Psychotherapy Action Network

For decades, psychotherapy research has shown that the quality of the therapeutic relationship is one of the strongest predictors of treatment outcome.

So why do discussions of effective therapy still focus primarily on treatment models and techniques?

Join Jon G. Allen, PhD, PsiAN Advisor, acclaimed author, and former Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine, for An Uncommon View of Common Factors in Psychotherapy.

Drawing on decades of clinical experience and research, Dr. Allen challenges the conventional view that trust, care, empathy, and the therapeutic alliance simply prepare patients for the "real work" of therapy. Instead, he argues that these relational experiences are the real work of psychotherapy.

📅 Friday, September 18, 2026
🕚 11:00 am–12:30 pm Central
💻 Live via Zoom
🎓 1.5 CE Credits (Sponsored by ICSW)

Whether you are an experienced clinician or early in your career, this webinar offers a fresh perspective on what makes psychotherapy effective and what it means to continue developing as a therapist.

Register: https://vist.ly/5i4zb

Common Factors in Psychotherapy | Jon G. Allen Webinar Discover why the therapeutic relationship remains the strongest predictor of psychotherapy outcomes. Join Jon G. Allen, Ph.D. as he explores trust, care, and the common factors that create meaningful, lasting therapeutic change.

On September 23, Psychotherapy Action Network Co-founder and Board Chair, Linda Michaels, PsyD, MBA, will present “Psychotherapy at a Crossroads: The Algorithm Will See You Now” as part of Silver Hill Hospital's Virtual Grand Rounds.

This presentation will explore the evolving forces shaping mental health care, including their impact on access, ethics, and clinician autonomy. Linda will also highlight practical ways therapists can protect and advance their work while advocating for human-centered care.

🗓️ Wednesday, September 23, 2026
🕦 11:30am – 1:00pm ET
🎓 1.5 CE
👉 Register here: https://vist.ly/5hyct

What helps couples therapy move forward when conflict has become entrenched?
By the time many couples seek therapy, longstanding patterns are already difficult to interrupt. The therapist’s role is not simply to referee the conflict, but to help lower the emotional temperature, surface what is happening underneath it, and create enough safety for both partners to stay engaged.

Join Psychotherapy Action Network on Friday, October 2, for Striving for Excellence in Couples Therapy: Zeroing in on What Matters with clinical psychologist Enrico Gnaulati, PhD.

This practical 90-minute webinar will explore interventions for de-escalating conflict, strengthening the therapeutic alliance, accessing vulnerable emotions, and helping partners move toward greater understanding, responsibility, and connection.

Friday, October 2, 2026 • 11:00 am–12:30 pm Central
Live via Zoom • 1.5 CE Credits Sponsored by ICSW
$30 • Free for Sustaining Members

https://vist.ly/5htzd

The presentation will be recorded and shared with all registrants for a limited time.

Webinar | 10/2/26 | Striving for Excellence in Couples Therapy Striving for Excellence in Couples Therapy : Zeroing in on What Matters Friday, October 2, 2026 11:00 AM — 12:30 PM Central Time Cost : $30.00 non-sustaining members; $0 sustaining members Refund Policy Format : live via Zoom CE Credits : 1.5 sponsored by The Institute for Clinical

Linda Michaels of Psychotherapy Action Network has a new letter in the New York Times, drawing a line the mental health conversation keeps blurring: what's sold as therapy often isn't therapy.

TikTok "therapists," chatbots, coaching dressed up as care. They borrow the language of therapy and leave out what makes it work. The relationship. The safety to face your blind spots. The privacy to do that work unobserved.

The companies behind these substitutes answer to investors and insurers, not to you. And the pressure they create is forcing therapists out of the profession right when we need them most.

Read Linda's letter: https://vist.ly/5g89d

Psychotherapy Action Network has endorsed the Pro-Human AI Declaration, adding our voice to hundreds of organizations and individuals who agree on a basic principle: AI should serve humanity, not replace it.

This coalition is broad. Professional associations, labor unions, faith communities, academics, technologists, and advocacy groups who don't usually find common ground are united here around one idea: as AI becomes more powerful and more present in our lives, human control, human relationships, and human dignity must come first.

We didn't take this step lightly, and we're not taking it alone.

Psychotherapy is human care. We defend it, and this declaration reinforces exactly why.

Read more about our endorsement and what it means for the future of therapy:

Psychotherapy Action Network Endorses the Pro-Human AI Declaration Psychotherapy Action Network endorsed the Pro-Human AI Declaration, adding our voice to a coalition of hundreds of organizations and individuals who agree on one basic principle: AI should serve humanity, not replace it.

What if an insurance company decided your psychiatrist's care was worth less, without ever opening your chart?

That's happening right now. One of the country's largest health insurers began automatically lowering psychiatrists' pay on July 1, 2026, before requesting or reviewing any clinical documentation. No review. No denial. Just a smaller check.

Psychotherapy Action Network is tracking this issue and pushing back against insurance practices that put automation ahead of clinical judgment.

Read what's happening and how you can help: https://vist.ly/5edee

When a patient in crisis calls Kaiser, they may reach an online questionnaire instead of a clinician. Kaiser therapists say this is already happening across Northern California, and on Tuesday, July 21, it goes before the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

Linda Michaels, PsyD, MBA, our Chair and Co-Founder, will testify in support of the Kaiser therapists represented by the National Union of Healthcare Workers. Her message is direct. Clinicians, not algorithms and not call center operators, must diagnose and treat patients based on clinical efficacy.

The stakes are concrete. Kaiser holds more than $67 billion in reserves, yet 75% of its therapists say their department lacks the staff to provide timely care, and 63% report they cannot see patients every two weeks as California law requires. Kaiser once agreed that AI would only assist therapists. Now it wants that promise stripped from the contract, alongside terms that make therapists easier to lay off and outsource.

Watch the hearing live Tuesday, July 21 at 3:00 pm PT on SFGovTV at https://vist.ly/5bt2v or on channel 26 in San Francisco.

Take two minutes to act: sign the petition to keep humans in mental health care at kaiserdontdeny.org.

Psychedelics are reshaping trauma treatment. M**A and psilocybin both hold FDA Breakthrough Therapy status for PTSD. But what makes the difference between an altered state that heals and one that doesn't? The answer has always been the therapy itself.

On July 10, Harold Kudler, MD joins Psychotherapy Action Network to trace the history of trauma and trance, from shamanism to psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, and offer clinicians a framework for what this means in their own practice.

1.5 CE credits. $30 or free for sustaining members.

Register: psian.org/trance

We're excited to share a new chapter for Psychotherapy Action Network.

We've launched a new logo, our first-ever tagline, and a clearer articulation of the work we've been doing all along:

Expanding Access. Empowering Professionals.

As the national advocacy organization for psychotherapy, we champion psychotherapy access and defend clinicians and clinical standards. We push back against automated substitutes and profit-driven shortcuts that undermine meaningful care.

This refresh is more than a new visual identity. It's a clearer statement of our mission, our values, and our commitment to protecting the therapeutic relationship.

Because lasting change comes from depth, relationship, and clinical expertise, not algorithms or shortcuts.

Read the full story behind the rebrand:
🔗 https://www.psian.org/blog/psychotherapy-action-network-new-look-sharpened-mission

Please share with colleagues, members, and anyone who believes transformative psychotherapy should be accessible and protected.

How can psychotherapy and psychoanalysis better respond to the realities of today's gender diversity?

Many clinicians recognize that traditional psychoanalytic theories were developed without transgender and nonbinary people in mind. As a result, training programs and clinical frameworks have often struggled to address the complexity of contemporary gender experience.

Join Psychotherapy Action Network for Transgender Psychiatrists Speak: Reflections from Training, Patient Care, and Professional Practice, a live webinar featuring transgender psychiatrists and psychoanalysts discussing what they've encountered in training, clinical practice, and the theoretical traditions they inherited.

Topics presented:

✓ What historical psychoanalytic theories can and cannot offer
✓ How contemporary approaches have evolved
✓ What clinicians need to know to better understand and support transgender and nonbinary patients
✓ How lived experience can strengthen clinical thinking and practice

📅 Friday, June 19
⏰ 11:00 AM–12:30 PM Central
💻 Live on Zoom
🎓 1.5 CE Credits

The webinar will also be recorded and shared with registrants.

Register: https://vist.ly/57xti