State-of-the-art Continuing Education

Expert Instructors

Convenient Online Learning

Course curriculum

    1. Seminar Video

    1. Post-Test

    1. Course Evaluation Survey

About this course

  • $79.00
  • CE Credits: 2.5 hours
  • Self-Paced Video-Based Course
  • Level: Intermediate

About This Course

Culturally stressful experiences describe when client feel as if they have been (or will be) negatively judged, mistreated, or denied opportunities solely based on their racial and cultural background. The primary focus of this training is to help mental health professionals feel more confident and effective in offering culturally responsive assessment and treatment planning when clients of color present with or disclose experiences of cultural stress. This presentation is based on the Racial, Ethnic, and Cultural Healing Unifying Principles (or REACH UP - DeLapp & Gallo, 2022) and references the latest guidelines for helping clients heal from and navigate cultural stressors within their daily lives. Specifically, this training will propose 3-ways cultural stress can impact clients of color, introduce assessment materials for evaluating these impacts, and provide recommendations on how to incorporate evidence-based interventions rooted in CBT, DBT, and ACT to address the these impacts. Notably, this training will also feature an overview of experiential exercises and materials included in Dr. DeLapp’s REACH Self-Help workbook. 


Recommended Reading: Empower Yourself Against Racial and Cultural Stress: Using Skills from the REACH Program to Cope, Heal, and Thrive by Ryan C. T. DeLapp, PhD.


Course created: January 2025

Learning Objectives

At the completion of the course, participants will be able to:

  • Describe how to use structured assessments of cultural stress within intake/screening procedures that highlight when it is important to further explore the impact of such stress.


  • Describe how to use assessment tools to assess Emotional Stress (the intense and uncomfortable emotional responses caused by cultural stress), Identity Stress (the ways cultural stress can impact one’s thoughts and feelings towards their own background), or Agency Stress (the ways cultural stress impacts one’s ability to correct, improve, or change culturally stressful situations).  


  • Identify how to sensitively assess a patient’s cultural values and strengths in ways that enhance treatment planning and implementation.


  • Describe how to use the REACH UP model to flexibly adapt treatment plans to target Emotional Stress, Identity Stress, or Agency Stress.

Instructor(s)

Ryan DeLapp, PhD

Director, Racial, Ethnic, and Cultural Healing (REACH) at Ross Center

Ryan DeLapp, Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist in New York, Washington DC, Maryland, and Virginia, and the Founder and Director of the Racial, Ethnic, and Cultural Healing (REACH) program at The Ross Center. Dr DeLapp is widely recognized for his expertise in supporting minority individuals with healing from and learning to navigate cultural stressors within their lives and has developed a novel program called REACH (Racial, Ethnic, and Cultural Healing). The REACH Program adapts evidenced-based treatments to help teens and young adults develop protective skills to alleviate the impact of race-based stress. This program is derived from over 10 years of Dr. DeLapp’s research and clinical practice. And, from this work, he has authored over 20 publications and has conducted over 100 presentations discussing considerations for assessing and treating racism-related stress in diverse populations, including a recent publication introducing a model for helping clinicians flexibly adapt treatment plans to address disclosures of race-based stress during therapy (DeLapp & Gallo, 2022). The culmination of these considerations will be featured in his upcoming REACH self-help workbook for adolescents and young adults of color that will be published in collaboration with Guildford Publishing.

Continuing Education

Course Approvals

  • The Center for Emotional Health of Greater Philadelphia, LLC is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The Center for Emotional Health of Greater Philadelphia, LLC maintains responsibility for this program and its content.The Center for Emotional Health of Greater Philadelphia, LLC is not responsible to verify that American Psychological Association continuing education credits are approved by an attendee's respective state licensing Board.


  • The Center for Emotional Health of Greater Philadelphia, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0189. Provider Name:  The Center for Emotional Health of Greater Philadelphia, LLC Address:  1910 Route 70, E, Suite 7, Cherry Hill, NJ  08003-2123 Email address: [email protected] 


  • The Center for Emotional Health of Greater Philadelphia has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No.7263. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. The Center for Emotional Health of Greater Philadelphia is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.


  • The Center for Emotional Health of Greater Philadelphia, LLC, #1820, is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved as ACE providers. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. The Center for Emotional Health of Greater Philadelphia, LLC maintains responsibility for this course. ACE provider approval period: 6/15/2023 - 6/15/2026. 


  • *A post test must be taken and passed in order to receive CE credit. Participants may retake the posttest a maximum of 3 times to receive a passing score. A qualifying passing score is 80% or above.

State-of-the-art Continuing Education

Expert Instructors

Convenient Online Learning

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