health concerns.

This immersive in-person workshop offers a valuable opportunity to learn directly from a renowned sleep researcher, clinician, and trainer while developing practical skills that can be applied immediately in clinical practice.

By the end of this training, participants will be able to —

• Assess for sleep problems within a non-sleep specialty clinical setting.
• Describe the three ingredients for healthy sleep and explain how they apply to insomnia and other sleep disorders.
• Collaborate with clients to develop a sleep schedule that addresses sleep drive and circadian rhythm concerns.
• Integrate conditioned arousal strategies into individualized sleep treatment plans.
• Apply Brief Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia (BBTI) with clients experiencing irregular sleep-wake patterns.
• Design behavioural experiments to evaluate and modify unhelpful sleep-related beliefs.
• Describe the components of cognitive behavioural treatment for nocturnal panic.
• Develop exposure hierarchies for clients experiencing claustrophobic responses to sleep apnea treatment.
• Describe the principles and steps of Imagery Rescripting and Rehearsal Therapy for nightmare disorder.
• Use case formulation to integrate CBT-I into the treatment of anxiety, chronic pain, depression, and trauma.
• Adapt sleep treatment strategies to meet the needs of clients with unique clinical presentations.

This training offers 12 hours of direct contact (not counting breaks or lunch). It is the participant’s responsibility to check with their individual state boards/regulatory body to verify CE requirements for their license to practice.

Attendees of the original in-person workshop receive instructions on how to obtain their Certificate of Participation at the end of the course.

The Certificate of Participation includes:

• Name of participant.
• Title of training.
• Name of presenter plus their credentials.
• Number of hours of training.
• Date of training.
• Confirmation of 100% attendance

Get details about CE credits for Canadian and non-US international participants.

Get details about CE credits for US participants.

Please check with your regulatory body/organization to ensure that this certificate is sufficient proof for you to claim CE credits.