OCPA Workshop - CE

Cross-Cultural Encounters: Bridging Worlds of Difference

Lawrence E. Hedges, Ph.D., Psy.D., ABPP

Saturday, January 24, 2026, 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM

The Chicago School

2400 East Katella Avenue, Suite 1200

Anaheim, California 92806

Course Description:  

Multiculturalism is rapidly becoming recognized as the fourth major force in psychology alongside the traditional psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, and humanistic psychologies.  Central to this course is the idea that we can never know the fullness of anyone else’s cultural identifications and orientations.  In this sense all relationships are cross-cultural encounters.  How can each of us in our professional work learn to open ourselves to differences, to diversity, to ethnicity, to ethnosexuality, to our own prejudices and to prejudices and hatreds aimed at us?     

The ground-breaking work of Derald Wing Sue, Allan Ivey, Paul Petersen, Alan Roland, Charles Ridley, Coronel West, Nancy Boyd-Franklin, Geert Hofstede, Neil Altman, RoseMarie Pérez-Foster, Joane Nagel, Takeo Doi, Suarez-Orozco, and numerous others will be considered.  

Course Outline:

9:00AM – 10:00AM

I. Introduction:  Culture and Context

Four Approaches to Developing Cross-cultural Competency

Preliminary Definitions and Biases

The Global Multicultural Movement

American Ethnicity

Bridging Worlds of Difference

Evolutionism, Universalism, Relativism in Multicultural Studies 

Multiculturalism as a Fourth Psychological Dimension

10:00AM – 11:00AM

A Theory of Multicultural Therapy

Cross-cultural Countertransference

Ethics in a Multicultural Context

Cultural and Ethnic Self-Assessment

A Danger Inherent in Multiculturalism

11:00AM – 12:00PM

II. Listening Perspectives for Cross-cultural Encounters

Perspective 1:  Five Dimensions of Culture

Perspective 2:  The Mimetic Evolution of Culture

Perspective 3:  The Post-modern/Social Constructionism

Perspective 4:  Ethnicity and Sexuality

Perspective 5:  Urban Life:  Poverty, Adversity, Immigration, Exposure to Racism and Post-Traumatic Stress

12:00PM – 12:45PM

Perspective 6:  Transgenerational Transmission:  Positional and Internalized Ghosts

Perspective 7:  Difference, Hatred, and Discrimination

Perspective 8:  Cross-cultural Diagnosis and Therapy

Perspective 9:  Attachment, Intersubjectivity, and The Present Moment

12:45PM - 1:00PM   Q&A

Learning Goals:

• List four major concerns of multicultural approaches to psychodiagnosis and psychotherapy.

• Describe one multi-ethnic approach to interpersonal relationships.

• List three ways that diversity must be recognized in psychotherapy ethics. 

• State one difference in the three approaches to multicultural ethics.

Bio:

Lawrence Hedges, Ph.D., Psy.D., ABPP., began seeing patients in 1966 and completed his training in child psychoanalysis in 1973. Since that time his primary occupation has been training and supervising psychoanalysts and psychotherapists individually and in groups on their most difficult cases. He was the Founding Director of the Newport Psychoanalytic Institute in 1983 where he continues to serve as supervising and training analyst. Throughout his career Dr. Hedges has provided continuing education courses for psychotherapists throughout the United States and abroad. He has consulted or served as expert witness on more than 400 complaints against psychotherapists in 20 states and has published 23 books on various topics of interest to psychotherapists. 

Fees:

 $50.00 - OCPA Members

 $50.00 - CPA Members

 $65.00 - Non-Members

 $25.00 - Students

“CPA is co-sponsoring with Orange County Psychological Association. The California Psychological Association (CPA) is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. CPA maintains responsibility for this program and its contents. Important Notice: Those who attend the workshop will receive (4) continuing education credits. Please note that APA CE rules require that we give credit only to those who attend the entire workshop. Those arriving more than 15 minutes after the start time or leaving before the workshop is completed will not receive CE credits.”

For more information, please contact Andrew Schwartz, Ph.D., at [email protected].

Register Here