Assessment and Diagnosis of Mental Health Conditions in Clients with Chronic Pain: Biopsychosocial Considerations

Description

Behind every client struggling with chronic pain is a story often overshadowed by prescriptions and procedures—a story of emotional fatigue, missed diagnoses, and feeling unheard. For behavioral health clinicians, overlooking the psychological toll of chronic pain not only risks ineffective treatment, but can also reinforce a client’s sense of invisibility. This course reframes pain through a biopsychosocial lens, empowering clinicians to see what others have missed—and to respond with clarity, empathy, and precision.

Designed as a practical and compassionate training, the course provides clinicians with the tools to assess, diagnose, and intervene more effectively with clients who live at the intersection of chronic pain and mental health. With strategies for communication, collaboration, and integrated care, participants will be equipped to deepen their impact and elevate their clinical practice.

Victoriya Reich, LCDCIII, LISW-S, is a seasoned clinical social worker, addiction counselor, and educator whose expertise spans chronic pain treatment, mental health, and substance use. Her years of working with injured workers and clients with complex biopsychosocial challenges have equipped her to offer a clear, grounded, and client-centered perspective that is both clinically sound and deeply human.

With a teaching approach rooted in empathy and empowerment, Victoriya invites clinicians to see their clients not as diagnoses but as whole people. This training emphasizes how to recognize pain’s impact on functioning, reframe clinical interactions, and develop personalized, trauma-informed interventions.

Topics include the evolution of chronic pain assessment, limitations of the biomedical model, the rise of the biopsychosocial framework, and pain’s frequent overlap with depression, anxiety, PTSD, and trauma histories. Clinicians will learn how to navigate client beliefs, systemic barriers, and interdisciplinary collaboration while fostering autonomy and hope in treatment.

Key Takeaways:

• Holistic Assessment Skills: Learn how to capture the full biopsychosocial impact of chronic pain using validated tools and client-centered questions.

• Integrated Intervention Design: Understand how to incorporate chronic pain into evidence-based practices for co-occurring mental health diagnoses.

• Effective Client Communication: Master the language of pain to foster trust, deepen understanding, and co-create meaningful treatment plans.

Why This Course?

• Timely, Real-World Relevance: Chronic pain is a growing concern in behavioral health, and this course helps you tackle it head-on with clarity and confidence.

• Experienced Instructor: Victoriya Reich brings front-line clinical experience and warmth, making complex material accessible and immediately useful.

• Trusted Provider: Telehealth Certification Institute is a leader in behavioral health education—committed to excellence, integrity, and empowering clinicians to offer high-quality care.

Learning Objectives:

• Utilize a standardized assessment tool to identify the biopsychosocial impact of chronic pain on clients' mental health.

• Develop interventions for co-occurring mental health conditions by incorporating pain into evidence-based practices.

• Effectively communicate with clients using "pain language" to foster deeper understanding and collaboration in treatment planning.

Discover how seeing pain through a broader lens can transform your clinical relationships and outcomes.

Enroll today and strengthen your capacity to meet clients where they truly are—mind, body, and spirit.

Format and Access

This is a non-interactive, self-study course. Instruction consists of 1.5 hours of video instruction and a post-test.

Course Details

Availability: 

From the time of registration, you have six months to access the coursework.

Who Should Attend: 

This course is intended for clinicians who provide behavioral health services.

Teaching Methods: 

This is a non-interactive, self-study course. Teaching methods for this course include recorded lectures, videos, a post-test, and a course evaluation.

How to Attend:

Course access and completion instructions.

Instructor and Disclosures

Instructor

About Victoriya Reich, LCDCIII, LISW-S

Victoriya Reich is a clinical social worker and chemical dependency counselor who provides comprehensive therapy and case management for individuals, couples, families, and companies to improve personal and profession development. After spending nearly a decade working in the field of social work, Victoriya knows what truly drives conversions and impacts meaningful change in people’s lives - and it’s not just about giving advice or reciting paragraphs from books. It is how well you connect with the people you are trying to help and communicate your understanding back to them. Victoriya strives to create individual goals and plans for each person, promoting empowerment and self-efficacy. Victoriya teaches at Cleveland State University and provides social work supervision. Victoriya holds a BA in Psychology, MA in Criminal Justice and MSW in Social Work from the University of Toledo.

Victoriya has worked her way through various facets of social work, having been employed in community-based settings with adults and youth, facilitated the creation of a youth drug and alcohol program in a residential setting, implemented and expanded an outpatient mental health program for seniors and most recently provided specialized treatment for injured workers struggling with chronic pain.

Disclosure Statement: 

The instructor(s) for this course receive compensation for their services. There are no reported conflicts of interest to disclose.

CE Hours

Credit Hours:

This course consists of 1.5 continuing education hours of credit.

Counselors:

Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No, 6693.  Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified.  Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs. 

Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for Licensed Mental Health Counselors. #MHC-0048.

Marriage and Family Therapists: 

Many MFT licensing boards accept our courses or one of the approvals which we have from professional associations.  You can check with your board to determine if your licensing board would accept this course.

Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed marriage and family therapists #MFT-0135, effective May 8, 2025.

Social Workers:

Telehealth Certification Institute LLC, #1609, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 05/02/2024 – 05/02/2027. Social workers completing this course receive 1.5 clinical continuing education credits.

Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for Licensed Social Workers #SW-0435.

Addiction Professionals:

This course has been approved by Telehealth Certification Institute LLC, as a NAADAC Approved Education Provider, for educational credits. NAADAC Provider #193104, Telehealth Certification Institute LLC is responsible for all aspects of the programming.

Psychologists:

Telehealth Certification Institute LLC is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Telehealth Certification Institute LLC maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

Telehealth Certification Institute, 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-0128.

Art Therapists:

 Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for Licensed Creative Arts Therapists #CAT-0093.

Other Professionals:

This course qualifies for 90 minutes of instructional content as required by many national, state and local licensing boards and professional organizations.  Retain your certificate of completion and contact your board or organization for specific filing requirements.

This is a non-interactive, self-study course.

Accommodations and Policies

Close Captioning is available for live webinars and recorded video presentations.

You can click on the following links to view our policies:

• Accommodations for Individuals with Disabilities.
• Cancellation Policy
• Grievance Policy
• Support Options
• Disclosure Statement