Speaking

I am available to speak at your next didactic, grand rounds or keynote event. I have over 13 years experience speaking on psychosis in a variety of settings throughout the world.

contact sally about speaking

Potential Speaking Topics

“CBT for psychosis masterclass”

CBT for psychosis is a huge topic and takes months of workshop and follow up coaching in clinical work to gain initial competence. This didactic however, available in a one hour or 90 minute format, and tailored to your organization, can bring an overview of the CBT for psychosis model to your staff team and help them see how it applies to their clients. Through real life case examples your staff can learn why CBTp is in such high demand and is so beneficial to clients.

“Don’t lose your child to delusions”

There are many ways we can metaphorically lose our children as teenagers or young adults: to social media; to peers that don’t share our values; to behaviors we don’t endorse; or to serious mental illness that includes a break from reality. And as parents we are always searching for practical things we can do to keep open communication and trust based relationships with our kids to avoid all of the above as much as possible.

This inspiring session pulls from my 20+ years of clinical practice working with young people with psychosis and their families. I will share proven simple strategies that parents can use to connect with their child effectively, empowering them to take charge of their child’s mental health and increase positive outcomes.

“What you don’t know you don’t know about psychosis”

Do you work in private practice?

Have you ever had a patient report to you that they experience visions, voices, paranoia or suspiciousness?

Have you ever suspected that a client had psychosis but didn’t know what to do in terms of treatment or referrals?

Have you ever been curious to learn how to work with psychosis? (Let’s face it, none of us get taught in grad school!!)

This 90 minute workshop is for you!! What you’re going to learn: The big problem with your knowledge about psychosis What psychosis really is and how to identify it in your patients What to do when you see it

Previous Speaking Topics

  • CBT for Clinical High Risk for psychosis Health Choice AZ 1st Annual Early Psychosis Seminar (July 2021)
  • Global implementation of CBTp Panel discussion: Annual International CBT for Psychosis Research Meeting, Online. (May 2021)
  • CBT for psychosis Masterclass for Pre-doctoral Interns. NYC Health & Hospicals/Woodhull , Brooklyn, NY (April 2021)
  • CBT for psychosis Masterclass. Counseling and Wellness Center, CBT team, NYU, New York, NY Riggs, S.E. (March 2021)
  • Clinical considerations in early psychosis: detection, assessment, referral and treatment. The Counseling Center, The City College of New York, New York, NY (September 2020)
  • Clinical considerations in Clinical High Risk for and early Psychosis: detection, assessment, referral and treatment. National Association for School Psychologists (June 2020)
  • CBT for psychosis Masterclass for Pre-doctoral Interns. NYC Health & Hospicals/Woodhull , Brooklyn, NY (May/June 2020)
  • CBT for psychosis. Grand Rounds, St Elizabeth’s Hospital, Washington, DC. (April 2019)
  • Introduction to CBT for psychosis. John Jay College of Criminal Justice, & CUNY Graduate Center, New York, NY (March 2019)
  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Psychotic Spectrum Disorders. Schizophrenia and other serious mental disorders Special Interest Group community forum at the ABCT 52nd Annual Convention, Washington DC. (November 2018)
  • CBT for psychosis informed interventions for the inpatient milieu. First author panel presentation. ISPS-US 17th Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA. (November 2018)
  • Can all clinicians be trained to competence in CBTp? How much is enough training? Panel discussion: Annual International CBT for Psychosis Research Meeting, Oxford, UK. (May 2018)
  • The ABCs of CBTp: an introduction to Cognitive behavioral therapy for homeless individuals experiencing psychotic symptoms. Grand Rounds, Project for Psychiatric Outreach to the Homeless (PPOH)/Janian Medical Care, New York, NY. (December 2017)
  • Introduction to CBT for psychosis. Colloquium for Doctoral Students in Clinical Psychology, Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, Yeshiva University, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY (April 2017)
  • Clinical considerations in early psychosis: detection, assessment, referral and treatment. The Counseling Center, The City College of New York, New York, NY (April 2017)
  • Introduction to CBT for psychosis. Psychology Department Didactic presentation, NYC Health+Hospitals/Elmhurst, Queens, NY (April 2017)
  • Training staff in CBT informed interventions for the inpatient psychosis milieu. First author panel presentation. 49th Annual ABCT Convention, Chicago, IL (November 2015)
  • CBT for psychosis in the public healthcare system. Grand rounds, department of psychiatry, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY Riggs, Sally E. (January 2015)
  • Cognitive Therapy for Schizophrenia on the Inpatient Unit Behavioral Health Psychology Dept. CE presentation, Kings County Hospital Center, Brooklyn, NY (May 2013)
  • Cognitive Therapy for Schizophrenia in Everyday Interactions Behavioral Health CE presentation, Kings County Hospital Center, Brooklyn, NY (February 2012)
  • Innovative Applications of CBT for Psychosis in Practice: Working Across Different Levels of Symptoms and Functioning. Panel presentation. 45th Annual ABCT Convention, Toronto, CA (November 2011)
  • Strengthening the emotional wellsprings: a case study of CBT for deficit syndrome schizophrenia. 11th Annual International CBT for Psychosis conference, Edinburgh, UK (May 2010)
  • Cognitive Therapy for Schizophrenia in Everyday Interactions.The Seventh Annual Conference for Direct Service Professionals, Philadelphia, PA (April 2009)

Recommendations

The process of working with Dr. Riggs was very easy and seamless. We were very happy working with her. We work with homeless people with severe mental illness and a lot of people with psychotic disorders and many of whom are mistrustful of traditional mental health services. We try to be as holistic as we can in treating patients and most of our staff are interested in psychotherapy in particular with people with psychosis which is why Dr. Riggs’ didactic directly helped our staff. Dr. Riggs is an expert in the area of CBT for psychosis and she presented an overview and introduction to this work. I highly recommend her. She was very open and willing to offer ongoing supervision for the staff. It was only due to time constraints that we were unable to utilize that service.

Glen Davis, MD “The ABCs of CBTp: an introduction to Cognitive Behavioral therapy for homeless individuals experiencing psychotic symptoms”

I definitely think you should book a speaking engagement with Dr. Riggs, especially if it’s an interdisciplinary meeting where there are people of different disciplines who work with individuals with psychosis. I think that’s where it would be most effective. I think the most valuable part of the training is the focus on the frame of mind around psychosis and shifting your perspective on what psychosis is and isn’t.

Jenna Marshall, PhD Introduction to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Psychosis

Dr. Riggs is very friendly, very personable, and she always responds quickly, so I felt very comfortable working with her. She is a good presenter and talks about psychosis in a way that makes it easy to understand. She’s clear and she offers a lot of examples. She went over some of the symptoms, what to look for, what to notice, what questions to ask, how to intervene and how to refer. I feel like that was particularly useful for the trainees. It was really good information and very valuable for them. She does an amazing job.

Laura Locin, PhD, Director, CCNY Counseling Center “Clinical considerations in early psychosis: detection, assessment, referral and treatment

The students here were very excited by Dr. Riggs’ presentation and it got them really interested in CBT for psychosis. It completed its mission which was to get them to really want to do it and get further training required. There are a few students who were in that class who have gone on to seek that kind of expertise, and are probably moving on in that direction in their careers to be doing CBT for psychosis as a major focus of their work. Dr. Riggs is one of the experts in this area that has also put a great emphasis on how to train people, so not only is she an expert in the practice, but she’s also an expert in how to train people in using it.

Philip Yanos, PhD, Director of Clinical Training, Clinical Psychology Training Program, John Jay College Of Criminal Justice, City University of New York “Introduction to CBT for psychosis.

Probably what would stick out for a lot of the students was the message she uses for getting people to question their assumptions about what they know and don’t know. She poses certain statements, and asks us if we can say if they are things that happened or didn’t happen with certainty. She demonstrates how difficult it can be for people to have assumptions about things that they think that they know are true (and might be seen as delusions by others.) I think that is pretty powerful and memorable.

Philip Yanos, PhD, Director of Clinical Training, Clinical Psychology Training Program, John Jay College Of Criminal Justice, City University of New York “Introduction to CBT for psychosis.