The Northwest Behavioral Health Independent Provider Association is committed to bringing quality continuing education workshops to the greater Pacific Northwest. Since 2004 we have been the premier sponsor of professional psychological workshops in the Whatcom, Skagit, Island, and San Juan counties, and we are dedicated to filling a growing need in our community for continuing education and professional development in psychology.

The Northwest Behavioral Health IPA began bringing quality continuing education workshops to Bellingham in October of 2004 with Dr. Stephen Feldman's: HOW TO STAY OUT OF TROUBLE WITH EVERYONE, and has continued to bring an Ethics workshop every other year to satisfy most licensing requirements.

Since that first workshop Dr. Feldman has again presented: HOW TO STAY OUT OF TROUBLE WITH EVERYONE: 2ND EDITION: WHAT'S NEW.

Most recently Robert Earl Smith, an attorney from Mercer Island, Washington presented: LEGAL AND ETHICAL OBLIGATIONS OF MENTAL HEALTH PRACITIONERS; 2008 UPDATE in April, 2008.

Other workshops sponsored by NWBHIPA include a two day workshop in October, 2005 when we brought Donald Meichenbaum, Ph.D. to Bellingham to put on a workshop entitled: ENRAGED: ADDRESSING VIOLENT BEHAVIOR TOWARD SELF AND OTHER IN ADULT PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS.

The following day we hosted Michael A. Freeman, M.D. in a workshop: THE TITANS' FIRE: INTEGRATED CARE AND EMPOWERMENT FOR PEOPLE IN THE BIPOLAR SPECTRUM.

In November the NWBHIPA was honored to bring Dr. Irvin Yalom to Bellingham for a morning lecture: THE ART OF PSYCOTHERAPY; A MORNING WITH DR. YALOM.

In April 2007 we co-sponsored a multidisciplinary day of speakers on the topic of: DEFINING QUALITY AT THE END OF LIFE; A MULTIDISCIPLINARY CONFERENCE FOR HEALTH PROFESSIONALS.

In October 2008, NWBHIPA welcomed Dr. Tony Attwood from Brisbane, Australia who presented his workshop entitled, HIGH FUNCTIONING AUTISM AND ASPERGER'S SYNDROME.

In April 2009, two of the field's most well known researchers, Dr. Michael Strober and Dr. Judith Brisman, discussed the spectrum of Eating Disorders in a workshop entitled, TREATMENT OF THE EATING DISORDERED PATIENT: ACHIEVING SUCCESS AND MANAGING FAILURE.

In October of 2009, NWBHIPA hosted a workshop on PATHOLOGICAL COMPUTER USE AND INTERNET ADDICTION to help behavioral health professionals recognize and treat Pathological Computer Use (PCU) and Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD), two newly-proposed psychiatric diagnoses.